Melissa Glenn Haber

Meredith, a 12-year-old in 7th grade, has just lost her best friend, Anjali, from an infection. The death of Anjali hit Meredith hard because it was unexpected. To cope with her loss, Meredith wrote letters to Anjali. In the letters, Meredith would tell Anjali about going into a private high school, family, drama, and how she hates Wendy Mathinson. At first, Meredith wrote these letters to keep Anjali close in her life, but after a while, Meredith wrote the letters as a way of therapy. Noah, Anjali’s old crush, started to get close to Meredith, Meredith and Noah even started dating. Meredith felt guilty for dating her best friend’s crush, Meredith felt she was betraying Anjali. As Meredith wrote letters to Anjali, she realized that the letters had helped her understand what she was meant to do with her life and that it was time to end the letters to Anjali because Meredith will always have Anjali in her life, with or without letters.

I really enjoyed this book because It made me realize how much losing a best friend would impact someone’s life. Usually in books and movies, if the main character lost a best friend, they talk about it for a couple of minutes in the beginning but never go in-depth about how the loss impacts the main character. In this book, the main character talks about Anjali’s loss in the entire book, and I found that entertaining and refreshing. I recommend this book for people who like watching rom-com teenage drama movies.… (meer)

Booklist (July 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 21))
cpg1252 Gr. 7-10. Fourteen-year-old Alan Green has carefully cultivated an image of sarcastic indifference to deal with his mother's death, his father's detachment, and his own boredom and confusion. Only his aunt and his English teacher aren't fooled, but they can't help. Then two things happen: African American balletomane Juliet Jones joins his class; and a silly spy game Alan invented to pass time with his friends takes a surprisingly realistic turn. Narrated in retrospect by Alan, the story begins at the climax, and then cleverly winds back to it as Alan's carefully guarded emotions bubble to the surface. In terms of both language and emotion Alan sometimes seems older than his years, but his bitterness, his sarcasm, his occasional rough language, and even his love of poetry (he can find meaning in verse but not in his own life) seem achingly genuine. Although the spy game aspect never quite gels, the harsh yet poignant drama about an angry kid demonstrates Haber's sure sense of the uncertainties that surround first love and finding a place for oneself in an absurdly mixed-up, overwhelming world.

Alan thinks the men he and his friends have been spying on have something to do with the governor's assassination. But Alan, it turns out, is wandering close to A Beautiful Mind territory. Although the characters seem older than the junior high students they're meant to be, it's an intriguing group, and Alan's brush with mental illness is convincingly portrayed.… (meer)