Crosses
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4.6 • 10 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Quick Pick, and an ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Young Readers
Nancy and Katie are best friends with one big thing in common—they both cut themselves: "Not by accident, we do it purposely—and regularly—because physical pain is comforting, and because now it has become a habit."
Crosses was the first novel for young adults to deal with an increasingly widespread disorder, and "graphically describes the cry for help of many adolescents and how far they have to fall before they are even noticed" (Voice of Young Adults).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First-time novelist Stoehr draws a hard-hitting, graphically realistic portrait of troubled adolescents who indulge in alcohol, drugs, sex, shoplifting and ``cutting'' themselves, deliberately, an activity that somehow assuages inner turmoil. Fifteen-year-old Nancy's first-person narrative, more a journal than a story, spans the years 1985 to 1988. This intrinsically intelligent teenager embodies the punk look and attitude. Meeting Katie, a like-minded schoolmate who becomes her closest friend, draws Nancy even deeper into a risk-taking ideology that occasionally results in ineffectual punishment at school and at home--where the environment is hardly idyllic. Expletives abound in this provocative work, and one hopes that the contents won't inspire like behavior among foolishly curious readers. Yet this morbidly compelling chronicle of promising lives gone astray commands attention throughout. Ages 14-up.
Customer Reviews
I wasn’t alone
I was 15 when I plucked this little paperback out of a random dumped pile; layered by other nonfiction and fiction books suited for my reading group at school.
I didn’t think much of it when I saw the cover and had no intentions of doing what I usually did—which involved me skimming through the pages and only pulling what I found interesting and informative key points to use, when writing a literature paper.
Nancy drew me in. Dealing with almost a mirror of issues, issues I was living under and she herself found submerged in, I felt at ease to read her story and compare and contrast our worlds.
I wasn’t alone. A community of us existed and when I felt my tears flow as I soaked in each word, sentence and paragraph, I felt peace. Comforted by this book, beautifully written and composed, she became my security blanket and I read until it’s spine could no longer crease and fold without tearing a little.
I recommend this book to anyone who feels isn’t understood, an outcast of sorts and it’s story doesn’t just apply to those who find peace in masochism… it’s so much more potent than what it implies and profoundly alluring to want to sit, absorb and finish in one sitting.