On the way home from a track meet, the bus carrying sixteen-
year-old Jessica's team collided with a car. The accident
leaves Jessica in the hospital -- minus one leg. Jessica
had dreamed of going to college on a track scholarship.
She had been the team's star. Now, she's not sure she even
wants to live. Her doctors push her to do physical
therapy, so she can receive a prosthetic leg. At first,
she can't imagine ever walking again, but her best friend
and her track coach are determined to help her do even more
than that. They don't want her to give up THE RUNNING
DREAM.
In a rare departure from the humor and sense of adventure
that marks her other work (such as the Sammy Keyes
Mysteries and the Shredderman series), Van Drannen takes
the serious issues surrounding a trauma head-on in this
one. The reader is right there with Jessica when her
father takes the pill bottle away after she shows signs of
painkiller addiction, and we're not allowed to flinch when
she has to clean her stump. The portrayal is so real that
I found myself wandering around my own house wondering how
I would navigate it if I were Jessica.
By letting us see Jessica's weaknesses, Van Drannen creates
a well-rounded character that we can pull for. Before the
accident, Jessica had been barely aware of wheelchair ramps
and the disabled kids forced to use them. Now that she has
become disabled herself, she is ashamed of her former view
and wants to help others to see past disabilities to the
real, worthwhile individuals who are dealing with them.
While she's got to learn to accept help, she doesn't want
pity. She wants to stand on her own two feet -- even if one
of them is a prosthesis.
Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a
car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be
able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares
about walking when you live to run?
As she struggles
to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic,
Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible.
People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there.
Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly
aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with
CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all
the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart
of her.
With the support of family, friends, a coach,
and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run
again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just
want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa
with her.
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