Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that there is graphic description of the physical, mental, and emotional trauma of a 15-year-old girl being attacked by a shark and having her arm amputated. Profanity is present but fairly mild and there is discussion of having boyfriends, kissing them, etc.
Families who read this book can talk about the challenges faced by Jane when she loses her arm. Can teens imagine how this would make their own lives more difficult? Also, parents can ask their teens about the person who videotaped the attack and then had the film shown on TV. Was this appropriate? Was there anything positive to be gained by showing the footage? What are the drawbacks? When have you seen news footage on TV that you thought was more for shock value than anything else? For readers who are curious of occupations discussed such as physical therapy or occupational therapy, parents can help their teens access more information about these careers. Also, families can reiterate the extreme unlikelihood of ever being attacked by a shark while in the ocean.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Pam Gelman
This is an emotional book that's best for the tender-hearted reader ready for some soul-searching. From the moment she wakes from a coma, Jane intensely grapples with the pain associated with losing a limb, the emotions of experiencing and surviving the shark attack, the mourning of a life as an artist that she believes she won't experience, and the sadness and sometimes frustration of watching loved ones care for her. The experience also triggers thoughts about her father who died of cancer when she was 3 years old.
Written using narrative, poems, and letters to Jane from strangers moved by her story, the reader follows Jane's slow progress to accepting this experience. The sadness, hopelessness, and depression felt by the main character, along with emotions of meaningful people in her life, are honestly depicted through dialogue and plot, and will be quite moving to the right kind of introspective reader.
From The Book
Albums
I run my hand along the spines of the albums lined across the shelves. My finger rests on the plaid one.
Dad's last year. I know all the pictures by heart, and today, I'm in the mood to see his face.
But not
all those pictures
of the two-armed me.
Plot Summary:
Jane is an award-winning, 15-year-old artist who joins her mother and brother on a routine trip to the beach one summer afternoon. A few hours later, she's attacked by a shark while swimming only four yards from the shore. Her right arm is amputated above the elbow, and her life is changed forever.
Jane is acutely aware of boys and how they'll respond to her with an artificial arm back at school. People reach out to her though, including a "popular senior boy" that stirs some school gossip and tension with a girl friend. Volunteering at the hospital and helps her on her slow journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
Related Books:
More Girls Overcoming Challenges:
Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen
Perfect by Natasha Friend
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Sexual ContentFantasies described of kissing a boyfriend. Crushes on boys in school. Older brother watches girls in bikinis at beach. |
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ViolenceTeen attacked by shark in water, massive amounts of blood, major injury to arm that is amputated. After waking from coma, the girl is in incredible pain. |
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LanguageMild use of profanity such as "bastard," "damn," "hell," "s--t." |
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Social BehaviorMeaningful adults play a large role in her recuperation, including mother, brother, extended family members, therapist, doctors, nurses, counselors, friends. But it's up to Jane to accept who she is. |
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