Review: Friendship, Faith, Great Characters, and Chance of a Lifetime Makes this a Refreshing YA Read!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2013
Darby spends most of her time watching the news and dreaming of being a news reporter.  She understands what it takes to do a story justice and she wants to make a difference in the world.  When Ms. Wright puts together a class that will allow students to learn all they can about mass communications, Darby jumps at the chance to be involved.  There she meets and becomes part of a team with best friend Izzy, Jake, Andrew, Molly and Sarah.The first interview Darby, Izzy, and Jake get is with the pregnant Mrs. Oakland.  During the interview, Mrs. Oakland goes into labor, but the reader also gets to learn more about the program these high school students are involved in as Mrs. Oakland encourages them to get to know Grady.  Grady is a high school student volunteering as an EMT and the first story Darby, Izzy, and Jake get to cover.  Little do they realize how much they will learn and grow together as a group while doing this story, but it's an unforgettable experience for each of them.Even though there were some spelling and grammar errors that I noticed in this ebook, I really enjoyed the story and how passionate these teens are about making a difference in their community.  Other opportunities they're involved in with this program is a weekly feature story for Channel 9, 30 minute weekly show at school, radio show 4 days a week, and newspaper weekly column called TeenSpeak---stories by teens and for teens---learning all they can about mass communications.  Some of the issues they face are: getting over a breakup, witnessing a death, one student gets the chance to save a family member after taking a CPR class, one student gets nauseous whenever discussing or witnessing a victim, one student is a know-it-all who gets a big lesson that changes his outlook, and one student who is paralyzed yet has the faith and positive outlook on life that impacts the entire group.I'm grateful for stories like this one for young adults that shows whatever conflicts they're dealing with in their teen years, they're not alone.  There was nothing graphic or violent in this story and it's a fast read.  This ebook has been updated since it was originally published and I really like the new cover, it's brilliant!!  The way the story moves along made me feel like I was jumping from scene to scene, like a real news story!I want to thank the author and Litfuse Publicity Group for the free review copy I received. The opinions expressed are my own.