When you're 17 a year seems like a lifetime, but for Jared, it seems like a life time of challenges all happen within one year.
This is a “coming of age” story. The book addresses several of the issues facing today’s youth including bullying, the result of bullying, peer pressure, coming out, self-identity and suicide. The story is fiction however, like most stories that should be told, it is largely based on real life events and incorporates true historical events and individuals who helped create the acceptance we see today.
For those of us who made it, we know that adolescence is a difficult time for the majority of individuals and as adults, most of us look back with a certain amount of anxiety at the harsh realities we had to face. Those of us who found guidance and had role models we could identify with, we can say “it was tough, but I made it, and it really did get better. “ Unfortunately, not every child finds the support they so desperately long for or the role models to identify with. Many teenagers never get the chance to discover how wonderful they are or how it really does get better.
Please be kind to me on the grammar/typos I still need to do several read-throughs for mistakes.