
Sharing the pain of rejection due to physical appearance may be what brought Eric and Sarah Byrnes but true friendship bonds them when Sarah has a breakdown and is put into a mental hospital.

Would I live my life different if I knew I only had one year to live and would people treat me differently. I had to finish the book before I could go to bed.

As I began reading this book I could not put it down. After Ben dies the town accepts Ben’s project and the town gets a street named Malcolm X Avenue. Ben had been working on a social studies project which included trying to get a street named Malcolm X Avenue. Ben’s brother understands and his parents are devastated at the loss that they are soon to face. When Ben tells Dallas she will no longer speak to him. After McCoy confronts Ben about his problem he commits suicide and no one ever finds out about his sin of child molestation. The young boy that McCoy had molested could no longer take the stress and committed suicide in the church leaving McCoy to find him. However no one ever knew that he had molested boys. McCoy left the church because of his actions. Ben later learns that Rudy McCoy was previously a priest and had molested a young boy. Ben befriends Rudy McCoy whom is a drunk. Ben is afraid of the way Dallas will respond to his bad news so he continues not to tell her that he is dying. Everyone in the community thought that the three year-old Joe Henry was Dallas’ brother.

Dallas was molested by her uncle and had a child, Joe Henry that her mother would not let her abort. Ben had fallen in love with Dallas and she tells him all of her life long secrets. Ben decided to keep this secret to him because he felt that he could live a normal life is no one knew. Ben found out that he had a fatal disease and if left untreated he would only have about a year to live. I feel that if any student reads the first chapter then they will be hooked.īen Wolf, a high school senior, had gone to the doctor for his yearly cross country physical.

I feel that all high school students would enjoy reading this book. Place: New York, New York Date of Publication: 2007
