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Because you'll never meet me /

by Thomas, Leah [author.].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: New York : Bloomsbury, 2015.Description: 344 pages ; 22 cm.ISBN: 9781619635906 (hbk.); 1619635909 (hbk.).Title notes: YASubject(s): Best friends -- Juvenile fiction | Pen pals -- Juvenile fiction | Epilepsy in adolescence -- Juvenile fiction | Blind children -- Juvenile fiction | Heart -- Hypertrophy -- Patients -- Juvenile fiction | Echolocation (Physiology) -- Juvenile fiction | Teenagers with disabilities -- Juvenile fiction | Loneliness in adolescence -- Juvenile fiction | Friendship in adolescence -- Juvenile fiction | Bullying -- Juvenile fiction | Single-parent families -- Juvenile fiction | Michigan -- Juvenile fiction | Germany -- Juvenile fiction | Letters -- Fiction | Epilepsy -- Fiction | Blind -- Fiction | People with disabilities -- Fiction | Loneliness -- Fiction | Friendship -- Fiction | Bullying -- Fiction | Single-parent families -- Fiction | Young adult fiction | Epistolary fictionSummary: Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz's weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times -- as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him. A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, about two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine.
List(s) this item appears in: YA Books about Bullying Awards: Click to open in new window
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Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books Altadena Main Library
Young Adult Collection Young Adult Fiction YA FIC THO (Browse shelf) Available 39270003549874

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie has a life-threatening allergy to electricity, and Moritz's weak heart requires a pacemaker. If they ever did meet, they could both die. Living as recluses from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times-as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him. But when Moritz reveals the key to their shared, sinister past that began years ago in a mysterious German laboratory, their friendship faces a test neither one of them expected.
Narrated in letter form by Ollie and Moritz-two extraordinary new voices-this story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances blends elements of science fiction with coming of age themes, in a humorous, dark, and ultimately inspiring tale is completely unforgettable.

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz's weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times -- as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him. A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, about two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine.

YA

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Horn Book Review

A doctor sets up a pen-pal correspondence between Ollie and Moritz, two boys with severe medical conditions that make them, in Ollies words, fellow hermits. But if that brings them together as allies, it will keep them apart in real life -- Ollie, an American, is allergic to electricity and has spent his life in a cabin in the woods (even being near a power line can induce a seizure). Moritz, in Germany, was born without eyes and has a pacemaker. In exuberant (Ollie) and heart-wrenching (Moritz) letters, the boys tell each other about the parts of life the other misses out on. Burbling beneath the surface of this realistic fiction novel about the complexities of friendship and alienation, though, is something more speculative. Ollies epilepsy verges on the supernatural -- he doesnt just react badly to electricity; superhero-like, he repels it, due to an electromagnetic power in his own body. And Moritz compensates for his blindness with echolocation. As each boy nears the height of desperation with the limitations of his respective condition, they also discover that their abilities may be manmade and that their connection with each other began earlier than their correspondence. Readers can take or leave the science-fiction elements; its the distinct, deeply memorable voices of Ollie and Moritz that make this novel an affecting page-turner. sarah hannah gmez (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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