If I Tell

September 15, 2011

What's a girl to do—tell or not? High-school senior Jaz sees her mother's boyfriend, Simon, sharing a serious kiss with her own best friend, then finds out her mom is pregnant with his baby.

Besides the formidable issues that kiss creates in her relationships with her mom and Simon, Jaz has other problems. She's biracial in a town that's almost completely white, and because of a brutal bullying incident when she was a fourth grader that caused her to purposely create a distance between herself and many classmates, Jaz doesn't have much of a support group. When a handsome transfer student with a drug-dealing background insinuates himself into her life, she has to decide if he can be trusted and loved. All signs are that Jaz was reasonably well adjusted before the kiss, making her relentless animosity toward her mom and Simon—that lingers annoyingly on and on, past the birth of her little brother—disconcertingly out of character. The conflict just doesn't seem to be sufficient cause to sustain the depth of her anger through a full novel, quite possibly outlasting the sympathy of readers. This problem is only partially ameliorated by believable dialogue and attractive secondary characters.

While not completely successful, this effort may appeal to teen readers that want more than a touch of conflict stirred into a simmering romance. (Fiction. 12 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011

Gr 7-10-Jasmine has a terrible secret. At a party, she sees her best friend, who is four years older than Jaz, drunkenly kissing her mother's boyfriend and, to make matters worse, her mom is newly pregnant. Born to a white teenage mother and an absent black father, Jaz has been raised by her grandparents and is coping with the loss of her grandpa, her closet mentor and confidant. Living in Tadita, WA, she feels like the only biracial person in the world. Now her mother's partner, one of the few African Americans in town, has jeopardized their usually warm relationship. She hesitantly turns to the new boy in town, a reformed drug dealer. As she intermittently faces-and refuses to face-the impending birth of a sibling, Jaz's anger grows. She shuts out those closest to her and lives in the emotional cocoon she has made for herself since being bullied by her all-white fourth-grade classmates. The story suffers from too many issues brought in and only briefly touched on. Teen pregnancy, racism, alcohol and drug addictions, cheating, sexual abuse, coming out in high school, and even severe postpartum depression all are mentioned. They muddy the focus of the story: how one insecure teen deals with betrayal by two people very close to her. The book uses undeveloped characters to put a face on teen issues, dealing with them in a superficial way and tying up loose ends neatly by the last page.-Karen Elliott, Grafton High School, WI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 Square peg, round hole. That's how Jaz has felt as far back as she can remember. Being the daughter of a black father and a white mother, her classmates singled her out as different from day one, and it stuck. Now her mother is engaged and pregnant, and Jaz would be happy for her if not for the terrible secret she knows about her soon-to-be stepfather. Because of this, Jaz isolates herself from her family and friends, turning to her music for answers and comfort. She finds both in Jackson, a new guy who may be the only one who has ever understood her. Gurtler unabashedly tackles several sensitive topics without sacrificing the story line and constructs a beautiful paradox by making the burden of carrying a secret the factor that enables Jaz to face her outcast fear. This novel also addresses the pressure students feel to fit in and encourages them to stay true to themselves. Sometimes we just need to hear that it's OK to be different.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)