Wish You Were Here

by Barbara Shoup

Overview

Everything is falling apart for high school senior Jackson Watt. His best friend Brady disappears without a word. His mom remarries, which means a new stepdad, a new house . . . a new life. He falls in love with the girl of his dreams, and then risks blowing it for good. It's only when Jax takes one last road trip to Graceland that he can accept the past year-and what it really means to grow up.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738724966
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	09/08/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Lexile:	750L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Barbara Shoup is a critically acclaimed and award-winning author of novels for teenagers and adults. Shoup has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Master Artist Fellowship from the Indiana Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writers Award. Her novel Wish You Were Here was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It will be published in paperback by Flux in May 2008. She lives in Indiana.

Editorial Reviews

Seventeen-year-old Jackson Watt is a self-described "good kid," so he tells his parents he understands about their divorce, is happy about his mother's remarriage, and accepts his father's love-the-one-you're-with approach to women. Only with his best friend, Brady, does Jackson let down his guard; but one day Brady, fighting his own demons, just takes off with no word to Jackson or anyone else. During the year that follows, Jackson has to learn to face his anger and recognize his own needs and frailties (including the inability to break off a sexual relationship with a troubled girl). Jackson is a complex, thoughtful, completely believable character. Teens, especially boys, will identify with his struggle to get in touch with his feelings while preserving an aura of being in control. Girls will see him as hiding the sensitive soul they hope is in every boy; however, the author also expresses the reality that on the road to self-discovery, even a sensitive hero may not leave the 20women in his life unscathed. That is precisely what makes this beautifully written novel so powerful; Shoup has created a cast of well-developed, well-meaning characters who truly care about one another but who are also trying to achieve personal happiness. Unfortunately, that can't always be done without hurting or 20disappointing someone--but that doesn't mean they love less. A touching, thought-provoking, and very candid coming-of-age tale.

Jeanne Triner

"[A] touching, thought-provoking, and very candid coming-of-age tale." —Booklist

From the Publisher