If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard." Told through the voice of Mia, the reader is brought into a world where a teen girl is standing outside of her body, after a tragic car accident that took the lives of both parents and her little brother, Teddy. She must decide: should I stay, or should I go? What would life be like without her parents and brother? How would this young cellist go to Julliard as "an orphan" as she hears herself referred to by the nurses in the ICU. Mia has to contemplate this big decision as she watches over her body in the hospital, hooked up to machines. She watches as the people in her life come and go as visitors: her best friend, boyfriend, aunts, uncles, cousins. Beautifully written, the decision is "a choice" that one has in their own destiny. Flashbacks of Mia's life sprinkle throughout the book to bring the reader up to date with where Mia's life has gone, how she became to love music, how relationships with her boyfriend was central, and how her struggle to "stay or go" not only was meaning of her life, but she had wrestled with this same question as one who was living: should she stay in Oregon to stay closer to Adam, the boy she had intense connection with, or follow her dream of going to Julliard if she was accepted, and make a new life in New York. Detail was given to each parent, the way they were as individuals in the present day, and how they transformed into what they are from years back, before Mia was born. Many references to music, both punk and classical, are weaved throughout the book as well. Not until the very end do we know what Mia's choice will be. If I Stay is an excellent read for teens going through a tough personal struggle as well as a great choice for parents.