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America
by E. R. Frank
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Simon Pulse (2003-08-01)
ISBN: 0689857721
EAN: 9780689857720
Paperback: 256 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
SKU: 07020060
Condition: Very Good as issued
Comments: Trade Paperback. Very Good condition with no markings. No highlights, underlines or notes in text. No creases to spine or cover. Tight binding and clean crisp text. Very Nice copy.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
You try not to think. You try not to imagine, but then those cracks pop up, and these flashes squeeze right through. At first, some of it's not too bad, and you get stupid, maybe even wanting a little more, but then you pull yourself together, knowing what all is likely going to ooze out if you're not careful....
Fifteen-year-old America has been nowhere, has been nobody. Separated from his foster mother. A runaway. A patient. Without love. Without hope. And, eventually, without the will to live.
Until Dr. B. steps in. To listen. To explore. And to find within America both the story and the boy who are lost.
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Amazon.com Review
At the discretion of the social welfare system, a 5-year-old boy named America trustingly leaves the safe haven of his foster home for a visit with his desperate, drug-addicted mother. And because of that one lapse in adult judgment, a child is lost within the system until almost 11 years later when he tries to end his own life. It is the patient therapist Dr. B. who must coax an embittered and damaged America into revisiting all the dark alleys of that lonely suicide road in order to face down his fears and dare to be found. "I'm not that little kid anymore.... I'm not white and I'm not black and I'm not anything, but I'm a little bit of everything.... I look down and it's just me." Searingly raw and so painfully honest it nearly draws blood, young-adult novelist E.R. Frank's powerful sophomore effort about a boy nearly broken by neglect and abuse will dampen every eye and brand every heart. Reminiscent of Han Nolan's Born Blue and Sapphire's Push, America is a similarly cathartic combination of brutal truth and brilliant writing. It is simply not to be missed. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
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Customer Reviews
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Powerful and thought provoking
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-09-03
This is a story that fans of gritty, realistic teen fiction will respond to. As I read, I was reminded of Hopkins' "Impulse", as both books allow the reader to get inside the head of damaged characters; the character of Dr. B. recalls Robin William's therapist in the movie "Good Will Hunting." America is at once familiar and unique, a boy so damaged he is dangerous to himself and others.
With clearly marked flashbacks and realistic language, the book is perfect for readers who struggle with more sophisticated novels. As other reviewers have mentioned, the language and subject matter of the book would earn it an 'R' rating in the film world. Still, for mature readers, this is a rewarding window into the way children are broken and - if they are fortunate - heal.
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raw, emotionally gripping, the realest book i've ever read
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-08-24
America is explicate. America is raw. America is not a book for young children. But America is a book you should read.
America is in therapy and is suicidal. He is part white, part black, part who-knows-what. Through his therapy sessions we learn that he and his brother are children of a crack addicted mother who left them alone at the ages of 3 or 4 for days on end and with abusive, evil, drug addicted men when she did come home.
When America is thrust into the foster system he endures further abuse of the physical and sexual nature. He wonders if he is gay. He wonders if he is worthy to live. He wonders why he is alone.
This book WILL make you cry. But you should read it anyway.
The children in the world like America deserve for us to bear witness to their pain and do whatever we can to help end it.
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would of been good if...
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-05-14
0 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
i came across this book when my 10yr old son brought it home from the elementary library. there's extreme cussing on almost every page. explicit sex talk every now and again. i do think the story was good or i wouldn't of started reading it. but in my opinion, there is NO WAY this book is appropriate reading for children, or teens for that matter. and i think the only reason a lot of the good reviews from the kids like it because of all the cussin and sex talk. duh of course a kid is going to sit there and read something like that. a lot of kids hear this kind of stuff at home, school, or where ever. why let them sit down and read this kind of crap in a book. i can't even write down all the stuff i want to say about this book because i am too outraged to think that someone would actually write a book like this for young adults. there isn't that much sex and cussing in a lot of adult books. and for anyone to let their child read something like this book is just as upsetting. so unless you don't care about what your child is reading then i don't think this is a book you would ever want around.
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Life or Death
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-10-06
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
What does it take to get to the point were life is better than death. This is the life of America, the son of a crake head mother and an unknown father. After year of treatment that no child should ever,suffer he ends up in a mental institute for teens. Now suicidal, his new therapist Dr. B. tries to unlock the life and memories in the abyss of America's mind. This is a great story for young adults, but isn't for the faint of heart.
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My Personal Favorite
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-07-03
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have read literally TONS of young adult fiction novels and I would have to say that this is my favorite along with When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune by Lori Aurelia Williams and Ms. Frank's other book, Life Is Funny. I am fourteen years old currently but at the time I read this I was twelve almost thirteen and it has still resonated with me. I stayed up an entire night to read the book which was over two hundred pages but I couldn't stop. I felt a great desire to know what was happening next and I couldn't stop.
It is an incredibly well written book and has one of the most powerful plots I have EVER come across. It shows the crippling horror of abuse to an innocent child and his experiences growing old from a broken home. I would reccomend it to anyone age twelve and over who are tired of fluffy marshmallow plots of some of the books for teens today.
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