A Step Towards Falling
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
"A unique and unforgettable love." Teen Vogue
Neither of us is exactly living the dream. But we're living something and that's more than either of us expected this year.
In A Step Toward Falling, Cammie McGovern tells a poignant, compelling story of not judging people on appearances and knowing how to fix the things you've broken.
Emily has always been the kind of girl who tries to do the right thing - until one night when she does the worst thing possible. She sees Belinda, a classmate with developmental disabilities, being attacked. Inexplicably, she does nothing at all.
Belinda, however, manages to save herself. When their high school finds out what happened, Emily and Lucas, a football player who was also there that night, are required to perform community service at a centre for disabled people. Soon, Lucas and Emily begin to feel like maybe they're starting to make a real difference. Like they would be able to do the right thing if they could do that night all over again. But can they do anything that will actually help the one person they hurt the most?
MORE PRAISE FOR A STEP TOWARDS FALLING
"Exhilarating and heartrending. This novel is stunning." Booklist (starred review)
"Readers will be surprised, moved, amused, worried, hopeful, and grateful." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"McGovern's triumph is how well she normalizes and highlights the variety of disability experiences among teens and their often circuitous journeys toward claiming their voices and right to self-determination. Ultimately, a deeply engaging and rewarding story." Kirkus Reviews
"A beautifully written story about two teens who find each other in spite of what might seem like insurmountable problems." Examiner.com (5 star review)
"It's a little bit Perks of Being a Wallflower, a little bit Eleanor & Park, and a lot of something else entirely. A young adult book with grown-up lessons." Metro US
"Wonder meets Eleanor and Park in this authentic romance with beautifully crafted characters." IndieBound.org
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Emily knows that she isn't good at everything (boys, for instance), but she generally thinks she's a good person until the night she does nothing when Belinda, a classmate with special needs, is being assaulted at a football game. Now Emily and Lucas, a star football player who also failed to act, must volunteer at a social skills class for adults with developmental disabilities. Interacting with Lucas and the class members is initially awkward for Emily, but she comes to see past her preconceptions about all of them. But this isn't just Emily's story: it's also Belinda's. Alternating passages follow Belinda as she recovers from the attack which she successfully fended off and returns to school, eventually befriending Emily and Lucas. No mere empathy builder for Emily and Lucas, Belinda is a fully developed character good at some things (better than Emily and Lucas, in fact), bad at others. Without evading or sugarcoating difficult topics, McGovern (Say What You Will) shows that disabled and able aren't binary states but part of a continuum a human one. Ages 14 up.
