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Better Together
Editorial Reviews
Grade 7-10–Livy Moore, 16, is best friends with Ruth, the pastor's kid, but has been neglecting the friendship since her mother became terminally ill. Ruth decides to playfully kidnap Livy and take her for a ride along with Gil, football player extraordinaire; his sister Jackie; Charlie, inseparable from Gil and also the running back; and Ed, a benchwarmer who's a bit goofy but has a great heart. They attend a party, get drunk, go home, and come together the next day to go to the Goodlove Forest preserve. Guys crashed cars there, girls got pregnant, and nobody went there for the nature walks. Tragedy strikes, and Livy must now deal with not shutting herself off from the rest of the world again. What makes this story so strong are the moments in which the teen remembers being with her mother before she was sick and the dream journal that opens each chapter and reflects on her feelings. The relationship with her father grows believably stronger at the end of the novel. Teens who have recently lost someone close to them, or know that it's about to happen, will appreciate this sincere and thoughtful novel.–Kelly Czarnecki, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg, NC
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Book Description
"Will she die soon?"
Sixteen-year-old Livy Moore has finally summoned the courage to ask about her mother's illness. But she already knows the answer: for two years, Livy has watched her mother grow smaller and weaker. Now, in a series of journal entries, Livy chronicles the summer before her junior year--the summer she watches her mother slip away from her, as she succumbs to breast cancer.
Livy has survived the pain of losing her mother by shutting herself off from the rest of the world. She has alienated herself from her best friend, and her and her father live as strangers in the same house, barely speaking, and never allowing themselves to share the grief that is tearing each of them apart. But when Livy gets swept up in a strong but ill-fated crush, and her mother's condition worsens, she must learn to trust not only those around her, but herself.
A beautifully written coming-of-age novel, Dream Journal gazes unflinchingly at the pain of loss and the beauty in survival. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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