Sweethearts

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr has created another solid story about teenage girls--a bittersweet story of the bonds of friendship. As teenagers, Jennifer and Cameron are loners, outcasts who find comfort in each other as they endure the bullying of their peers. When they're reunited years later, they must confront the different directions they've chosen and struggle to hang on to the love that made them so close. The story is read by the author with such genuineness that listeners will find themselves believing they're actually listening to the teens themselves. Zarr perfectly captures the nuances of voice and inflection that teens use with friends or adults. Choosing Zarr to read her own story was a wise decision. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from December 24, 2007
This book about a former misfit who must face her troubled childhood is dark and engrossing, thanks to Zarr's (Story of a Girl
) full-bodied characters and creative storytelling. Through well-timed flashbacks, thin, popular high school senior Jenna remembers being fat Jennifer, who along with her best friend, Cameron, endures teasing in elementary school and a hard home life (her single mother is almost never home, and his abusive father traumatizes both children). After Cameron moves away, Jennifer's cruel classmates tell her he has died, and her mother corroborates the story; readers may find it hard to believe the subsequent revelation that she has, in fact, lied. But they will appreciate how honestly Jenna reveals the toll it takes on her when Cameron suddenly reappears, transferring into her senior class (she starts stealing and binge-eating again); their rekindled connection forces her to decide if “Jenna” is really who she wants to be. There is harsh material here, in the characters' presents as well as their pasts: Cameron is now an emancipated minor, and Jenna's family temporarily takes him in when he becomes homeless. Flashbacks to a horrifying episode with Cameron's father are revealed slowly and carefully, filling readers with a sense of dread, but ultimately her memories teach Jenna something surprising about her own strength. Other realistically flawed characters, from a mother who must learn truly to help her daughter to Cameron himself, round out this complex and bittersweet story of friendship and the meaning of “unfinished business.” Ages 12-up.