A Step Toward Falling

Starred review from July 27, 2015
Emily knows that she isn’t good at everything (boys, for instance), but she generally thinks she’s a good person—until the night she does nothing when Belinda, a classmate with special needs, is being assaulted at a football game. Now Emily and Lucas, a star football player who also failed to act, must volunteer at a social skills class for adults with developmental disabilities. Interacting with Lucas and the class members is initially awkward for Emily, but she comes to see past her preconceptions about all of them. But this isn’t just Emily’s story: it’s also Belinda’s. Alternating passages follow Belinda as she recovers from the attack—which she successfully fended off—and returns to school, eventually befriending Emily and Lucas. No mere empathy builder for Emily and Lucas, Belinda is a fully developed character—good at some things (better than Emily and Lucas, in fact), bad at others. Without evading or sugarcoating difficult topics, McGovern (Say What You Will) shows that disabled and able aren’t binary states but part of a continuum—a human one. Ages 14–up. Agent: Margaret Riley King, William Morris Endeavor.

Starred review from September 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Emily knew when she saw Belinda, a classmate with developmental disabilities, being assaulted under the bleachers she needed to intervene, but she froze, and now she's doing community service and trying to figure out how to live with herself. Belinda is attempting to determine how to go forward after rescuing herself. Told in alternating sections of Emily's and Belinda's voices, this book explores how even good people can fail morally. Emily and Lucas (who was also present that night) are wrong, and that is made clear throughout; their inaction is understandable but inexcusable, and that subtle distinction is an important one. In addition, Belinda is written thoughtfully and respectfully. She has a distinct voice that reflects her cognitive disabilities but without condescension. Given that portrayals of people with developmental disabilities so often either depict them as perfect angels or use them as a device by which the neurotypical characters better themselves, Belinda's full-fledged personality is important for readers to engage with. The parallel romances are charming and appropriate, and while Emily and Lucas's treads the well-worn paths of smart girl plus hot, sensitive jock, it is not an unpleasant trope to revisit. The secondary plots of Belinda's family conflict and Emily distancing herself from her friends are well-executed ways to flesh out the two protagonists' growth. VERDICT Highly recommended for realistic fiction collections.-L. Lee Butler, Hart Middle School, Washington, DC

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
McGovern explores dating, disability, activism, and impending adulthood with a bow to Jane Austen. When intellectual but shallow Emily witnesses the sexual assault of Belinda, a student with unspecified developmental disabilities, she can't react; an AP course load and the Youth Action Coalition haven't prepared her for "Real World Issues." She atones by doing community service at the Lifelong Learning Center for young adults with developmental disabilities. Belinda, a naive romantic who takes her cues from watching Pride and Prejudice, copes with the aftermath by listening to Colin Firth. The gradual details of Belinda's assault are as minimal as popcorn but sharp against her matter-of-fact bewilderment, and the author handles such topics as boundaries, (lack of) support, post-traumatic stress, and disclosure gently. Jane Austen references abound as Emily's and Belinda's alternating viewpoints illustrate how braving the uncertainty of relationships, expectations, and life after high school transcends class or ability. Both girls learn to look past their respective prejudices, each with her own humor, and-a la Austen-each girl gets a guy. Unfortunately, the book's uplifting ending turns upon contrivances and risks making Belinda a prop for Emily's growth. Fortunately, Belinda is engaging in her own right, and the sensitive overview of tough issues gracefully balances romance with reality. Fans of Jane Austen will appreciate this unconventional homage. (Romance. 14-18)

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Starred review from October 1, 2015
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* Emily has known Belinda since she stole the show in youth theater. They go to the same school, but they are not friends. College-bound Emily runs a social-issues awareness group with her gay best friend, while 21-year-old Belinda sorts mail and attends a life-skills program to help with her developmental disabilities. After Emily fails to intervene when Belinda is attacked at a football game, she is assigned service hours in a program for disabled young adults. Meanwhile, Belinda retreats into the protective hold of her grandmother and the fantasy world of Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. Through alternating chapters, Emily comes to understand her inaction, prejudices, and failings, and Belinda learns to face her fears, find her voice, and take charge of her future. The growth undergone by the girls is deliberately similar and carefully paced, as each faces her own shortcomings and opens to the possibility of love with someone other than her romantic ideal. In a final exploration of support and maturation, Emily orchestrates a meaningful way to make amends to Belinda. McGovern's (Say What You Will, 2014) ample experience with special-needs youth is evident, as it allows this unique story to shine from within.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2015
Studious Emily and football player Lucas, high schoolers who dwell in different social strata, each witnesses a sexual assault on developmentally disabled schoolmate Belinda, but neither does anything to help. While Belinda recovers from her trauma at home and takes comfort in repeated viewings of the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, the school assigns Emily and Lucas community service at the Lifelong Learning Center, where they help out in a Boundaries and Relationships class. In the process of modeling social interactions for young adults with disabilities, Emily begins to look past her hyperawareness of high school hierarchies to realize there's more to Lucas than she thought. Emily's narration alternates with Belinda's, and although Emily's can sometimes sound too adult, Belinda's voice is perfectly pitched: it's clear that she's thought her world through on her own terms. Family members and school administrators have their own ideas about whether Belinda should return to school and whether she should have contact with Emily and Lucas, but she eventually does both. She even works with the pair and her longtime classmate Anthony on a short dramatization of Pride and Prejudice, orchestrated to give talented actress Belinda a chance to shine. Belinda and Anthony handle their eventual romantic relationship more honestly than Emily and Lucas handle theirs, though Emily and Lucas eventually catch up. By including a wide variety of distinct characters, some with disabilities and some without, the novel shows that the presence or absence of a disability is just one of many aspects of who a person is. shoshana flax

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)