Saturday, April 6, 2013

THE PULL OF GRAVITY by Gae Polisner

I'll be honest, I was attracted to this one by the cover. The blurb on the back also promised a "freak disease", a "quirky girl", and a connection to Of Mice and Men, that sealed the deal. I quickly added it to the shopping cart and decided it would be at the top of the TBR pile.

Nick Gardner's best friend is dying.  The Scoot has actually been dying since the day he was born with the rare disease called progeria syndrome which causes accelerated aging.  Even though the Scoot has made it clear he is at peace with his premature death, Nick has never been able to accept that his friend won't always be there.  Maybe that's why they have grown apart over recent years.

Jaycee Amato sort of filled in the gap in the friendship between Nick and Scoot.  She got to know Scoot in a mutual class, and they became close enough that he trusted her with a dying request.  Scoot wants Jaycee to locate his estranged father and return a valuable book.  Jaycee agrees, and when Scoot takes a turn for the worse and dies, she enlists the help of Nick.

There is plenty of material in THE PULL OF GRAVITY to make it a thoroughly depressing read, but author Gae Polisner adds just the right amount of adventure and humor to make it inspirational instead.  The power of friendship and the desire to make the best of life's situations make this book a must-read.  I'm so glad the publishers decided on the eye-catching cover.

3 comments:

gae polisner said...

Thank you for this review. Love that the pb cover drew you as my editor and I worked hard to get it right and make sure it captured the journey, the whimsy and wouldn't alienate my male readers. Not sure what you teach, but I love to connect with teachers and classrooms who use the book. So glad you liked it. Thanks for taking the time to blog.

gae

Readingjunky said...

Hello Gae,
I'm so glad you are pleased with my review. I teach 9th and 10th grade English. In fact, my 10th graders recently finished reading OF MICE AND MEN which is why I'm excited to share your book with them.

RJ

gae polisner said...

Always so honored and excited when a teacher finds their way to my story. I'm always happy to pop in by Skype if a bunch of your students end up reading it and want to say hi and "Q&A." Can I use it as a verb like that?

If so, you can always find me by email: g.polisner@gmail.com

Nice to meet you. Thanks again for sharing my book with your students!