Bibliographic Information
Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
ISBN:
Paperback: 978-0-14-241543-6
Publisher: Speak, An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA)
Copyright: 2009
Book Details
Jacket Design: Monica Benalcazar
Jacket Photo: Brooke Pennington / Flikr / Getty Images
Formats:
Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Audio CD
Page Count:320
Awards:
2009 NAIBA Book of the Year Awards
2010 Indie Choice Honor Award
Plot Summary
Seventeen year-old Mia does not remember the accident. She only remembers what happens after – watching herself be removed from the wreck. She is the person who has to choose to stay or go, to piece together what is happening and make a choice.
Critical Evaluation
Falling someplace between thriller and romance, it is an enthralling read,written from Mia’s point of view. A timeline of thoughts and memories before and after a major accident.
Reader’s Annotation
Seventeen year-old Mia does not remember the accident. She only remembers what happens after – watching herself be removed from the wreck and what happens after.
Information about the Author
Gayle Forman is a journalist that began her writing career with Seventeen Magazine. She later freelanced with publications in Jane, Glamour, The Nation, Elle, and Cosmopolitan. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.
She and her husband travelled around the world in 2002. Her first book, was a travelogue You Can’t Get There From Here: A Year ON the Fringes of a Shrinking World.
Her first YA novel, Sisters in Sanity, came out in 2007. If I Stay came out in 2009 – it is about a girl in a comma – from her point of view. She won a 2010 Indie Choice Honor Award. A film adaptation is do out in August.
The sequel “Where She Went” released in 2011 and is in the point of view of the boyfriend and describes their relationship after her accident.
Just One Day released in January 2013. About Allyson on travels in Europe and meets Willem. The sequel called Just One Year is written from Willem’s point of view. A 50-page novella called Just One Night finished the series and will release in ebook format.
Genre
Fiction: Romance and Suspense
Curriculum Ties
Choices we make
Music in literature.
Booktalking ideas
The importance of music.
Reading Level/Interest Age
Interest Level: 14 and up
Challenge Issues
Paranormal
References
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/128800556/if-i-stay-trapped-between-life-and-death
YA Books 