Skin

I'M TELLING YOU THIS BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T ASK. I'VE GOT IT ALL HERE, GROWING LIKE A TUMOR IN MY THROAT.

I'm telling you because if I don't, I will choke on it. Everybody knows what happened, but nobody asks. And Elvis the EMT doesn't count because when he asked, he didn't even listen to me answer because he was listening to my sister's heart not beat with his stethoscope. I want to tell. It's mine to tell. Even if you didn't ask, you have to hear it.

Fourteen-year-old Donnie's older sister, Karen, has always been the one person in his life on whom he could totally depend. But as Karen slowly slips away in the grip of an eating disorder, Donnie finds himself alone in facing the trauma of his parents' faltering marriage and his new life as an outcast at school.

Donnie makes it his responsibility to cure his sister's illness and fix his parents' issues, letting every part of himself disappear in the process. It is more important -- and somehow easier -- to figure out if today is a day when Karen is eating, or to know if Dad and Mom are sleeping in the same bedroom, than to deal with his own problems. In the end, though, Donnie must decide whether to float through life unnoticed, or to claim his rightful place as a member of his family and of the world. This powerful story from a brilliant new talent introduces a memorable boy in Donnie, who, from his funny and painfully honest point of view, describes a harrowing year that leaves both him and his family forever changed.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 04/01/2006
ISBN: 9781416906551
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.80w x 0.94d
Award: Tayshas Reading - Commended

Review Citations: Booklist 03/01/2006 pg. 86
Kirkus Review - Children 03/15/2006 pg. 302
Publishers Weekly 04/24/2006 pg. 62
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2006 pg. 428 - Book Of Special Distinction
Horn Book Magazine 05/01/2006 pg. 336
School Library Journal 06/01/2006 pg. 167
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2006 pg. 154 - Recommended - Readable
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2006 pg. 371 - Superior,Well Above Average
ALA Best Books Young Adults 01/01/2007 pg. 1

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 105492 / Skin
Reading Level: 4.4 / Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus / Point Value: 7