Crash

Crash by Lisa McMann

“Don’t do drugs,” he said seriously. “Our family has enough problems” It’s a little strange and hear this line within the first few minutes of a book. Lisa McMann has written one of my favorite book series to date, so when looking through a selection of books, the name stood out to me. This book is written in the first person of Jules Demarco, a sixteen-year-old girl who works in her family’s pizzeria in Chicago. Jules is not your average girl. She sees a vision of a snowplow crashing into a side of a building resulting in an explosion resulting in nine body bags lying on the floor. The image is something only Jules can see and its roles on billboards and in advertisements on TV. The vision becomes more intense and happens more often to the point that all she sees are these visions. Jules can identify one of the bodies as the boy she is in love with names Sawyer but also works for a rivaling pizzeria. Throughout the book, Jules is trying to find out when this accident happens and how to stop it to save the person she loves. There are other elements of this book that touch on some touchy subjects, like her brother is gay, her grandfather committed suicide. Her father suffered from depression and had trapped their family in his hoarding habits. Of course, there is also the cliché “Romeo and Juliet” dynamic that Jules and Sawyer have. Forced to stay away from the other because of the bad blood between the families.

I did like that she didn’t shy away from these real everyday problems in her book. It doesn’t matter what age a child is. There is a chance that they can deal with some of these situations, and it touches on a lot. A child could either be the one in these situations dealing with depression or abuse first and or they could be like Jules and see it when her father suffers from it. “Crash” may be too advanced for younger children, but for young adults and teens, it would be right up their alley. It allows the reader to experience real-life scenarios with some supernatural as well.