Wreck: A Novel($16.99Value)

Description

Sometimes loss has its own timetable. Set on the shores of Lake Superior, Wreck follows high school junior Tobin Oliver as she navigates her father’s diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Steve’s life as a paramedic and a runner comes to an abrupt halt just as Tobin is preparing her application for a scholarship to art school. With the help of Steve’s personal care assistant (and family friend) Ike, Tobin attends to both her photography and to Steve as his brain unexpectedly fails right along with his body. Tobin struggles to find a “normal” life, especially as Steve makes choices about how his own will end, and though she fights hard, Tobin comes to realize that respecting her father’s decision is the ultimate act of love. Gr 7 Up-Tobin Oliver, an only child and a junior in high school, lives with her father Stephen, a strapping paramedic who tells dad jokes. Stephen's brother and sister are close by and involved in their lives, while Tobin's mother has moved to Paris and is oddly absent. Tobin has been accepted to her dream art school, but must submit a portfolio narrating her origin story to qualify for a much-needed scholarship. At the same time, Stephen is hurriedly preserving his life lessons for his daughter because he's dying from ALS, which ravages his body and his mind. Cronn-Martin's vivid descriptions of Duluth, MN; Tobin's bewilderment at her father's shocking, unpredictable behavior; and his unimaginable request for the end of his life sweep readers into her world of love and pain. Tobin's haunting poetry, her nickname Voyageur, her dad's final party, and her commemoration of the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck further deepen the truth of life and death she has been ambushed by. Tobin and Stephen's projects are interwoven into the story, along with text message transcripts, giving the book an otherworldly multi-media feel. The reader laughs and cries with Cronn-Martin's well-drawn and imperfect characters, right up until the end. VERDICT A great book club selection, and a recommended addition to any high school library.-Janet Gross, Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, MA " Wreck wrecked me. Kirstin Cronn-Mills has a singular way of getting inside characters heads and making their stories come to life. This book will make you cry." —Bill Konigsberg, award-winning author of The Music of What Happens? "A provocative, unflinching, and emotionally-complex deep dive into mortality and loss while Tobin and her father grapple with almost unfathomable decisions. A wrenching and empathetic look at the tumultuous waters and seemingly bottomless grief that can interrupt an otherwise placid life." —Amanda MacGregor, Teen Librarian Toolbox "This book has heart and empathy as vast and deep as the Great Lake on which it's set." —Geoff Herbach, award-winning author of Stupid Fast and Hooper "Parallel, heartbreaking threads weave powerfully together. . . . Strong characterizations . . . enliven the narrative, providing rich context to a family in crisis. The dramatic, discussion-worthy ending adds a provocative right-to-die element that will stay with readers long after the last page." — Booklist “Every so often a book comes along that is so sharp, so moving, so real, and so good, you want to press it into everyone's hands and say, Read this! READ THIS!” —Courtney Summers, author of Cracked Up to Be , on Beautiful Music for Ugly Children “A kind and satisfyingly executed portrait.” — Kirkus Reviews “Every so often a book comes along that is so sharp, so moving, so real, and so good, you want to press it into everyone's hands and say, Read this! READ THIS!” ―Courtney Summers, author of Cracked Up to Be , on Beautiful Music for Ugly Children “A kind and satisfyingly executed portrait.” ― Kirkus Reviews Kirstin Cronn-Mills is a writer and teacher. Her novel Beautiful Music for Ugly Children won the 2014 Stonewall Award from the American Library Association, and several of her books have received both state and national recognition. She lives with her family and her goofball animals in southern Minnesota, which is entirely too far from Lake Superior.