"This should be the greatest summer of Trina's life. With a horse of her own, a wonderful best friend, and a new little brother or sister on the way, Trina is looking forward to graduating from sixth grade and getting ready for junior high. Then suddenly, everything falls apart.
Trina's dad has been angry and depressed ever since he lost his job. Even though Trina buries herself in her Cultural Arts Week project, she's never free from her father's moods and her mother's worries. Finally, late one night, Trina is forced to face the truth of her father's terrible illness.
The novel "Eclipse" by Kristine Franklin is a deeply sensitive exploration of what happens when a parent gives up hope and a young person must take on burdens far beyond her years, Eclipse is a moving and memorable novel.".
Depression in a close family member; the stigma attached with mental illness; worry that your mother might have a baby with Down Syndrome: these are topics not traditionally associated with a young adult novel, but which Kristine Franklin, the author of "Eclipse", deals with head-on. Trina, the main character, is a typical sixth grade girl who feels the weight of the world on her shoulders as she watches her father fall deeper and deeper into clinical depression and worries about the state of her unborn sister (Trina's mother is 48 years old). These are tough topics for a twelve-year-old to handle, and Trina does have trouble adjusting and adapting to these problems - as well as dealing with the day-to-day problems of life by herself as she tries to give her parents time to sort through their problems by themselves.
Franklin should be commended because she never resorts to "talking down" to her young adult reader. Neither does she sound "preachy" or "sugar-coat" the story with an "everything will turn out ok" theme. Indeed, the reader is never sure how the story will end. Trina is often afraid, uncertain, and feels alone.
