The book I read this semester was “Hit and Run” by Lurlene McDaniel. The author made me really like this book. She made the book full of suspense and provided a valuable lesson. I have read several great books by Lurlene McDaniel, but this one by far has been my favorite. One of the lessons that I learned from this book is that you should never lie, no matter what. There will always be consequences. Lying will only get you into bigger trouble. There is never only one lie, you will always have to keep giving more lies. The main idea of “Hit and Run,” is a girl named Laurie was just trying to fit in with the popular crowd and with a boy named Quin, who she adored. She ends up getting into trouble, lies to her parents and to the cops. She winds up having to tell more lies. In the book Laurie tells Quin “What if the cops find out Quin, we could to jail.” Laurie knew that she was doing wrong, but kept lying and covering for Quin.
The theme or main idea of this book is that people are faced with making choices during tragic events. The choices they make can be life changing. People don’t always think their choice through before making it and it can have a negative effect on the rest of their life. Quin hits Analise with his car and makes the quick decision to hide it. He should have thought this through a little better. When Laurie figures out that what they hit was actually Analise she thinks of her and her mother instead of what she should have been thinking about. Laurie gets consumed with how bad her mom wants her to be popular. She blackmails Quin into being her boyfriend instead of her telling on him. Her decision to make him pretend to be her significant other backfires and she quickly decides she can’t stand being around him. All of this to satisfy her mother. When Quin’s father figures out what his son has done I feel like he commits the ultimate crime. He hides the truth to protect his son and his future.
My favorite part of the book is Chapter 28. In this chapter we hear from Analise. When Analise is telling us what she would like to tell different people it made me emotional. When Analise says “If I could control my body…if I could move” I want to cry for her. When Alalise tells that someone has done this to her and she states “I want revenge”(p. 105) it makes me want revenge for her. This chapter is filled with much emotion and it makes it very interesting and intense for me.
I would recommend this book to any teenage girl around my age. The characters are all around out age and dealing with problems. All of us deal with problems every day. Their problems may be a little more extreme than what we deal with on a daily basis but we can still relate to them. I learned from this book to always tell the truth. A lie will always catch up with you and makes things worse. I also learned to be careful what you ask for. Laurie thinks that having a boyfriend will be great. It proves to her very quick that this was incorrect.
