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A Step Towards Falling

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LoveReading4Kids Says

LoveReading4Kids Says

In a Nutshell: Righting wrongs |  Dispelling prejudice |  Dramatic transformations

An absorbing, touching tale about stepping-up, seeing people for who they really are, and finding love when you least expect it.

Emily has always done the right thing. She and her gay friend Richard are dedicated to the Youth Action Coalition in their high school and campaign to change the world for good. But, after witnessing a horrific attack and doing nothing to help, Emily starts to question what kind of person she is. She and Lucas, a football player who also witnessed the attack and chose not to step in, must do community service in a Boundaries and Relationships class at their local Lifelong Learning Center as punishment.

The victim of the attack was their classmate, Belinda. She has special needs, a thing for Colin Firth and a love of Pride and Prejudice. She also “used to be a person who loved hugging people” but she’s had to learn that “there are rules around hugging”, and everything else. When she feels brave enough to return to school after the attack, Belinda’s not allowed back to her old mail-sorting job, which she did well and enjoyed. Instead she must sit in the nurse’s office with paper and coloured markers, “like I'm in pre-school”.  Emily remembers how Belinda used to steal the shows put on by the Children’s Story Theater they both belonged to. Seeing how Belinda’s light has faded exacerbates her guilt and both she and Lucas are determined to do something to make amends. Their volunteering experience is also having a profound effect. The people they work with remind Emily of her “old self”: “These folks aren't childish; they just haven't lost the enthusiastic attachments I associate with children”. And so she and Lucas come up with the perfect plan to make Belinda feel like she did “when I was famous and people came up to me in grocery stores and said how good I was”.

There’s much soul-searching and romance along the paths of the characters’ inspirational journeys. Told with wit and warmth, this novel also overflows with moments that will break your heart - for example, when we experience the attack through Belinda’s eyes – and moments that will melt it. I’ll leave the last words to Belinda; after putting her own needs aside to help a friend, she realises that having a best friend is when “you care about them being happy as much as you care about yourself being happy. Maybe more”. ~ Joanne Owen

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