Breathless

by Lurlene McDaniel

Overview

What is the toughest request anyone can be asked to fulfill?

Travis Morrison is a champion diver and one of the most popular kids at school. On the first day of summer vacation, while boating on the lake with his friends, Travis attempts a silly stunt dive that goes wrong. He fears he has broken his leg. Instead, his trip to the hospital reveals he has a rare form of cancer, and to save him, the doctors tell his parents they must amputate. In an instant, Travis’s life and the lives of everyone around him are forever changed.

Travis is determined that he and only he should decide the course of his life. He has a plan, but he can’t carry it out alone. Will he convince one of his friends to fulfill his most important request?

Lurlene McDaniel tackles a controversial subject, probing the issues of personal choice and quality of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375890970
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/12/2009
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	335,638
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lurlene McDaniel is the foremost author of inspirational fiction for young adults. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 8 Up

Travis, a champion diver about to start his junior year of high school, is hanging out with his friends and sister on the first day of summer vacation. The cliffs over the lake call to him, and he climbs up to dive from them, only to hear his leg snap when he jumps. Still in the hospital days later, Travis finally hears the diagnosis: bone cancer. Facing amputation and chemotherapy, he knows he'll never get back to the life he had. As Travis gets sicker, his only comfort is his research into death-with-dignity and right-to-die groups, and his only hope is that his friends will help him once he can no longer help himself. The narrative rotates among four teens: Travis, his sister, his girlfriend, and his best friend. Each voice is distinct and shows a different perspective on Travis's life since his diagnosis. The ending is heavily telegraphed from the beginning (the book opens on an unnamed character who admits that "right and wrong dissolved into what I knew I had to do"), but this does not diminish the impact of the final chapters. This is a heartstrings-tugging read that retains the central character's dignity and peace in the face of insurmountable odds. A sensitive book on a delicate topic.-Brandy Danner, Wilmington Memorial Library, MA

School Library Journal

The prolific author's latest novel features her signature pull at teen readers' hearts. In the slim volume, four distinct voices describe Travis Morrison's terrible health situation. Travis is a champion high-school diver until his femur snaps while cliff diving at a rural Alabama lake. It's bone cancer. In alternating chapters, the fragile emotions of his best friend Cooper, his girlfriend Darla and little sister Emily come forth. Travis's health deteriorates after his leg is amputated and he bounces between chemo treatments and false remission over the next year and a half. But there are other story lines. Cooper's mother is an alcoholic prostitute, Darla is labeled the school slut and Emily is the kid sister in love with her brother's friend. The pages drip with angst as Travis's health fades to a point where he pressures the other teenagers to help him commit suicide. Melodramatic scenes, stock characters and stiff phrasing blemish this work. Despite-or perhaps because of-these formula-wrought flaws, McDaniel's fans, who seemingly read with tissues in hand, will snatch it off the shelves. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews