What to Say Next
by Julie Buxbaum
Realistic Fiction
Young Adult
* * * * Stars (Great!)
Kit Lowell and David Drucker don’t really move in the same social circles, but when Kit’s father dies in a car accident she finds herself sitting with David at lunch one day, and that one conversation leads to another, and soon they are…friends? Up until now David hasn’t had many friends – his quirks sometimes make people uncomfortable – but Kit really seems to appreciate his straightforwardness. Their friendship, however, really seems to bother other people. Kit’s friends aren’t sure what to make of it and they don’t understand why she can’t talk to them (or why things can’t go back to the way they were before her dad passed away). Kit only realizes just how awful some of those *friends* are when a couple of the guys she’s hung out with for years steal David’s private journal and post its contents online. This is where he records all of his observations about his classmates – to help him remember their names, which he’s not good at, and who he should avoid (he lists his interactions with everyone, too). A lot of people are upset with David after that and he receives multiple death threats, eventually culminating in a showdown between him and the Entire Football Team. Meanwhile, David and Kit are working on a super-secret project to determine if there was anything that could have been done to save her dad – a project that implodes when David figures out that it was basically impossible for Kit’s dad to have been the driver when the accident took place. What really happened? And can they still be friends after David publicly humiliates Kit? A realistic story with all the feels and a couple of main characters you’ll fall in love with. For high school teens.
Reviewed by YA Librarian
