Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer - ADVISABLE

Mazer, Harry and Peter Lerangis Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am, 148 p.  Language: PG-13 (22 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13 Violence: PG.  Simon and Schuster, 2012.  $16. 

Ben Bright has a sparkling future in front of him, but in his heart he wants to join the military and defend freedom around the world.  Leaving his family, his fiancée and his friends behind, he walks into the Middle East and a roadside bomb attack.  Now everyone who knows Ben must figure out how to pickup the pieces of their hearts left behind, as the Ben who comes back to them resembles the Ben who left only superficially.   

Mazer and Lerangis have done an excellent job of crafting a book that shows absolutely normal people in an awful situation.  They strike a delicate balance of presenting harsh honesty without resorting gratuitous violence, swearing or mature content.  For example, while it mentions the presence of internet porn, it does not describe anything.  This would be  excellent paired with Ruth Emerson White’s The Road Home, too.   

HS – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher