By: Alex Flinn Publisher: HarperTeen Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: HarperTeen Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 208 Publication Date: May 01, 2006 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: May 02, 2006
The victim: After his windshield was shattered with a baseball bat, HIV-positive Alex Crusan ducked under the steering wheel. But he knows what he saw. Now he must decide what he wants to tell.
The witness: Daria Bickell never lies. So if she told the police she saw Clinton Cole do it, she must have. But did she really?
The suspect: Clinton was seen in the vicinity of the crime that morning. And sure, he has problems with Alex. But he'd never do something like this. Would he?
a pleasant surprise I was just browsing the shelves looking for something that might interest an adult but be easy enough for a 4th-grade reading level (I tutor adult basic education) and this book was a pleasant surprise. I ended up devouring the book, and my student enjoys reading it even though he's reluctant to start. Good characters and development, good amount of mystery. Disappointed with the ending, but overall very pleasant.
A Page-Turner While the story is a straightforward mystery, the book is intriguing because of the characters. Alex and Clinton are believable, fallible young men who are at times sympathetic and at other times difficult or even detestable. They both love their sisters, their mothers, their fathers. These commonalities make their conflict all the more uneasy. Along with the HIV information, themes of alcoholism, abandonment, and what makes life livable weave in and out of the story. This strikes me as the sort of book that might appeal equally to male and female audiences.
Fade to Black
This story is called Fade to Black and it is about a boy, Alex, who has a disease. Another boy, Clinton, and the whole school don't like Alex, because they don't want the disease and they tease him all the time. So one day Alex, the boy with the disease, was driving and his window crashed and he was all beat up and taken to the hospital. Everyone thought it was Clinton, because he treated Alex the worst. I thought this story was very good. It had a point, which was not to pick on people just because they look different and are different. The saddest part to me was when Alex and Clinton were talking in the hospital and started to understand each other better. To me this story was easy to understand and had a very good reason. I also liked the fact that the Author wrote the book as if the three characters wrote a diary, kind of. So I would rate this book
Good Alex is a teenage who is HIV positive. Not many people want to be around him. This book shows the hardships that Alex has to go through. This book also shows how he has to deal with certain things. A boy named Clinton is one of Alex's worst enemies. Clinton hates Alex a lot. Can Alex turn Clinton into a friend and not an enemy? Read the book to find out.
**** I liked this book very much. This book shows what a person has to go through if they are HIV positive. I enjoyed this book very much. ****
Brandon Stabler, 14 years old.
Very interesting... Alejandro "Alex" Crusan is a seventeen-years-old Latino and HIV positive. His family moved from Miami to Pinedale, Florida. No one in his new school will touch him, much less befriend him. The only one that does not avoid Alex is Daria, the girl with Down Syndrome. Everyone avoids her too. But someone nearby hates Alex enough to learn his daily routine, followed by taking a baseball bat to Alex's car. The windows shatter, throwing tiny glass shards over Alex. The shards act as knives.
Daria does not lie. She tells the police what she saw. The police go after Clinton Cole.
Clinton has been very vocal on his feelings about Alex being HIV positive from the beginning. Everyone agrees with Clinton; however, no one believes Alex deserves what happened to him. When everyone begins avoiding Clinton, the teen starts to understand how Alex's isolation feels. Clinton swears he did not do it. Yet no one believes him.
**** Author Alex Flinn writes in a way that teens can relate to. She has taken a few taboo topics and created a mystery that young adults will enjoy trying to figure out, while learning about delicate subjects. I enjoyed the story very much and recommend it to all. ****
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
