29. Crushed by Laura and Tom McNeal

Crushed by Laura and Tom McNeal
ISBN: 0375831053
Random House Children’s Books , New York, 2006
308 pages

Teaser: Audrey is witty and smart as she tries to navigate graduating through High School with her best friends, until a certain boy catches her eye and he begins to use her for his own plans to graduate.

Summary: This is a charming book of the adventures and downfalls of clicks and clubs through high school. There are constant shifts between using each other to building friendships. Audrey finds her intelligence as an asset, until the boy of her dreams asks her to cheat to help him pass a test. She then questions her choices in doing what she can to keep the boy, or doing what she should and how the underground newspaper describes the characters as the plot unfolds. It takes a character that has lived in a much more sheltered private school to a public, fit in or fall flat platform.

Evaluation: I think any high school student can relate to how relationships change and the influence of groups in actions of even the best students. Audrey is a nerd who finds what she thinks is love with a guy who knows he can’t pass his class without the smart girl in school helping him out. Does he care for her because of her intelligence and willfulness to help him cheat, or is it real love and a chance to leave the girl next door image behind her and move on to more adventurous paths through life. The book has a lot of things going on at once that will keep your attention and make you want to finish it. It was a longer read and could get you through a weekend. I would like to read other works by this author.

Challenge issues and age recommendation: This book deals with a great deal of dying and hopeless, helpless type issues. Younger readers may get the wrong impression of doing whatever you need to do to fit in or have someone like you. I would recommend this book for readers 16 and up.