Nightbird
Alice Hoffman, 2015
Random House Children's Books
208 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385389587
Summary
In her first novel for middle-grade readers, bestselling author Alice Hoffman tells a bewitching story of love and friendship that is truly magical.
Twig lives in Sidwell, where people whisper that fairy tales are real. After all, her town is rumored to hide a monster. And two hundred years ago, a witch placed a curse on Twig’s family that was meant to last forever.
But this summer, everything will change when the red moon rises. It’s time to break the spell. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 16, 1952
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Raised—on Long Island, New York
• Education—B.A., Adelphi University; M.A., Stanford University
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts
Background
Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston.
Hoffman’s first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She credits her mentor, professor and writer Albert J. Guerard, and his wife, writer Maclin Bocock Guerard, for helping her to publish her first short story in the magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff then contacted her to ask if she had a novel, at which point she quickly began to write what was to become Property Of, a section of which was published in Mr. Solotaroff’s magazine, American Review.
Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published more than twenty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults.
Adult Works
Her novel, At Risk (1988), which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools.
Practical Magic (1995) was made into a 1998 Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
Her novel, Here on Earth (1997), an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights.
Hoffman’s advance from Local Girls (1999), a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA.
Millennial novels include New York Times bestsellers The River King (2000), Blue Diary (2001), The Probable Future (2003) and The Ice Queen (2005). Blackbird House (2004) is a book of stories centering around an old farm on Cape Cod.
Then came The Third Angel (2008) and The Story Sisters (2009)—both bestsellers—and The Red Garden (2011), a collection of linked fictions about a small town in Massachusetts where a garden holds the secrets of many lives.
More recently, Hoffman published The Dovekeepers (2011) and The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014) to solid acclaim. Both spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
Teen and preteen
Hoffman’s earliest books for young readers are Aquamarine (2001) and Indigo (2002). Green Angel (2003), a post-apocalyptic fairy tale about loss and love, was published by Scholastic, and The Foretelling (2005), about an Amazon girl in the Bronze Age, was published by Little Brown.
Her teen novel Incantation (2006) is a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year. Hoffman also published Green Witch (2010), is a sequel to her popular post-apocalyptic 2003 fairy tale, Green Angel.
Most recently, Hoffman published Nightbird (2015), the story of an age-long family curse and a boy with wings.
Recognition
Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine.
She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay Independence Day, the 1983 film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest.
Her teen novel Aquamarine was made into a 2006 film starring Emma Roberts.
Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines.
Toni Morrison called The Dovekeepers "a major contribution to twenty-first century literature" for the past five years. The story of the survivors of Masada is considered by many to be Hoffman’s masterpiece. The New York Times bestselling novel is slated for 2015 miniseries, produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, starring Cote de Pablo of NCIS fame.
Reviewing The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014) for The New York Times Book Review, Katherine Weber referred to it as "A lavish tale about strange yet sympathetic people, haunted by the past and living in bizarre circumstances… Imaginative." (Bio adapted from the author's website. Retrieved 4/13/2015.)
Book Reviews
Hoffman has a beautiful way of throwing open a door on possibility so that the reader begins to see magic everywhere…Sidwell seems gentler than the settings of Hoffman's works for adults, but still buzzes with charm and mystery…The world of Sidwell is one of quiet sorcery. Power can be found not just in the crackle of summer lightning but in ritualistic and common chores—the planting of a garden, the making of a proper pie crust. Hoffman reminds us that there are secrets everywhere, and in these moments of unexpected discovery, Nightbird soars.
Leigh Bardugo - New York Times Book Review
Once again, Hoffman works her magic to transport readers to a realm where enchantment intermingles with everyday realities.... The book’s evocative setting and distinctive characters will immediately hook readers, and the history of Twig’s family, uncovered bit by bit, will keep them engaged (Ages 10–up).
Publishers Weekly
[A] recipe for a page-turning plot. The conclusion may be too cheerful for sophisticated readers, and... [a]t times, the narrative voice is that of a gifted writer who knows how to work magic with language rather than the voice of an awkward tween. It is, nevertheless, a delight...and satisfying (Ages 11-15). —Donna L. Phillips;
VOYA
A sweet, if somewhat uneven middle grade tale.... Hoffman juggles multiple themes: an environmental thread...; a broken family thread...; a friendship tale...; along with bits of romance, curses, and magic.... Unfortunately, the [overly pat] climax... undercuts an otherwise sophisticated narrative. (Gr 4–6). —Elisabeth Gattullo Marrocolla, Darien Library, CT
School Library Journal
There's a monster in Sidwell, Massachusetts, that can only be seen at night or, as Twig reveals, if passersby are near her house. It's her older brother, James, born with wings just like every male in the Fowler line for the last 200 years.... The mix of romance and magic is irresistible and the tension, compelling.... Enchanting (Ages 9-12).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also use LitLovers generic Teen Discussion Questions to help get a discussion started for Nightbird:
1. Overall, how did you feel reading this book? Did the book hold your interest? Did it make you angry, sad, laugh?
2. What do you think of the main characters? Do you admire or disapprove of them? What are they like? Think about fairness, honesty, respectfulness, loyalty, bravery, kindness, intelligence, strength or weakness.
3. Can you find a sentence or paragraph that describes a main character really well—or in which a character says or does something that strikes you?
4. What motivates the main characters—makes them do what they do? Do you think their actions are right or wrong, fair or unfair, or what?
5. Who in the book would you most like to meet? What would you say or ask?
6. If you could be a character in the book—or a totally new character—who would you like to be? Would you make changes? What or how?
7. Does a character remind you of someone in your family, or a friend? Have you ever felt the same way as one of the characters?
8. What is the central problem, or conflict, in the story? What is the root cause of the conflict?
9. What is the defining moment in the story—the climax? How did you feel when it happened? Were your frightened? Sad? Relieved? Angry?
10. Has something like this happened to you? How do you think you would react if something like it ever did happen?
11. Do you like the way the story ends? If so, why. If not, what would you change?
12. Did you expect the ending—or were you surprised?
13. Do the characters learn anything by the end of the story? Do they grow or develop a new outlook on life. Are they smarter or wiser?
14. What do you think we can learn from this book? What insights can we gain. What can we take away to make us wiser?
15. Were you sad to see the story end, to say goodbye to the characters? Or were you ready for it to end?
16.. Overall, how do you like the book? Would you tell another friend to read it?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online of off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Last Time We Say Goodbye
Cynthia Hand, 2015
HarperCollins Teen
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062318473
Summary
A gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go.
Since her brother, Tyler, committed suicide, Lex has been trying to keep her grief locked away, and to forget about what happened that night.
But as she starts putting her life, her family, and her friendships back together, Lex is haunted by a secret she hasn't told anyone—a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.
In the tradition of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, Gayle Forman's If I Stay, and Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a thoughtful and deeply affecting novel that will change the way you look at life and death. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 30, 1978
• Raised—near Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
• Education—B.A., College of Idaho; M.F.A., Boise State University; Ph.D., University
of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Currently—lives in Boise, Idaho
Cynthia Hand is the New York Times bestselling author of the Unearthly trilogy. A native of southeastern Idaho, she has graduate degrees in creative writing from Boise State University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. For the past seven years she has taught writing at Pepperdine University in Southern California. She and her family have recently moved back to Idaho, where they are enjoying the fresh air. (From the publisher.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Even if you think you have a high tolerance for gut-wrenching fiction, the tragedy may knock you flat. Still, reading The Last Time We Say Goodbye feels like exploring a forest after it's been decimated by wildfire. You will see new shoots sprouting where you least expect them…Hand spin[s] heartbreak into [a mystery] that remain[s] realistically, uncomfortably unsolved. Readers requiring total resolution may want to steer clear. But braver souls, teenagers and adults alike, will be rewarded…The payoff may not be particularly sweet…but it is hard-earned and life affirming, which is infinitely more rewarding
Elisabeth Egan - New York Times Book Review
Hand’s writing can be stiff...but she persuasively conveys the aftermath of suicide and the ways those left behind struggle with grief, anger, and guilt. Although Lexie’s movement from paralysis to possibility is a little quick, her range of emotions is believable, and Hand is effective at showing how guilt can impede one’s ability to move through tragedy (Ages 13–up).
Publishers Weekly
For Lex, since her brother committed suicide, questions about their last goodbye have haunted her.... The narrative unravels in perfect pacing, drawing readers into this emotional story.... [A]n excellent and thoughtful exploration of grief (Gr 8 & up). —Stephanie Charlefour, Wixom Public Library, MI
School Library Journal
(Starred review.) A quietly powerful, emotionally complex novel that will echo with readers long after it is finished. Both shatteringly painful and bright with life and hope.
Booklist
After her younger brother's suicide, ordinarily rational Alexis starts seeing her younger brother's ghost.... Details of Ty's last days, Alexis' sense of guilt and the incident itself are revealed slowly and are often unexpected but always believable. Evocative and insightful (Ages 14-18).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
I Was Here
Gayle Forman, 2015
Penguin Young Readers
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451471475
Summary
Cody and Meg were inseparable...until they weren’t.
When her best friend, Meg, drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning?
But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, and some secrets of his own.
And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 5, 1970
• Raised—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Education—University of Oregon
• Awards—NAIBA Book of the Year Award; Indie Choice Honor Award; British Fantasy Award
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York
Gayle Forman is an American young adult author who began her career writing for Seventeen Magazine where most of her articles focused on young people and social concerns. Later she became a freelance journalist for publications like Details, Jane, Glamour, The Nation, Elle, and Cosmopolitan.
Writing books
In 2002, Forman and her husband Nick took a trip around the world. From her journeys, she garnered a wealth of experiences and information which later served as a basis for her first book a travelogue You Can't Get There From Here: A Year On The Fringes Of A Shrinking World.
In 2007 she published her first young adult novel Sisters in Sanity which she based on an article she had written for Seventeen.
In 2009, Forman released If I Stay, about a 17 year old girl named Mia who has been involved in a tragic car accident. The novel follows Mia's experience as she lies in a coma fully aware of what is going on around her and everything her visitors say and do. Feeling the agony of loss of those closest to her yet aware of the abounding love of those that remain, she must make the choice to hang on or let go. Forman won the 2009 NAIBA Book of the Year Awards and is a 2010 Indie Choice Honor Award winner for If I Stay. The film adaptation of, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, was released in 2014. The sequel, Where She Went, was released in 2011. Told from Adam's point of view, the novel is about Adam and Mia's relationship after the accident.
In 2013, Forman released Just One Day. The novel follows Allyson Healey, who, on the last day of a post-graduation European tour, meets a Dutch vagabond actor named Willem. In an uncharacteristic, spur-of-the moment decision, Allyson goes to Paris with Willem, which leads to "a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life." The sequel, titled Just One Year, was also released in 2013. That novel follows the same chronological path as Allyson's story, but told from the perspective of Willem. The final installment of Allyson and Willem's story, Just One Night, is a 50-page novella released in ebook format in 2014.
Forman's other notable literary awards include the British Fantasy Award (2010), an ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2010), South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award (2011), TAYSHAS High School Reading List (2010), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2009), Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2010).
Gayle resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two daughters. At the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Forman participated in panel discussions. She was on the panel “Young Adult Fiction: Teens and Turmoil” with Jandy Nelson, Cynthia Kadohata and moderator Sonya Sones.
Books
2005 - You Can't Get There from Here: A Year on the Fringes of a Shrinking World
2007 - Sisters in Sanity
2009 - If I Stay
2011 - Where She Went
2013 - Just One Day
2013 - Just One Year
2014 - Just One Night
2015 - I Was Here
(Author bio from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/20/2015.)
Book Reviews
(Starred review.) [A]n introspective examination of the line between life and death... Beyond exploring Cody’s grief, this psychologically incisive book delves into her complex relationships with Tricia, her single mother; Meg’s more conventional family; and, most profoundly, the boy who stole and wounded Meg’s heart shortly before her death (ages 14–up).
Publishers Weekly
Cody struggles to figure out why Meg took her own life.... The distraught but determined teen begins to encrypt files on Meg's laptop.... As she goes further down the rabbit hole, Cody comes to the realization that she needs to forgive Meg, and, more importantly, herself (Gr 9-up). —Suanne B. Roush, formerly at Osceola High School, Seminole, FL
Library Journal
This novel’s strength lies in its depiction of main character Cody, a young woman torn by conflicts but sustained by her own sense of purpose. Another selling point is the novel’s investigation of teen suicide, which even when fictional is a perpetually troubling phenomenon.... [H]ighly psychological and will probably especially appeal to girls (ages 11 to 18.) —Laura Woodruff
VOYA
Part tautly paced mystery, part psychological study of suicide and its aftereffects.... An engrossing and provocative look at the devastating finality of suicide, survivor's guilt, the complicated nature of responsibility and even the role of the Internet in life-and-death decisions (age 14-up).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Golden Son (Red Tide Trilogy, 2)
Pierce Brown, 2015
Random House
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345539816
Summary
Debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants.
But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.
A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth.
Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people. He must live for more. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1987
• Raised—Colorado; North Carolina; Arizona; Iowa; Texas; and Seattle, Washington
• Education—B.A., Pepperdine University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Pierce Brown spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two. Graduating from Pepperdine University in 2010, he fancied the idea of continuing his studies at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a magical bone in his body. So while trying to make it as a writer, he worked as a manager of social media at a startup tech company, toiled as a peon on the Disney lot at ABC Studios, did his time as an NBC page, and gave sleep deprivation a new meaning during his stint as an aide on a U.S. Senate campaign.
Now he lives Los Angeles, where he scribbles tales of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Gripping.... Both author and lead character have cranked up the emotional stakes.... With Golden Son, [Pierce] Brown avoids the sophomore slump, charging the novel with the kind of dystopia-toppling action you’d expect in a trilogy ender, not a middle volume. On virtually every level, this is a sequel that hates sequels—a perfect fit for a hero who already defies the tropes (Grade: A).
Entertainment Weekly
Brown shows everything organically.... Dramatic battles with a real sense of loss, and a final chapter that slams into both Darrow and the reader, make this the rare middle book that loses almost no momentum as it sets up the final installment.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [A]n even better novel than Brown's breakout debut. The scope of the conflict is larger—it's not a child's game anymore but a real battle for the future of the solar system. Darrow remains a fascinating yet tortured martyr, never able to grab any personal happiness when he knows how much rests on his shoulders.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) The stakes are even higher than they were in Red Rising, and the twists and turns of the story are every bit as exciting. The jaw-dropper of an ending will leave readers hungry for the conclusion to Brown’s wholly original, completely thrilling saga.
Booklist
Brown presents the second installment of his epic science-fiction trilogy, and like the first, it’s chock-full of interpersonal tension, class conflict and violence.... Stirring... Comparisons to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones series are inevitable, for this tale has elements of both.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven, 2015
Random House
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385755887
Summary
An exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Gayle Forman, Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning! (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 14, 1969 (?)
• Raised—Richmond, Indiania, USA
• Education—B.A., Drew University; American Film Institute
• Awards—Emmy Award (screenwriting); Gambrinus Giuseppe Mazzotti Prize (Italy)
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
With the publication of her first book in 2000, The Ice Master, Jennifer became a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writer. A nonfiction account of a deadly Arctic expedition, the book was named one of the top ten nonfiction books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, and translated into multiple languages.
Jennifer and The Ice Master appeared in Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Talk, Glamour, The New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times Book Review, London Daily Mail, London Times, and Writer's Digest, among others. Dateline BBC, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel all featured The Ice Master as hour-long documentaries, and the book was the subject of numerous European television documentaries. The book has been nominated for awards by the American Library Association and Book Sense, and received Italy's esteemed Gambrinus Giuseppe Mazzotti Prize for 2002.
Jennifer's second book, Ada Blackjack—an inspiring true story of the woman the press called "the female Robinson Crusoe"—has also been translated into multiple languages, was a Book Sense Top Ten Pick, and was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Top Five Arctic books.
Her memoir, The Aqua-Net Diaries: Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town, was published in 2010 and optioned by Warner Bros. as a television series.
Her first novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive (based on her Emmy Award-winning film of the same name), was released in 2009, becoming an Indie Pick for the August 2009 Indie Next List and also a Costco Book of the Month. The second book in the Velva Jean series, Velva Jean Learns to Fly, was released in 2011, the third book, Becoming Clementine, in September 2012, and the fourth, American Blonde, in 2014.
With her mother, author Penelope Niven, Jennifer has conducted numerous seminars in writing and addressed audiences around the world. She lives in Los Angeles. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
At the heart—a big one—of All the Bright Places lies a charming love story about this unlikely and endearing pair of broken teenagers…it seems inevitable that All the Bright Places will be compared to Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park and John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, and deservedly so, at least in the case of its central characters. Violet and Finch are the archetypal offering in contemporary young adult fiction: a pair of damaged, heart-tugging teenagers who are at once outcasts and isolated, trapped by the dissonant alchemy of their combined fates.
Andrew Smith - New York Times Book Review
This heartbreaking love story about two funny, fragile, and wildly damaged high school kids named Violet and Finch is worth reading. Niven is a skillful storyteller who never patronizes her characters—or her audience.
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review.) Niven creates a romance so fresh and funny... [and] she also makes something she foreshadows from the first line surprising. The journey...is romantic and heartbreaking, as characters and readers confront darkness, joy, and the possibilities—and limits—of love in the face of mental illness (Ages 14–up).
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) The writing in this heartrending novel is fluid, despite the difficult topics, as Niven relays the complex thought processes of the two teens. Finch and Violet, with their emotional turmoil and insecurities, will ring true to teens (Gr 10 Up). —Heather Miller Cover, Homewood Public Library, AL
School Library Journal
(Starred review.) Two struggling teens develop an unlikely relationship in a moving exploration of grief, suicide and young love.... [A] cast of carefully drawn side characters brings to life both the pain of loss and the possibility of moving forward, though some notes of hope are more believable than others. Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably (14 & up).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)