Drawn Away

Gr 8 Up—Twelfth grader Jack Lavoie is adjusting to life with Type-1 diabetes as well as his recent move from an alternative school in his old hometown of Montreal, Quebec, to his new school in Ontario. Then he meets, befriends, and falls for a fellow new student, Lucy, a loner who is rebuilding her life after the death of her father and a short stint as a runaway teen on the streets of Toronto. Jack and Lucy's budding romance is interrupted by the presence of the mysterious Match Girl. Yes, that Match Girl, from Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale. The Match Girl, whose real name is Klara, appears during Jack's low-insulin episodes and is determined to bring him into her world. Lucy stumbles onto an unexpected familial connection to Klara after the death of her own paternal grandfather, and she realizes that she has the key to unlock Klara's hold on Jack. Bennett grabs readers immediately and successfully bridges Andersen's classic fairy tale and contemporary YA fiction. In addition, she accurately depicts Jack's trials and tribulations as he tries to manage his diabetes, without portraying him as a stereotypical victim. The author also creates a believable, complex relationship between Lucy and her mother.