
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsYALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant ReadersYALSA Best Books for Young Adults"Just listen," Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.I open my eyes wide now....
YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsYALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant ReadersYALSA Best Books for Young Adults"Just listen," Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.I open my eyes wide now....
Available Formats-
- OverDrive Listen
- OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
Levels-
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ATOS™:5.3
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Lexile®:830
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Interest Level:UG
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Text Difficulty:4 - 5
Subjects-
Languages:-
Edition-
- Unabridged
Copies-
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Available:1
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Library copies:1
Description-
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YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
"Just listen," Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.
I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen.
"Stay," he says.
Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones. Stay true to her first love–music–even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?
Then, one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.
From the Compact Disc edition.
Awards-
- Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
Young Adult Library Services Association - Best Fiction for Young Adults
Young Adult Library Services Association - Teen's Top Ten
Young Adult Library Services Association
Excerpts-
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From the cover
7:09 A.M.
Everyone thinks it was because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that’s true.
I wake up this morning to a thin blanket of white covering our front lawn. It isn’t even an inch, but in this part of Oregon a slight dusting brings everything to a standstill as the one snowplow in the county gets busy clearing the roads. It is wet water that drops from the sky—and drops and drops and drops—not the frozen kind.
It is enough snow to cancel school. My little brother, Teddy, lets out a war whoop when Mom’s AM radio announces the closures. “Snow day!” he bellows. “Dad, let’s go make a snowman.”
My dad smiles and taps on his pipe. He started smoking one recently as part of this whole 1950s, Father Knows Best retro kick he is on. He also wears bow ties. I am never quite clear on whether all this is sartorial or sardonic—Dad’s way of announcing that he used to be a punker but is now a middle-school English teacher, or if becoming a teacher has actually turned my dad into this genuine throwback. But I like the smell of the pipe tobacco. It is sweet and smoky, and reminds me of winters and woodstoves.
“You can make a valiant try,” Dad tells Teddy. “But it’s hardly sticking to the roads. Maybe you should consider a snow amoeba.”
I can tell Dad is happy. Barely an inch of snow means that all the schools in the county are closed, including my high school and the middle school where Dad works, so it’s an unexpected day off for him, too. My mother, who works for a travel agent in town, clicks off the radio and pours herself a second cup of coffee. “Well, if you lot are playing hooky today, no way I’m going to work. It’s simply not right.” She picks up the telephone to call in. When she’s done, she looks at us. “Should I make breakfast?”
Dad and I guffaw at the same time. Mom makes cereal and toast. Dad’s the cook in the family.
Pretending not to hear us, she reaches into the cabinet for a box of Bisquick. “Please. How hard can it be? Who wants pancakes?”
“I do! I do!” Teddy yells. “Can we have chocolate chips in them?”
“I don’t see why not,” Mom replies.
“Woo hoo!” Teddy yelps, waving his arms in the air.
“You have far too much energy for this early in the morning,” I tease. I turn to Mom. “Maybe you shouldn’t let Teddy drink so much coffee.”
“I’ve switched him to decaf,” Mom volleys back. “He’s just naturally exuberant.”
“As long as you’re not switching me to decaf,” I say.
“That would be child abuse,” Dad says.
Mom hands me a steaming mug and the newspaper.
“There’s a nice picture of your young man in there,” she says.
“Really? A picture?”
“Yep. It’s about the most we’ve seen of him since summer,” Mom says, giving me a sidelong glance with her eyebrow arched, her version of a soul-searching stare.
“I know,” I say, and then without meaning to, I sigh. Adam’s band, Shooting Star, is on an upward spiral, which, is a great thing—mostly.
“Ah, fame, wasted on the youth,” Dad says, but he’s smiling. I know he’s excited for Adam. Proud even.
I leaf through the newspaper to the calendar section. There’s a small blurb about Shooting Star, with an even smaller picture of the four of them, next to a big...
Reviews-
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Starred review from March 2, 2009
The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family. Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents’ corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics. As she ponders her state (“Am I dead?
I actually have to ask myself this”), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live. Via Mia’s thoughts and flashbacks, Forman (Sisters in Sanity
) expertly explores the teenager’s life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam. Mia’s singular perspective (which will recall Alice Sebold’s adult novel, The Lovely Bones
) also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: “Please don’t die. If you die, there’s going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school,” prays Mia’s friend Kim. “I know you’d hate that kind of thing.” Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living. Ages 14–up. -
Fans of Alice Sebold's LOVELY BONES and Gabrielle Zevin's ELSEWHERE will be captivated by Gayle Forman's latest novel. Mia, a high school senior, is "gravely injured" in an automobile accident that took her parents and younger brother Teddy. Kirsten Potter infuses Mia's voice with all the emotion, fear, and confusion of a soul hovering between "here" and "there," painfully aware of what she has lost and what she stands to lose as she wrestles to decide: stay or go? As this twenty-four-hour drama unfolds, we become intimately acquainted with Mia and the circle of family, friends, and medical personnel fighting to keep her here, unsure until the very end how she will decide. Powerful. Emotional. Insightful. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
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OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
Burn to CD:PermittedTransfer to device:PermittedTransfer to Apple® device:PermittedPublic performance:Not permittedFile-sharing:Not permittedPeer-to-peer usage:Not permittedAll copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.