After all, I believe life is too darn short to read books that don't truly interest me. I have reserved the right to review only books I feel I can review positively. My focus is on books for middle grades and high school age readers. For anyone not familiar with my posts, I review mostly YA fiction. I still teach at the college level - Children's and Adolescent Literature - and I truly enjoy connecting my students with great books. Hello fellow readers! I retired after 40 years of teaching middle and high school English. The emotions that drive the characters practically jump off the page and demand attention. Jonah's family takes "dysfunctional" in a totally new direction that had me almost talking back to the book. BREAK gripped me on the first page, and I couldn't put it down. In a modern world of escapist behavior, she has created a character with a whole new twist of self-destruction. Is there another way to control the world around him, or will one of the breaks end everything?įirst time author Hannah Moskowitz has created a truly unique tale. Even airborne contact with just about everything can stop cover him in hives and stop his breathing, sending him to the emergency room and possible death.Īs people gradually begin to realize Jonah is not just a klutz, and that his broken bones are some sort of cry for help, he finds himself defending his strange obsession in an attempt to prove he is not crazy. All their friends are cautioned not to breath in his presence after eating certain foods like peanut butter. He can't even touch their youngest brother for fear that he might be wearing traces of their mother's breast milk. He can't be in the same room as a cooking egg or spilled milk. The resulting pain and adrenaline rush give him special pleasure, but the real reason is linked to his younger brother Jesse. There's anorexia, bulimia, and cutting as a way to control the world around you, but Jonah seems to have found another method. He keeps a tally of total breaks with his goal being the magic total in the human body - 206. Staged skateboard accidents, intentional falls from high places, or direct blows with a heavy object - whatever it takes to break his bones. Is the feeling of exhilaration? Is it the possibility that it will make him stronger? Or is it an attempt to help his brother? Jonah doesn't know why he is driven to do it, but he does know it may be out of control.
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