If You Loved Me

by Marilyn Reynolds

Overview

At 15, Lauren Riley promised herself that she would not mess up her life and would stay away from drugs and sex. But two years later, her boyfriend Tyler is pressuring her to forget that promise. Both her parents are lost to her through long-time drug addiction, but through her writing, Lauren tries to deal with her problems and discovers a deeper strength. Based on the reality of everyday high school life, and critiqued by high school students as it was written, this book accurately portrays and confronts the issues of drugs, race, sex, first love, and finding self-expression.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781929777006
Publisher:	New Wind Publishing
Publication date:	08/15/2014
Series:	Hamilton High True-To-Life , #7
Pages:	220
Sales rank:	510,203
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Marilyn Reynolds is the author of ten books of realistic teen fiction, all part of the popular and award-winning True-to-Life Series from Hamilton High. Marilyn is also the author of a book for educators, I Won't Read and You Can't Make Me: Reaching Reluctant Teen Readers, and a collection of essays, Over 70 and I Don't Mean MPH. She has a variety of published personal essays to her credit, and was nominated for an Emmy for the ABC Afterschool Special teleplay of Too Soon for Jeff.
Ms. Reynolds worked with reluctant learners and teens in crises at a southern California alternative high school for thirty years. She remains actively involved in education through author presentations to middle and high school students ranging from struggling readers to highly motivated writers who are interested in developing work for possible publication.
In the introduction to her book on techniques to help reluctant readers (I Won't Read and You Can't Make Me), Marilyn writes: "Over time I came to realize that the greatest gift I could give to my students, many of whom would have no formal schooling after they left [high school], was the gift of a reading habit. Silent reading time became the backbone of my program." She quotes a study in the the Los Angeles Times reporting that the single most significant factor in determining a person's success in life is whether they read for pleasure.

She published her first novel, Telling, with the encouragement of Gloria Miklowitz, a well-known writer of young adult fiction. Telling dealt with molestation, and students at her school became avid readers (and critics) of the manuscript. In the process, "students were developing a critical sense, using literary terms, analyzing character and motivation. And they were paying attention to the specifics of language use."

Encouraged by the experience, she went on to write a realistic novel about teen pregnancy, Detour for Emmy. She believes that "the essence of sustained silent reading has to do with the increased understanding of one's self and the world, of enabling the wounded to heal, the isolated to know they are not alone, the bigoted to see the humanity of others."

Marilyn Reynolds is a passionate advocate of the benefits of writing in addition to reading. She promotes writing through participation in the 916 Ink program, and works with incarcerated youth in the Sacramento area. She engages with teens in a local continuation high school, and through visiting schools as an author. She also presents staff development workshops for educators and is often a guest speaker for programs and organizations that serve teens, parents, teachers, and writers.

Editorial Reviews

Having been born drug addicted, to an addict mother, 17-year-old Lauren is determined not to repeat her mother's mistakes. She has promised herself to say no to drugs and sex, but is finding the latter a challenge, as she faces increasing pressure from her longtime boyfriend, Tyler. The resentment she still harbors for her deceased mother and the reappearance of her long-absent father further complicate her life and negatively affect her schoolwork and relationships. Lauren's journey to self-discovery and self-love is filled with pitfalls and also surprising rewards. The seventh title in the series is characteristically informative and insightful, exploring difficult teen issues with honesty and a multifaceted perspective. Reynolds' treatment of youth and their challenges, from sexual abstinence to mixed-race parentage, is compassionate, never condescending; the dialogue, situations, emotions, and behavior of the well-defined teen characters ring true. An engaging, thought-provoking read, recommended for reluctant readers. - Booklist

From the Publisher

Gr 7-10-Another entry in the series about teens struggling with realistic issues. Unfortunately, this one suffers from overkill. Lauren, a biracial senior who lives with her perfectly understanding grandmother, is in love with her handsome boyfriend, Tyler, but has made a promise to herself to avoid sexual intercourse until marriage. She is afraid of disease (after all, her friend Amber contracted herpes during her very first-and only-sexual encounter) and pregnancy. Lauren is against drug use because she was born addicted, and she harbors hatred toward her mother, who died during an explosion while she was manufacturing methamphetamines in a makeshift kitchen lab. She is purposeful and intolerant of others, and her whole world falls apart when she discovers Tyler making love to a classmate. However, he insists that his motives were altruistic; he wanted to remove the pressure of sex from their relationship and, besides, he slept with a young woman who had been sexually abused by her father and now wants to see if she can enjoy sex with a man. For some insane reason, this makes sense to Lauren and she begins to reestablish a relationship with him. By chance, former drug addicts come to her school to talk to the students and-surprise-one of them is her father. Lauren begins to loosen her hold on the hatred she feels for her parents and to empathize with their addictions. Reynolds is a perceptive author, but this title is not the best representation of her work.-Susan R. Farber, Greenburgh Public Library, Elmsford, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal