Watkins, Steve. Great Falls.

Watkins, Steve. Great Falls. Candlewick Press   2016  245p. $17.99  ISBN 978-0-7636-7155-6  hs  Realistic fiction  VG-BN     

Shane’s big brother Jeremy comes back from fighting in the war in Afghanistan as a very different big brother than the one Shane loved and idolized before he left. When the two go on a camping trip, Shane realizes that what he had hoped for on the trip, some healing for his brother who suffers from PTSD, will not happen and that he is in way over his head in trying to help Jeremy.      The subject of PTSD and the devastating impact it has on families is the focus of this coming-of-age novel. Jeremy’s desperation to become “normal” again so he can move forward with his life and his family is painful to read. Shane’s inability to cope with the changes that Jeremy’s return has created, and his own personal problems, ring very true to this reader. YA readers will no doubt enjoy diving into this realistic tale of a family in crisis.

Summary: Shane’s big brother Jeremy comes back from fighting in the war in Afghanistan as a very different big brother than the one Shane loved and idolized before he left.

PTSD-Fiction, War in Afghanistan-Fiction        --Lynn Fisher

Smith, Amber. The Way I Used To Be.

Smith, Amber.  The Way I Used To Be.  Simon & Schuster/McElderry Books  2016   384p $17.99  ISBN 978-1-4814-4935-9      hs/adult    Realistic fiction  VG-BN

Author Amber Smith immediately pulls the reader into the psychological depths of despair as her protagonist, young Edy, tries to cope after being raped. Chapter One draws the reader into Edy’s solitary suffering by describing the rape from her perspective.  Imagine Edy’s introduction to adulthood, when her brother’s best friend Kevin comes into her bedroom one night and attacks her, threatening her with death if she tells. So begins Edy’s journey through her high-school years.  Dubbed the “school slut”, Edy must try to cope as she forges ahead, in and out of relationships that would have been quite fulfilling had she been emotionally stable.  Instead, she keeps her secret to herself and tries to survive.  Smith divides her book into four chapters of life, each a year of senior high school.  In her freshman year, Edy creates a lunch-time book club with her best friend Mara.  Together, the girls try to define their role in high school. This year, she runs into Kevin’s sister Amanda who looks at her disdainfully.  Edy can’t quite figure out why.  During sophomore year, she meets Josh, a young man who senses that all is not right with her, yet forges ahead with the relationship.  Unbeknownst to Josh, Edy is NOT sixteen, so when they have sexual relations, he is unaware that he is breaking the law.  Due to Edy’s lack of ability to function in normal relationship-building, and because Edy is underage, Josh breaks up with her.  There is so much more to this book, and Smith never divulges until the end whether Kevin will have to pay for his crime or whether Edy will accept what has happened to her and move ahead in life.  This novel is worth the time as much for its character development as for its dive into an area of PTSD.  Publisher please note:  The Tristate Young Adult review committee recommends book of note status for published books; however, in unusual cases, we can recommend an advance reader’s copy as a BON.  Please see pages 238-239, where the italics are not correctly done to indicate which words are part of a note and which are regular text.                   

This book is a very good choice for high-school readers as well as for young adults.  The rape scene is quite vivid, there is profanity, and the psychological trauma is palpable.    

Summary: After Edy is raped by her brother’s best friend, she struggles to cope alone.  Throughout the high-school year, she faces obstacles, new understandings about life post-rape, and new relationships.  Normalcy is not part of the equation.

Rape-Fiction, PTSD-Fiction                                  --Martha Squaresky

Stay Where You Are & Then Leave.

Boyne, John.  Stay Where You Are & Then Leave.  Macmillan/Henry Holt  2014  245p  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-62779-031-4  ms  Historical fiction      E-BN

Alfie is only five when his father enlists, and by age nine he secretly takes up working as a shoe-shine boy to help his mother, Margie, make ends meet.  To Margie’s dismay, Alfie’s father enlisted to fight in the war. When Alfie finds out his father is not on a secret mission, but rather in a hospital nearby being treated for “shell shock”, he is determined to bring him home.  Alfie shows courage by doing everything he believes to be right for his family, but he makes many childish mistakes in the process. The novel is a unique historical fiction set during World War I, dealing with the subject matter of PTSD, and it is worthy of inclusion in any middle-school and possibly high-school collection.        

Summary: Alfie’s mother tells him they haven’t heard from his soldier father because he is on a secret mission.  The boy suspects otherwise and discovers his father is in a nearby hospital suffering from PTSD.  Boyne’s characters are well-developed and resilient in the face of adversity during World War I in England.  

World War I, PTSD                                     --Stephanie Pennucci

The Killing Woods

Christopher, Lucy.  The Killing Woods.  Scholastic/Chicken House  2014  359p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-545-46100-9  hs  Realistic fiction 

E-BN

Emily’s father, who suffers from PTSD, is accused of killing one of her classmates, Ashlee, during a flashback when he returns home carrying the teenager’s body.  The girl had been in the nearby woods that night playing The Game with a group of friends, including her boyfriend Damon, who was too drunk and high to remember what happened when he is questioned the next morning.  Emily is determined to prove that her father did not kill Ashlee, even as the whole town, including her mother, believes otherwise.  The story alternates between Emily’s and Damon’s points of view as they each struggle to come to terms with the tragic event and uncover the truth.  Damon and Ashlee were beginning a sexual relationship when the tragedy occurred, and this is discussed briefly in the parts of the story that are told from Damon’s point of view.    

Summary: Emily’s father, who suffers from PTSD, is accused of killing one of her classmates.  Emily is determined to prove his innocence, even though the whole town, even her mother, believes he did it.

           

PTSD-Fiction, Murder-Fiction                    --Stephanie Pennucci