Teen Angel

Spencer, Katherine. 2006. Saving Grace.

Grace Stanley is a troubled teen. But she didn't used to be. In the midsts of her grief, her brother was killed in a car accident over the summer, Grace is finding it hard to start her junior year in high school. Surrounded by her old friends who can't understand and her brother's former friends, she is trying to escape the pain by becoming someone new. Turning her back on school work and extracurricular activities, Grace begins hanging with a new crowd--a different crowd--a 'popular' crowd into drinking, partying, and hooking up. But can Grace truly become a different person overnight? What Grace is learning--although it's very slowly, is that alcohol may numb feelings...but that the feelings never go away. What Grace needs, what she truly needs, is a guardian angel. How convenient then that she is befriended by Philomena Cantos, a mysterious new girl at school. Philomena seems to know her inside and out and is always ready to listen and help. Katherine Spencer's novel Saving Grace is an interesting novel that shows a family in grief in a very honest and authentic way.

Other YA titles that deal with grief include Maybe by Brent Runyon, Looking For Alaska by John Green, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, Pepperland by Mark DeLaney, Going For the Record by Julie Swanson, Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata, and What is Goodbye? by Nikki Grimes.