Beard, Philip. Dear Zoe.

BEARD, Philip. Dear Zoe. Penguin, Plume. 196p. c2005.0-452-28740-5. $13.00. S

The narrator of this epistolary novel, 15-year-old Tess DeNunzio, recounts her life story to her little sister Zoe, who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on the same day as the World Trade Center disaster. Although the September 11 tie-in seems somewhat contrived and only marginally relevant to the story, Beard does a commendable job of entering the mind of a teenage girl as she negotiates a rocky relationship with her real father and tries to adjust to a changed life with her grieving mother, her stepdad and younger sister Era. Suspense builds to a revelation of events the day Zoe died and why Tess feels responsible for what happened. When next-door neighbor Jimmy Freeze shares some of the weed Tess's dad has sold him, their subsequent lovemaking opens Tess to all the pain she's been repressing: "... the sound of the gurney carrying you over the threshold of the emergency room, your little body jumping as if shocked, bump-bump, and Jimmy suddenly felt red-hot inside me, burning away everything...." Teen girls will be drawn to the authentic voice of a girl in pain, seeking to heal herself following a devastating loss. Jessica Swaim, Cataloger, Cherry Creek Sch., Denver, CO

S--Recommended for senior high school students.