The Running Dream

This book is crazy good!! It is titled The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen.  The story starts out talking about a girl named Jessica who runs track.  Her track team is her whole life, for she feels that it is the one thing that she excels at.  On the way to her latest track meet, the bus gets into an accident.  She wakes up in the hospital to find that she has had her right leg amputated up to her knee.  She she has always been an independent person, she finds it very hard to rely on others for help.  She also has to console her parents who, at times, seem to grieve the loss of her leg more than she does.  I cannot imagine how hard that must be!  This book talks about not only how she overcomes the devastation of losing her leg, but also discusses how she overcomes the emotional aspects, such as how people now treat her.  Later on in the book, Jessica receives a fake leg and learns that she can continue running track.  It also shows how she newly treats people who are handicapped now that she knows what they are going through.  I really enjoyed this part of the book for I have a brother with special needs.  It makes me feel really good that a writer showed someone going through a hard time like this, but also how she changed herself for the better.  I would put this book in the must read section! I loved it!