Light Years

Light Years by Tammar Stein is a story of healing.

Maya Laor is about to start at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She has decided on UVA for many reasons, but needs to attend because of one new reason – after a suicide bomber blew up the café where her boyfriend was waiting to meet her, Maya needs to escape Israel for a while.

Like all people who grow up in Israel, Maya was in the military. Each eighteen year old must serve. And though Maya was assigned to the secretary pool, she was taught to look for suspicious activity. So when she is instrumental in getting a young man fired – and then a year later he bombs the café where he used to work – Maya feels responsible for the death of her boyfriend.

Stein has written a novel that looks at the stages of dealing with grief and survivor’s guilt. Maya is a compelling character to whom readers will relate. This is an important book in our current world.

Stein, Tammar. (2002). Light Years. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Deadville

Deadville by Ron Koertge is about learning to live again after a loss.

Ryan is a stoner. He has been one since his little sister went into the hospital to die two years ago. It was his way of coping - or not having to cope.

When a classmate falls off of her horse and ends up in a coma his friend drags him to the hospital to see her. After forcing himself through the door the first time he is compelled to return again and again.

As he visits the hospital he begins to see ways to come out of the cloud he has been living under and begin to take charge of his life.

Ron Koertge captures the feelings of grief and the desire to keep going in a way that will appeal to readers who enjoyed Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson though it is not quite as intense.

Koertge, Ron. (2008). Deadville. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.