Tuesday, August 28, 2012

MY LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE by Natasha Friend

I am so glad to be able to begin a new school year with a new Natasha Friend novel.  Her books are incredibly popular with the girls in my classroom, and they are going to love this one.

MY LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE begins with a car accident that changes the life of one teenage girl.  Lexi, angry at her best friend Taylor, makes the decision to accept a ride from Taylor's brother, and that ride ends with Lexi's face smashing into the windshield.

Used to getting all the attention by being the beautiful girl in the room, now Lexi is struggling with a disfiguring facial injury.  When she is finally released from the hospital, she becomes a sort of hermit spending all her time dressed in her pajamas and refusing to leave her room.  No amount of coaxing from friends or family members can convince Lexi to resume her active teenage life.

Lexi is filled with hate.  She hates her best friend, and because of that friend's actions back on the night of the fateful party, Lexi also hates her boyfriend.  None of their apologies carry any weight for Lexi.  She is sure life is over and only reluctantly begins the new school year because her father warns her that missing any more days will require that she repeat the year after her fellow classmates have moved on.

The painful experiences Lexi encounters after her life changing accident will either make her a stronger and better person or will destroy her from the inside out.  Is is possible to forgive?  Is it possible to move on?

Natasha Friend is a master of realistic fiction.  Once again she takes on a subject with teenage appeal and creates a page-turner that will take readers deep into the life of her characters.  I will be book talking this one on the first day and it won't be gathering any dust on the shelf until every girl has gotten her hands on it.

1 comment:

jlarkin said...

Oooohhhh! This one does sound good - my students are big fans of her books as well. I'll have to grab this one for my library!

Jen @ Larkin's Book Bloggers