Fiction Pick: The Honest Truth

The Honest Truth
by Dan Gemeinhart
Scholastic Press
2015
240 pages
ISBN: 9780545665766

Available January 27, 2015

Honest, open, generous, inspirational  and deeply moving, The Honest Truth will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.

Mark is a deep thinker; he writes haiku, loves his dog, takes photos with  his old camera, and wants to climb a mountain. He has to climb that mountain if it's the last thing he does. And it might be because he's dying.

Mark leaves a note for his best friend in the form of haiku. Jess figures where Mark is going, but is too afraid to tell the adults. She wants to help her friend, but is keeping his secret really helping him or not?

Mark goes off with Beau, his faithful canine companion and best dog friend whose heart is bigger than his whole  body. Beau would follow Mark into battle and fight valiantly by his side, never wavering, never backing down. They will need each other to face the elements and troubles they will face.

I cried when I read the author's note to early readers and I didn't stop even after finishing this book. There is more than one kind of hero in the world--some of them have four legs. Be ready with a NEW box of tissues at your side when you open The Honest Truth--you'll need it.

Highly, highly recommended grade 5-up. Death and dying.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Blog Tour and Extras: Dear Nobody

Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose
edited by Gillian McCain & Legs McNeil
Sourcebooks
2014
336 pages
ISBN: 978140228789

see the gallery of Mary Rose's drawings

Read an excerpt here

From the publisher:

Every word you read in this journal is the absolute, unvarnished truth. Told through Mary Rose’s actual diary entries, DEAR NOBODY is a raw and gripping account of a girl that grapples with the typical angst of teen life—love, happiness, heartbreak—but also struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and a terminal illness that loom over her life.  Intense and authentic, this an eye-opening account of a girl so desperate to be loved, so eager to fit in that she’ll go to extremes that could cost her life. 

 

Already critics are buzzing:

·        “A rare, no-holds-barred documentation of an American teenager’s life.”—Publishers Weekly

·        “The voice is authentic, this book is an experience.”—Kirkus Reviews

 

Mary Rose died when she was 17. As much as she hoped, a cure for her terminal illness has not been found.

 

“I feel like a real life loser—and the game is life. I’m failing everywhere—academically, emotionally, socially, and even intellectually. I am losing myself on a bet. A bet that I can survive, that I can still be what destiny wants me to be.”

 

Her editors, Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil, have given Mary Rose the voice that life and circumstances denied her. A vitally important and compelling read that’s sure to engender controversy and discussion, it’s a not-to-be-forgotten book, and destined to be a true diary classic.

 

My thoughts:

 

This is an unputtdownable page turner that is both heart breaking and life changing. Mary Rose is that teenager who is looking for love and belonging--she speaks to that need that is human in all of us. For fans of Go Ask Alice and books with a raw voice full of strife, longing and need. It will break your heart. This book is an emotional roller coaster that will pull you in. Teens will love this book.

 

Visit the publisher's webpage for more!  

 

 

Teen Pick: Devine Intervention (Guest Review)

Devine Intervention
by Martha Brockenbrough
Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic Books)
2012
304 pages

Blogger's Note: This review is courtesy of my BFF in publishing and fellow reviewer/writer Leslie Rush. Leslie is a high school teacher with a voracious appetite for ya novels.



From the first page welcoming the reader to the Soul Rehabilitation Program for Nefarious Teens (Deceased), or SRPNT, Devine Intervention is hilarious and heartfelt. Readers will relate to Jerome as he struggles to navigate his way through the afterlife.

Jerome is a hapless, teenaged, not-quite-an-angel, assigned to a soul rehab program. Apparently the lower levels of Hell were getting overcrowded, so Heaven devised this last-chance redemption for newly dead teens---kind of a heavenly First Offenders Program. Jerome is supposed to be a guardian angel, but he's not very good at it. Having lost his "Guardian Angel Handbook: Soul Rehab-Edition," he's pretty much "winging it" (yes, pun intended)... acting on instincts which are for the most part, lousy. He hasn't got much in the way of Heavenly support, other than the bureaucrat angel sponsors who run the program, and a fellow rehab member, a borderline psycho frenemy named Howard.

Jerome didn't have much support when he was alive, either; his mother abandoned him and his father when Jerome was very young, and Dad has descended into a defensive world of alcohol and despair. Before he died, Jerome had nobody but his friend Mike. His adventures with Mike not only got him killed---Jerome walks around in the afterlife with an unfortunate arrow sticking out of his forehead---but also initiated the sad, thoughtless act that left Jerome teetering on the brink of eternal damnation.

Jerome has been charged with guarding the soul of Heidi Devine since she was born. Heidi is 16 now, on the basketball team and a talented artist, with a secret. Her secret is the voice in her head, the voice who warns her of danger, tells her terrible jokes, and softly sings "Freebird" to her when she is down. Heidi is pretty sure she is crazy, but lives her life telling no one about this constant companion.

After a horrific day of epic failure, Heidi suffers a terrible, fatal accident. Jerome tries valiantly to rescue her, but as usual, things don't work out so well for him, and he and Heidi find themselves in a desperate, literally death-defying race with the clock to keep her soul from disintegrating permanently and to keep Jerome out of Hell. Complicating matters are the missing handbook, grieving friends and family members, a zippy little dog, and the lurking, nefarious Howard. As the conclusion draws near,readers may think they know how matters will turn out, but a nice plot twist resolves the story in an unexpected, satisfying way.

Brockenbough has a keen ear for teen boy thoughts and dialogue. Mild sexual references, mild violence, no profanity, just substitute cusswords (they are angels, after all).

Highly recommended for both boys and girls grades 7 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensations for this review. The guest reviewer did not receive monetary compensation for this review.