Accidental
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
This timely, emotionally-resonant story about a teen girl dealing with the aftermath of a tragic shooting is a must-read from an exciting new YA talent.
Johanna has had more than enough trauma in her life. She lost her mom in a car accident, and her father went AWOL when Johanna was just a baby. At sixteen, life is steady, boring . . . maybe even stifling, since she's being raised by her grandparents who never talk about their daughter, her mother Mandy.
Then he comes back: Robert Newsome, Johanna's father, bringing memories and pictures of Mandy. But that's not all he shares. A tragic car accident didn't kill Mandy--it was Johanna, who at two years old, accidentally shot her own mother with an unsecured gun.
Now Johanna has to sort through it all--the return of her absentee father, her grandparents' lies, her part in her mother's death. But no one, neither her loyal best friends nor her sweet new boyfriend, can help her forgive them. Most of all, can she ever find a way to forgive herself?
In a searing, ultimately uplifting story, debut author Alex Richards tackles a different side of the important issue that has galvanized teens across our country.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Raised by her white Baptist grandparents in Santa Fe, 16-year-old Johanna sometimes longs for younger guardians, like her friend Gabby's energetic West Indian parents and her friend Leah's warm Jewish mother. Johanna knows nothing about her own mom, whom she believes was killed in a car accident, until her estranged father, who pops suddenly back into her life via a letter, reveals that "there was a gun in the house. You were only a baby. You found it." After Johanna absorbs the truth about having pulled the trigger at age two, her world reels out of control. The rage and guilt she feels intensify when rumors spread at school, and she becomes a victim of bullying, forced to navigate pain and humiliation. Though secondary characters (Johanna's grand-parents; her new, good-natured boyfriend) can come off as one-dimensional in Richards's dramatic debut, Johanna, with her harrowing internal journey and desperate attempts to find closure and peace, is an admirable, convincing heroine who is determined to make things right for herself. Ages 13 up.
