Teach Me To Forget

Gr 9 Up—Ellery finds life after the death of her little sister, Tate, unbearable. So she creates the perfect suicide plan, and all the pieces are in place: the gun, the cleaning service, and an empty house. All she has to do is pull the trigger. But after discovering that the gun is faulty, she rushes to Kmart to try to exchange it and is stopped by a security guard, Colter, who happens to go to her school. Thus begin Colter's efforts to save Ellery from herself. Her childhood friend Dean has also survived a suicide attempt, and Ellery starts to fixate on Dean; she recognizes in him a determination that mirrors her own. While Ellery is watching over Dean from afar, Colter falls in love with her as he tries to keep her alive. The backstory of how Ellery's sister died is told in flashbacks throughout the novel. Some of the plot connections may raise questions. No one seems to notice, for example, how desperate Ellery is to die, despite her suicide attempt and her subsequent erratic behavior. In addition, her father, who blames her for Tate's death, isn't fully integrated into the narrative. These missteps aside, Chapman has crafted a hauntingly beautiful story with richly developed characters.