You - Softcover

Benoit, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061947067 ISBN 13: 9780061947063

Publisher: HarperTeen, 2012

Synopsis

You're surprised at all the blood.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. You're just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore. This can't be happening to you. But then, how do you explain the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?

Maybe if you can figure out where it all went wrong, you can still make it right. Think fast. Time's running out. . . .

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
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0061947067
• ISBN 13: 9780061947063
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256