Griffin, Adelle (2005). Where I Want to Be. NY: Putnam Juvenile. ISBN: 0399237836. 150 pages.
Is it possible to outgrow your older sister? What does it mean to have a sibling who is mentally ill and whose view of the world is attractive, compelling and somehow all wrong? One year separates sisters Lily and Jane in age; however, as the two grow into adolescence, Jane's difference--she seems to be a highly functioning schitzophrenic--extends this separation to what feels like aeons. Told in alternating chapters from each girl's perspective, this novel treats the issue of mental illness with sympathy and sensitivity. As we fall deeper into the story, we come to realize that Jane's narration is issued from beyond the grave and that it is her death that has led Lily (and her family) to think about how Jane both held the family together and how her illness was dealt with during her life. Though not an overt tear-jerker like a Lurlene McDaniel or Davida Wills Hurwin's A Time for Dancing, Griffin's novel is quietly somber but not without a spark of hope.
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