Summary
The first time Adam met Julian, he was in 5th grade and Julian was in 2nd. They were reading buddies. The second time, Julian became Adam’s foster brother. Julian’s parents had been killed in an accident. Adam and his mother took him in. And they loved him, evident by the pictures of him still on the mantle after all these years.
Adam is assigned to Julian once again his senior year. Julian, now living with an uncle, keeps skipping appointments with the school counselor. As her aide, Adam is sent to track Julian down.
Each time that Adam comes into Julian’s life, he makes such a difference. As kids, he introduced Julian to the books Julian loves even now, books he reads over and over despite his struggles with dyslexia. In foster care, Adam and his mother gave Julian a safe place to start healing after a tremendous loss. But this time, Julian is going to need Adam more than either of them can imagine.
Review
Oh, this book…. I almost can’t put words to this. Julian breaks my heart. Even his walk shows how much he wants to disappear and not be noticed. No one at the school seems to want to be bothered with him. Adam is the opposite. Everyone loves him! Everyone knows him! He just naturally knows how to relate to people. He sees everyone – just when Julian needs to be seen.
There are parts of this story that are so fun – especially Adam and his friends (I love Charlie!!). But there are also these tender moments where the same boisterous group of seniors show up for Julian, this random freshman to most of them, in amazing ways.
Then there are ugly-crying moments in this, too. There are dark moments – powerful moments – that are even more powerful because of the relationship that has been growing between Adam and Julian through the story. Wow, this was just fantastic.
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
For me this is definitely a book for older teens/YA due to mature content (predominantly violence/abuse) and language.