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What is LOIS METZGER, author of A TRICK OF THE LIGHT reading? @MetzgerLois @BalzerandBray

Wednesday, September 24, 2014 0:05

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(Before It's News)

PLEASE WELCOME LOIS TO BOOKHOUNDS YA!

1. What is the first book you remember reading by yourself as a child?

It was a “Betsy and Billy” book—a series similar to the “Dick and Jane” series that, back in the day, was standard beginning reading for my generation. On one of the opening pages, I saw the word “may”—and suddenly it clicked. The word and the sound of the word and the meaning of the word all came together. I also remember something about “Betsy got upset in the bathtub and she laughed.” That bothered me so much. I couldn’t figure out how she could get upset and still laugh. It was years before I learned the other definition of upset.

2. What are you reading right now?

“Little Sister” by Raymond Chandler. I have many gaps in my reading and Raymond Chandler is one of them.

3. How does your garden grow?

I am going to answer this literally. I have many houseplants and some of them look pretty scraggly because my cat eats the leaves.

4. What is the last thing you Googled?

Information about when season 4 of the BBC series “Sherlock” will be on. What can I say? I am a huge fan.

5. What makes you cringe?

I am going to borrow my friend Joan’s answer for this one. She can’t stand it when anyone describes anything as “delicious” that isn’t food.

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Book Description

Release date: September 23, 2014)

Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they’re getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he’s a mess.

Then there’s a voice in his head. A friend, who’s trying to help him get control again. More than that—the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that’s holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Telling a story of a rarely recognized segment of eating disorder sufferers—young men—A Trick of the Light by Lois Metzger is a book for fans of the complex characters and emotional truths in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.

Here is a link to chapter 1

2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults—Young Adult Services, American Library Association

Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year 2014

Books for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2014, The Horn Book

MSW’s “100 Great Books for the Social Worker’s Library”

YALSA pick: “Books Outside The Box: Realistic Fiction with a Bite”

YA Highway pick: “Mental Health in YA”

About the Author

Lois Metzger was born in Queens and has always written for young adults. She is the author of three previous novels and two nonfiction books about the Holocaust, and she has edited five anthologies. Her short stories have appeared in collections all over the world. Her writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives in Greenwich

Village with her husband and son.

MY REVIEW

SOURCE: PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS:

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT
Mike Welles is a responsible teen, he plays baseball, has good friends and makes decent grades. Then, the unthinkable happens, his parents marriage starts falling apart and with it, his world. One by one, he pushes his friends away and withdraws. Mike starts stress eating and packs on a few pounds. Amber, a girl he has known since kindergarten, reaches out to him, telling him slyly about how she handles her home issues by controlling what she can: her appetite. Through his eating, Mike learns to gain control over one part of his life, while the rest of it disintegrates.

As Mike finds himself loosing control over his home life, his disease takes over, speaking to him and dominating all of his thoughts. Even though he doesn’t realize it, friends and teachers have contacted his parents about how much Mike has changed. For all their faults, his parents really do care and when they see what is happening to him, they get him help. The voice of his anorexia makes it so easy for Mike to disconnect and almost fold back into himself as he stops eating. Sent to a hospital for eating disorders, he finally quiets the voice in his head.

This book is amazingly heart-wrenching and told in such a quiet way, that you it makes you realize how insidiously an eating disorder can sneak up on some one. I really liked Mike and he was very sympathetic in that you could see his world unravel and the unique voice he has since most books about eating disorders are written from a female protagonist’s point of view. I hadn’t realize that so many males deal with this issue until I read the acknowledgements and did a bit of research to find that there are a lot of guys with this problem. Parents: This is an important read for everyone and yes, even though it is about a very sad topic, it contains a lot of important messages and should spark some wonderful discussions.
Disclosure

I received this book from the publisher at no charge and in no way influenced my review. If you are considering purchasing this book or anything else from Amazon, please use my link above since I earn a very small percentage of the sale which helps pay for shipping my giveaways!