You - Hardcover

Benoit, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061947040 ISBN 13: 9780061947049

Publisher: HarperTeen, 2010

Synopsis

This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

You're just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase. This can't be happening to you. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?

There had to have been signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them? Maybe if you can figure out where it all went wrong, you can still make it right. Or is it already too late? Think fast, Kyle. Time's running out. How did this happen?

You is the riveting story of fifteen-year-old Kyle and the small choices he does and doesn't make that lead to his own destruction.

In his stunning young-adult debut, Charles Benoit mixes riveting tension with an insightful—and unsettling—portrait of an ordinary teen in a tale that is taut, powerful, and shattering.

Advance praise for You:

"You is authentic, ambitious, and gripping. A serious book that reads like a suspense novel, the story it tells—of the ways in which we become imprisoned by our own choices, big and small—is both frightening and frighteningly real."

—Lauren Oliver, New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall

"Charles Benoit has written a shattering, gut-wrenching novel that puts You right in the center of the story. Pick it up and you won't put it down!"

—Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Gone

"I sat down to start this book—and didn't get up until I'd finished it, a riveting three hours later. You is pitch-perfect: funny, real, touching, brimming with tension and foreboding—and still surprising right up to the last page. one of the best ya novels I've read in years."

—Patricia McCormick, National Book Award finalist, author of Sold and Purple Heart

"A sandstorm of a novel, as harshly real as hell or high school. I loved it."

—Robert Lipsyte, Margaret A. Edwards Award–winning author of The Contender and Center Field

"Wanna know who the real bad guys in your school are? Read You. This book will keep you reading, and then it will start you thinking. And talking. You is good stuff."

—Chris Crutcher, Margaret A. Edwards Award–winning author of Deadline

About this title

About the Author:

Charles Benoit is a former high school teacher and the Edgar Award-nominated author of three adult mystery novels and the teen novel Fall From Grace. He lives in Rochester, New York.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 8 Up–As the book opens, Kyle Chase wonders how he got himself into the dire situation he's in. Reflecting on the start of the school year, he recalls how his grades fell and he enrolled at Midlands High, while his friends headed to Odyssey. He met the hoodie crew and adopted their uniform of jeans, T-shirt, and black-hooded sweatshirts. He suppressed the guilt he felt after the group broke into the school. He tried to do the right thing and return a stolen wallet, but got suspended for three days for fighting. Doing catch-up work in the library, Kyle encounters witty and sarcastic Zack and chooses to follow him around. However, after losing a job opportunity, a potential girlfriend, and the respect of a teacher, Kyle begins to suspect that he is being sabotaged. Benoit's choice of second-person perspective allows readers to explore Kyle's motivations fully, but infuses the narrative with a moralizing undertone; an undertone that erupts during the teen's climactic self-evaluation. However, the sense of persecution and unfairness that dominates the text accurately captures his perspective. While the teen characters are well developed, the casual attention paid to the adults is obvious. When Kyle is offhandedly dismissed by his mother in an overheard conversation with his younger sister, the emotional response is honest and visceral. The rapid pace is well suited to the narrative, though sophisticated readers will be able to identify the twist exactly halfway through. In the end, Benoit creates a fully realized world where choices have impact and the consequences of both action and inaction can be severe.Chris Shoemaker,The New York Public Library
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061947040
• ISBN 13: 9780061947049
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240