The Memory Jar

by Elissa Janine Hoole

Overview

Since the accident, Taylor's memory has been fuzzy. But at least she's awake. Who knows what her boyfriend, Scott, will remember when he comes out of the coma. Will he remember that Taylor was driving the snowmobile when it crashed? Will he remember the engagement ring? Her pregnancy? Will he remember that she tried to break up with him? Taylor doesn't know. And she doesn't know if she wants him to remember. Plenty of things happened that night and before-secrets wrapped in secrets-that she'd prefer be forgotten. Facing choices she'd rather ignore, Taylor searches for something more solid than whispers and something bigger than blame to face the future and forgive herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738748870
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	04/08/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Elissa Janine Hoole bought her first deck of Tarot cards as a birthday gift to herself when she turned twenty, and even in the privacy of her own apartment, she felt like she should hide them. The three words she uses to describe herself are curious, caring, and contemplative. Suggestions from her husband and two sons include crazy and cantankerous. Elissa teaches middle school English and sometimes makes her students write poetry that celebrates and sings themselves. She also wrote the YA road trip novel, Kiss the Morning Star.

Editorial Reviews

"An intricately crafted story of teen pregnancy helmed by a bold, achingly real protagonist determined to decide her own fate." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Heartbreaking and hopeful." —Booklist (starred review)

"Honest and sometimes heart-breaking, The Memory Jar is about first love, first loss, and how one moment can change the course of a lifetime." —Suzanne Young, New York Times best-selling author of The Program series

From the Publisher

03/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—Seventeen-year-old Taylor and her boyfriend have been in a snowmobile accident that has left him in a coma, and she can't remember what happened. What's worse is she's pregnant and she was just about to break up with him—now what is she going to do? She doesn't exactly want him to die, but she does want him to forget. Taylor struggles to keep her secret while she tries to remember what happened on that fateful night. Taylor doesn't have the greatest life with her stressed-out mom on a very small income. Her one hope is to go to college and make something of herself to get out of Sterling Creek, MN, a small town almost in Canada. Will Taylor have the baby and forget her dreams or have an abortion? Will Scott survive or even come out of the coma? Hoole creates a believable, relatable cast of characters. Told in first person with multiple narrators and chapters that jump forward and backward in time, the mystery is well-crafted and compelling. With short chapters and sentences, the tension builds to make readers wonder what is going on. This thoughtful psychological tale will leave readers on the edge of their seats until the last page. VERDICT Hoole's third YA novel is reminiscent of Gayle Forman's books and will be popular with teens.—Jane Hebert, Glenside Public Library District, Glendale Heights, IL

School Library Journal

★ 2016-02-02
After a snowmobile accident leaves her boyfriend in a coma, a girl must confront her memories before she can make a life-altering decision. High school sweethearts Taylor and Scott grow distant after he moves away to attend college. Everything seems fine, though, until Taylor discovers she's pregnant. Distraught, she considers suicide, but when she confides in Scott, he reprimands her for her selfishness. Disturbed by his response, she decides to break up with him, but he whisks her away to their favorite little snowy island in northern Minnesota and surprises her with a proposal that she can't bring herself to turn down. Tragically, on the way back, their snowmobile crashes, leaving Scott with a fractured skull, lost in a coma. Now Taylor waits at his bedside, still undecided about the baby and with a secret engagement ring in her pocket. She can't help but wonder if this is all her fault—did she swerve? Did she have a death wish? She can't remember, but the process to finding out what really happened, and who Scott really was, grows increasingly complicated each day he doesn't wake up. Ever confident in her choices and blessed with a trenchant narrative voice, Taylor makes for an engaging, strikingly unsentimental portrait of a teen girl facing tragedy head-on. Her path is fraught with all the messy, painful truths no one should face so young, and it's both heartbreaking and beautiful in its resolution. An intricately crafted story of teen pregnancy helmed by a bold, achingly real protagonist determined to decide her own fate. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews