Promise Me Something

Gr 9 Up—Rude, pushy Olive chooses Reyna Fey as a friend, and Reyna, a new freshman separated from her middle-school friends, reluctantly accepts her friendship. In addition to adapting to a different school, Reyna is coping with her mother's death and her father's remarriage. Perhaps, it is her sadness that attracts complex Olive. Reyna also makes friends with a boy named, Levi. One night during a sleepover, Olive reveals that she is a lesbian. Reyna's association with her goes into a tailspin and she eventually befriends the popular girls in school, who torment Olive and other outcasts. Events unfold that challenge everything Reyna, a devote Catholic, believes in. With themes of homosexuality, teen suicide, and death, the book invites readers to ask themselves some difficult questions. 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.—Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT