E. R. Frank (1) (1968–)

A book my 13 year old read after finding it on the shelf at the library. On one hand, I'm sad she read this on her own. There is definitely mature content for a younger teen. But, on the other hand, she gave me the book and told me to read it so we could talk about it.

Well, I read it. It is a tough and violent tale of childhood gone very very wrong. I can't imagine how tough it would be for a 6 year old to be let down by almost every adult in their life.

The story is told in current time show more with flashbacks during counseling sessions. I think this was a great way to tell the story. Sometimes I wanted to scream at the counselor as much as the patient!It's a tough read, as a parent or a YA, but well worth getting through.

I'm going to go talk to my daughter about this book and we're going to talk about thing we never would have - if not for this book bringing it up. And I'm okay with that too. show less

America starts off as a book about a 15 year old boy who is in some sort of mental home. He is what you might typically picture when you picture the "bad boy" that has depression and tried to kill himself. He's stubborn, he curses all the time, and he refuses to talk to his therapist. He even occasionally throws chairs or other things.

However, the novel alternates between the present time, and America in the mental hospital, and the past. We learn that America was a crack baby, and grew up show more with a foster parent until he was in Kindergarten. He ten goes to visit his mother, who promptly abandons him to his older brothers (around ages 7 and 9). The three boys live on their own for 2 years. We continue to learn about America's past, and all of the horrible things he endured. In many ways we become sympathetic.

Although I kept wanting to read and find out more, I was also very disturbed while I was reading. I feel like you expect the story to go one way: you think that there’s the bad side, which is his mother, the drug addict, and two older brothers who have been living on their own for years from the age of 7, and then there’s the good side, which is sweet Mrs. Harper who takes good care of him. However, the “good side” isn’t all that good. Browning, Mrs. Harper’s half brother, really turns out to be a terrible person. He not only allows this 7 year old to drink alcohol, he also makes him read dirty magazines. What’s worse is that Browning also starts sexually abusing him. Turns out that living at Mrs. Harper’s isn’t so much better than living with his mother.

It really got me thinking about how important it is to raise children the right way. Of course you can’t always be perfect, but having a positive influence is so essential. The sad thing is, there are children who don’t have this positive influence. You can really see how America is learning the wrong things about life. Sometimes it seemed like he didn’t do what was right because he didn’t know any better, or people told him that it was wrong. For instance, when Browning told him not to bother Mrs. Harper, he was too young to realize that he really should go and talk to her. In many ways, I found myself blaming Mrs. Harper. Maybe that’s horrible to say, but if she was that old, and in that poor medical condition, she probably shouldn’t have been adopting a young boy. Aside from that, she should never have entrusted him to Browning. She may not have known that he was sexually abusive, but she certainly did know that he was an alcoholic and chain smoker. I’m not sure why she thought it was okay to leave America in his hands, instead of trying to find someone that could truly take care of him.

This book allowed me to see things from a point of view I might not normally see from. While it was disturbing, it was also interesting and at least a little bit hopeful at the end. show less

New girl Stacy begins spreading rumors about the friendship between Alex and Alex's beloved teacher Simon, and soon other kids begin to believe Stacy's hype. Stacy's manipulations cloud Alex's own feelings about Simon, leading to palpable feelings of agony and guilt when things fall apart. As Alex writes in a letter to Simon, "I feel so bad because I wasn't smart enough to know that you'd never hurt anyone..." E.R. Frank writes about hurt and regret in a very tangible way.

The police, her parents, and others try to convince Anna that it is not her fault. Just because she was driving, just because her best friend Ellen has a punctured lung, just because the other driver is dead, just because that dead person happens to be her brother's girlfriend, this accident is not her fault. But there are details the police do not know—there are details that no one knows but Anna. Anna knows the truth and she has to find a way to live with herself. With the help of a show more therapist, Anna begins slowly revealing the truth—only to discover much deeper truths. Wrecked deals with the trauma of post-traumatic stress, teen drinking, and family dysfunction without being didactic. Teens who like gritty psychological drama will love Frank’s graceful, engaging writing. show less