Lost for Words

May 17, 2010
After a traumatic summer during which her sister, Emily, was killed, shell-shocked 16-year-old Sophie returns to her London high school feeling increasingly removed from her best friend Abigail (who is hanging out with a more popular crowd and becoming alarmingly thin) and her mother (who has been dealing with Emily's death by isolating herself and collecting lost objects). Reflective Sophie reluctantly takes her therapist's
advice and begins to write diary entries and poems, which make up the novel. She bonds with a new friend, Rosa-Leigh, and tries to function normally, but her anger, fear, and sadness resurface throughout. Adult author Kuipers's (Life on the Refrigerator Door) first YA novel delicately details the complexities of the grief process. Through Sophie's perceptive narration, readers get well-developed images of the many characters ("The older one had this twinkle in his expression like he knew stuff," is Sophie's impression of one of Rosa-Leigh's brothers), yet Sophie is a relative cipher. The circumstances of Emily's death—left a mystery for most of the book—have taken a toll on her that goes well beyond the loss of her sister. Ages 12–up.

May 1, 2010
Gr 8 Up-Sophie, 16, begins her second semester of high school feeling isolated and out of sync with her fellow British classmates. After witnessing the death of her older sister in a train bombing, she finds school pointless, her mother useless, and her friends a waste of time. Sophie begins to skip classes and leave early from parties only to become absorbed in memories of Emily. She is helped by a new student from Canada, who challenges her to write poetry, read books, and attend poetry slams. Despite anxiety attacks and overwhelming feelings of guilt, Sophie eventually saves herself through her journal entries and her words. The entire book is a series of journal entries as the protagonist describes life without her sister. Kuipers allows readers to gauge Sophie's feelings through her innermost thoughts and reactions to daily events. The teen's vocabulary and diction make the novel an easy read, great for reluctant or struggling readers. Touching and realistic."Mary-Brook J. Todd, The Ensworth School, Nashville, TN"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.