Shop Our Mother's Day Collection Explore Now

Keep Holding On

Add to Wishlist

Keep Holding On

eBook

$6.99

eBook
$6.99

Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.

WANT A NOOK? Explore Now

Buy As Gift

Related collections and offers

Overview

An honest romance and an empowering book about bullying --from the author of the City Love trilogy

Noelle's life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much she gets bullied, or the ways her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so much about her life a secret for so long that when her longtime crush Julian Porter starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely it's safer to stay hidden than to risk the pain of a broken heart. But when the antagonism of her classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle realizes it's time to stand up for herself--and for the love that keeps her holding on.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101572054
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/31/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	998,738
File size:	803 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

From the author:

When I was a teen, I would have been mortified to admit that I was being bullied at school. My junior high and high school years were the worst time of my life. Kids picked on me for being a science nerd. They picked on me for not wearing the expensive sweaters and jeans everyone else had. They picked on me for doing weird things like writing song lyrics on my sneakers (this was back in the day before writing on your sneakers was cool). I was embarrassed by all the ways I didn't fit in.

I am not embarrassed anymore.

Writing Keep Holding On was my way of turning a negative experience into something positive. I want this book to reach out to teens who are going through hard times. I want this book to help people feel less alone. And hopefully, this story will encourage readers in need to keep holding on.

Susane Colasanti is the bestselling author of When It Happens, Take Me There, Waiting for You, Something Like Fate, So Much Closer, Keep Holding On, All I Need, and Now and Forever. Susane has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from New York University. Before becoming a full-time author, Susane was a high school science teacher for ten years. She lives in New York City.

Connect with Susane at SusaneColasanti.com and follow her on Twitter @SusaneColasanti

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti:

"[Keep Holding On] ... will give readers plenty to think about and a list of resources to tap into if they need them." —Publishers Weekly

"...smart dialogue, quirky characters and richly layered plot. Emotionally satisfying from beginning to end." —Kirkus

"Noelle's situation will resonate with teen readers. Her struggles are those of real teens—trying to fit in, feeling left out, searching for love, making hard choices." —VOYA

"This novel could be recommended to those who enjoyed Sonya Sones's What My Mother Doesn't Know (S & S, 2001) or Courtney Summers's Some Girls Are (St. Martin's, 2010)." —School Library Journal

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Sarah Dessen’s Summer Romance Recommendations

Bestselling YA novelist Sarah Dessen knows a thing or two about sweet and sour summer romance. To celebrate the release of her latest book, The Moon and More (out today!), about the maybe-end of a high school relationship, Dessen shares her other picks for romantic beach reads. Just One Day, by Gayle Forman. I never traveled […]

Gr 8 Up—Inspired by the author's personal experiences with bullying, this novel encourages readers to "never, ever give up." Noelle's life is bad; her mother drinks and her neglect goes unchecked. The teen eats mustard and mayonnaise sandwiches for lunch, and the smell from her unwashed clothes earns her the nickname "Rotten Egg." Her position as coeditor of the school literary magazine and the company of her science teacher and friends help alleviate her misery. Noelle eventually begins to accept aid from the people who care about her. When incredibly cute Julian shows interest, Noelle has to find the courage to change her life. This includes ending a destructive relationship and opening up about what she endures at home. When the school social worker brings Noelle's mother in for questioning, the story begins to fall apart. The woman hints at remorse, yet remains deranged. The friends take over, supplying Noelle with all she needs, including clean clothes, food, and love. It's not a horrible ending, only one that might seem illusionary to students enduring bullying and abuse in real life. Colasanti's mission to help victims and encourage teens to make a positive difference in the world is clear from her letter to readers and the back matter, which includes a list of resources. This novel could be recommended to those who enjoyed Sonya Sones's What My Mother Doesn't Know (S & S, 2001) or Courtney Summers's Some Girls Are (St. Martin's, 2010).—Pamela Schembri, Newburgh Enlarged City Schools, NY

School Library Journal

High school junior Noelle is growing up in poverty with a neglectful mother. At school she is the target of bullies who tease her about her sad lunches, corner her in the bathroom, and even shoot her with paintballs. She has even considered suicide, but after another school outcast does kill herself, Noelle realizes, “I can make a choice to do more than just survive. Which is why I’m going to start shaping my life into the one I want.” With the help of a support network that includes a best friend who has her own problems, an artistic new boyfriend, and a teacher, she begins to do just that. The topic of bullying is perennially timely, but Colasanti’s (Waiting for You) characters are rather two-dimensional, particularly Noelle’s too cruel mother and overly perfect friends. Likewise, Noelle’s transition from outcast to advocate, while inspiring, is perhaps too sudden. Even so, this is a fast read that will give readers plenty to think about and a list of resources to tap into if they need them. Ages 14–up. Agent: Gillian MacKenzie, Gillian MacKenzie Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

A fast read that will give readers plenty to think about and a list of resources to tap into if they need them.”—Publishers Weekly
“Noelle's journey from victim to victor . . . is an important story for anyone who has felt the sting of their peers' cruelty.”—VOYA
“Emotionally satisfying from beginning to end.”—Kirkus Reviews
“This novel could be recommended to those who enjoyed Sonya Sones's What My Mother Doesn't Know or Courtney Summers's Some Girls Are.”—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

If Noelle can just hold on until graduation, she might finally escape the school bullies and her neglectful mother. But when the bullying goes too far, she must choose whether to run away or finally stand up for herself. Caught between her miserable existence at school and a home life that is at best impoverished and at worst abusive, Noelle believes if she can just keep her head down, she can escape to the city, where her life will really begin. Unfortunately, the brutal bullying, her mother's refusal to buy food and a boyfriend who only wants to make out in secret are making it hard for her to stay hopeful. When she is offered a position on the lit mag and her crush, funky Julian Porter, asks her out, Noelle wants to believe that things are finally turning around. Then one of their classmates commits suicide, and Noelle is determined to make sure everyone knows the truth. The familiar story of bullying is elevated by Colasanti's smart dialogue, quirky characters and richly layered plot. Readers will engage intellectually and emotionally with each character, and the countdown toward graduation that marks every chapter heightens Noelle's desperation to escape. The high level of craft in the writing even makes the cloying and overly earnest ending forgivable. Emotionally satisfying from beginning to end. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews