Me, Penelope - Lisa Jahn-Clough

This book was a pretty depressing read, and had much too much sex talk for the middle school, so while I very much appreciated getting a free copy of it from the publisher, I'll have to take a pass on it.

Penelope is a 16 year old young woman who for the past ten years has been living with the guilt of her younger brother's death. She feels like it was her fault, even though she was only SIX when it happened and her parents were in the car. All she wants to do is escape the life she has with her mother, who since the accident has distanced herself from Lopi (short for Penelope) and get away from home. It takes a lot of people to help her figure out that running away will not solve her problems; she has to deal with them. I really felt for the character, but was distraught at many of the choices she was making when trying to get out from under the guilt. The book ends on a more hopeful note - I hope reader will stick with Lopi to get there.

Available at the Multnomah County Library.