What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum Genres: Coming of Age, Young Adult
Format: ARC
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things comes a charming and poignant story about two struggling teenagers who find an unexpected connection just when they need it most. For fans of Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Niven, and Rainbow Rowell.
Sometimes a new perspective is all that is needed to make sense of the world.
KIT: I don’t know why I decide not to sit with Annie and Violet at lunch. It feels like no one here gets what I’m going through. How could they? I don’t even understand.
DAVID: In the 622 days I’ve attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I’ve never once sat with someone until now. “So your dad is dead,” I say to Kit, because this is a fact I’ve recently learned about her.
When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?
“When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David.” (Blurb)
This book really hits various tough topics, such as bullying, disabilities and depression, yet the writer manages to tackle them with grace. A diverse book about a beautiful friendship between two very different people who bond over one simple fact, they both feel isolated and alone. Kit loses her dad in an accident and her friends don’t understand her grief. David is a loner and is on the spectrum. He is obscenely smart, brutally honest and exactly what Kit needs in a friend. The more time they spend together the better they both become. It is a heartfelt, heartwarming, heartbreaking book. Grab your tissues.
