Starred review from May 2, 2016
Samantha “Sammie” McCoy, 18, has big plans: win the National Debate Championships with her friend Maddie, become class valedictorian, attend NYU and law school, and become a human rights lawyer. These plans are derailed when she’s diagnosed with Niemann-Pick, a terminal illness that will rob her of her memory and physical abilities before killing her. Through journal entries
that Sammie writes to her future self, including occasional excerpts from text and email exchanges, Avery (Anything but Ordinary) crafts an emotionally charged story about a young woman who has kept her eyes trained on the future, only to learn that all she has is now. Determined to make the most of the time she has left, Sammie begins a relationship with her longtime crush and attempts to have “normal” teenage experiences like attending parties and getting drunk. Though the marketplace is crowded with stories of teens coping with serious illness, Avery’s novel stands out for its strong characters, a heartbreaking narrative that shifts to reflect Sammie’s condition, and a love story that will leave many readers in tears. Ages 15–up. Agency: Alloy Entertainment.
Starred review from June 1, 2016
Gr 9 Up-Overachieving senior Sammie McCoy has her life clearly laid out. First, bring her debate team to victory at Nationals, then deliver her speech as valedictorian, and make the move to NYU to study economics and public policy before moving on to Harvard Law. Her plans get radically interrupted when she is diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, a rare genetic disease that will initially affect her memory, rendering her vigorous studying moot, and that is ultimately fatal. Determined to fight the diagnosis, Sammie begins keeping a diary, figuring that when her memory fails her future self, she will have a way to reference her day-to-day life. Sammie's voice is a bright, relatable, and uncompromising one, and when her inevitable decline begins, readers will be surprised and pained by it, right along with the book's fiercely undeterred protagonist. Strengths abound in Avery's touching novel, and Sammie's relationships, both friendly and romantic, are no exception. Not knowing how to deal with the revelation of her illness, the teen's closest friend, Maddie, pushes her away, and the protagonist's relationships with gifted writer Stuart Shah and boy-next-door Cooper are intensified by her decline, in what feels like a genuinely complicated manner. VERDICT Fans of John Green's work and Jennifer Niven's All the Bright Places will be reaching for the tissue box at the book's tear-inducing end.-Joanna Sondheim, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, New York City
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 When Sammie gets the diagnosis her senior yearthat a genetic condition will rob her of her mind, the one thing she valued over everything elseit's just one more thing for her to overcome, with the help of her memory book, a diary that will remind her future self of the Sammie she once was. But as the realities of her condition become more glaring, Sammie has to reevaluate everything she thought made her who she is. Avery (A Million Miles Away, 2015) balances humor and devastating sadness perfectly. Sammie's voice is sympathetic but not pitiful as she relates her hopes for the future and thoughts on the past. Like Before I Die (2007), by Jenny Downham, the novel focuses on a teen trying to figure out what making the most of the time she has left means. Though there are moments recorded in Sammie's book that seem like they were captured at a very unlikely time to journal, each entry adds to a story of self-discovery that's hard to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)