Me Since You
On the day sophomore Rowan Areno skips school, a series of tragic events occur for which she feels personally responsible. She befriends Eli, a young man who witnessed a suicide and is also dealing with the loss of his father in Iraq. But when Rowan’s father, a beat cop already troubled by on-the-job incidents, takes his own life, Eli can’t seem to help her find the answers to the questions that haunt her. Even Rowan’s best friend doesn’t understand the depth of Rowan’s pain, and her mother has all but given up. The novel deals with emotionally sensitive topics, but Wiess covers other important subjects including the impact of forming and sharing public opinions based on incomplete facts, of depression in a family setting, and of one random act creating ripples in other people’s lives. With skillful handling of two related suicides before the middle of the book, Wiess offers, on a larger scale, a study in the many facets of grief, the healing process, and how forgiveness can come in many forms. Grades 9-12. --Jeanne Fredriksen