The Fall

The Fall
by James Preller

From the publisher:

"Through his journal a boy deals with the death of a classmate, who committed suicide as a result of bullying.

The summer before school starts, Sam's friend and classmate Morgan Mallen kills herself. Morgan had been bullied. Maybe she kissed the wrong boy. Or said the wrong thing. What about that selfie that made the rounds? Morgan was this, and Morgan was that. But who really knows what happened?

As Sam explores the events leading up to the tragedy, he must face a difficult and life-changing question: Why did he keep his friendship with Morgan a secret? And could he have done something—anything—to prevent her final actions?

As he did in Bystander, James Preller takes an issue that faces every student and school in the country, and makes it personal, accessible, and real. "

I am very careful about books I put in our school library that are about suicide. I don’t want to have any books that glorify it, which I feel some of the YA books do these days. I bought this one because of the many reviews that I read that said it was appropriate for middle school. It is a very quick, easy read and is a good book for reluctant readers. It has very short chapters and keeps your interest (for the most part). The author did a good job of helping the reader to feel the guilt and pain that the main character, Sam, was feeling. I liked that it was obvious that Morgan’s decision (the girl who committed suicide) wasn’t just about one person or one event. There were many things, along with her own poor choices, that factored into her depression and ultimate decision about suicide. Those puzzle pieces are placed together as the book progresses, because at the beginning you feel like you know exactly who and what is to blame. Aren’t those the kind of judgments we always make when someone commits suicide? We want to have a nice little package that tells us exactly what led to it and who or what is to blame. But we can never accurately judge because that person is now gone and can’t tell us what they were thinking or feeling. But as this book evolves, we are led to see there were many other influences at work. Towards the end of the book, there is a very telling conversation:

“I never loved anyone, she said. Ever. Please make that your gift to me.
‘What?’
Love someone. Live long and love someone with all your heart, she told me.”

One thing that was kind of distracting was that I believe this was set in middle school – at least the voices felt very young to me – but the timeline of events didn’t seem to work for middle school. If it was middle school, the characters had to have been in 7th grade because Morgan’s older sister was still at the school, and Mr. Laneway, the counselor, mentions that he liked Sam’s essay from last year. That means that the event that set off the mean girl would have had to happen in 5th or 6th grade, and I just didn’t buy that, so that was a little distracting. 

All in all, I think this is a sensitive and thoughtful look at teenage suicide. It demonstrated the lasting effects that one person can have, whether he or she even knows it. Hopefully any middle schoolers who read this will realize what an impact they can have when they choose to be kind, even if it is just to say a weak, “hi”. 

Areas of concern:
*Teenage suicide.
*Serious cyberbullying goes on.
*Talk of “hooking up” at a very young age.
*Several uses of the “s” word and a couple of the “a” word.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 9-14

School Library Journal - Grades 6-9

Need

Need
by Joelle Charbonneau

From the publisher:
""No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better."

Teenagers at Wisconsin's Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling Testing trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature. "

This book was intensely chilling for me. Why? Because I can so clearly see something like the plot of this book actually happening. A completely anonymous website that promises to give you things you need just by fulfilling a simple task? And then they reel you in and the tasks become more and more dangerous. Yes, this so could happen in a high school. And while all of the different POV's sometimes confused me, it also showed the different types of teenagers and how they reacted once things started happening. I've known or heard about each of those types of teenagers, and it is scary to think about something like this really happening. So while this was a very entertaining and thrilling book to read, I also think it can teach students the importance of being extremely careful on the internet. A few quotes that I liked:

1. We’re all so used to new things appearing on the Internet every day that we don’t question what’s behind them before welcoming them into our lives. 

2. No matter how many warnings are posted, no one actually believes that online behavior can hurt their lives or the lives of others. Especially if there is a cloak of anonymity. Everyone feels shielded, safe, and invincible. 

Read this for the fun of it, but also read it to become more aware of your choices online. 

Areas of concern:
*A mild amount of cussing. No *f* word.
*Creepiness factor is pretty high. Several deaths of high school students and other intense happenings.
*Talk of adultery.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+

School Library Journal - Grades 7+

The Fill-In Boyfriend

The Fill-In Boyfriend
by Kasie West

From the publisher:
"When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship."

Well, I can't rate this one as highly as I rated the author's other books, but I still enjoyed it. I will read anything Kasie West writes because she is an amazing storyteller. It doesn't matter if I didn't love the main character, or if I felt the Mean Girls vibe through the whole book, it still had me hooked from page 1 and kept me reading and interested. And it also made me a little introspective. How much validation do I need from social media? I think we could all sit back and ponder on that. So, if a book keeps me very interested and makes me think, I'd say that is a book I would recommend. I liked it, I didn't love it.

As with all Kasie West books, it was very clean (I loved the sober grad night!). However, here are some things that might be of some concern to parents:
A lot of lying goes on in this book. However, there are repercussions and consequences that the liar has to face and try to make good on.
There is a dysfunctional family masked as a perfect family, and reasons are never really fleshed out.
Mean girls.

Suggested Ages:

Booklist - Grades 8-11

School Library Journal - Grades 7+