Better Than Perfect by Melissa Kantor

Better Than Perfect is a story about a girl whose perfect life is not so perfect for her. It's about a girl beginning to discover just who she really is and what she might want out of life. And it's not the perfect life she has lined up for herself.

Synopsis

Juliet Newman's life has turned upside down with the separation of her parents. Her perfect family is no more. Her life plan was to ace the SAT and attend Harvard early action with her handsome boyfriend, Jason Robinson. But things in Juliet's life changed very quickly in June when her father announced he was leaving. 

Since that time, neither Juliet nor her mother have been doing well. Juliet scored poorly on her June SATs, taken the week after her father's big announcement. And her biggest support, Jason, is leaving for a holiday in France with his family. Jason's mother, Grace, asked Juliet if she wanted to travel with them, but Juliet cannot give up her coveted internship at Children United. Meanwhile her only sibling, her older brother, Oliver, who is staying at Yale for the summer, has gone camping for the week. And Juliet has no idea if her father intends on keeping the reservation for the house they usually rent in Maine for the summer.

At home Juliet's mother often sleeps late and drinks in the evenings. Her mother has always had lots of prescription drugs, for insomnia, for her back and even to calm her when she did presentations at charity functions. Now Juliet is concerned about all the prescription bottles on her mother's night table. On Bad Days Juliet's mother doesn't make it out of bed and Juliet finds herself taking on the role of mom. Good Days find Juliet's mom making plans to return to the workforce or planning to redecorate the house.

Sophia Taylor, Juliet's best friend, helps her study for the SATs and this leads Juliet to stay over at her friends home one night. When Juliet returns the next day, she finds her mother bloody and unconscious on the bathroom floor surrounded by pills. Juliet does not know whether her mother attempted suicide or if she accidentally overdosed.

At the hospital Juliet learns from her father that her mother has been abusing prescription drugs and mixing them with alcohol for some time. This revelation and seeing her mother in restraints make Juliet angry at her father and sad for her mother. Refusing her father's offer to return to his new home, Juliet drives to the Milltown Country Club where Sofia is working. However, in her frazzled state of mind, Juliet cuts off a van containing a family of musicians who are arriving for a gig at the country club. As a result of this accident, Juliet meets black haired, blue-eyed Declan Brennan, guitarist for the band, The Clovers, which also includes Declan's younger brother, Danny, his sister Sinead and his cousin Sean. After the concert in a moment of passion, Juliet and Declan impulsively hook-up, something Juliet regrets and feels intensely guilty about since she has been dating Jason for four years.

In the morning she meets her Aunt Kathy who has arrived from Portland Oregon. Kathy attempts to explain to Juliet her mother's situation, reiterating that she was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs not because Juliet's dad left her but because she has been unhappy for a long time. Kathy explains that her mother will have to go into a long-term facility for treatment and that she should consider moving back to Oregon with her. During her aunt's stay, life goes on for Juliet. She continues working at Children United, working on her SAT homework and seeing her SAT tutor. Juliet decides to turn down both Kathy's request to return to Oregon with her and her father's offer to live with him in New York and instead chooses to move in with her Jason's family.

Life is further complicated for Juliet when Declan shows up at Milltown High the first day of class. Attracted to him, but feeling guilty for cheating on Jason, Juliet tries to ignore Declan but Sophia, also attracted to him, draws Declan into their circle of friends. When she does finally talk to Declan she tells him what happened was a mistake.

Juliet goes to see her mother in the hospital, but the visit is upsetting because her mother is still very medicated and the woman she sees is nothing like the mother she remembers.  After the visit Juliet begins to think more deeply about her life and wonders why everything has to be "perfect".  After The Clovers have a successful gig at the Coffeehouse, they are offered the Friday night spot. Needing a new lead singer because Sinead has to travel to Boston every weekend in starting in January, Juliet is asked to join the band.

After rewriting the SAT Juliet seriously considers joining the Clovers, something Jason does not approve of. But when Juliet also suggests they not attend Harvard next year, Jason becomes concerned. Jason doesn't understand Juliet's desire not to attend Harvard because Harvard is their "future". After this Juliet decides to rehearse with the Clovers even though it will mean being around Declan. Juliet loves being in the band but her first gig with them doesn't happen after Sean and Danny are in a car accident, leaving Danny seriously injured.

As Juliet struggles to make sense of her life, Jason struggles to understand the changes in Juliet. Although Juliet continues along the path she has planned, studying to improve her Latin scores, she becomes increasingly disillusioned with her life. Her mother's return home and the changes in her mother and their relationship, as well as revelations about her parents by Oliver, lead Juliet to begin to make different choices from what she and Jason planned. Juliet's ambivalence towards Harvard continues even after she and Jason are accepted to Harvard early action. Being perfect seems to mean just doing what everyone expects of you. But is that what Juliet really wants for her life?


Discussion

Better Than Perfect focuses on the effect family expectations can have on people, particularly if those expectations do not jive with what that person wants for their life. Juliet comes from a family where everything has to be perfect. Her boyfriend, Jason's family is much the same. They have both been raised that to be the best at everything is the way to be happy. Yet Juliet has seen that in her family this has not brought happiness to her parents. "Out my back window I could see the pool. The pool guy, the gardener, the housekeeper...my house was its own little economy. All these people working so hard to make everything clean and pretty and well manicured. And with all that, my parents still hadn't been able to be happy together."

Being perfect hasn't brought Juliet the happiness she thought it would either. She has a perfect SAT and an early admission to Harvard. But she has not taken the time along the way to enjoy life. "Had I ever just gone home from school and hung out? I tried to remember, but I couldn't really remember anyone in my family just hanging out. We were all always doing something. Squash. Piano. Homework. Planning a vacation. Packing for a vacation. Unpacking from a vacation. Running errands. Making reservations. Organizing play dates. Soccer. Little League..."

Eventually Oliver reveals to Juliet that while their family was trying to be perfect, none of them were really happy. "Dad was trying to make all this money. Mom was trying to have the perfect family. I was trying to be the perfect student. You were trying to be the perfect student. But was anyone happy? Apparently not." 

Juliet comes to realize that if she continues to do what everyone expects of her she will never be happy. "There'd be graduate school and a job and a career and promotions. In a horrifying waking nightmare, I saw Jason and my parents and all my future classmates and colleagues and mentors and bosses telling me to keep doing something I hated doing because someday I would be glad I had done it." 

This leads her to tell her mother "And I know I'm disappointing you and Dad and everyone, but I feel like if I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm just going to be unhappy forever."  Juliet's mother understands because this is exactly what did happen to her. Her mother's quiet acceptance of what Juliet feels empowers her to break up with Jason. Juliet's relationship with Jason mirrors her parent's relationship. Like her parents, Juliet and Jason gradually grow apart but unlike her parents this is the result of being young and maturing. Juliet recognizes that she has different goals in life and that fitting into family expectations is not as important to her as it is to Jason. Juliet recognizes this and breaks off the relationship so that she doesn't end up like her parents.


One of the strengths of this novel is its portrayal of the effects of marriage breakdown on older children. We often assume teenagers will be able to cope with separation and divorce easier than younger children, but as Kantor's portrayal of Juliet's family breakdown demonstrates, teens can feel confusion, alienation, anxiety and deep anger. They may think they understand what has happened but often they do not. What happens to Juliet's family raises some hard questions especially around blame. Juliet at first blames her father for leaving but when she comes to know more about her parent's relationship she starts to realize that it was more complicated than she was aware of. Juliet's father tells her that he and Juliet's mother simply grew apart, not a fully honest answer considering what eventually was revealed. But is growing apart a reason for divorce? Should one person get to be happy at the expense of everyone else in the family?

Among the weaknesses in Better Than Perfect are the portrayal of casual sex without any consequences and also the long term sexual relationship Juliet and Jason have, also without seemingly any emotional or physical consequences. 

Although the situations of the characters in this novel, wealthy and leading a very priviledged life are not familiar to most teens, their struggle to make their own choices and forge their own path will resonate. Most young people would love the opportunity to attend Harvard and to live in a family wealthy enough to afford cars, gardeners and pool cleaners. This makes Juliet's dissatisfaction with her life seem shallow. However, as is often the case, being wealthy does not guarantee happiness.

Overall, Better Than Perfect is well written and will appeal to those readers interested in novels about high school and relationships and coming of age.

Book Details:
Better Than Perfect by Melissa Kantor
New York: HarperTeen     2015
324 pp.

If You're Reading This by Trent Reedy

If You're Reading This is Reedy's fourth novel, which focuses on a young teen who begins receiving his dead father's letters written to him seven years earlier while he served in Afghanistan. His father, worried he might not survive his time in Afghanistan wrote letters so his son would have something to remember him. These letters motivate the young man to change his life and help him come to terms with his father's death years earlier and in doing so to help his family heal.

For fifteen-year-old Mike Wilson grade ten is starting out similar to the past seven years - without his father. His father Mark, died seven years ago on August 28, 2005 in Afghanistan, leaving behind Mike, his younger sister, Mary and his mom, Allison, who has never recovered from the loss of her husband. Mike is a good student who has left behind his football playing days to focus on academics. But now that he's in his sophomore year he's been thinking of returning to playing. At lunch one day, Coach Carter, also Mike's history teacher, tells him time is running out, that he's missed the first set of practices and that he needs to join before the first game on Friday.

Mike works on Derek Harris's farm, helping him with various chores. Mike tells Derek that he really wants to play football but that his mother won't allow him to join. Ever since his father's death, him mother has been overly protective. She works constantly, struggling to provide for Mike and Mary, and has given up on her dream of becoming a nurse.

Mike arrives home to thirteen-year-old  Mary telling him that a letter has arrived in mail for him. When Mike opens the letter he is astonished to discover that it is a letter from his father written when he first arrived in Afghanistan and to be sent to Michael only if he was killed in action and prior to his sixteenth birthday. The letter dated May 29, 2004 tells Mike about what his father did in the Army National Guard where he is a combat engineer, trained in battle tactics with the M16 and other weapons.  He writes that his buddy, Marcelo Ortiz has promised to deliver the letters to Mike. The first letter tells Mike a little about his father's teen years, partying at Nature Spot and giving him advice on high school. He gives Mike his first mission, to go for whatever it is he's been wanting to do. Mike sees this as his father telling him to go for the spot on the football team, so he fakes his mother's signature and hands in the form to Coach. Although his father's first letter mentions that his buddy Ortiz would send the letters, Mike discovers that Ortiz died the same day as his father meaning that someone else has taken on this task.

What follows is a series of five more letters dated from June 12, 2004 until Mike's birthday on September 22, 2004. Each letter reveals to Mike more about his father, who he was, how he met his mother and what he believes in. In each letter Mike's father sets out a mission for him to accomplish including doing something nice for his mother or sister, taking a chance on a girl he might like and working on getting a good mark in a school assignment.  His father also introduces him to the "cowboy way"  telling Mike,  "Out here  in the middle of nowhere, we've had to figure out how to handle things on our own, like cowboys on the range. We might not always be completely sure how to solve a problem or carry out a mission, but we do it anyway. It's the Cowboy Way." 

Besides joining the football team, his father's letters lead Mike to gradually figure out how to handle a bullying teammate, Nick Rhodes, who continues to confront Mike because he is chosen to replace him on the team. The letters also encourage him to take a chance on a relationship even though it might mean getting hurt. In Mike's case it is Isma Rafee, whose parents are from Iran and whose father teaches mathematics at the University of Iowa. He also tries to be patient with his overwhelmed mother who works at a nursing home and seems to be coping poorly with what happened seven years ago.

His father's letters create a sense of conflict in Mike and open more questions about his father. He feels he never really knew his father and it bothers him that he never knew how he died. Because the letters have revealed new things about his father, Mike is determined to find the mystery sender hoping this person will be able to fill in more of the gaps. Repeated online searches of those whom his father mentions in his letters turn up little information. Even a call to his father's old engineer company armory reveals few leads except that the mysterious sender of the letters wants to remain anonymous and is simply following the wishes of Mike's father. Sergeant Andrews who speaks with Mike tells him, "Everyone who knows what you want to know promised your father that we'd let you get through all his messages first, and we promised to let the man sending the letters do this his own way. In the Army, we keep promises..."

The last letter arrives as part of a huge package that contains four video clips. These video clips reveal some startling revelations including the final minutes on the base before his last mission and the identity of the mystery mailer. By the time Mike has watched all the videos his life is in chaos; he's been forced to quit the football team, his relationship with Isma has collapsed and he's being bullied by Nick Rhodes. When he talks to the mystery mailer, someone close to him, Mike learns how his father died. This leads Mike to the realization that he needs to confront his mother  and get her to talk about what happened to his father. He decides to use the Cowboy Way to help his family towards healing and forgiveness.

Discussion

Trent Reedy was an English teacher in Riverside, Iowa before his Iowa National Guard unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2004. He had joined the National Guard like many other Americans, to help pay for his college education. The call to war was both unexpected and frightening. While on deployment, his wife, Amanda, sent him a copy of Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabitha. This book helped Trent Reedy recover some of the hope that he would survive his term of active duty. Reedy corresponded with Paterson who encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a writer and who helped him gain entrance to Vermont College of Fine Arts' writing program. 

If You're Reading This definitely showcases the strengths of Trent Reedy- his understanding of the life of a soldier, the struggles families of soldiers deployed overseas encounter and the sense of loss and the difficulty in coming to terms with the death of a soldier. Authors successfully write about those things they know well and this comes across in Reedy's novel with respect to army life.

Reedy uses the vehicle of the letters from Mark Wilson to his son Mike, to portray life for the American soldiers in Afghanistan during the "war on terror" and as the means to establish a relationship between father and son. With regard to the latter, occasionally, Mark's letters lacked authenticity and bordered on mundane. In one letter he writes, "Anyway that brings me to the first thing I guess I wanted to tell you. Always have a book going. Always take it with you. That way, if you get stuck someplace...." In another he tells his son about a first date with too much description that makes it seem awkward. The letters also seemed coincidentally to synchronize almost perfectly with what was going on in Mike's life when he read them. Yet for the most part the letters felt very realistic for example when his father tells him about fighting honourably, about respecting women, taking care of his mother and sister or when he encourages Mike to work hard in school.

Reedy has created in Mike a character with depth and honesty that feels genuine. He's already a fairly responsible teenager in contrast to his younger sister, Mary. While Mike cleans the house and has a part time job, Mary is more concerned with clothing, being with her friends and trying to blackmail her brother for money. Yet for all his good qualities, Mike undergoes considerable growth throughout the novel as he learns about his father, deals with new situations at school and a girlfriend.

At first Mike is struggling under the smothering blanket of his mother's over-protectiveness - which resulted in Mike leaving the one sport he really loves and is good at, football.  Desperate to be a part of school and to focus on something other than academics, Mike lies to his mom about what he's doing and  forges her signature on the permission form. But by the end of the novel he begins to recognize that in doing so he lacks the very integrity his father has encouraged him to have and one of the values Coach Carter has been working on with the team. He mans up, telling his mother who is furious at his lies. Nevertheless he maturely faces the consequences which involve more than just his mother's wrath, but also rejection from his teammates who don't know his reason for quitting. Overall Mike matures remarkably through the novel, helping his family work towards healing and also gradually learning that he has to defend the girl he likes, Isma, if he wants to continue his relationship with her.

Young male readers will love the exciting descriptions of the football practices and the games. Reedy manages to capture the tension during the games as well as the rivalry and camaraderie of the young players as they work towards creating a cohesive team. The dialogue between the teenage boys feels realistic, although maybe a bit sanitized, which is quite acceptable! Some readers may find that  novels moves a bit slowly in parts, but the author weaves the letters from Mike's father in often enough to keep interest high. Well written with an appealing cover.

Book Details:
If You're Reading This by Trent Reedy
New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.    2014
296 pp.

Slide by Jill Hathaway

 "I can never get used to the feeling of looking through someone else's eyes. It's as if each person sees the world in a slightly different hue. The tricky part is figuring out who the person is. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle --- what do I see, hear, smell? Everything is a clue."

Sylvia (Vee) Bell is a pink haired sophomore who lives with her constantly absent, pediatric surgeon father and her annoying younger sister, Mattie.  Her mother died from pancreatic cancer and Vee misses her terribly. Diagnosed as having narcolepsy (a sleeping disorder in which a person experiences "sleep attacks"), what Vee really has is the strange ability to "slide" into another person's consciousness and see things from their perspective. This ability comes in quite handy when a friend, Sophie Jacobs is found dead and believed to have committed suicide.

Vee however, believes there is more to Sophie's death. Although she knows Sophie was very distraught over something, she knows for certain that Sophie did not kill herself. This is because Vee unintentionally slides into the killer's consciousness when she touches a sheet from a calendar pad she found taped to her front door and not only sees Sophie on her deathbed but the killer's gloved hands as well.  Since Vee can only slide into a person by touching something that they have emotionally imprinted on, she reasons that the killer was at their house that day. Although everyone believes Sophie's death was a suicide and not a murder, Vee cannot tell others what she knows. She doesn't want her father to send her back to the psychiatrist as he did when he first found out about her ability to "slide:. Vee must try to figure out who killed Sophie and the best way to do this is to slide into potential suspects.

At first she suspects her sister's friend, Amber Prescott, who had a "plan to put her back in her place". Vee knows that Sophie had been the target of bullying by her sister Mattie and Amber. Both girls took compromising pictures of Sophie and sent them to the phones of the football team. She also knows that something bad went down between Sophie and Vee's ex-friend Scotch Becker, who almost succeeded in raping Vee. But circumstances soon lead Vee to consider other potential suspects. 

First there's her guy friend, Rollins, who's been acting strange lately. Is he jealous of her new friend Zane Huxley or just strange for another reason? Then when Vee remembers seeing Sophie with Mr. Golden who teaches AP Psychology, and crying, she wonders if he could be the killer. The only way for Vee to find out is to investigate on her own, using her ability to slide.

When another girl dies, Vee begins to realize that there is a real possibility her sister Mattie will be the next target. As she slides into more people, Vee begins to uncover secrets about her friends and teachers, but more importantly about her father. What she learns about her father will become important later on. Vee is able to eliminate some suspects but is still not able to solve the mystery of Sophie's death. In a sudden twist of events, Slide comes to a heart-stopping climax, revealing the killer and the motive behind the murders.

Discussion

Slide is a murder-mystery novel that incorporates a touch of the paranorma. Author Jill Hathaway's concept of sliding is brilliant and makes for an interesting beginning to the novel. Howeveer, the novel begins to unwind after the point where Vee sees Sophie's death. Knowing that she can only slide from objects that others emotionally imprint upon, Vee's logical next step would be to try to locate the owner of the sheet from the calendar pad since it was this item that caused her to slide into the killer's consciousness. This piece of evidence comes directly from the killer. Instead, she loses this evidence and therefore contact with the killer. However, this important piece of information isn't apparent until much later in the novel. The author could have used Vee sliding into the killer as a more effective means of creating suspense in the novel.

Vee's sliding doesn't really help her solve the crime other than by eliminating potential suspects, and providing the author with a device to tell the reader more about each character. Instead, Vee relies on her ability to think quickly and reason together pieces of the evidence - the key being the sheet from the calendar pad- to figure out what is happening. In fact, the actual perpetrator ends up being a minor character introduced only at the very end of the novel, and who has the most ridiculous motive for murder. It feels like the storyline and its ending weren't well thought out. A disappointing ending to a novel that began with much promise. Because the murderer is a minor character this means that the reader really can't solve this mystery but must follow along as things happen to Vee or those around her.

Hathaway does a wonderful job of recreating the high school environment with its changing loyalties, cliques, bullying, and blossoming romances. The interactions between characters are believable, especially those between Vee and her teachers. There are many issues that are a part of high school life which are touched upon even if only briefly in Slide; teen pregnancy, eating disorders, over the counter drug abuse, mental illness, bullying, teen dating, cyber bullying, date rape and suicide. It is perhaps too many for one novel.

The author also does a great job of having Vee explore the relationships she has with the people around her - her family and friends. Vee's introspective character allows the reader to understand her and the relationships she has with her father, her sister Mattie, and with her friends, Rollins and Sophie.

Slide had an interesting premise which got lost along the way with the author trying to write a mystery while tackling a wide range of teen issues and relationships. A sequel is planned.

Book Details:
Slide by Jill Hathaway
New York: HarperCollins Children's Books    2012
250 pp.

Unlocked by Ryan G. Van Cleave

Andy is 14 years old, the son of his school's janitor. When he starts classes at his new high school, he soon finds himself alone without friends - just like Sue, Nicholas and Blake. He quickly sets up the scenario for storyline, how everyone has formed their own cliques but left these three students out.

The rumour mill at school has it that Blake has a gun in his locker. But the rumour mill says a lot of things, so who knows if this is true. As the son of the janitor, Andy could find out if Blake really does have a gun by using his father's master keys to open Blake's locker. Finding out would make him cool and might just get him what Becky Ann promised.

I don't know
if I really wanted
to see if Blake
had a gun
or whether
I just wanted
to impress Becky Ann
by having the guts
to go look.
     Who knows what
     the "something"
     she promised
     would be?

All Andy wants to be is liked and accepted by his classmates. At first he really doesn't want to know if Blake has a gun or not. This is a frightening thing for Andy. And besides, wouldn't an adult know for sure?

Surely the teachers
would know
if a kid had a gun

Surely someone
would do something.

Then I realized:
what if
              I
were that
              someone?

Eventually, Andy forms a sort of friendship with Blake. It is a friendship based around their obsession about one thing - Blake's gun. It is apparent that both boys are dealing with teenage angst as well as difficult home situations. Both boys are alienated from their peers, bullied and lacking an engaged male role model in their lives.

As Blake's behaviour grows increasingly strange, Andy must choose, based on what he knows about Blake's life and what he is struggling with, either to remain faithful to his conscience or his friend. Either way, the decision will be a painful one.

Discussion

Unlocked is a brief exploration into the unraveling of one teen boy's life from loss to obsession through the eyes of another boy who is also suffering . The verse is brilliant and effectively captures the narrator, Andy's alienation and self-loathing while detailing Blake's breakdown and inability to cope. Van Cleave's poems enable the reader to feel genuine empathy for these two boys. Andy is alienated because of his social status - his father is the school janitor. In contrast, Blake who lives in a wealthy gated community was a popular student a year ago but is not coping with a significant loss in his life.

What I also thought was interesting about this book was how Van Cleave had Andy try to explore why the gun had such a hold on him. What did the gun offer Andy that he lacked and what did it mean to carry something like this around?

I highly recommend this book for young teen boys. It's a quick read with an interesting storyline.

Book Details:
Unlocked by Ryan G. Van Cleave
New York: Walker & Company
169 pp.

Life After by Sarah Darer Littman

Daniela Bensimon lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina with her mother, father and younger sister Sarita. Her father owned a clothing store and was able to support his family. Life use to be good but that was before the Argentinean Crisis of 2001. Government corruption and high debt contributed to a recession in Argentina. As a result, people lost faith in the banks and wanted to withdraw their money, changing their pesos into the safer dollar currency. The government attempted to halt this by restricting the amount of money people could withdraw from their accounts. The result was demonstrations and protests. The government of Fernando de La Rua collapsed and eventually Argentina ended up with a new president, Eduardo Duhalde. He decided to allow the peso to float against the dollar which resulted in drastic devaluation of the peso and a huge increase in inflation. Many people could no longer afford to pay for goods. Among them, was Dani's father who decided to close his clothing store. As a result, Dani's family was forced to subsist on the salary her mother earned as a nurse.

Besides the economic woes, her family has suffered terribly from a terrorist attack on the AMIA building on Monday July 18,1994. This attack, which happened on the same day as Dani's 7th birthday, killed her Tia Sara who was 8 months pregnant, as well as 84 other people. For Dani's father, the death of his sister has been a trauma he has never quite recovered from. This tragedy followed by the loss of his store has sent him into a deep depression that sees him often having violent outbursts.

For a while Dani tries to hold on to the life she once had and to cope with her family's poverty and her father's depression. She still meets her novio, Roberto (Beto) after school and they walk and kiss in the park. Beto and Dani discuss the possibility of their families leaving Argentina. Many of Dani's friends and relatives have already left including her best friend, Gabriela Tanenbaum (Gaby)who has emigrated to Israel along with many other Argentinean Jews. Eventually, Roberto also leaves, settling in Miami with his family.
Dani's mother continues to insist that they leave too but finally when another tragedy almost strikes, Dani's family decides to accept the offer of her Tio Jacobo to settle in New York.

Life in New York is very very different from life in Argentina. This new life is what Dani calls her Life After. Her family settles Twin Lakes, New York with the help of the local Jewish Family Services organization. While her sister Sarita goes to the local elementary school, Dani begins classes at the enormous Twin Lakes High School. High School is fraught with many challenges, including taking classes in English and trying to make friends in a culture so very different from what Dani is accostomed to.

On her first day she meets Brian Harrison who helps her navigate the school and tells her he is "personal GPS". Dani soon discovers that Brian is one of the good things. Their blossoming friendship holds the promise of something more if Dani can figure out where she stands with Roberto whom she hasn't seen in more than a year.

Another good thing about Twin Lakes is Jon a young student in Dani's class. Dani can relate well to Jon because like her, he is also an outsider, someone who is different from everyone else. But Dani also has to contend with Jessica, who at first is mean and who humiliates Dani on her first day at high school. It's not long though before Dani discovers that Jessica's unfriendliness is hiding a big hurt. It is this hurt that helps both Dani and Jessica connect.

I enjoyed reading this book very very much. First of all, I learned about the Argentinean crisis which most people probably have forgotten or maybe never even knew about because of the tragedy of 9/11. Littman does give us some background to the crisis at the very beginning of the book which is helpful. She also includes the AMIA (Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina)bombing of 1994, which I'm betting is unfamiliar to most North Americans. The terrorist theme is a strong one in Life After. The hurt of terrorism knows no boundaries and hurts us all whether in America or Argentina.I especially liked the way she portrayed young people as rising above the effects of terrorism to become stronger people.

Secondly, most of the characters who were central to the storyline, were well developed, realistic and interesting. Dani's struggles and worries about life in Argentina and in the United States were realistically portrayed. This was true not only about the situations Dani had to cope with at school but also her concerns over Roberto, whom she remained faithful to. Brian was an especially likeable character who was kind and respectable towards Dani.

I feel that Sarah Darer Littman did a good job of telling the story of a young immigrant, her struggles, her hopes and dreams and her successes in a positive and uplifting manner. My only complaint about this book is that it took very long to move from Life Before (Dani's life in Argentina) to Life, After. I'm sure part of this was due to the author setting up the circumstances for Dani's family leaving Argentina and also providing the reader a contrast to the two cultures and societies.

Overall a very good read!

Book Details:
Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman
New York: Scholastic Inc. 2011
281 pp.