Ostrich Eye

by Beth Cooley

Is the man Ginger meets in the park really her long-lost father . . . or is he her family’s worst nightmare?

The guy is everywhere. On the jogging path. At the video store. In the coffeehouse. He’s beginning to give Ginger the creeps. But maybe he’s not a weirdo. Maybe he’s just a man looking for the daughter he walked out on ten years ago.

Or maybe not.

Beth Cooley’s cautionary tale of family relationships, identity, and the disastrous results of miscommunication is a gripping novel with the unsettling premise that danger lives closer to us than anyone ever wants to think possible.

Genres: Young Adult, Teen, Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Beth Cooley is an associate professor and the chair of the English department at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where she lives with her husband and their two daughters. Her first novel, "Ostrich Eye," won the Delacorte Press Prize.

Reviews

[Abena Osei-gyamfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ostrich eye by Beth Cooley is a book about a girl named Ginger. She lives with her mother, step-father, and little sister Vivian and never got to meet her biological father, who she was very curious about . She would always ask questions about him and look at the high school year book pictures of him. One day while she was at the park with her friend, she saw this strange looking man sitting on a bench. She felt very uneasy about him being there and talked to her friend about it, who didn’t seem to take it seriously, so she just brushed it off. Her first instinct about the guy was right, but sadly, she changed her mind about him. She saw the strange guy more and more everywhere she went and she started to think he looked familiar. One day, she and her boyfriend Nicholas were looking at the yearbook together, and Ginger was convinced that the strange man was her father and that he was looking for her. She was so thrilled at the thought that she didn’t even want to doubt it at all because she wanted to believe it so badly. In the end, her false hope of that man being her father cost her the safety of her little sister, who he disappeared with one day after driving them somewhere. It turned out that he was not her father and that he was previously charged with many felonies including: identity theft and forgery and was put under investigation for child pornography. The author’s purpose for writing this book was to show that it is good to get to know someone before you judge them, false hope is blinding, and to show how quick your life can fall apart.
This book shows that it is good to get to know someone before you judge them. Earlier in that school year, Ginger thought Nicolas was a complete weirdo and he was really awkward. There was a school dance coming up and her friend was trying to get her to go with him since he and her date were friends. Ginger didn’t want go with him because he was really strange and even wore a kilt to school once, but decided she would go anyways. Ironically, the day of the dance, Ginger had an allergic reaction to a facial mask, and she got rushed to the hospital, making it so that she was not able to go to the dance. The next day, Nicholas showed up to see how she was doing and he gave her a gift. After that visit from him, “it had made [her] consider Nicholas Blackstone in a totally new light” (Cooley). They started talking on the phone and hanging out a lot and she liked him even more and more. He was still weird but she actually liked that about him. Also, his awkwardness slowly went away as they got to know each other and during the summer, they became girlfriend a boyfriend. If she had not given him the chance and got to know him, she would not have had the opportunity to get to know and be with really great guy.
When writing this book, Cooley wanted to show how blinding false hope could be. At first when Ginger saw the strange man at the park she felt uneasy about him but as soon as she felt that he could be her father, she put all that aside. Nothing anybody would say could change her mind about him being her father, not even Nicholas. It actually made her really upset when people showed that they doubted him being her father. She even let the strange man in her house, knowing she did not know him well at all. Because she was blinded by her belief that the man was her father, she threw her and her little sister’s safety down the drain without even realizing it. Even though he did creepy things like take many pictures of her little sister, she told herself that it was okay because “he was her father “. Since she thought he could trust him, she allowed him to take Vivian somewhere with him alone; just the two of them. For hours and hours they were gone. Nicholas and Ginger frantically searched the town for the two but could not find them anywhere. She really wanted to believe that Vivian was okay and was really with her father. She finally had to tell her mom that Vivian was with “her dad,” who she had kept a secret and that she “knew where she [was], but not exactly” (Cooley). She learned the hard way that her father died 10 years ago from a drug overdose and her little sister was in the hands of a complete stranger.
Just in a matter of hours, her life fell apart. She allowed the thought of the man being her father to have a hold on her that would only break her, her family, and her friends down. Her sister was missing and it was all her fault. They filed an amber alert for her little sister and the days that she was missing “was a blur of officers and questions and paperwork and phone calls” (Cooley). For days, her sister was gone and everyone was worried sick. Ginger was convinced that her mom hated her because she allowed the man to take Vivian but in reality, she was just extremely upset with the whole situation. Ginger remembered a barn that the man would go to and one night, Nicholas and she drove there to see if they would have any luck with finding Vivian. When they checked the barn, they were there! They quickly called the police and Ginger then had to go in and stall till they arrived. In the process, the man ended up cutting her leg with a very sharp knife and she had to get stitches. Despite her injury, Vivian, although never to be the same again, was okay. For a long time after the incident, it was not the same at home and Ginger and her mom did not speak to each other much. Although she was able to pick up the pieces of the mess she made, she still was not about to fully put it together again.
The author’s purpose for writing this book was to show that it is good to get to know someone before you judge them, false hope is blinding, and to show how quickly your life can fall apart. Ginger thought Nicholas was really weird at first but after she decided to get to know him, she liked him a lot. Because she gave him a chance, she was able to have an amazing boyfriend/best friend. When she started to see a strange man around a lot, at first, she was very skeptical about him. She somehow made a connection of the man and her father she had not met before by looking at pictures, and was able to convince herself that the man was her dad. Blinded by the thought, she put her and her sister at danger. Her life then fell apart in a short amount of time when she allowed the man the take her sister somewhere with him, and they never returned. In the end however, she was able to find her sister and the man got arrested. Although the story is kind of crazy, things like this can happen in real life. In this book, the author was able to display how good it is to give people chances, as well as how scary it is to hold on too tight to false hope and how quickly your life can fall apart.
>>Abena Osei-Gyamfi ♥

[Jerboaz‼️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

if gingers mom wouldve just told her that literally all this couldve been avoided😭😭😭 This was a good book though. Creepy and hard to put down but also HOW were her friends not also weirded out by the fact she kept seeing a weird man everywhere she went who was watching her.🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️prolly jusy a coincidence?,!/‘vbb🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞 qnd i had a bad feeling about the jebrony the whole time no matter what he did creepy ass asss photographer ass asss and even Suzanne was foreshadowing tfoioioioi I liked this book it made me sick to my stomach great bhook

[Judyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3/5

I was more impressed with the subject matter in this book than I thought I would be.

If Ginger’s mother had just been honest with her from the start, several things would have been different in her life. Sadly, Ginger didn’t know the whole story. And it turned very badly when Ginger thought she’d found her real father.

This is definitely a sad story, a creepy one, and I had a bad feeling from the beginning. It didn’t turn out quite like I expected, but I did like that there was more story after the fact, that we got to see the aftermath of it. Usually stories cut off at that point, and I was glad this one went beyond. It gives a more rounded picture of the event, and I liked that.

This was better than I expected, and while very creepy and upsetting, definitely worth reading.

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

[☆ Driti ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that turned dark really quick... Nevertheless, while this book was unsettling and stomach knotting, I emjoyed this book a lot. This is a gripping read, wtih a slow start to set the scene. Gradually, the pace increased, with many expected yet shocking plot tiwsts in the last few chapters.

I was more impressed with the subject matter in this book and its depth. It started really simple and cute and all, but soon, it dealt with topics I didn't expect would appear. I mainly enjoyed the theme of the book, "an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain." Throughout the book, many characters suffered from "the ostrich eye" which I felt was portrayed beautifully!

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I found this book at the library, I was scared to pick it up. It was a simple hardback edition, with no description inside or anything to tell me what this book was about.
But, of course, being the curious teenager that I am, I took this mysterious book home, the one with the obnoxiously bright binding and strange title.
I am so freaking glad I did.

[DAVE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Literally saw the plot twist coming from a mile away, took a weird turn a the end… but it was ok

[TheSaint · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first glance, Ginger (the main character in Beth Cooley's Ostrich Eye) seems to have her head screwed on right. Nice family -- mom, sister, step dad -- nice boyfriend, good friends. It's when she thinks she finds her biological father, that her life becomes troublesome. The strange man she sees in the park and in restaurants is friendly at first, and when he admits to being her long lost dad, Ginger is intrigued, but wary enough to withhold any news of this stranger from her mom. But knowing this man turns out to be more than Ginger bargains for, and leaves she and her family changed for life.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a page turner! Ginger notices a man watching her and her friends while they jog in the park. Her friends don't think that it is unusual for a man to be watching three pretty teen girls. She has a strange feeling about him though. This feeling only grows as she sees the man repeatedly around town. Through some sleuthing, she is pretty sure that she knows who he is. Is she right?

This is a quick read about the dangers of keeping secrets. Interesting characters and plot background round out the story. I recommend it to those who like young adult literature and are looking for a quick read.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ginger is hoping that the mysterious stranger in her community is her long lost biological father. Her stepfather has always been a good father to her, but she thinks he prefers his own daughter. This is a good coming of age story and deals with family relationships, as well as child endangerment, and the insecurities of being a teenager.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having seen the same man at many of the same places where she goes, Ginger wonders whether she should fear this obvious stalker or approach him in the hopes that he may be her long lost father that had walked out of her family's life so many years ago.

[Baylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good. Surprising. It has everything in it.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ginger's relationship changes with everyone from her little sister Vivian to her mom after a miscommunication between someone she thinks is her real father leads to an abduction.

[Gloria Liposchak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Girl thinks strange man in town is her biological father.
He's only using her to get to her little sister.
s= child abduction

[Bess · Rating 5 out of 5]

my mommys first young adult novel

[Sarah Wah]

it was alright.

you could pretty much predict what was going to happen next though.