Unbreak My Heart

April 9, 2012
Walker (Small Town Sinners) brings honest, heartfelt storytelling to the tale of 16-year-old Clementine, who’s embarking on a summer boat trip with her parents while leaving a ravaged social life behind. As her family sails along the Midwestern river portion of the Great Loop, Clem agonizes over the events that led to her fall from grace. The story emerges slowly, and what could have been a familiar retelling of a girl falling for her best friend’s boyfriend becomes something new and complex, as Clem reveals more of what took place. Early on in the trip, Clem meets James, a boy who’s also traveling the Great Loop and whose cheerful demeanor covers his own painful background. Their love story is pleasingly romantic, though it’s Clem’s relationship with her parents and younger sister, Olive, that are the core of the story, as they work to support Clem through this difficult time in her life. Clem’s breakthrough is satisfying and true, as is the ending that brings Clem home, but leaves open what will happen next. Ages 12–up. Agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic.

April 1, 2012
Clementine Williams, 16, heartbroken and guilt-ridden, could use some personal space to figure things out, but confined with her family on a 42-foot sailboat for a summer-long trip down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers on the Great Loop route, privacy is in short supply. Estranged from her lifelong best friend Amanda and confused by her forbidden, now-severed relationship with Ethan, Clem withdraws from family activities, curling up in her tiny cabin with iPod and journal. Her worried, loving parents and little sister, Olive, fail to draw Clem out of her self-imposed isolation, though the peaceful, scenic river life soothes her. But it's James, 17, the tall, red-headed artist on a parallel trip with his dad, who gives her the new perspective she needs to begin healing. Interspersed with this account, the events leading to Clem's present misery unfold in flashbacks. Fully realized and authentic, she behaves and responds like a genuine teen. (Ethan is the exception among a cast of believable characters: why, after pursuing Clem steadily, did he abruptly withdraw?) Walker's compassion and emotional insight, lauded in her well-received Small Town Sinners (2011), are strengths, as is the setting. From vessels named with groan-inducing puns like Sea Ya to the challenges of shipboard sanitation, she brings the insulated boating world to life with knowledgeable affection. A quietly absorbing journey. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-"A summer in exile" is how Clementine Williams envisions her 16th summer when she and her family leave their home in Illinois to embark upon a three-month trip on their 42-foot sailboat. While sailing the Great Loop, Clem ruminates over betraying her best friend, Amanda, by falling for Amanda's boyfriend. Clem couldn't help herself; she and Ethan shared a sense of humor, spent hours talking, and before she could stop it they were hanging out one-on-one and holding hands. Now her best friend since kindergarten hates her. Ethan, however, was forgiven and got to keep Amanda in the bargain. Clem seems determined to spend her vacation crying, moping, and dwelling on being a terrible friend and person. "A little self-flagellation is healthy, right?" But "It's exhausting being sad," and eventually she opens up to James, who is also sailing the Great Loop with his father. Both coping with feelings of loss, they forge a romantic friendship. Clem's first-person narration smoothly switches from the past to the present, slowly revealing the full backstory of her heartache. Halfway through the story, the plot gets a much-needed puff of life as the teen's relationship with James takes on some energy. Clem's conflict with Ethan and Amanda does not get resolved, making the ending feel a bit abrupt. This summer read adequately, if a bit shallowly, treads the waters of teen emotions and relationships, and romance fans will enjoy the story.-Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT

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