by Natalie Standiford
PRMS hardcover 276 pages
genre: YA realistic
This book came to my attention when a sixth grader returned it and my paraprofessional left me a note. "She was upset by the swear words and sex talk in the book." Since I was unfamiliar with this author or this story, I checked it out and added it to my ginormous reading pile.
It was pretty mild in terms of content (and in relation to some of the other titles in my collection), but it's definitely not a sixth grade book. The blurb on the inside cover doesn't really get at the heart of the story, either, which is probably part of the problem.
Bea is new in town, living with mom (and her increasingly bizarre behaviors) and dad, a college professor who has moved them many times over Bea's life. Bea meets Anne Sweeney on her first day at Canton High School. Anne is one of the popular people, but she welcomes Bea and is kind . . . until she mentions Jonah Tate aka "Ghost Boy" and the funeral they had for him as a joke a few years back. Some joke. Jonah's twin brother perished in the same car accident that killed his mom, back when the twins were little kids.
To me, this is a story about kids who don't fit into the "norm" for whatever the reason. They see the world and themselves differently. Call them freaks, misfits, oddballs . . . or teens who are just trying to figure out their place in the world differently from their peers. It was beautiful and sad, but mostly unfulfilling to me (because of how the story ends). Now that I've read it, I know better which kind of reader to recommend it to!
The AM night radio program (and the people on it) were the neatest part of this story!
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