Twisted

Laurie Halse Anderson is the queen of teen angst. Not to take anything away from her book Speak, which was extremely powerful, but Twisted might be the best book I have read dealing with teen emotions in a crisis.

Tyler Miller grew up being a geek. No one noticed him unless they happen to be beating him up. But over the summer he filled out. It probably had something to do with the hours of community service and digging holes for a landscaping service to pay off the damage that he did to the school. Now people at school notice him - he is not sure if it is because they saw him driven away in a police car or, as his sister says, because he is now a hottie.

With his new reputation he has the respect of some classmates - the bullies don't pick on him much anymore. But, when a crime is committed against a fellow student, he is the first one to be blamed.

Anderson does a phenomenal job of capturing the desperation of being a teen. I wish I had read Twisted when I was one; it proves that no matter how bad it gets, you still have choices.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. (2007). Twisted. New York: Viking.