First Readers' Responses

"I liked this book because it can relate to everyone"
Reviews of Falling by a group of young readers

The first group of young adults to read and respond to Falling was an eighth-grade book club who meet at Stardust Books, a tiny bookstore in Craftsbury Common, a small town in northern Vermont. The group looks at advance copies of the newest YA fiction, and generally the members each choose a title according to their own interests—but this time, everyone wanted to read Falling, and did.

Here, exactly as they wrote them and shared by permission, are brief reviews by several group members.

Falling was amazing!!! If I were a teacher, I would make it mandatory for all middle school students to read. It really captures the middle school atmosphere and problems that may or may not happen. I felt captured in the story of Matt and Katie, and the romance and secrets that lie beneath them. Definitely "Five Stars" for excellent writing and great relevance to a teen's life. This book is great for all ages, teens and up.

Summary: Thinking he's alone in the world carrying the burden of a huge family secret on his shoulders, 15 year-old Matt Shaw is unprepared when Katie comes into his life. Matt can't decide whether to trust her or not, but when something goes wrong, Matt makes a mistake and just might lose his love from Katie, but you will have to read and see!

I liked this book because it can relate to everyone. It was unexpectedly exciting. It's about a boy who has problems at home and he can't talk about them. He grows apart from his friends until he meets a girl from his school who helps him deal with his problems. It seems like it was a bunch of different genres, like it was adventure with action but also had romance. The book gets better and better the farther you read.

Falling is a true-to-life novel about two teenagers meeting in one of the strangest places ever. Doug Wilhelm's amazing writing brings this otherwise unbelievable story to life. His style his simple in a way that shows all the hidden intricacies in life all with a wry sense of humor. The two characters are more believable than some of my friends. Wilhelm provides a perfect description of any Vermont town and it is obvious that he knows the area he lives in well. In all this novel is a wonderful, easy, delicious read.

Very realistic—really gets you into it. Emotional, with a bit of mystery and drama mixed into it. All about how his guy who stays from everyone except his best friend, KJ. That is, until he met Katie, who's a part of this clique, and full of questions. She then shows him how to trust, and love, again.

Falling was an amazing book that really captured the perspective of teenagers and the problems they face throughout their adolescent lives. Katie is the ideal picture of a girl in the freshman class, and was a very amazing character in this book. I connected with Katie well because I understood her feelings about friendship and closeness with Tamra, Hope, and Sam. I have a very close group of friends as well, so I knew exactly what she was feeling. I also thought that Matt was exactly how I would imagine a boy to act. He seemed unaware of how to approach Katie, but knew that he couldn't come on too strong.

Overall, I thought this book was AMAZING! It was emotional without being corny.