If I Stay by Gayle Forman

What a powerful, moving book! (It is on the Florida Teen Reads list.) The story is told in first person by Mia, a seventeen year old music prodigy, who is involved in a horrendous car accident. Both her parents and her seven year old brother are killed; she is gravely injured. In order for us to understand what she is going through, the author developed a voice for Mia that was outside her body, observing what was happening to her but unable to communicate with the people around her. As she lays comatose in the hospital with the doctors and nurses trying to save her life, she begins to wonder why she should even try to live. Her family has been killed, and it will take a lot of energy for her to fight to live. That's where the title comes from: Mia has to decide is she will stay or if she will let go and join her family. There are many flashbacks to events prior to the accident that help fill in the personalitites of Mia's parents, brother, and boyfriend. The book is a beautiful story about a 17 year old spirit who faces some extremely difficult situations. I wept through the final four pages.