Until We Meet Again
by Anne Schraff
Realistic Fiction
Scholastic, 2002
Summary: Darcy was a sixteen-year-old high school student whose summer changed drastically. Darcy’s father had returned after a five-year absence, was back in their lives and buying them a house. Darcy’s grandmother, who lived with them and helped her mother take care of them when her father was away, had had a stroke and was very ill. Later at school she would find out that her boyfriend, Hakeem, was moving to another state because his father had cancer. Hakeem was always there for her, but now he was leaving. Another boy enters Darcy’s life, Brian. Brian was older and worker. Her was the brother of Liselle and Darcy was babysitting her daughter Kelena. Brian was picking up the pieces of Darcy’s broken heart. He was handsome, muscular and his cologne was always smelling good. They had a couple of dates. But then the date where Darcy lied to her father and told him that she had to baby-sit; instead she was going to meet Brian at the apartment. Brain got really ruff with her, and her father had come over to bring her some dinner and heard her screaming and broke the door down, slammed Brian up against the wall and grabbed Darcy and dragged her home. Darcy’s sister walks into the grandmother’s bedroom and found her on the floor, calls 911 and the paramedics take her to the hospital. Her grandmother comes home in a couple of days and dies.
Themes: Family, friendship and dealing with different emotions (love, grief, anger) and values.
Rationael for Use: Very well written. You actually feel that you are one of the characters and feeling the emotions they are going through. Real problems and issues.
Content Area Connections:
The students could describe and give measurements the apartment and compare the house in size, rooms and the yard. (Math)
They could make a map of the distance from Darcy’s home to school, and to the babysitters. (Math)
Possible Problems or Concerns: The print size was a great reading size and font. It was only 144 pages long, just long enough to keep the student’s interest. A realistic view of teenage life and making the right and wrong choices.
~Vera Grant
I imagine another theme could be consequences of lying to ones parents. Not that the truth would have changed the person Brian was; but maybe Darcy would have made a different decision.
ReplyDeleteMy girls need this. They are so busy searching for something and trying to find answeres in the wrong places. They will want to read this. I am sure I won't have to convince them to try this one.
ReplyDeleteI am very familiar with the Bluford Series. My experience with them is very positive. A couple of years ago, I had a class of very poor readers. We introduced them to this series and they absolutely loved them. As soon as they finished one, they would ask about another. We were fortunate to have gotten a grant and received around ten of each title. The reason they are so popular is that students can identify with the characters and situations. Belinda Todd
ReplyDeleteThis series is available from Townsend Press and there is a teacher's guide available. Currently, there are 13 books in the Bluford set. Townsend press also has a VERY inexpensive classics collection. The covers aren't as eye catching as the Scholastic market but the price is definitely worth it. -Debbe
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