The Running Dream

Van Draanen, Wendelin. The Running Dream. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

Jessica is a runner on her high-school track team.  She has set records, broken records, and brought her team to victory time and time again.  There's nothing Jessica loves more than crossing the finish line. Until one day her school bus is struck by a runaway truck and Jessica loses one leg below the knee.  Now her dreams of a running scholarship for college are replaced by dreams of being able to walk again. 

Jessica returns to school and determines that she will not only walk, but also run again some day.  Until that time, though, she must travel to all of her classes via wheelchair, and her wheelchair is what allows her to meet one of her practicaly invisible classmates.  Rosa, a brilliant student with cerebal palsy, sits with Jessica in math class.  Rosa's sunny disposition and genius at mathematics soon win Jessica over and they become fast friends.  Jessica learns to walk on a prosthetic leg and then turns her attention to making Rosa's finish line dreams come true.

I love this book.  I like this story so much I might just have to add a copy of this book to my personal library.  It is a clean, good story of a teen who faces incredible odds and beats them, and then turns her success into success for another person.   I was cheering for Jessica and Rosa as I turned the final pages of this book.  Stop by your library today and check this book out.  It will be well worth your time.