Fade To Black

Fade to Black by Alex Flinn is a young adult fiction book. Similar to Nothing to Lose it tackles a heavy social issue in a manner that would appeal to a younger audience but is still sophisticated enough to capture an adult's attention. In this book the issue is HIV. A teenager, who is infected with the virus, transfers to a small town high school and has to deal with the fact that the school adminstration informed the entire school that he is HIV positive. That kind of disclosure is against the law but that isn't what the book is about. It is about how the student, his family, and the school deals with an assualt that puts the main character in the hospital. I would definately recommend this book to any parent who has children of junior high age or older. It tackles the sterotypes of an HIV infection well and it gives a new perspective on who can be infected.

"Not'hing to Lose" by Ale.x Flin.n

Okay, so this is a young adult fiction book, not an adult fiction book. But as some of the book bloggers that I have been reading lately point out...we were all young adults once. Plus, sometimes, topics can be processed easier if they are handled on a lower reading level.

This book is about domestic violence. If you get triggered by violence--do not read this book. It was well written and I feel that it covered the topic admirably. I wasn't planning on reading this book, it just kind of showed up in my pile as I was wandering around the library one day. I was actually looking for another type of book all together but found myself in the young adult stacks and starting looking for another title when I landed on this. "Nothing to Lose" kept my interest. I found myself trying to find reasons to pick it up throughout the day even when I was only about 20 short pages into it. Definitely not fluff reading and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to read on the topic. I think that it would be a good book to introduce the topic of domestic violence to preteens and teens as it is not too violent and also brings up other topics such as drinking and drug use. It also tackles the runaway issue as the main character ends up running away to join a traveling carnival in order to escape the violence in his household. The step father character shows mainly classic signs of being an abuser--pretending that things are fine, being overly picky about the way things are supposed to be completed, high stress career, etc. The mother wasn't ever really developed beyond appearing to be a typical battered woman. She didn't really show any fight only that she was trying to make things work to protect and better her son.

Overall, I am pleased that I found this book in my pile and may go back to find something else by this author in the future.