The Accident

December 15, 2018
A teenage boy gets a do-over that may save both himself and his friends from a terrible car accident.When Daniel's friends invite him to a house party, he initially refuses, pointing to the obvious fact that two of them are unlicensed and the third has only a probationary license. But with a long summer full of nothing but boring driver's education in front of him, he finally caves. Despite his friend Charlie's antics behind the wheel, they arrive safely only to find the party overrun by police. They decide to head home, but tension is high, and Charlie is distracted, landing them in a ditch. When a mysterious text message arrives, offering Daniel the chance to make different decisions, he jumps on it. In The Prank by Jeffrey Pratt, four friends go after a school administrator, using their anonymous blog to spread outrageous rumors. The Lie by Glasko Klein features two friends with differing abilities on the tennis court. Each must decide whether friendship or winning is more important. The Game by Elizabeth Neal features two benchwarmers who finally get a chance to enter the game only to find that a single shot might drive them apart. Each title in the series features a teen facing a moral dilemma who goes the wrong way. Consequences are real: a broken relationship, a car accident, and a wrongful investigation. Each teen receives a text giving them a second chance, but doing the right thing comes with its own set of consequences. Only The Game features any diversity, but even then it is never directly stated, only hinted at with names. The premise is appealing and the pacing brisk, although the plots are overly convoluted.A reluctant reader series featuring moral decisions and mysterious twists. (Fiction. 12-18)

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