Everyone expected fifteen-year-old Matt Shaw to be Jeffords Junior High’s star basketball player. But Matt never went out for the team. He won’t even touch a ball anymore, and he hardly talks to anyone. No one understands why he’s changed, but Matt knows that it’s his “golden child” older brother who’s really been doing all the changing. Matt can’t imagine what would happen to his family if word got out about Neal’s drug habit and the strung-out strangers he’s seen coming and going from the house when their parents aren’t home. Matt can’t tell anyone what he knows – not his parents, not the police detective who refuses to leave him alone, not even Katie, the one girl he’s ever really had feelings for. But even Matt has to wonder eventually if he’s holding on to someone he may already have lost.
With his unparalleled ear for teen dialogue and emotions, Doug Wilhelm’s new novel is a captivating look at falling apart, falling in love, and all the falling in between.
"Gets exactly right the way many teens talk and what they care about. The addiction scenes are stark, and the story holds surprises to the end." --Booklist “Will have teens turning the pages.”—Kirkus Reviews “Should appeal to boy and girl readers.” —VOYA
DOUG WILHELM has written several books, including The Revealers, which has been embraced by educators as a unique way to discuss school bullying. He lives in Rutland, Vermont, where Falling takes place.
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Distributor: MPS
Publication Date: 03-20-2007
Pages: 256
Measurements: 8.25in X 5.50in X 0.94in
