What Erika Wants

by Bruce Clements

Book Overview

Drawing the line between what we want and what other people want for usA woman with a forehead full of acne scars and a New York edge to her voice crosses the courthouse floor with her hand out. Erika? I'm your lawyer. Call me Jean. Can we talk? You're fourteen, with a play to try out for, a crazy best friend with a ton of money, a boy whom you can't get out of your heart, and parents who hate each other and are dragging you through court in a custody case. You follow your lawyer to the elevator, and five minutes later you're in her beat-up car and she's asking you who you are and what you want. Why tell her the truth when right now all you want is space and time to figure it out for yourself without hurting the people you love? Written in alternating points-of-view, this sharp and disarmingly understated novel charts the course of a caring and careworn teenager who is discovering that the first step to breaking free of a bad situation is to realize she's trapped in one.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374323046
• ISBN13: 9780374323042
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

What Erika Wants

This is an excellent, thoughtful book. Erika is a very likable protagonist, torn between staying with her dad and moving in with her mom. Her unlikely ally - and, in fact, savior and best friend - turns out to be her lawyer. Their friendship, and Erika's struggle to do the right thing (both for her parents and for herself) makes this story unique and compelling. I was so caught up in her plight that I read the whole book in one day. The ending is perfect. Highly recommended.