Who I Kissed

September 15, 2012
Samantha feels so guilty after her kiss actually kills a boy that she ends her champion swimming career. Sam doesn't normally go to parties or kiss boys. She's really attracted to Zee, another swimmer, but he ignores her, so she kisses Alex instead. Alex immediately gasps for breath and dies on the way to the hospital. It turns out that he had a peanut allergy, and Sam had eaten a peanut-butter sandwich just before the party. She didn't know about Alex's allergy but blames herself anyway, as do many of her schoolmates. Sam believes she doesn't deserve to continue with the swim team, even though she's close to setting national records. Some stand up for her, such as wealthy, handsome Casper, who wants to be more than friends. Even as Sam makes some unfortunate choices, she gets help from several friends, a grief counselor and her Aunt Allie, a professional psychic. Relationships tangle and untangle while Sam slowly works her way toward forgiving herself, long after Alex's family has forgiven her. Gurtler demonstrates sensitivity toward her characters and insight into their emotional responses to their friend's death. Although her high-school villains seem a bit one-dimensional, the rest of the characters breathe with life. Skeptics will curl their lips at the psychic element, but there is enough realism to keep them involved. A touching story. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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November 1, 2012

Gr 8 Up-It's a fresh start for competitive swimmer Samantha as she leaves untrue rumors that she is gay behind and enters a new high school. At her friend Taylor's party, she flirts with Alex to make Zee, the boy she really likes, jealous. The flirting leads to a kiss, and suddenly Alex can't breathe. The paramedics' arrival is shockingly too late to save him. Soon Sam learns of his severe peanut allergy-and realizes she ate a peanut-butter sandwich before leaving for the party. Sam becomes the victim of merciless taunting as the "peanut butter killer." She sinks into depression, refuses to swim, and has an essentially empty relationship with Casper, with whom she has her first sexual experience, attempting to alleviate painful guilt before realizing that he is romantically involved with other girls. Little by little, with the help of her quirky Aunt Allie, a helpful therapist, and even Zee, Sam comes to terms with Alex's death. She moves beyond her mistake with Casper and starts to swim again. She also confronts her father and discovers the truth about her mother's death, which has haunted her for years. Autopsy results ultimately reveal the real truth behind Alex's death, but Sam still steps up to fight for food-allergy awareness. Readers able to bypass the rather excessive maltreatment Sam receives after what truly is an accident will be immersed in her unique and disconcerting situation and will be absorbed in her struggle for personal redemption, self-acceptance, and hope.Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, CO

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
Grades 8-11 Can kissing kill? Sammy is condemned to believe so, and her classmates are only too quick to agree. In the confusing whirl of a party, when another girl is making a hostile takeover of the boy Sammy really likes, Sammy bounces to another admirer. In a turn of events that may strain credulity at first, Sammy's kissing partner, Alex, goes into anaphylactic shock and dies on his way to the hospital. (Alex had a severe peanut allergy, and it turns out that Sammy ate a peanut butter sandwich before the party.) New to the school and just beginning to make social strides, Sammy retreats into tortured guilt and isolation, gives up her passion of swimming, and goes into therapy. There is more to the truth, of course, and the story resolves in a believable way. Without excess heavy-handedness, Gurtler weaves a tale of collective responsibility as several teens reflect on their actions that one fateful night. A well-crafted story about a student's fight to feel normal again when a community of peers turns on her.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)