LOVE, ISH by Karen Rivers

The story: Mischa (aka Ish) wants nothing more than to go to Mars someday, although in the meantime she'd also like it if her best friend Tig moved back, her sister Elliott was a little nicer, or she didn't have these headaches all the time--bad ones. On the first day of 7th grade, her classmates watch as Ish has a seizure and all the headaches are explained: it's a brain tumor. And she thought getting to Mars was going to be hard...

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence G: Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content PG; adult themes (terminal illness, cancer) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: Full disclosure: the critics really liked this book. I, being a person who values a happy ending, was ambivalent. Ish isn't all that nice a person even before she gets sick, so it's hard to empathize with her, and although I'm a sci-fi fan (and I even liked "The Martian"!) I found her obsession with Mars somewhat tiresome. So if I were being really truthful, and not nodding toward the critics, I'd probably have given this story two stars. Aside from which fact, I feel like this is one of those books that adults like a lot more than the kids in the target audience, but which stays around because it ends up on curriculum literature lists.