Sweethearts

by Sara Zarr

Overview

As children, Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were both social outcasts. They were also one another's only friend. So when Cameron disappears without warning, Jennifer thinks she's lost the only person who will ever understand her. Now in high school, Jennifer has been transformed. Known as Jenna, she's popular, happy, and dating, everything "Jennifer" couldn't be -- but she still can't shake the memory of her long-lost friend.

When Cameron suddenly reappears, they are both confronted with memories of their shared past and the drastically different paths their lives have taken.

From National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr, Sweethearts is a story about the power of memory, the bond of friendship, and the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316029261
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	02/01/2008
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	856,838
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
File size:	970 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Sara Zarr was raised in San Francisco, California, and now lives with her husband in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the author of The Lucy Variations, How to Save a Life, What We Lost, Sweethearts, and the National Book Award finalist Story of a Girl. Her website is www.sarazarr.com.

Editorial Reviews

This book about a former misfit who must face her troubled childhood is dark and engrossing, thanks to Zarr's (Story of a Girl) full-bodied characters and creative storytelling. Through well-timed flashbacks, thin, popular high school senior Jenna remembers being fat Jennifer, who along with her best friend, Cameron, endures teasing in elementary school and a hard home life (her single mother is almost never home, and his abusive father traumatizes both children). After Cameron moves away, Jennifer's cruel classmates tell her he has died, and her mother corroborates the story; readers may find it hard to believe the subsequent revelation that she has, in fact, lied. But they will appreciate how honestly Jenna reveals the toll it takes on her when Cameron suddenly reappears, transferring into her senior class (she starts stealing and binge-eating again); their rekindled connection forces her to decide if "Jenna" is really who she wants to be. There is harsh material here, in the characters' presents as well as their pasts: Cameron is now an emancipated minor, and Jenna's family temporarily takes him in when he becomes homeless. Flashbacks to a horrifying episode with Cameron's father are revealed slowly and carefully, filling readers with a sense of dread, but ultimately her memories teach Jenna something surprising about her own strength. Other realistically flawed characters, from a mother who must learn truly to help her daughter to Cameron himself, round out this complex and bittersweet story of friendship and the meaning of "unfinished business." Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

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Publishers Weekly

Gr 7 Up- Jenna, 17, has remade herself. She's lost weight, is invited to social events, likes her alternative high school, and even has a boyfriend. In vivid detail, she recalls the bittersweet events of her earlier life. One of the few non-Mormons in her Salt Lake City grade school, she was a social pariah with only one friend, a boy named Cameron, another outcast. Readers are given fleeting glimpses of happy memories as well as the horrific traumas of their past, including a devastating experience with Cameron's cruel and abusive father and Jenna's belief that Cameron moved away and then died. When he reappears during her senior year, she reassesses her situation-and the person whom she has become-and realizes that the strength of her relationship with her friend spans time and makes her current relationships seem trivial. Zarr's sophisticated writing style, bouncing back and forth in time, teasing readers with further details, is wonderful. The main characters, and their unique bond, are well drawn and believable. Jenna struggles to see the child she was more clearly, to find a way to integrate her past into her present and to work toward self-acceptance. Despite its title, Sweethearts is not saccharine; it is substantial.-Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL

School Library Journal

After years working to achieve popularity, Jenna tries not to think about elementary school: the lisp, the tears, the fat. When her childhood soul mate Cameron Quick miraculously reappears, Jenna's carefully cultivated persona begins to unravel. Tension builds as readers wonder how long Jenna can keep up appearances, what made Cameron vanish so many years ago and whether the two will consummate their love. Jenna and Cameron's preternatural bond remains at the core of this original story. Readers will find their fascinating connection at once believable and unfathomable. Intermittent flashbacks cast a murky, nightmarish hue and culminate to reveal a horrific moment that united Jenna and Cameron forever. This haunting and ultimately hopeful novel asserts what many teens feel acutely: that childhood experiences often leave indelible marks. A convincing, first-person narrative voice makes the painful ramifications of exclusion palpable. The costs of popularity, eating disorders and abuse also find resonance. Zarr transfixes teen readers with enticing explorations of identity and enduring love. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

"Zarr's writing is remarkable."—Booklist (starred review)

"Engrossing."—Publishers Weekly, (starred review)

"Haunting and ultimately hopeful....A convincing, fire person narrative voice....Zarr transfixes teen readers with enticing explorations of identity and enduring love."—Kirkus Reviews

"[Zarr is a] master of show-not-tell....[a] subtle, beautifully-written novel."—VOYA, (starred review)

From the Publisher

"Zarr's writing is remarkable."

Booklist - (starred review)

Zarr's writing is remarkable.
—

Booklist

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr has created another solid story about teenage girls—a bittersweet story of the bonds of friendship. As teenagers, Jennifer and Cameron are loners, outcasts who find comfort in each other as they endure the bullying of their peers. When they’re reunited years later, they must confront the different directions they've chosen and struggle to hang on to the love that made them so close. The story is read by the author with such genuineness that listeners will find themselves believing they’re actually listening to the teens themselves. Zarr perfectly captures the nuances of voice and inflection that teens use with friends or adults. Choosing Zarr to read her own story was a wise decision. D.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2008 - AudioFile