"Before I Fall" by Lauren Oliver

"They say that just before you die your whole life flashes 
before your eyes, but that's not how it happened for me."

Mean girls, bullying, partying, drinking, hooking up...and dying. 

Not necessarily in that order. 

Before I Fall is told through the eyes of high school senior Samantha (Sam) Kingston--pretty, popular, and along with her three best friends, Lindsay, Elody, and Ally, one of the resident mean girls. They drive to school in a Range Rover, drink Dunkin Doughnuts coffee (large hazelnut, no sugar, extra cream), gossip about everyone from boyfriends to teachers, and cut class to smoke cigarettes & indulge in The Country's Best Yogurt.

Sound like a racier version of the Sweet Valley Twins?

Don't worry, it's not.

About a quarter into the book, our main character Sam dies in a car accident. She then is mysteriously given the chance to relive her final day over and over again.

Shocking right? Again don't worry, that piece of information won't ruin it for you...it's written on the book jacket.

The concept of this novel is not a new one...it cleverly reflects the movie Groundhog Day for a target audience who probably knows nothing of that phrase beyond a little rodent seeing it's shadow. The parallels between the movie and the novel are evident...the main characters are not very nice people who find redemption in reliving one holiday over and over again, and through their journey they become better people. But while the theme of the movie ends there, the novel delves much deeper. Author Lauren Oliver's ability to perfectly articulate Sam's thoughts about what it means to really live life--what's important, what's frivolous, who really matters--allows the reader to interact with her successes, failures, and gestures of boldness on an extremely intrinsic level. The book's ending also doesn't insult a young reader's ability to infer what happened.

"You mean I actually have to think about the ending to get it?" whined the student.
"Yes," replied the librarian, "Isn't that great?" 

This is Lauren Oliver's debut novel. It, along with her newly published second novel, Delirium, have both been optioned for film rights.

My second piece of unpopular advice, always read the books first.

Book Spotlight

Due to my "accidental" career, I am exposed to an exasperating amount of juvenile and young adult fiction and nonfiction books.

Obviously, right? That probably was assumed without mentioning.

I thought it would be a nice idea to share this knowledge with a (hopefully) larger audience. Because, let's face it, this information doesn't really do me any good beyond the walls of my school library. It's comparable to my savant-like intellect of all things celebrity.

So occasionally--no less than once a month but hopefully more often than that--I will post my review/stamp of approval/support for a particular work of fiction or nonfiction.

Reading these books to your children, to yourself, purchasing them for your school library, giving them as gifts, or checking them out from your public library would be just dandy!

Do I sound like LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow?
"Take a look, it's in a book..."

I apologize for putting that theme song into your brain.

Don't hold it against the books. They need your support.

Stay tuned for the first spotlight...