Deadline

Okay, enough girl books! Its seems I have been reading a lot of a “girl” books lately, and I needed to branch out and read something different. So I decided that Chris Crutcher’s new book Deadline would be just the right change! I love Chris Crutcher! He visited our school three years ago and gave fantastic presentations! He knows how to relate to teenagers in both his speaking and his writing.

Deadline is about Ben Wolf who is told at the beginning of the book that he has about a year to live. Ben is a senior in high school and 18 years old and with the help of his doctor he decides not to pursue treatment that probably wouldn’t work anyway and he decides not to tell anyone about his condition. Ben wants to live his senior year to the fullest without everyone feeling sorry for him. So he sets out to make changes in his life. The first change is that he decides to go out for football. Ben weighs 123 pounds soaking wet, but he has always wanted to try football and this is the time in his life to do everything he always wanted to do. He also finally gets the courage to talk to Dallas Suzuki, the girl of his dreams. Ben discovers that hiding the truth from people he cares about is harder than he thought. This book hits hard Crutcher’s message of Life is short, live it to its fullest. Ben learns to tell people the truth and show them you care. Crutcher does a great job describing the action of the football games and he keeps the humor going in the book so it doesn’t feel too dark despite the subject.

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher is one of my all time favorite books. The main character Louie Banks goes through a series of struggles in this book when he refuses to purposely injure another player and is kicked off the football team. Louie finds comfort in running. Louie is one of the greatest characters in young adult literature. I was thrilled to learn that Louie returns in the book Deadline. He has returned to his hometown and is now the football coach at Trout High school in Trout, Idaho. He is also a father figure to Ben and his brother Cody. This is just another great part of this book.

Before I Die

In Before I Die by Jenny Downham, Tessa is 16 years old and was diagnosed with leukemia 4 years ago. The doctors have done what they can and now they have given Tessa only months to live. Tessa decides that “I want to live before I die.” She makes a list of things that she wants to do before she dies. This list includes having sex, falling in love, getting her parents back together, breaking the law, experimenting with drugs and finding fame. After all her best friend Zoey says it best when she states “that there are no consequences for someone like you.” This book is full of great characters from Zoey, who has her own problems while helping Tessa complete her list, to Adam, the shy awkward young man next door who is dealing with his father’s death and his mother’s grief, to Cal, Tessa’s younger brother, who wonders if he will still be a brother after Tess dies, to Tessa’s father, who gives up everything to care for his dying daughter, to her mother, who left the family right before Tessa was diagnosed. This is a sad book that also gives hope for life and the lessons learned while living.

Story of a Girl

Have you ever made a mistake that you regretted and wished that you could take back? Deanna Lambert in Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr definitely knows that feeling. When she was 13, her father caught her having sex in the back seat of a car with Tommy Webber who was 17 and a friend of her brother. Deanna certainly didn’t love Tommy and she wasn’t even sure that she liked him, but he was 17 and he knew the right things to say and do to convince an 8th grade girl to do things she knows she shouldn’t.

The book starts 3 years later. Now Deanna is a sophomore in high school and she has to live everyday with her big mistake. Of course, Tommy told everyone in school about what happened so for 3 years, Deanna has been the skanky 8th grader who had sex with a high school senior. She faces the rumors at school and she faces how much she has disappointed her father at home. No matter that she has never been on a date or kissed another boy since, Tommy’s story has turned her into the “school slut.” This is a heartbreaking story of how one event can define a person’s life, but more than that, this is a wonderful story about finding self-respect and forgiveness.

Story of a Girl is another short book with only 192 pages and fairly large print. It is an easy read that gives you lots to think about whether you have been the object of hurtful rumors or whether you have been part of the group that spreads hurtful rumors.. I can see why this book was a National Book Award finalist.

Safe

It's spring time and I have been looking for short books that can be read quickly so that I can enjoy the great spring weather--if the wind would just stop blowing! I guess I am in Kansas, so I should be used to the wind!

Safe by Susan Shaw only has 168 pages, so it is a short book, but has a really good story. I had trouble putting it down once I started it. With the death of her mother when she was three, Tracey has experienced loss. However, life with her father is happy and her best friend Caroline lives right down the street. But on the last day of school, Tracey is walking home and she is attacked and raped by a classmate’s older brother. Now her safe world has been crushed. The only place that she truly feels safe is in her own home playing the piano. She isolates herself from her friends so that she doesn’t have to ever leave her home. Her father is wonderful and her friends are very understanding as she works through this very difficult event in her life. This is a great book as Tracey struggles to find a way to feel safe within herself and her world. She must find a way to heal.