Friction

by E. R. Frank

Overview

True or False:
Simon is one of the coolest teachers at
Forest Alternative: True
Simon and Alex are friends: True
Tim is jealous of Alex and Simon: False...
...until Stacy walks into class, flashing her tongue ring, swishing her hair, and spreading rumors -- dirty rumors, the kind that make you second guess who your real friends are, and their intentions. Rumors like Stacy's test and sometimes ruin friendships as strong as those among Tim, Alex, and Simon. Rumors are dangerous, but not always as dangerous or ugly as the truths from which they spring...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689853852
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	11/01/2004
Series:	Richard Jackson Books (Simon Pulse)
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	630L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

E.R. Frank is the author of America, Friction, Wrecked, and Dime. Her first novel, Life Is Funny, won the Teen People Book Club NEXT Award for YA Fiction and was also a top-ten ALA 2001 Quick Pick. In addition to being writer, E.R. Frank is also a clinical social worker and psychotherapist. She works with adults and adolescents and specializes in trauma.

Read an Excerpt

Friction
THE FIRST TIME we all meet Stacy, it’s just a regular morning.

Our teacher, Simon, is in front of the room, shuffling flash cards. He leans back against the science counter, mixes the deck a couple of times, and hooks one ankle over the other, the way he always does. Then he holds up the first word.

“Ology,” he says out loud, so we can hear how it sounds. I write, the study of. Things are quiet while pencils scratch, sounding just like gerbils making a nest out of cedar chips and Kleenex. Simon holds up the next one. Astro. On a test he’ll put them together, and we’ll have to figure out that astrology means “the study of stars.”

“Ichthy,” Simon says. Fish, I write, and then I kick Tim and make a gagging face to remind him how we remember that one: Fish tastes icky. . . . ichthy. But Tim doesn’t kick back, even when I kick him again, and then I notice there’s this massive hush in the room. I look up to see a girl standing in the doorway. The new girl. Simon told us she was coming, but up until this second I’d forgotten all about it.

She’s got shiny black hair down to her behind and gray eyes that take up her whole face, and she’s as skinny as I am. She’s wearing a purple-and-black turtleneck and jeans that look brand-new, and she grins at everybody like she’s totally psyched to meet us. She’s got a gap between her two front teeth.

“Hi,” she goes. “I’m Stacy.” I see a flash of silver in her mouth. A tongue ring. “Let’s get this party started.”

And that’s how it begins.

Editorial Reviews

Booklist, starred review Gripping...unsettling.

Publishers Weekly Sure to spark heated discussions.

SLJ, starred review Convincingly genuine.

From the Publisher

A tomboyish 12-year-old feels comfortable at her high school until a new student insinuates that there is more than friendship between her and another classmate, and claims their teacher is a pervert. PW wrote, "The author invites readers to explore the large gray area between truth and falsehood," addressing the topics of teen sexuality and child abuse. Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 6-10-Alex, an eighth grader in Forest Alternative school, is the only girl on her school's soccer team, and best friends with Tim, a boy she has known all of her life in this novel by E.R. Frank (Atheneum, 2003). Alex finds her life changing dramatically after Stacy, a new girl, arrives at the school. Stacy challenges Alex's relationship with Tim and with their non-traditional teacher, Simon. After a class camping trip, Alex learns that there are rumors circulating around school. Stacy inflicts her dysfunctional unhappiness on everyone, and the power she wields with her fantasies causes friction among the kids and the adults connected with the school. The narrator, Jessalyn Gilsig, presents a very credible voice for Alex, and her innocence and naivete come through clearly. There is a limited attempt made to differentiate characters, but since Alex is the narrator, it would have been more effective if the other characters had not been given different voices. There are many conversations in this story, and listeners may find the constant "s/he goes" instead of "s/he said" very distracting, even though it's the vernacular of those speaking. That phrase is much more effective written than spoken. Young adults who enjoy the gritty realism of Frank's stories will respond positively to this recording.-Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Alex is 12, teetering on the cusp of puberty, and enormously happy with her life. She attends an alternative school where she has the best of all teachers, Simon, whose unconventional familiarity has won over his entire class. When Stacy arrives, full of attitude, Alex is drawn to her--until Stacy begins to insinuate that Simon’s interest in Alex goes beyond the teacher-student relationship. Alex’s present-tense narration allows readers to get inside her head as she struggles to sort out the truth, adding enough ambiguous detail that the reader becomes as confused as Alex. Alex’s unsophisticated voice is just right, as are the changing attitudes of her classmates, torn between affection for Alex and Simon and willingness to believe Stacy’s accusations. Frank’s focus on the highly combustible environment of a classroom full of pubescent children and the chaos one abused teen can bring to those around her is subtly done, and will be immediately recognizable to her readers. (Fiction. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews