Last Year's Mistake

Gr 8 Up—When David transfers into Kelsey's Rhode Island high school midway through senior year, it doesn't take long for everyone to realize Kelsey and the new boy have a history. In chapters alternating between past and present, readers learn about the sweet friendship Kelsey and David shared when they both lived in Connecticut, before friends, family, illness, and awkward fumblings toward something more tore them apart. In the present, their bond (and attraction) is still strong, much to the dismay of Kelsey's jock boyfriend, who seems to be keeping a secret of his own. Both David and Kelsey have suffered significant traumas in the recent past, which the author reveals piece by piece. Most of the heavier plot points are well weighted, and much care is taken getting both characters on the same page in terms of relationship readiness. While the build up to a happy ending is strung out a little too long, the teens are allowed plenty of heart fluttering moments along the way. The parallel between what Kelsey went through at the hands of some cliquey girls at her old school and her reinvention as a popular kid at her new school is well drawn, giving depth and context to types of girls that are often drawn as stereotypes in teen fiction.