Please Ignore Vera Dietz (Printz Honor Winner)

Description:
A Printz Honor winner. When her best friend, whom she secretly loves, betrays her and then dies under mysterious circumstances, high-school senior Vera Dietz struggles with secrets that could help clear his name.

Review Quotes:
Kirkus Reviews, starred review, September 15, 2010:
"A harrowing but ultimately redemptive tale of adolescent angst gone awry. Vera and Charlie are lifelong buddies whose relationship is sundered by high school and hormones; by the start of their senior year, the once-inseparable pair is estranged. In the aftermath of Charlie's sudden death, Vera is set adrift by grief, guilt and the uncomfortable realization that the people closest to her are still, in crucial ways, strangers. As with King's first novel, "The Dust of 100 Dogs" (2009), this is chilling and challenging stuff, but her prose here is richly detailed and wryly observant. The story unfolds through authentic dialogue and a nonlinear narrative that shifts fluidly among Vera's present perspective, flashbacks that illuminate the tragedies she's endured, brief and often humorous interpolations from "the dead kid," Vera's father and even the hilltop pagoda that overlooks their dead-end Pennsylvania town. The author depicts the journey to overcome a legacy of poverty, violence, addiction and ignorance as an arduous one, but Vera's path glimmers with grace and hope." "(Fiction. 14 & up)
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Author biography :
A.S. King is the author of the highly acclaimed "Everybody Sees the Ants," a 2012 ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults, and the Edgar Award nominated, 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book "Please Ignore Vera Dietz." She is also the author of "The Dust of 100 Dogs "and the upcoming "Ask the Passengers." After a decade living self-sufficiently and teaching literacy to adults in Ireland, she now lives deep in the Pennsylvania woods with her husband and children.