Friction - Hardcover

Frank, E. R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068985384X ISBN 13: 9780689853845

Publisher: Atheneum, 2003

Synopsis

Simon is the coolest teacher anywhere. Forest Alternative is lucky to have him. When Stacy arrives -- a new kid with secrets, gleaming hair, and a tongue ring -- she sizes up Simon and agrees, adding: "He is a total babe."

True.

What Stacy says later about Alex and Simon after the class overnight camp out is not true, but looks as if it could be. Alex herself begins to wonder what's real, what's not. But she can't confide in her parents. They'd freak. And, after all, she does love Simon.

Listening to Stacy though, everyone else is totally suckered -- most painfully Alex's best buddy and sort-of boyfriend, Tim. "Why were you hugging him?" Tim wants to know, and it's hard to explain. Simon did not do what Stacy claims!

Did he? Could he?

At age twelve the truth seems hopelessly complicated. And it gets even more so after Alex makes a surprise visit to Stacy's house. There, she finds out the answer to one terrible question, only to discover another, far worse.

About this title

About the Author

E. R. Frank's novel America received praise from all major reviewers (for a sampling, see the back of this jacket). Her first novel was Life Is Funny, winner of the Teen People Book Club NEXT Award for YA Fiction and was also a top-ten ALA 2001 Quick Pick.

A social worker, Frank lives with her husband in Montclair, New Jersey.

Reviews

Grade 6-10-Alex, almost 13, has gone to Forest Alternative school for three years, and is a force on the otherwise all-male soccer team. Simon is her teacher, coach, and friend. He has taught his students with attention toward their intellectual, athletic, and emotional growth. When Stacy, a new girl, waltzes into this eighth-grade utopia, the balance of the classroom dynamics tips. She starts rumors about Simon's attraction to Alex, and casts a sticky web of sexual discomfort over the class. Everything Alex sees, feels, and knows becomes laden with ulterior meanings. Only Simon remains clueless about what's going on. He is a free spirit who neglects protocol and makes poor choices. On the class camping trip Alex sees his "thing" on her way to the latrine. Later, he climbs into the kids' tent to avoid a storm and lies down next to her. At novel's end, the only clarity is that the brash and troubled Stacy has caused the pain in her own life to seep over into those who've been previously spared. False accusations, dark family secrets, professional boundaries, and coming-of-age, all contribute to the novel's friction, reflecting a point of view that twists, turns, and confronts readers. Most of them will identify with Alex, her conflicting thoughts, and the events that she unintentionally unleashes. Her voice is convincingly genuine, and her confusion and self-doubt are powerful reminders of the na‹vet‚ and culpability of adolescence. The silent, if misplaced guilt that she absorbs will linger long after the book is closed.
Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 9-12. Twelve-year-old Alex loves Forest Alternative school: she plays soccer with the guys; her best friend, Tim, is in her class; and her all-day teacher is Simon, who's young, energetic, and adored by the students. But a new student, Stacy, changes things with her outrageous stories, her family secrets, and her way of seeing sex in everything, including the way that Simon interacts with Alex. Alex doesn't believe Stacy, but as her classmates begin to second-guess Simon, she wonders, too, and her confusion and anxiety become overwhelming, and she's unsure how to talk about her feelings to her loving but overextended parents. Frank tells a riveting story of abuse and peer pressure in Alex's pitch-perfect voice that's just on the cusp of adolescence. Never too self-aware, Alex describes her anguish in palpable terms--"it crushes my stomach." Frank has a keen awareness of the subtle power and politics of middle-school groups, and she weaves messages about good and bad touching seamlessly into the text. Like America (2002), but for a younger audience, this gripping, unsettling novel is filled with fully realized characters who are faced with unspeakable abuse and adult betrayals. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

The first time we all meet Stacy, it's just a regular morning.

Our teacher, Simon, is in front of the room, shuffling flash cards. He leans back against the science counter, mixes the deck a couple of times, and hooks one ankle over the other, the way he always does. Then he holds up the first word.

"Ology," he says out loud, so we can hear how it sounds. I write, the study of. Things are quiet while pencils scratch, sounding just like gerbils making a nest out of cedar chips and Kleenex. Simon holds up the next one. Astro. On a test he'll put them together, and we'll have to figure out that astrology means "the study of stars."

"Ichthy," Simon says. Fish, I write, and then I kick Tim and make a gagging face to remind him how we remember that one: Fish tastes icky....ichthy. But Tim doesn't kick back, even when I kick him again, and then I notice there's this massive hush in the room. I look up to see a girl standing in the doorway. The new girl. Simon told us she was coming, but up until this second I'd forgotten all about it.

She's got shiny black hair down to her behind and gray eyes that take up her whole face, and she's as skinny as I am. She's wearing a purple-and-black turtleneck and jeans that look brand-new, and she grins at everybody like she's totally psyched to meet us. She's got a gap between her two front teeth.

"Hi," she goes. "I'm Stacy." I see a flash of silver in her mouth. A tongue ring. "Let's get this party started."

And that's how it begins.

Copyright c 2003 by E. R. Frank

Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 068985384X
• ISBN 13: 9780689853845
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208