Description:
High-school freshman Teri Dinsmore feels invisible. Caught between her oft-married, glamorous mother and pot-smoking, trouble-seeking sister, Teri feels as though no one ever sees her quiet, dishwater-blonde self. Then the fire happens. On Teri's 15th birthday, her little brother accidentally starts a blaze with birthday matches that ignites the whole house. Everyone makes it out safely, and in her relief, Teri doesn't notice at first how much her life has changed. But once back at school, she discovers that her formerly bland star has risen. Popular Doug Stewart asks her out, and people who have never spoken to her before are congratulating her on her survival. To Teri, it's as though "the fire had burned away the shell that had hidden the real, fascinating me." But who is the real Teri, if not beautiful Jeanette Brungard's dutiful daughter, or wild senior Samantha's little sister? Is she Doug Stewart's girlfriend? Does she now have to choose between being a Rowdy or a Holy Roller, her high school's two main clichés? Or is she still, as she secretly fears, a great big Nobody? Teena Booth's debut novel about a teen who struggles to define herself between two warring personalities is sweet, introspective, and surprisingly complex. Teri's complicated relationships with her mom and sister are realistically and lovingly rendered, and teens will quickly identify with her need to be both a piece of and apart from them. All birthday cake aside, Falling from Fire is a real treat for female teen readers. (Ages 12 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert
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