| Young Adult Literature |
| Young Adult Fiction |
Summary
Summary
2016 VOYA Top Shelf Fiction Selection
CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens (Fall 2016) -- Starred Selection
Hope leaves her small town for a fresh start, but her plans are derailed by an online romance and the appearance of her brother.
Hope lives in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. With a drug addict for a brother, she focuses on the only thing that keeps her sane, writing poetry. To escape, she jumps at the chance to attend Ravenhurst Academy as a boarding student. She'll even put up with the clique-ish Ravens if it means making a fresh start.
At first, Ravenhurst is better than Hope could have dreamed. She has a boyfriend and a cool roommate, and she might finally have found a place she can fit in. But can she trust her online boyfriend? And what can she do after her brother shows up at the school gates, desperate for help, and the Ravens turn on her? Trapped and unsure, Hope realizes that if she wants to save her brother, she has to save herself first.
Author Notes
Colleen Nelson is an award-winning YA author whose previous books include The Fall and Tori by Design , both of which won the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award from the Manitoba Book Awards. This is Colleen's fourth YA novel. She lives in Winnipeg.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
What begins as a cautionary tale about drug addiction expands to address sexual abuse and bullying as well. Nelson (250 Hours) alternates rapidly between the perspectives of Hope Randall, 15, and her older brother, Eric, a onetime rising hockey star who has been kicked out of the house for using meth. Hope has been accepted to an elite private school, and her worries about Eric's wellbeing compete with her struggles with a clique of cruel girls. The pages are steeped in emotional torment-Hope relies on her angst-ridden poetry to cope with hers, while Eric goes down an increasingly degrading and dangerous path as he searches for his next fix and reckons with the secret abuse that drove him to drugs in the first place. Nelson certainly evokes the desperation of both siblings, but heavy-handed language ("Whatever emotions had been inside me had turned hard, cooked by the meth") and some less-believable plot details, such as how quickly and fully Hope throws herself into an online relationship with a boy she's never met or spoken to, are less successful. Ages 12-up. Agent: Harry Endrulat, Rights Factory. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Fifteen-year-old Hope lives in a small, dead-end town in Canada, but fortunately, she receives a scholarship to attend Ravenhurst Academy, located in an unnamed city. She is excited but apprehensive, and she worries about leaving her older brother, Eric, behind. Once a promising hockey player, Eric is now a meth addict, dropping out of life as well as school. He is driven to go to the city to find her, but Hope has her own problems when she runs afoul of the school's mean girls. Through brief alternating chapters told by Hope and Eric, Nelson conveys Hope's naiveté and innocence, as well as the gritty truth about Eric and the trigger for his addiction. Hope's brief but powerful poems serve as a lifeline and help her grow a spine in terms of her family and school. More important, though, is that Hope finds that she is not just a survivor; she is going to live her life fully, and through her example, so too will Eric and the rest of her family.--Scanlon, Donna Copyright 2016 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Fifteen-year old Hope has always fallen into her older brother's shadow. Eighteen-year-old Eric, once a hotshot hockey player, is now a meth-addicted shell of the popular boy he once was. Homeless and desperate, Eric relies on Hope for the money, food, and clothing she leaves hidden for him. But when Hope is sent to an all-girls academy, she finally has a chance to start a new life. At Ravenhurst, Hope quickly finds new friends and an online boyfriend. But as Eric's addiction continues to spiral out of control, his need for Hope's help is overwhelming. When he shows up at the gates of her new school, drugged out and needing a fix, Hope is conflicted about how she can continue to help him and still keep her broken family a secret. Nelson presents a sobering view of a normal family torn apart by addiction and abuse. Though their stories are painful, Hope and Eric feel like real people whom readers will root for. Told in alternating viewpoints, this realistic novel explores serious themes such as drug abuse, sexual abuse, and extreme bullying. Eric's chapters are especially well written, as they show Eric's thoughts and behavior during his meth-induced highs and lows. The siblings are believable characters who simply trusted the wrong people, with disastrous results. VERDICT Both heartbreaking and hopeful, this will be a popular choice among mature readers of realistic fiction, particularly fans of Ellen Hopkins's "Crank" series (S. & S.).-Leigh Collazo, Dulwich College, Suzhou, China © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Hope misses her brother Eric, a former star hockey player who has become a meth addict. Will leaving home for a boarding school in the city help ease the pain? Neither Hope nor anyone else knows the reason Eric has descended into drug abuse, but in the name of tough love, her father has kicked him out. Hope's kept in touch with him, but now she's away at school, struggling to fit in. Largely isolated, Hope finds a boyfriend from a neighboring school via email and decides she's in love without meeting him. Meanwhile, Eric falls ever deeper into his addiction and follows Hope to the city, where he finds a home with other addicts in an abandoned building. As Eric sinks, Hope is drawn ever deeper into her online romance. Eventually the two siblings find each other. It turns out that both Eric and Hope have become the victims of cruelty, and the way each responds helps to resolve the story. Nelson alternates chapters between Hope and Eric, each narrating in the first person, with clear parallels drawn between the two. The alternating format works effectively to maintain tension, and readers will find themselves worrying and wondering to the end if either will be saved. A double story that draws readers in. (Fiction. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Hope
Mom brandished an envelope above her head like a flag. "A letter just came for you."
I'd been waiting a month for that letter. Hopping off my bicycle, I let it tumble to the grass. Dry and scrubby, it crackled from lack of water. The summer had stretched endlessly and only now, with the hum of bugs in the air, did it show signs of coming to a close. "It's like someone didn't get the memo," Dad liked to say when the seasons didn't follow his timetable. Last two weeks of August should have meant deer flies and cooler nights, a hint of the chill that would be coming with autumn, but not this year.
I took the sealed envelope from her. "It's thick, that's a good sign," she said, her hands on my shoulders, not realizing how hard she was squeezing.
My hands shook. The tear I made was ragged and the letter got stuck. Finally, I pulled it free and unfolded it. "Ravenhurst School for Girls is pleased to inform you that you have been accepted for the coming school year." I didn't read past those words. Mom started screaming and hugging me.
I waited to feel something. A gush of relief or flood of emotion, but there was nothing. Instead, I felt more rooted to the ragged wooden planks on the porch. A stubborn will to stay.
"Congratulations, Hope!" Mom said and pulled me into another hug. The letter was stuck between us, my arm at an awkward angle.
Ravenhurst had been Mom's idea. She'd done the research to find a school that took boarders in the city and then laid out her plan over dinner one night, peering at me with her fork hanging in mid-air. "Wouldn't you want to go there?" she'd asked. I looked at Dad, head down, shovelling mac and cheese into his mouth. "Get out of this place." She waved her fork around, as if "this place" meant nothing more than our house. Her eyes bugged out, begging me to agree with her.
"Uh-huh," I said. I didn't realize that my non-committal grunt would start a two-month long odyssey. Acceptance to a private school in the city meant letters from teachers, an exam, and then an interview. Mom had bought a navy, pleated skirt for me to wear and flat black shoes that pinched my toes. I'd hobbled through the atrium of the school, gazing up at a two-storey foyer encased in glass. Sunlight streamed in, reflecting off the marble floors. Our footsteps echoed, too small to fill the cavernous space.
I wasn't kidding myself, Mom wanted this more than I did. As usual, I'd gone along with her plans, not wanting to be the one who upset the delicate balance that existed in our family.
Our splintered family. Excerpted from Finding Hope by Colleen Nelson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
