- Summary: Kidd has suffered great physical and emotional trauma in his life. His dad was an abusive alcoholic towards both he and his mother, putting both of them in the hospital. But, his mother continually lets him back into their lives. Afte the last incident, Kidd’s mom can’t handle suffering or seeing her son suffer and chooses to kill her husband, along with herself. Kidd is taken to Horizons, a foster home for trouble kids. He meets Devon, a boy with a death wish who becomes his best friend. Before long, he can’t handle Horizons anymore and runs away to a beach side campsite where he becomes a maintenance worker. He meets Mr. Red and becomes his best worker and companion, but Devon finds him. He even finds the most beautiful girl in the world, Olivia. But Devon plans to hurt her and ruin Kidd’s life, so he throws him over a clff. Or so he thinks. In reality, Devon is Kidd’s other personality, a boy with a death wish. Devon is the voice inside Kidd’s head who wants to ruin him. So instead of Devon going over the cliff, Kidd is the one who goes over and almost dies.
- Wow. This was an incredibly powerful book. Like Invisible by Pete Hautman, the power of trauma to completely split someone’s life is incredible. This novel feels so real. I would consider this modern realistic fiction, but to some who read it, they might not believe how someone can create a separate person and truly believe they are there. Like Hautman, De La Pena shows how someone can suffer from psychological disorders, but try desperately to be “normal.” I feel like this novel also shows both the successes and the failures of the systems set up to help young people with psychological diseases in a way that doesn’t disregard the good things are happening, but does show how things can go very wrong in some instances. I read this book and though, “My students should read this to see that maybe their problems are not as bad as they think, or maybe if they are suffering like Kidd, they can see how to not handle these situations and how to persevere and survive.
Peña, M. D. (2010). I will save you. New York: Delacorte Press.
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