Someone I Wanted to Be

by Aurelia Wills

Overview

When an insecure teen starts impersonating someone else, her life spirals dangerously out of control in a realistic, relatable novel about finding yourself—and discovering your true friends.

Leah Lobermier dreams of becoming a doctor, but it’s hard to stay focused on getting good grades when boys make oinking sounds at her in school and her mother spends every night on the couch with a bottle of wine. Leah’s skinny and popular “friends," Kristy and Corinne, aren’t much better and can hardly be counted on for support. When the girls convince a handsome older man to buy them beer, Leah takes his phone number and calls him, pretending to be Kristy—coy and confident—and they develop a relationship, talking and texting day after day. But as the lie she created grows beyond her control, can Leah put a stop to things before she—or Kristy—is seriously hurt?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763691981
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/06/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	HL670L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Aurelia Wills is the author of several Pushcart Prize–nominated stories, which have been published in literary journals and an anthology. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

“Someone I Wanted To Be started out as a short story. The starting image was of a really sick mom as seen by a teenage girl who wasn’t the woman’s daughter. In the novel, I hoped to show with honesty the strengths and vulnerabilities of both adults and kids.”
Aurelia Wills writes both young adult and adult fiction. Someone I Wanted To Be is her first novel. She has had work published in the Kenyon Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, CALYX, American Fiction, Volume VII: The Best Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Writers, The Common, and other journals.
Aurelia was raised in Colorado. She attended college in Madison, Wisconsin, and graduated with a degree in philosophy and Russian studies.
Aurelia teaches creative writing at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, and has taught GED and ESL classes through the Minnesota Literacy Council. Whenever possible, Aurelia attends live music shows, backpacks to state park cabins, goes on road trips, and travels by train. Once a year, she makes a papier-mâché puppet for the annual Mayday parade put on by the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis.
Aurelia Wills has three kids and lives in Minnesota with her husband.

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2016
When she isn't dreaming about Bruno Mars, overweight 15-year-old Leah Lobermeir longs to be a doctor, despite her alcoholic mother's warnings not to "fly too high." Fielding bullies and name-calling from classmates and her friend Kristy, whose mother is dying of cancer, Leah maintains good grades and a low profile until an encounter with "Mr. Corduroy," an older man who frequents the Hilton, Colo., 7-Eleven. On the phone with Mr. Corduroy, Leah escapes her reality and invisibility by pretending to be Ashley, a version of Kristy. When she makes friends with Anita—an artist who lost her mother in a car accident, just as Leah lost her father—Leah experiences unconditional friendship and support for the first time. With help from Anita and a possible boyfriend, Leah knows she must confront Mr. Corduroy, now stalking Kristy; when she does, it turns ugly, resulting in a situation that changes Leah and those who love her. Debut author Wills empathetically illustrates Leah's predicament, immobilized in poverty and relentlessly bullied. Notwithstanding stirring minor character portrayals, though, Leah's personality and distinct voice never surface completely. Ages 14–up. Agent: Duvall Osteen, Aragi, Inc. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A melancholy, memorable piece tackling shame, unkindness, poverty, and, finally, hope.
—Kirkus Reviews

Wills’s first novel is a realistic portrayal of small-town life, friendship feuds, family issues, and relationships gone wrong...The blend of danger, romance, and family and relationship issues makes for an ultimately satisfying read. With frenemies and intrigue, new friends, strong characters, and a well-developed plot, this is a worthwhile purchase.
—School Library Journal

In a promising debut, Wills brings all manner of flawed characters to life as 16-year-old Leah Lobermeir relates her journey from being the helpless butt of fat jokes into someone slightly less vulnerable...For readers of realistic fiction, Leah's distinctive voice is spot on.
—School Library Connection

Debut author Wills empathetically illustrates Leah's predicament, immobilized in poverty and relentlessly bullied.
—Publishers Weekly

Someone I Wanted to Be tells the story of a realistic character struggling with a bad self-image and feelings of low self-worth. Leah’s character transforms throughout the book as she begins to surround herself with other characters who see her value beyond her physical appearance...This novel will appeal to teens who enjoy gritty, realistic fiction authors similar to Ellen Hopkins.
—VOYA

From the Publisher

07/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—Best friends Leah, Kristy, and Corinne spend weekend nights looking for someone older to buy them beer and partying with their friends. There isn't much else to do in Hilton, CO. Corinne and Kristy are pretty; Leah is overweight. All three have difficult home lives. When an older guy who buys them beer wants to hook up with Kristy and gives her his phone number, Leah decides to call him and pretend that she is Kristy. Things begin to spiral out of control when Kristy gets mad at Leah, and Leah, partially because of loneliness, continues to chat and text with "Mr. Corduroy" even more frequently. For a while, the deception is fun and a way to "get even" with Kristy, but as it becomes more intense, Leah realizes that both she and Kristy are in danger. Wills's first novel is a realistic portrayal of small-town life, friendship feuds, family issues, and relationships gone wrong. The story, at times intense and painful, shows how Leah's strength of will, her dream of becoming a doctor, and the encouragement of new friendships enable her to overcome ostracism, bullying because of her weight, and her poor choices, to become a strong, independent person. The blend of danger, romance, and family and relationship issues makes for an ultimately satisfying read. VERDICT With frenemies and intrigue, new friends, strong characters, and a well-developed plot, this is a worthwhile purchase.—Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton

School Library Journal

2016-06-28
A teen tries to escape a miserable existence by posing as someone else.The window in 15-year-old Leah’s bedroom in her shabby basement apartment has “thick black bars and a window well full of garbage, dead leaves, and spiders.” She’s harassed for being fat; her mother gets drunk on wine nightly and smirks that Leah’s desire to become a doctor makes her “pretty big for [her] britches.” So when Kurt King, who’s at least 26, wants to talk to her skinny, blonde friend Kristy over the phone, Leah calls him instead and pretends to be Kristy. In Leah’s mind, she’s a third girl: not Kristy, whose cruel, heartless friendship is “an addiction, sort of like smoking,” nor herself, with her “huge billowing emptiness” inside. During phone conversations with Kurt King, Leah feels alive —though she knows he’s dangerous. Wills describes gritty physical detail without romance or drama, from Leah’s shabby apartment and the bleak, desolate downtown of Hilton, Colorado, to how sick Leah feels as she quits smoking. Leah makes two new friends—Anita, who’s probably Mexican-American, and Carl, who’s white like Leah and Kristy—and treats them deplorably out of guilt, confusion, and habit; their steadfast forgiveness helps her through an assault and to an ending that, while absolutely unidealized, has clear possibility. A melancholy, memorable piece tackling shame, unkindness, poverty, and, finally, hope. (14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews