Return to Paradise

Title: Return to Paradise
Author: Simone Elkeles
(C) 2010
Publisher: Flux
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1868-2
291 pp.

I don't love this cover. I just felt a need to mention that.

Caleb and Maggie's story continues after that terrible abrupt-and-not-happy ending in Leaving Paradise. But I can deal with it.

Caleb gets busted in Chicago and is forced to call his "transition mentor." Damon manages to post bail and keep him out of jail. Instead, Caleb is stuck going on a four week trip with a group called Re-START. The purpose of the group is to speak to other teens about the life-changing effects of stupid decisions while driving.

What Caleb (and Damon) don't expect, is for Maggie to be on this trip too. She's filling in for a girl who dropped out, before she spends a semester abroad in Spain. It's shock for both of them, which Caleb attempts to cover up with attitude. Maggie, on the other hand, is much stronger than the last time we see her. Caleb broke her heart, which scarred her deeper than the scars left on her legs, but she's come to terms with it. Seeing him again isn't easy, but she's dealing.

However, this book truly is about facing the truth. The truth about the accident is something only a few people know, and it's a covering up of that truth that is tearing their lives apart. Our author doesn't pull punches, she makes it clear that life is tough, no matter what decision you make, and you have to be the prepared to take the consequences of those actions.

I mentioned earlier that she writes about places and people that are dear to my heart. I've spent six years teaching in a very diverse preschool. It's funny, cause I say diverse, but really, I pretty much am the minority. It's not easy. I can't always relate to the families, or the kids that I teach.
Many of the kids I see every day come from families vastly different from mine. Their childhood is nothing like what I had. The characters I found here come from families like that. Families, that are still just people, struggling to get by and not always making great choices. People that need to be seen for their potential. I love the chance I'm given to help these people, even if it is a struggle.

So, if you do read these books, I hope they inspire you to see others in a new way; to look for that potential that everyone has somewhere inside of them.

Until next time...Happy Readings!

Leaving Paradise

Title: Leaving Paradise
Author: Simone Elkeles
(C)2007
Publisher: Flux
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1018-1
303 pp.

Is it possible to pull your life back together after you've been hurt?

What about trusting the person who hurt you?

Each person has to answer those questions for themselves when something happens in their life. I am a "keep moving forward" kind of person. So for me, the answer to that first question is a yes. That ability to pull my life back together isn't easy, but it's so deeply ingrained into my personality that I don't think I could be any other way.

For Maggie, that's a different story. She's scarred after being hit by a drunk driver and left for dead. What's worse, the drunk driver is her next door neighbor - her best friend's twin brother. At least, that's what the police report says.

This book can draw you in and make you physically hurt for Maggie and the situation she finds herself in. I found myself being annoyed and proud all at the same time as she slowly learns to push herself to be stronger. Some of it is the guidance she doesn't have at home, but all that changes when she starts working for Mrs. Reynolds to earn money to leave Paradise. (Oh! That's the name of the town.)

Meanwhile, we get to meet the drunk driver, Caleb. We learn about his year spent at the Department of Corrections (DOC) and the way his old life begins to unravel when he returns home to find nothing the same, despite his parents' desperate attempts to appear normal.

Caleb's story is a rare glimpse into what juvinile detention is like. Caleb, once a popular high school jock, is unknowingly transformed inside those walls. If he's learned one thing, it's that one mistake and your life will never be the same. What he doesn't realize until coming home, is that neither is anyone else effected by it.

So what happens when Caleb comes back into Maggie's life? Can she learn to trust him again? Can he let himself trust again?

The story ends rather abruptly. I got the sense of "where's the next page?" hanging over me when I finished it. It might bother some people, but I knew the sequel was coming out soon, so I was patient and found other things to read until then.

And now I finally have the sequel!