In Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom, as in much of her previous work, Katherine Paterson writes about the difficult but enlightening processes through which young people who are prematurely left to their own resources become acquainted with the compromises and obligations that are necessary to survival in the adult world…. [The constants in her work] are the sensitivity, humor and clarity with which Paterson considers the many nuances of her central theme.

Paterson treads a fine line between "juvenile" and "adult" fiction, and never has that line been finer than it is in Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom. Indeed, she has written a more accomplished work of fiction, and certainly a deeper and more resonant one, than most of the novels written these days for an adult readership. Paterson obviously does write for a youthful audience—readers between the ages of 12 and 16, approximately—but she treats that audience...