Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block

We keep burning in the brown smog pit.

Siblings Marina and Lex have an unusually close bond that results in a sexual encounter one night. Lex cannot live with the guilt and commits suicide. Marina suffers through her grief only to find out that Lex was adopted.

I felt uncomfortable reading the story once I understood the allusions to incest. I didn't see the ending coming which is a compliment to the author. I found the book hard to read at first because there were multiple narrators and journal excerpts.

Block, F.L. (2003). Wasteland. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
ISBN: 0064408396
150 pages

Forever by Judy Blume

Sybil Davison has a genius I.Q. and has been laid by at least six different guys.

Seniors in high school, Katherine and Michael, have fallen in love and imagine it will be forever. They begin a sexual relationship and soon college plans and summer jobs test the strength of their relationships.

The author captured the intensity of first love completely. The feelings, conversations and events leading up to beginning a sexual relationships were familiar and accurate. I know this book is challenged frequently but I wouldn't object to a young adult reading the story. It doesn't glorify sex or hide the change in relationship that happens when sex enters the picture. It is a realistic depiction and young adults need to see realism.

Blume, J. (1976). Forever. New York, NY: Pocket Books.
ISBN: 0671695304
220 pages