Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2014
352 pages
Genre: Romance
Publication Information
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.
Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.
When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.
"Starred Review. Exhilarating and heartrending, McGovern's YA debut has a similar odd-couple camaraderie as Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park (2013) and the raw exploration of disability in R. J. Palacio's Wonder (2012). With a smart, proud, and capable protagonist eager to take her life by the reins, this novel is stunning. Grades 9-12" - Booklist
"The harsh reality of high school social dynamics are authentically portrayed. The main characters are well developed, though secondary characters are little more than background noise. " - School Library Journal
"It's slightly overplotted and occasionally heavy-handed, but it's easy to forgive these flaws.Ultimately, a deeply engaging and rewarding story." - Kirkus Reviews
"This is a typical coming of age novel in many ways and yet not typical due to the nature of the two protagonists' disabilities. It is that combination that should give this novel a special place in young adult literature, helping to normalize the issues faced by teens, even when they are not seen as normal by their peers." - Children's Literature
This information about Say What You Will was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
© Ellen Augarten
Cammie McGovern was awarded a creative writing fellowship at Stanford University, and has received numerous prizes for her short fiction. Her stories have appeared in many magazines including Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook and Seventeen, and she is the author of the much-acclaimed YA novel Say What You Will, published in 2014. A Step Toward Falling (2015), another YA novel featuring characters with disabilities. Just My Luck, for middle-grade readers (February, 2016).
She has also written three adult novels, The Art of Seeing, Eye Contact, and Neighborhood.
She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband and three children, the eldest of whom is autistic. She is one of the founders of Whole Children, a resource center...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Cammie McGovern's Website
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