Between the Lines is a co-author effort by Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha Van Leer.  I must confess that I have never read a book by Jodi Picoult because I have a healthy skepticism of books where the author’s name is in larger font than the title.  I picked up the title mostly out of curiosity.  Its catapult onto the New York Times Best Seller List was due to the Picoult name and the novel probably wouldn’t be there on its own merits, but I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  The fairy tale is sweet and light and  the book includes lovely illustrations and fabulous silhouettes.  The premise has echoes of Inkheart, but there were a few unique elements in the novel.  If you are a tween or young adult girl who loves fairy tales, reading, and romance, then this is a book for you!  The action was never riveting and the characters weren’t terribly complex. (Interestingly, it is the Prince Oliver, rather than the female character, Delilah, that is best developed.)  I love the concept of a mother-daughter collaboration and Between the Lines would be a fun selection for mother-daughter book clubs.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  6 religious exclamations; 1 mild obscenity

Violence/Gore:  A character accidentally hits another character with a bat resulting in a bloody nose; a character reads a book in which there is sword fighting, death by dragons, biting, tripping, a fall to a death.

Sex/Nudity:  Characters embrace and kiss upon a few occasions; reference to a husband leaving a wife for another woman and family; reference to some kids that “hooked up”; reference to being grounded until “menopause”; a character is transformed from an animal to a person and has no clothes on after the transformation.

Mature Subject Matter:

Divorce

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None