Characters Up a Tree

Problems make for interesting plot.

Writing gurus will tell budding authors: "Get your character up a tree. And put tigers under the tree."

Janette Rallison's Just One Wish is a pretty quick and light read. In the story, Annika promises her little brother (who is dying from cancer) that she will introduce him to his favorite Hollywood actor: Steve Raleigh, aka Teen Robin Hood. At times, Annika goes through a mad-cap adventure to find, meet, and finally convince teen idol, Steve, to come back with her to meet her brother.

Rallison very nicely uses the put-your-character-up-a-tree technique to keep the plot going. Especially for what could have been a boring drive from California to Nevada in Chapter 12. Here we see Annika and Steve finally on their way to visit her little brother. That's when they're about to be put up a tree (figuratively, of course!). Annika is driving when she realizes that the paparazzi is following them.

Steve looked at the speedometer for the first time. "You're going going ninety-five. If you get pulled over going twenty-five miles over the speed limit, it's a criminal offense."

"Really? How do you know that?"

Steve smiled. "Don't ask. Just slow down a little."

"I'm trying to lose that car behind us. It's one of the guys from the restaurant."

With some fancy driving (perhaps reminiscent of the Dukes of Hazzard?), Annika manages to shake her pursuer. They are once more on their way. But, don't forget the tigers... Chapter 12 ends with:

Everything was looking up.

But half an hour outside of Barstow, in the middle of the Majave Desert, the car broke down.

Taken from:
Rallison, Janette. Just One Wish (2009), pp. 180, 185.

How did I rate this book? Readable (although a bit unrealistic)