Saturday, April 11, 2015

If I Stay

Forman. G. (2009). If I stay. New York: Dutton Books.


It is a snow day for Mia and her little brother, Teddy and their parents.  They enjoy a morning together eating pancakes for breakfast and just talking.  They decide to make a day of it and go and see friends, stop at the local bookstore and then have an early dinner with their grandparents.  As Mia and her family were enjoying the drive and listening to classical music, then the unexpected happens.  A pick-up truck travelling at 60 miles per hour plows into their vehicle. It is then that everything changes for Mia.  Mia finds her parents but only to discover that they have been killed instantly.  Mia realizes that she is having an out of body experience after she starts looking for Teddy and finds herself laying in a ditch.  The paramedics rush her and Teddy to the hospital in order to save their lives.  Mia’s family and her best friend, Kim arrive to the hospital to hear the news that she is in grave condition.   It is a nurse who tells Mia’s grandparents that she is running the show.  Then Mia realizes that it is up to her to decide if she stays or if she goes.  As Mia watches her memories flash before her eyes, she has to make a decision on waking up and face a life that will be so different or just to let go.  It is at the end when she almost decides to give up on life completely when Adam shows up and places headphones on her and tells her to stay. 

               This is a beautiful written realistic fiction love story that can be read by junior high and high school students.  The memories that Mia have with her family and with Adam are filled with so much life and love that today’s youth can relate to it. This story is filled with heartbreak, hope, loss and love but it shows how life can be one thing and then in an instant become something else.  Readers who loved this story can read the follow up story by Forman called Where She Went to see what happened next to Mia. 


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