The Way We Fall

Gr 7 Up—Kaelyn, 16, returns to her Canadian island home after living for a time in Toronto. She finds that things have changed and she misses her former best friend, Leo, who now is in school on the mainland. She regrets their fight and starts a diary to share her thoughts until she can set things straight with him. But that time may never come because a strange virus begins to attack island residents, and Kaelyn becomes very involved in its progress because of her father's works as a microbiologist. Her diary entries reflect how fear and paranoia slowly take over, both on the part of the government and the residents. Acts of hoarding and stealing escalate into attacks and even the killing of some of those who are sick in the hope of containing the disease. While Kaelyn looses much that she holds dear, she also forms new bonds of friendship and finds an inner strength she didn't know she possessed. Sisi Aisha Johnson narrates Megan Crewe's novel (Hyperion, 2012), giving Kaelyn a slight accent that sets her location apart and brings out the personalities of the other characters.—Edie Ching, University of Maryland, College Park