The Barnes & Noble Review
Newbery Honor winner Audrey Couloumbis serves up a harrowing and exceptional second novel, in which young Casey comes home from school one day and slowly realizes her stepmother is gone. She also realizes she must somehow survive on her own.

When Sylvia doesn't come home from work, Casey thinks it's a little odd, although she guesses Sylvia's just out with her loser boyfriend. But she knows it's a bit more serious when Sylvia's gone for days and she discovers an envelope with $55 taped to the refrigerator. Not knowing if Sylvia will return at all and scared of being taken away if she asks for help, Casey turns to Paulie, the landlord's foster son, who has figured out her situation and offers to look after her. Yet when she learns that Paulie has other plans for her, involving theft, Casey finds herself caught between her conscience, the need to pay for rent and food, and her fear of being found out.

Departing in feeling and setting from her previous novel, Getting Near to Baby, Couloumbis socks us with an extraordinary, thrilling page-turner. Characters like the fortune-teller Razza and Paulie's father make us shiver for Casey's safety, and Casey's voice -- filled with fear and courage -- gets under our skin. With twists and turns, kindness and ugliness, Say Yes is a multidimensional look at independence, urban life, and the motives behind people's actions. (Matt Warner)

Couloumbis gets the suspense going at a high pitch from the start of this gripping novel, quite a dramatic departure in theme from her Newbery Honor book, Getting Near to Baby. In the first chapter, narrator Casey describes her morning exchange with her stepmother, Sylvia; by the second chapter, Sylvia is gone. The woman's sudden disappearance will be as unsettling and incomprehensible to readers as it is to the 12-year-old protagonist, who is now completely alone (her father has died). As this intriguing story progresses, the mystery of why Sylvia abandoned Casey becomes less relevant than the girl's struggle to fend for herself in her New York City apartment. Sixteen-year-old Paulie, the streetwise foster son of the building's super, is the only one who has figured out that Casey is living alone. He hatches a plan to help her get money for food and rent, but requires her to take part in a robbery. Besides battling with her conscience, Casey must make hard choices about whom she can trust and whom she should protect. She remains loyal to Sylvia, although it seems unlikely she will return. At the same time, Casey becomes increasingly reliant on Paulie. Rather than drawing clear lines between villains and heroes in this modern-day survival tale, Couloumbis invents realistically complex characters, whose morals are tested by fear and desperation, and a world in which right ultimately defeats wrong. Ages 10-up. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Gr 5-7 A suspenseful novel about a 12-year-old who must quickly learn self-reliance under very stressful circumstances. After her father died, Casey was legally adopted by her needy stepmother, Sylvia. As the book opens, she realizes that Sylvia has abandoned her in their New York City apartment, leaving no note and only $55. Uncertain whether the woman will return, Casey must deal with daily routines like homework and meals. Initially planning on keeping her current circumstances secret, she tells her sinister landlord's teenage foster son. Paulie takes Casey under his wing, involving her in a burglary. The two kids face a number of close calls, culminating in an incident in which Paulie is beaten up by his foster parent. Two weeks after Sylvia's disappearance, her mother, Fran, arrives to help both Casey and Paulie. Shortly thereafter the repentant Sylvia returns and the two women resolve the situation. Couloumbis builds almost unbearable tension as Casey attempts to make sense of her life. The interesting plot will keep readers' attention, and Casey, Paulie, and Fran are appealing, realistic characters. Both young people illustrate the lengths to which desperation can drive a person, even knowing that these actions are morally wrong. With Casey, readers learn that "There's a time to say yes and a time to say no." Pair this title with Donna Jo Napoli's Three Days (Dutton, 2001) for some nail-biting reading experiences. -B. Allison Gray, South Country Library, Bellport, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

A New York City preteen's world turns suddenly scary when her stepmother goes missing. Will Sylvia turn up, or is she gone forever with her latest boyfriend? Casey isn't sure at first, but as days go by, her desperation grows, leaving her vulnerable to the overtures of the building super's teenage foster son, Paulie. Paulie dispenses savvy advice and lends a genuinely sympathetic ear, but also turns out to have an ulterior motive-he's looking for a younger confederate to help him rob a certain old lady. Reluctantly, Casey goes along, but not only does the ensuing emotional price prove almost overwhelming for her, Paulie gets a savage beating when his foster father finds the stolen money. Then a predatory gypsy, who discovers that Casey's alone, arrives to crank up the level of anxiety another notch. Couloumbis (Getting Near To Baby, 1999, Newbery Honor), in perfectly cast characterization, pairs two young people here who aren't as tough or smart as they think they are-but who come through for each other in the pinch. Both also find unlooked-for allies when the going gets too tough-most notably Sylvia's levelheaded, large-hearted mother Fran, who sweeps in protectively as soon as she gets wind of what's happened, and then consoles Casey with the insight that Sylvia's not self-centered or evil, just weak, not perfect, but good. And that turns out to be enough, for when Sylvia ultimately does come back, remorseful but willing to take up where she left off, Casey's anger is sharp, but soon spent. The author tellingly communicates Casey's growing fear and Paulie's underlying fragility and leaves thoughtful readers plenty to chew over with this convincing portrait of young people learning howto make choices. (Fiction. 11-13)