3. Tears of a Tiger

Draper, Sharon M. Tears of a Tiger. New York: Simon Pulse, 1994.

Annotation: A high school is stunned by a fatal accident after a teen drinking and driving accidents kills the basketball team's MVP.

Justification for Nomination: Sharon Draper uses a uniquely brialliant writing style in this coming-of-age novel for adolescents. This book has an intriguing mix of newsletters, police reports, journal entries, poems, homework assignments, letters, prayers interchanged with immense dialogue. The teens speak with common slang and the relationships between the characters feel realistic. The story follows the life of Andy, the teen who celebrated a basketball game victory by drinking while driving with his three best friends in his car. The guilt Andy feels after he crashes his car and his best friend dies is the emphasis of the book. Andy's struggle to cope with the loss of his friend is too intense for him to deal with and he heads for tragedy himself. The connections and interactions of the characters make this book a heartfelt read, one that many young people can relate to and learn from.

Genre: coming of age