The novel's world is one in which things simply occur, like Gracie's gift or the crashing of the plane. The novel suggests that the world is neither good nor bad. Neither Gracie nor even the main villain who is a kidnapper is either completely good or bad. Still, Gracie, in fact, would prefer to be ordinary rather than gifted. This is partly because Gracie believes her powers have no ability to forestall tragic events. For this sense of helplessness she may be excused -- after all, her mother died, even though the girl asked her to stay home rather than take the doomed flight that ended the woman's life. Most of the novel takes place in Washington where Gracie now lives with her Aunt Shay. Gracie's best friend Emily disappears, and accompanied by her cousin, a boy named Diego, Gracie tries to find Emily and Emily's kidnapper.

Because the theme of this book has been used,...

The book's message is fundamentally positive -- be true to your natural gifts, and use them to help others. However, one wishes the author had found another way of making this truth clear to the reader. Watson is not a compelling enough author to give real weight and vision to what Gracie sees in her dream states, and she does not have enough of a flair for character development and internal psychology to make Gracie's grief over the loss of her mother and her adjustment to a new home compelling and realistic, in contrast to the more fantastic scenes of kidnapping, plane crashes and death.
Works Cited

Watson, Jude. Premonitions. New York: Scholastic Books, 1996.