See Ya, Simon
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Simon is a typical teenager – in every way except one. Simon likes girls, weekends and enjoys mucking about and playing practical jokes. But what s different is that Simon has muscular dystrophy – he is in a wheelchair and doesn t have long to live. See Ya, Simon is told by Simon's best friend, Nathan. Funny, moving and devastatingly honest, it tells of their last year together.
Winner of the Times Educational Supplement Nasen Award, the Silver Pen Award and the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book, See Ya, Simon has been published in the USA, UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, China, Japan and Slovenia.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hill's first YA novel, set in the author's native New Zealand, chronicles 14-year-old Nathan's turmoil as he watches best friend Simon deteriorate from muscular dystrophy. Popular and fun-loving, Simon won't tolerate pity in himself or others. Yet he's aware that death is imminent--a fact he openly shares with his classmates. Nathan reciprocates Simon's courage and candor: even as he inwardly agonizes over signs of Simon's progressive weakening, he helps boost Simon's morale with cheerful, tough banter. Hill is particularly adept at demonstrating how his characters use humor in coping with Simon's disease and in preserving Simon's self-respect; his is a noble counterpart to weepy melodramas about dying teens. The novel falters in places--the antagonism between Nathan and his sister is overdone, and Nathan's romantic interest in a classmate is handled in almost painfully obvious fashion--but in the end it is a glowing and memorable tribute to a stalwart, life-affirming friendship. Ages 10-14.
