Jay Asher
Razorbill/Penguin Young Readers Group (2007)
ISBN 9781595141712
Reviewed by Casey Holt (age 13) for Reader Views (1/08)
One day, Clay comes home from school to find a package on his doorstep, addressed to him. It has no return address. He opens it and finds seven cassette tapes inside, numbered one through thirteen. He goes into the garage, where they have a tape player, and when he puts it in, whose voice should come on but Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks ago.
Each tape holds one reason why Hannah chose to kill herself. Gathering his things, Clay tells his mom that he’s going to spend the night at a friend’s house, and then goes to borrow a walkman that plays tapes from a friend. He then puts the first tape in, and starts walking. He wanders around town for the rest of the night, visiting the places Hannah mentions on the tapes and uncovering the thirteen reasons why.
And HE is one of the reasons.
He then mails the tapes to the next person on the list, “forgetting” to put his return address on the plain brown package.
I REALLY liked this book, and I would recommend it for ages twelve and up. I think girls and boys would like “Thirteen Reasons Why.”
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