Saving Red

Fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg is cramming to finish her final stretch of school-imposed community service hours the first time she sees a homeless teen named Red. Unable to forget her, Molly is determined to win Red’s trust and return her to her family. As a friendship develops between the two girls (“I didn’t realize,/ until just now,/ how ridiculously starved I’ve been/ for human companionship”), Molly learns that Red suffers from schizophrenia and may need help with more than finding her way home. In this moving verse novel from Sones (To Be Perfectly Honest), Molly is motivated to save Red largely because of her guilt about her older brother, who returned home from war with PTSD and then disappeared on her watch. While Molly’s quest may have started as a diversion from her own anxiety and guilt, her relationship with Red helps her reconnect with her parents and forgive herself for her brother’s disappearance. A sweet romance and hopeful ending balance the heavy themes that propel this story, and Sones’s staccato, first-person poems sensitively trace the innocence Molly sheds as her world expands. Ages 13–up. [em]Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.) [/em]