America

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Summary: America
Review: America is a great book that follows the teenage years of a boy named America. America is a troubled teen who is living at Ridgeway, a hospital that houses mental patients. At the beginning of the book he's fifteen years old and he's already been in foster care, been abused by his adoptive uncle, terrorized by his real brothers, been separated from his foster mother at a young age, lived on the streets, and has been passed from one mental facility to another. He's turned into a rude, harsh, inhumane, malevolent, and not very talkative. He's going through the teenage years and he's dealing with girls, bullies, pranks, and other such things. He has to attend group therapy, sessions with a psychiatrist, Dr. B, and is expected to socialize with the other kids. You see America is here because he is responsible for the death of a man, he has feelings where he wants to hurt himself, and also because he had nowhere else to go. Through facing all this he has constant reminisces of the past that continue to haunt his future. But through help from the center he is finally able to let his story go, and expose all his emotions. This is a triumph coming-of-age novel. The emotional turn around create a lasting memory for the reader to enjoy. The myriad amount of characters adds adventure and excitement to the story. Through an easy to read dialogue the plot comes alive and more vivid. Overall I have to give this book four stars but would only recommend it to readers above the age of 13.

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Summary: America IS Beautiful!
Review: America is a great book! America is the main character. The book is the story of his life. America has dealt with so much and has to come to terms with so much. Many times America doesn't know who he is which is typical for adolescents but so much worse for him. America is named America because America thinks his father could be any man in the country. Like the country, America is a mix of many things. There is a bit of America in everyone! America IS beautiful!

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Summary: E. R. Frank
Review: America is by far the best portrayal of a young person trapped in society's system of foster care that I have ever seen. The book may be too real for some, but not if you are a realist.

America's battle to understand who he is in this world is an exhiliratingly sad ride that alerts readers to a child welfare system that is overworked and understaffed. America actually gets "lost" in the system, which is symbolic of the thousands of American children who are ignored and "lost" everyday in our country's protection services.

America reminds us that our children need more than just parents to raise and watch out for them. Our children need other adults, teachers, coaches, counselors, neighbors and general role models to look out for our youth and set a positive example for them.

All of those commercials that ask for communities to take a second to get to know their youth are not for those of us who already do that. Even if you chose not to have kids, our country was not built on the attitude of "It's not my responsibility."

I love America symbolically, literally and on so many levels I can't even put it into words.

America is beautiful. If this book doesn't touch your emotions, then you are not human. This book is raw, real and heartbreakingly intriguing.

Thank you E.R. Frank for an expertly written Young Adult novel.


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Summary: If I could give this book a zero I would
Review: Has to be one of the worst books I've ever read. What else is there to say.

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Summary: From another SW
Review: I am a SW and work with abused/neglected children. This book is beautifully written, honest, insipiring. I have recommened it to my staff, the foster parents I work with and other professionals. Excellent work

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Summary: Very Intense
Review: I enjoyed this book for several reasons. Primarily, because if offered an insight into the "disturbed" adolescent male mind. It allows you to jump into America, and "fly" yourself. I also thought the form in which it was written to be perfect for the story. With each transition from "Now" to "Then" you learn something new. Truly a masterpiece on the psychological standpoint. A great read for someone who is interested in the adolescent male mind.

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Summary: disturbing, depressing
Review: I found America to be a very disturbing book as it presented a glum view of social services available to children in care. (Admittedly I am naive about such matters.) However, as a middle school librarian, I know that there is a huge market for this type of book and kids will flock to read it. SO, if you don't like to read, or if you need to read interesting and unusual novels, then this would be the one for you. Frank is excellent at getting the reader involved in America's story, and he is someone the reader really wants to succeed.

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Summary: What Happened to E.R. Frank?
Review: I got Ms. Frank's first novel, Life is Funny, about a year ago. It was an inspiring and realistic look at teen life, and followed some very different teenagers all with very different goals. So, when I bought America, I was hoping for something equally as stellar.

From the first page to the last, America is hard to follow. It's filled with flashbacks and flash forwards, is uninspirational and gives you no sense of the character, really. Sure, you pick up that America feels he's bad because his abusive foster uncle told him so. You pick up on the fact that he's given up on so many things he could have succeeded in easily. His love of his foster mother, his bitterness towards his uncle. He admits to murder and arson, living with a strange man who sells shoelaces.

It's all just too bizarre to follow and lacks the passion that was in Life is Funny. It trivializes the matter of being sexually abused and ends with no sense of actually ending. It's a nice thought that America (so named because his mother slept with so many men she figured anyone in America could be his father) could come through his pre-adolescent abuse so easily, but all in all, America's audience is limited, it's style is weak, and it's subject is too harsh.

Better luck next time.

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Summary: The Underbelly of Life In America
Review: I picked this book up off of a shelf thinking that it might be interesting, and I was completely blown away. Social worker E.R. Frank gives us her sophomore effort about a young racially-mixed boy named America (named thus do to the fact that his mother was so promiscuous, that her baby's father could have been anyone in America). After his wealthy foster-family doesn't want him anymore they give him to their nanny, his foster-mother, Mrs. Harper. America spends some happy years with Mrs. Foster, her friend Clark Poignant, and her brother, Browning. Then, his birth-mother asks to see him. Once she has him, she leaves him with his brothers, Lyle and Brooklyn, who teach him the tough ways of the city and how to be bad. America's mother never comes back, but a policemen finds the boys and miraculously tracks down Mrs. Harper. The foster family is united, only now Mrs. Harper is old, her friend Clark Poignant is dead, and Browning now has a secret which he very much wants to share with America, whether America can handle it or not. When America cannot deal with the weight of this secret or his perceived badness, he runs away from home, but not without first leaving an indelible mark of all the pain he has been through. He lives in a mall, then on the streets, and is finally sent to a residential home for troubled boys. When he attempts suicide, he is sent to Rivershore, a psychiatric hospital, where his caring psychiatrist, Dr. B, carefully and courageously works to help America even when America will not help himself.

This was a remarkable book! The fact that Frank is a social worker herself makes it clear that she knows what she is talking about. I enjoyed the way this book followed America's life from one difficult situation to another, leaving reader watching helplessly as America descends into hell. And this is a hell that is all-too-real for many unwanted children. The story is very harsh, showing an unmerciful picture of how painful it is to recover from trauma. It does end with hope, however, yet is realistic, without providing a perfect happy-ending. The story is narrated in chapters, alternating between "then" and "now", slowly spilling out America's story of despair and disassociation. I came to really enjoy America's psychiatrist, Dr. B, as a character. The interactions between him and America are at times so hilarious in their predictability, and one has to appreciate the dedication Dr. B has to helping America. Yet above-all, one grows to love America and salute him in his decision to face his pain and move on. A must-read!

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Summary: Best Book Ever
Review: I read this book after reading a few young adult books that I found entertaining, but sort of pointless and repetative. When I picked up America at a book store, it looked like a good read. After I finished, I was so happy that I had bought it. America is a book that is very intense, but so interesting to read. Once you start, you will never put it down. It deals with many serious issues, and although not all teens are going through them, it is very interesting to read how this troubled boy gets through his life. I recomend it to any teens that want an extremely good read.