Fallout

Tate, Niki. (2011). Fallout. Victoria, BC: Orca Books.

Teen suicide, a survivor, distant parents, slam poetry, someone who understands....  Nikki Tate's Fallout is a powerful and engaging story of a teen coping with her younger sister's suicide through writing and performing poetry.  We meet Tara one year after her sister's death.  She has left home and moved to another city where she works in a bookstore by day and meets with her slam poetry friends by night.  Every day is filled with memories - and poems. Prose descriptions of a slam poetry competition are interspersed with poems about a family dealing with suicide. Tara begins to open up to her new friends and find a few moments of relief and, eventually, someone who really understands. While the topic is complex, there is no prolonged analysis or discussion and the characters are not very developed. The story moves along quickly touching on many common teen concerns (parental expectations, teen sex, teen drinking, depression, walking home alone, balancing competition and friendship). This is not a 'deep' novel but with its sparse layout, large type and lots of white space it is a perfect high interest, low reading level (3.0)  for reluctant or struggling readers that will appeal to many other teens looking for a quick read.

Young Adult (Part of the Orca Soundings Series, also available as an e-book on Google Play)

Maxed Out

Greer, D. (2012). Maxed out. Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers.

The fact that  Daphne Greer worked with people with special needs for sixteen years shines through in this touching and true to life story of Max, a young teen who is trying to hold his family together after his fathers' death.  Max's mother has fallen into depression and spends her time either at work or in bed, crying, leaving Max to look after his older brother, Duncan, who has autism.  Max loves his brother but becomes more and more frustrated as Duncan's behaviours make everything more difficult from routine chores to playing hockey with his friends. Hockey is Duncan's passion - and his last connection with his Dad.  Finally, Max works out a plan so that he can play in the big game - with disasterous consequences.  When life seems totally out of control, Max calls the Kids Help Line in the middle of the night.  From hurtful statements made in anger to the supportive acts of a true friend, the characters in this high interest, low reading level story really ring true. Many teens will be able to relate to Max's feelings of being 'Maxed out' and not knowing where to turn.

Young Adult (Hi-Lo)