Intentions

Many young adult novels take a few chapters to slide you into the narrator's world. But by page three of Intentions, readers know Rachel's family is falling apart; by page six, she's overheard her beloved rabbi having sex on the bima. It's an appropriately sudden beginning for a novel that captures the rapid letdowns and occasional triumphs of adolescence with realism and compassion.

Rachel Greenberg, a 15-year-old living in Pennsylvania, is having a rough year. Not only are her parents fighting, but her best friend Alexis has turned into another person, her Grandma battles dementia, and Rachel likes Jake, but thinks Adam is hot. She begins to suspect there must be something wrong with her. Rachel always thought that Rabbi Cohn "might be the most perfect human being on the planet." When he turns out to be much less than that, Rachel has nowhere to turn in the wake of so many changes.

The real star of the book is Rachel's genuine, clear voice. She stumbles from one bad decision to the next, and then must face the consequences of each. It's painful to imagine any person going through so much on their own, and even more so because Heiligman (Charles and Emma) doesn't allow for tidy solutions. For teens, who will identify with this sort of chaos, this book can be just the friend they're looking for; for adults, it is a good reminder of that awkward journey of adolescence toward becoming the person one is meant to be. --Stephanie Anderson, readers' advisor at Darien Library and blogger

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