Promise Me Something

As if starting high school weren’t bad enough, Reyna Fey has to do so at a new school without her best friends. Reyna’s plan is to keep her head down, help her father recover from the car accident that almost took his life, and maybe even make some friends. And then Olive Barton notices her. Olive is not exactly the kind of new friend Reyna has in mind. The boys make fun of her, the girls want to fight her, and Olive seems to welcome the challenge. There’s something about Olive that Reyna can’t help but like. But when Reyna learns Olive’s secret, she must decide whether it’s better to be good friends with an outcast or fake friends with the popular kids…before she loses Olive forever.

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  • 320 Pages
  • 5.50" x 8.25"
  • 9780807566435
  • May 2015

Buy from Albert Whitman

  • 9780807566428
  • May 2015

Reviews

  • Kocek’s hard-hitting first novel offers smart dialogue, sharp descriptions, and a plot that unfolds in unexpected ways, as she explores the destructive power of casual, everyday homophobia.

    - Publishers Weekly

  • High school as crucible of character is a mainstay of teen fiction, but seldom have its dilemmas and dramas been so precisely re-created in all their brutal, claustrophobic intensity as in this debut: part morality play, part suspense tale. Compelling, honest storytelling.

    - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

  • The heavy themes are explored as gently as possible without glossing over uncomfortable situations. All of these elements, including a plot twist, make this book a better-than-average problem novel.

    - School Library Journal

  • Promise Me Something tackles weighty issues of harassment, family dysfunction, suicide, and homophobia within the context of adolescent identity and friendship, while maintaining the focus of the story on characters whose complexity feels real and whose lives may be our own, our next door neighbor’s, or our best friend’s.

    - VOYA

  • The topics of bullying and LGBT teens are well chosen and provide realistic insights into discrimination of gay teens.

    - Booklist Online

Common Core

RL.9-12.1,2,3,4,5,6,10

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