Peach’s Picks Rating
Title:
The Truth About Forever
Author:
Sarah Dessen
Illustrator:
None
ISBN:
0-670-03639-0
Publisher:
New York: Viking
Copyright:
2004
Length:
374 pages
Plot Summary:
Macy and her father were very close, sharing a love of running. One morning, he went running and invited her to join him. Not feeling like a run she declined, but a little later decided to join him. She found him splayed on the ground dying from a heart attack with a stranger performing CPR on him. Her father was taken to the hospital, but did not survive. Sixteen-year-old Macy; her mother, a successful, workaholic business woman; and Caroline, the older married sister, are coping with the loss. Macy and her mother have built cocoons around themselves barely interacting. Macy has a perfect boyfriend who is brilliantly smart, thoughtful, and considerate. He goes away for the summer to attend “brain camp.” Macy is supposed to stay home, take his job at the circulation desk of the local library, and study for SAT exams. She feels not a sense of loss from her father’s death, but her mother’s emotional absence, and her boyfriend’s actual absence; as well as the stirrings of discontent. There should be more to living. Enter a catering company run by a very pregnant woman with an eclectic teen staff. They change Macy’s life forever.
Critical Evaluation:
The book is a good beach read. Most characters are not well-developed, but never-the-less, the story is a lot of fun to read. On the surface it deals with grief, but the book is actually about Macy’s journey of self discovery during one summer. A strained mother-daughter relationship is thrown into add tension. Macy, the teen protagonist, is engaging and readers will cheer on as she develops her own personality and strength once she is removed from the shadow of her perfect boyfriend and workaholic mother who both expect perfection. The characters of the teen girls who work at the library are cardboard stereotypes of mean girls. They could have as easily worked in a large department store as the library. They serve the purpose of driving Macy out of the library and into the wild and crazy world of catering. Macy’s mother is not very well-developed either. The reader does not sympathize with her grief or the workaholic lifestyle she has created. Caroline, the older sister, is on the periphery of the action and seems unnecessary to the plot. The teens who work for the catering company are interesting and well-developed. Each seems to posses a trait that Macy would like incorporated into her life. By knowing and befriending these teens, she learns comes to understand herself and is able to set a course that is true, not what others expect.
Reader’s Annotation:
Macy’s father is dead, her mother is an emotional absent workaholic, and her boyfriend has gone to camp for the summer. Macy is supposed to work in the library, but finds herself working for a catering service and falling in love with someone else.
Author Information:
Born in Illinois, 1970
Grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and still lives in the area
Married with one daughter and two dogs
Parents were professors at the University of North Carolina; mother is a classicist, father taught Shakespeare
She says she has been writing for as long as she can remember
Has always enjoyed reading
Parents gave her a typewriter when she was 8 or 9-years-old and she used it to write stories
High school girlfriends and experiences have inspired her stories
Attended UNC where she studied creative writing and graduated with an English degree
Worked as a waitress after graduating from college while she continued to write
Sold her first book three years after graduating from college
Books that influenced her include A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry and Are You There God It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume
Enjoys gardening and shopping for black pants
Says she love Starbucks mochas
Says she subscribes to too many magazines
Genre:
Contemporary realistic fiction – death and grief
Curriculum Ties:
Use in literature classes
Booktalking Ideas:
Macy sees her dad dies before her eyes. Then later, at the end of the school year, her boyfriend goes away to camp for the entire summer. She doesn’t think she can bear the long summer until she meets the people at a catering company who change her life.
The Truth About Forever
Author:
Sarah Dessen
Illustrator:
None
ISBN:
0-670-03639-0
Publisher:
New York: Viking
Copyright:
2004
Length:
374 pages
Plot Summary:
Macy and her father were very close, sharing a love of running. One morning, he went running and invited her to join him. Not feeling like a run she declined, but a little later decided to join him. She found him splayed on the ground dying from a heart attack with a stranger performing CPR on him. Her father was taken to the hospital, but did not survive. Sixteen-year-old Macy; her mother, a successful, workaholic business woman; and Caroline, the older married sister, are coping with the loss. Macy and her mother have built cocoons around themselves barely interacting. Macy has a perfect boyfriend who is brilliantly smart, thoughtful, and considerate. He goes away for the summer to attend “brain camp.” Macy is supposed to stay home, take his job at the circulation desk of the local library, and study for SAT exams. She feels not a sense of loss from her father’s death, but her mother’s emotional absence, and her boyfriend’s actual absence; as well as the stirrings of discontent. There should be more to living. Enter a catering company run by a very pregnant woman with an eclectic teen staff. They change Macy’s life forever.
Critical Evaluation:
The book is a good beach read. Most characters are not well-developed, but never-the-less, the story is a lot of fun to read. On the surface it deals with grief, but the book is actually about Macy’s journey of self discovery during one summer. A strained mother-daughter relationship is thrown into add tension. Macy, the teen protagonist, is engaging and readers will cheer on as she develops her own personality and strength once she is removed from the shadow of her perfect boyfriend and workaholic mother who both expect perfection. The characters of the teen girls who work at the library are cardboard stereotypes of mean girls. They could have as easily worked in a large department store as the library. They serve the purpose of driving Macy out of the library and into the wild and crazy world of catering. Macy’s mother is not very well-developed either. The reader does not sympathize with her grief or the workaholic lifestyle she has created. Caroline, the older sister, is on the periphery of the action and seems unnecessary to the plot. The teens who work for the catering company are interesting and well-developed. Each seems to posses a trait that Macy would like incorporated into her life. By knowing and befriending these teens, she learns comes to understand herself and is able to set a course that is true, not what others expect.
Reader’s Annotation:
Macy’s father is dead, her mother is an emotional absent workaholic, and her boyfriend has gone to camp for the summer. Macy is supposed to work in the library, but finds herself working for a catering service and falling in love with someone else.
Author Information:
Born in Illinois, 1970
Grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and still lives in the area
Married with one daughter and two dogs
Parents were professors at the University of North Carolina; mother is a classicist, father taught Shakespeare
She says she has been writing for as long as she can remember
Has always enjoyed reading
Parents gave her a typewriter when she was 8 or 9-years-old and she used it to write stories
High school girlfriends and experiences have inspired her stories
Attended UNC where she studied creative writing and graduated with an English degree
Worked as a waitress after graduating from college while she continued to write
Sold her first book three years after graduating from college
Books that influenced her include A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry and Are You There God It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume
Enjoys gardening and shopping for black pants
Says she love Starbucks mochas
Says she subscribes to too many magazines
Genre:
Contemporary realistic fiction – death and grief
Curriculum Ties:
Use in literature classes
Booktalking Ideas:
Macy sees her dad dies before her eyes. Then later, at the end of the school year, her boyfriend goes away to camp for the entire summer. She doesn’t think she can bear the long summer until she meets the people at a catering company who change her life.
Macy is in the garage helping her mother get ready for a catered party. She drops something that makes a loud noise as it crashes to the floor. One of the employees from the catering company hears and comes to check. Read aloud this passage found on page 23, “I heard footsteps, and a second later could make out a guy in a white shirt and black pants walking toward me up the driveway. He had a serving platter tucked under his arm. As he got closer he squinted, making me out in the semi-dark . . . Now that he was right in front of me, I could see that he was tall and had brown hair that was little bit too long. He was also strikingly handsome, with the sort of sculpted cheekbones and angular features that you couldn’t help but notice, even if you did have a boyfriend.”
Reading Level/Interest Age:
High school
Additional Books by Author:
Along for the Ride: A Novel
Lock and Key: A Novel
Someone Like You
That Summer
This Lullaby: A Novel
Challenge Issues:
None apparent, but if challenged, deal with challenge by having a challenge policy in place, selection policy in place (ALA policies). Meet with library administration if necessary. Provide positive review(s) from professional publications.
Why this work is included in Peach’s Picks:
The book received positive reviews in School Library Journal and Booklist. The author is a prolific writer of well-received YA literature. Four peaches are awarded to a fun beach read.
Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Forever-Sarah-Dessen/dp/0142406252/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273554432&sr=1-1
References:
Dessen, S. (2010). “bio/press”. Sarah Dessen. Retrieved May 3, 2010, from http://www.sarahdessen.com/bio-press
Reading Level/Interest Age:
High school
Additional Books by Author:
Along for the Ride: A Novel
Lock and Key: A Novel
Someone Like You
That Summer
This Lullaby: A Novel
Challenge Issues:
None apparent, but if challenged, deal with challenge by having a challenge policy in place, selection policy in place (ALA policies). Meet with library administration if necessary. Provide positive review(s) from professional publications.
Why this work is included in Peach’s Picks:
The book received positive reviews in School Library Journal and Booklist. The author is a prolific writer of well-received YA literature. Four peaches are awarded to a fun beach read.
Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Forever-Sarah-Dessen/dp/0142406252/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273554432&sr=1-1
References:
Dessen, S. (2010). “bio/press”. Sarah Dessen. Retrieved May 3, 2010, from http://www.sarahdessen.com/bio-press
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