Exquisitely sad YA stories about life and death, loss and love feature in this week’s Book-A-Like.
Clay Jensen is still reeling from the death of his friend and first love, Hannah Baker, two weeks previous. When he arrives home one afternoon to a strange package on his doorstep, what he imagines is inside it is nothing compared to what lurks in the box. A stack of cassette tapes that chronicle Hannah’s reasons for taking her own life are being passed around to the people who lent a helping hand. Clay can’t imagine why he would be included. He never did anything wrong. But in listening to the tapes, he soon learns that what can push people to the edge isn’t always one big, bad occurrence. It can be a domino effect of small events building on top of each other. Hannah’s thirteen reasons why. – Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
If I Stay follows the story of Mia, a girl injured in a car crash that has killed her entire family. Lingering as a spirit, her body on life support, the reader experiences the highs and lows of Mia’s life through flashbacks and snaps of reality. Fighting to survive, Mia must decide, should she stay…or let go? – If I Stay by Gayle Forman
