cover image Our Song

Our Song

Jordanna Fraiberg. Razorbill, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59514-268-9

Fraiberg (In Your Room) has written a tender and truthful story about a high school senior looking to reinvent herself after a brush with death. Everything changes for Olive Bell the night she runs her longtime boyfriend’s Mini Cooper into a pole in a near-fatal accident. Now Derek isn’t speaking to her, her mother is hovering like she expects Olive might slit her wrists, her father is keeping late hours, and her grades no longer feel important. Then Olive meets drop-dead gorgeous Nick at the Near-Death Society, a support group for people in her situation. Nick appears to know just what Olive needs to do to reconnect to the world, but he also has secrets. Olive’s waffling between Nick and Derek is at the core of Fraiberg’s story, but her subplots give it depth. Olive’s conflicts with her mother and her best friend help her make some much-needed realizations, as does a touching reminiscence with her father. Still, Fraiberg lets this story be what it wants to be: one girl’s story of finding true love and who she really is. Ages 12–up. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM. (May)