[.ca] The Key to the Golden Firebird (ISBN 0060541407)

The BEST book of the summer 2004!:
My aunt gave me The Key To The Goldenfire Bird for my birthday. That was two days ago and I couldn't put it down. This is a great book! I don't want to give anything BUT let me tell you I laughed so hard at the beginning of the book that my mom asked if I'd hurt myself. I also cried and laughed some more. The sisters are so different from each other. I think I'm more like Brooks. Pete is the most awesome character ever. I give this book a 5 out of 5 and will definitely read it again before the summer is done.(...)

Interesting New Teen Fiction:
When Mike Gold, Father to three teenage girls - May, Brooks, and Palmer - has a heart attack and dies in his beloved 1967 Firebird, the incident leaves a deep impression upon the girls, and the car is left alone for a year. That is, until the car beckons the attention of the girls, who refer to themselves (at least May does) as the "Tall, Blonde, and Wonderful Family." The three girls, all suffering from neglect, choose to deal with their Father's death in different ways. May tries to keep the family together, Brooks gives up softball and starts drinking, leading her to an arrest for drunk driving, and Palmer spends all of her time concentrating on pitching and watching TV, as well as hiding her panic attacks from everyone around her. It's not until the three girls decide to do something special with their Father's ashes that they are able to finally begin their lives anew. In the footsteps of Ann Brashare's THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, Maureen Johnson has created THE KEY TO THE GOLDEN FIREBIRD, an amazing, joy-ride of a novel filled with many ups and downs, as well as wonderful moments that will stay with the reader for years to come. The three main characters - May, Brooks, and Palmer - all posess different quirks in their personalities that will not only enchant the reader, but also help them to identify with one of the lovable sisters. An enjoyable book for teen girls looking for a moving story that will capture not only their hearts, but their imaginations as well. Erika Sorocco

Fire up that engine:
I loved this story. It was funny, engaging, moving, and ultimately totally gripping. I read a lot, and in many genres (from SciFi to sufi mysticism - no kidding), and I quite literally could not put the Key to the Golden Firebird down. The characters were very real to me, and their situations sympathetic and interesting. The way people acted seemed very natural - just as confusing as people are all the time. I was desperate to find out if May could pull something good out of her awkwardness with Pete, and the spiralling troubles of her family, and ... well, I won't spoil the suspense for you. Read it, and love it yourself!!

Disjointed and confusing, but life-like.:
Andrew Lloyd Webber has claimed musically that love changes everything; but that's also true of death. It changes everything in one cold moment as the Gold women found out when the father of their clan is found dead. Now, a year later, they are doing their best to cope. For May, this means learning to drive as she experiences the first flashes of young love. She wants to think of Pete Campe (Camper) as just a friend, but in her heart, she knows it must be more, she just doesn't know if she is ready for that. Her sister, Palmer, has dreams centered on softball, and is willing to take risks to achieve her goals. The middle sister, Brooks, is the most honest in her emotional disability. She may be lost in a haze of booze and trouble, but she knows exactly who she is. In all this, their mother is a bit on the outside, trying to make a new life and accept what death has done. (...)This book is reminiscent of Sisters reruns, and quite lifelike. It's disjointed and painfully confused, just like reality. As the three girls grow up too fast and try to hold the pieces of their lives and dreams together, they find it takes all of their hands to do it, and that they need help from friends.(...)

A real page turner!:
Tragedy can do one of many things. It can bring people together, but it can also cause people to separate. In the Gold's case it did both. May, Palmer and Brooks are sisters but they don't seem to have one single thing in common except for the fact that they share the same mother and father. May Gold was the middle child of the three sisters. She had always been the responsible one and the one everyone could count on. When a heart attack claims her father's life, May finds herself being weighted down with the family's burdens. In this story May finds herself and she also reconnects with her family through the pain that all of them have suffered. When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure what to expect. I must be truthful: my expectations were not very high. The title didn't bring much excitement. The qoute, "Don't judge a book by it's cover," came to mind after I read this book. I could barely put it down. I found myself deeply indulged in this story. Some of the situations were predictable, but it was great, just the same. The title of this book truly does suit it. This book was an amazing treat. It's sure to be a keeper and an instant favorite.