If I Stay
by Gayle Forman
Speak (Penguin Group), 2009
234 pages
Beautifully written and evocative of Love Story, If I Stay will resonate with teen readers.
What choice would you make? Life or letting go? Mia is in the position to choose life with all its tragedies or simply fading away--the easy way out. Mia wakes and finds herself at the side of the road and realizes her body is on a stretcher bound for the hospital. Her body is in a coma after a horrible car accident leaves her without her mother and father and little brother, but her mind is active and alert.
The reader looks back at Mia's life through her eyes: her early years with her semi-hippie parents, her dad's playing in a rock band, her mother's feminism, the birth of her baby brother, her dad quitting the band and becoming "responsible."
Mia loves life and her boyfriend Adam. In her "out of body" experience, she is able to hear and see her grandparents and friends as they visit her in the hospital. A bright musical future awaits Mia, the classical prodigy who may earn a spot at Juilliard. If I Stay tells the story of Mia and Adam meeting and falling in love and how much Adam wants her to live.
Break out the tissues! Readers will be weeping while Mia decides "if I stay..."
Recommended grades 9-up. Mature grade 8 readers will probably be okay with this novel. Some langauge.
FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my grade 8 romance readers. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.
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