The Place Between Breaths by An Na - OPTIONAL

The Place Between Breaths by An Na, 181 pages.  Atheneum, 2018.  $18.

Language: R (33 swears, 3 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG (mention of teen pregnancy); Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Grace lives with her father in an isolated house on the outskirts of Chicago.  Since her mother disappeared, Dad has been working as a headhunter for a large pharmaceutical company in search for a cure for Huntington’s disease – her mother’s disease.  Though still in high school, Grace has earned an internship at the same company, hoping that her team or another will find a cure before she herself starts to show signs.

If you have already read Neal Shusterman’s Challenger Deep, then this book will pale in comparison. I found it confusing, mostly because the author kept going back and forth between mentioning Huntington’s Disease and schizophrenia, making it hard for me to understand what was going on with Grace and her mother.   Some few students will be drawn to Grace.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS