by Sara Zarr
ages: 14+
First sentence: “

I procrastinated this, because I had no idea what to say.

On the one hand: powerful, powerful story of a girl trying to get past a BIG mistake she made because she was lonely and wanted attention… and the guy told everyone. She the rep now of being the school slut (even though she’s never done it with anyone else). To make it worse, her dad can’t forgive her, and she can’t forgive herself. How does one get past that?

On the other hand: totally and completely depressing. The family is totally messed up, and I wanted to scream at the parents: parent already! Hard to read when you have a 13 year old girl yourself. At times, I found myself crying in frustration and disappointment at how totally wrong ALL their lives had gone. (Then again, that’s a sign of a really good story.)

Not exactly a cheerful, take-you-away kind of book. But a good one for discussing.

Buy it at Amazon, Powell’s or your local independent bookstore.