It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, A True Story from Her Diary

This book claims to be non-fiction -- the diary of a teen-aged rape victim who dies of AIDS. I don't buy the premise. The writings of a supposedly 15 year-old sound like they were written by a much younger child, or like an adult imagining the tragedy of a young person dying. Nancy is either ga-ga about a group outing to a movie or oh, so thankful for her wonderful parents. Don't know many teenagers like that. If I judge the book as fiction, it would also fail as there is no character development. Perhaps when the AIDS epidemic first hit, this book would have been more relevant -- there was a lot of fear, little knowledge, and almost no effective treatment. At a minimum, this book doesn't stand the test of time.

Grade Levels: 7-10
Category: Realistic Fiction
Read-Alouds: 3-8 (Garth Brooks concert); 51-54 (The lake house); 101-104 (How could I be so stupid?); 109-113 (All about AIDS)

Summary:
Fourteen-year-old Nancy has experienced a lot. She’d been to a real concert (well…sort of, it was Garth Brooks), fallen in love, and spent hours giggling with her best friend. But when Nancy is raped her whole world is full of new experiences, most significant—living with AIDS. Nancy’s diary about AIDS is not only heart-breaking, but also heart-warming as we see her family and friends rally around her in an attempt to make her last days memorable. Nancy’s death is inevitable, but the insight she provides about the journey is something each of us can show more learn from.

Themes:
Most central to the book is the theme of AIDS which Nancy contracts after being raped. She describes both in detail including the horrible ailments that come along with AIDS. The book seems to be intended as an attempt to save lives, as said on the back cover, but because Nancy contracted the virus through rape rather than unprotected sex, some students may be confused about the book’s message. Either way, the details of Nancy’s diary are enough to make each of us consider the fragility of life and would provide a good place for students to look for answers about a tricky subject.

Discussion Question:
1. Why did Nancy feel like the rape and resulting AIDS were somewhat her fault?
2. What message did you take from the editor’s comments on the book?
3. Why did Nancy hold so tightly to Lew?

Reader Response:
I suppose there was no way to for the book to live up to the rave reviews I had heard about it, but I didn’t hate the book. This was another stop on my trek to read about the issues teenagers face, and date rape is certainly one of them as are sexually transmitted diseases. What I didn’t like was the editor’s comments, especially the one on the back about how reading this book could save your life. Sure, knowing how horrible AIDS is could certainly encourage readers to practice safer sex or even abstinence, but Nancy contracted AIDS when she was raped, not during an act of carelessness. The editor’s comments almost made it seem as though Nancy was, in some way, to blame for what happened to her and she does not do enough to explain that rape was in NO WAY Nancy’s fault. I would include this book on a reading list and may even teach it in class, but it certainly wasn’t my favorite. show less

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It's hard to review something which is a "real" diary and therefore not to be held to the standard of usual fiction. The quotation marks are there because the reality of Beatrice Sparks edited diaries is often questioned. They all tend to have a similar feel and end on very convenient notes.

Whatever the case is I'll only talk about it's educational and entertainment value. The portion at the back actual contains some fairly useful information on HIV/AIDS and it's effects. The actual book does delve into illness but because "Nancy" is a special case with a low immune system things happen at a much faster and more devastating rate than they usually do.

It show more wasn't as exciting as some of the other diaries in the same line. Nancy's life is fairly normal (other than AIDS) so not much of consequence happens when she isn't with the doctor or suffering from her disease. It did awaken the hypochondriac within me though, and I think I enjoyed it a little less for that. show less

These diaries are phenomenal. The stories they tell are incredibly powerful. It's very hard to believe they were written by actual teenagers.

I was appalled when I found out that all of the books written by anonymous teenagers and edited by Beatrice Sparks were actually works of fiction. I started with Go Ask Alice and read a few more after that. It just irks me when an author says a book is non-fiction when in actuality it is fiction.

This book is very sad at the beginning and middle. A teenage girl named Nancy gets raped by a guy she thinks she loves. The thing is he was 18 years old and she was only 14 years old. then it explains how she has troubles with breathing at times and how the doctors tell her she has HIV AIDS. Then in the book it tells how she has to face many troubles and difficulties throughout her life facing HIV AIDS. This is based on a true story! Please read...!!!

i think that the book was sad at the middle and the begining at lease she had the courge to put into a book for the public to read about. i think its sad to because she treated like family and raped her and left her with aid and HIV and she also had accped a ride home