Born HIV-positive, losing her mother to AIDS, struggling to make it through school and the move to her dad and stepmom's house...
Thankfully, there really are places like Camp Positive where young people like Emmy can learn to cope with HIV, as well as camps for kids with asthma or diabetes. The author is donating proceeds from sales of Positively to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Come to Camp Positive with Emmy - you'll be glad you did!
**kmm
Book info: Positively / Courtney Sheinmel. Simon & Schuster, 2009. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]
Recommendation: AIDS took her mother, leaving 13 year-old Emmy alone and HIV-positive. Well, her father and stepmother wanted her, but did she really want to live with them? Especially with a new baby on the way?
After Mom’s funeral, being at junior high with Nicole was mostly the same, but it was really hard at Dad and Meg’s house with different rules and someone else’s favorite foods. Who wouldn’t get mad and lash out?
Emmy wasn’t happy when they sent her to Camp Positive for girls living with HIV – a whole summer away from her friends, and off in the woods! How will Mom’s spirit know that she’s away from their hometown? Can Emmy get used to sleeping in a cabin with other people? How many summers will she have in her life, even with all the new medications?
Explore the woods and worries with Emmy and the Camp Positive crew, learning to live well every day and be positive in more ways than they ever dreamed. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.
I'm going to try to find this book the next time I visit the library. How heartbreaking. The story of Elizabeth Glaser is sad but inspiring too...worth its own post so that a new generation will know what AIDS meant years ago.
ReplyDelete@bookworm - when I first got advance reader copy of Positively, I wasn't sure that I wanted to read what could be a "down" book. But even with the bad hand that Emmy's been dealt, she reacts like a real teen (not some Pollyana type) and begins to reach real understanding that will help her make it through. A gem.
ReplyDelete**Katy M
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