So anyway, I re-wrote chapter one to delete the prologue and it's not bad. That being said, not bad is not good enough. The problem isn't in identifying my protaganist. It's not in demonstrating the first crisis, (which has to be there or the primary crisis doesn't make sense.)
Did you figure it out yet? The first crisis sets up the second crisis which is the primary focus of the novel. I tried to work both into the first chapter but it makes it a very long chapter and doesn't carry the reader's interest. I'll be running tomorrow but Friday I'll try to find a way to work both of them into a single scene , like that's likely to happen, or greatly reduce the word counts without afffecting the drama or excitement. I have less than a week to go before I have to submit it to the group so I have to have the answer by this weekend. pressure, pressure, pressure.

for those of you that are writing YA, I highly recommend that you buy, beg, borrow or steal
a copy of the May/June Writer's Digest. It is a gold mine of information for us this issue. Check out the piece on page 21 and make a special point of reading "YA today which starts on page 26. It's also the 2010 version of 101 best websites for writers. This is a keeper to be sure.

If anyone is going to be at the SCBWI Michigan conference in Lansing on May 1, look me up. I'll be the one wandering around mumbling something like "Prologue, porologue, prologue, anyone know what to do witha prologue?"