Genre: Realistic Fiction Age Level: 14 and up # of Pages: 184
RAC Book: Yes Awards: Iowa High School Award Winner 2009-2010
This book follows three different perspectives: Alex, Clinton,
and Daria. Alex is a new student in a small town school where
everyone knows he is HIV positive. At the beginning of the story
he is attacked in his car by a baseball bat. The attacker breaks
the windshield so that he is cut by the glass. Daria, a student
with Down Syndrome, is the only witness and believes the
assailant to be Clinton Cole. Clinton has made it known that he
is afraid of catching AIDS and wants Alex to leave the school,
but swears he did not do this crime. Did Clinton do this and if
he did not will he be punished anyway? The three perspectives in
this book help the reader to understand where each character is
coming from. As the three perspectives follow the events after
the attack it becomes clear that Alex and Clinton both have many
issues they are dealing with at home and at school. Some of the
issues they