Eighth-grader Grant is a loving child whose affection for his dignified grandfather would never be questioned. In fact, when his grandfather suffers a stroke and is sent to "The Other Wing" of the nursing home, Grant is the only one in the family who makes the time to visit him; his mother and father are both so wrapped up in their careers that they find neglecting both Grant and the grandfather too easy to do. This story becomes complicated from the very beginning when the reader realizes that the letter and recorded story Grant has received from his grandfather is actually a cleverly disguised request for assisted suicide. Throughout the remainder of the novel, we follow Grant's life through months of agony as he tries to make sense of the value of life and the inevitability of death. The secondary characters--Grant's parents, his best friend Avery, and even Randi--become part of the reader's inability to put down this book. You won't know for sure what Grant does until the end of the story, and you will be left questioning what you would do in the same situation.

Stone Water is an excellent book dealing with real subjects in todays world. It deals with the hardships of life and death. In our fast paced world we need to stop and think about the quality of life, not the length of it. I loved the book, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down.

A must read. This book changed the way I view assisted suicide. Through a young child's life we see how one's final wish can shape another's life. A real tear jerker. It empties your emotions and leaves you trapped in the world the book creates for hours, if not days after. As all good books should do.

I must say, I really could not put this book down. It paints a beautiful picture of the conflicts that consume Clara Lorenzo, the 17 year old piano prodigy. She is competing in the Nicklaus competition, in which first prize is a 4 year scholarship to Juilliard. A fall in ballet practice brings her to realize that she does not truly love piano, despite daily three hour practices.
Even non-musical people can understand and even relate to this book, because it conveys inner conflict and finding one's true self so flawlessly. Teens will love this book for its accurate description of parental pressure and adults will better understand the trials and tribulations of growing up after reading it.

Have you ever wanted to be the best at something so badly that you would do almost anything to make it happen? This type of obsession happens in the novel, Broken Chords, by Barbara Snow Gilbert. Clara Lorenzo had an amazing gift for playing the piano. Her talent being discovered at a very young age, Clara's parents had done everything they could to see that Clara advanced as far as she could. Though Clara loved piano and was practicing endlessly for the upcoming Nicklaus competition, she also had a strong love for ballet and was in "The Nutcracker." Her parents did not approve of this; they wanted her to spend all of her time practicing piano. Clara sneaks off to ballet, and was getting away with it until she had an accident and hurt her wrist. She knew her parents would be extremely mad if they found out what she did, so she lied to the doctor, said her wrist was fine. She began practicing day and night for her piano competition. Only Clara seems to know the truth about her injury, and it is causing her a lot of pain to try to be the best. Clara discovers that she loves ballet more than piano and could not spend her life doing something just to please others, no matter how talented she was. This was a great story that is sure to be a fan of music lovers, or anyone who would just like to read a really good book.

Clara's future has been determined most of her short life: as a talented pianist, she is certain to have a sterling career as an accomplished musician. But does she love playing the best, and does she want to continue to give up pleasures for work? This provides no easy answers as Clara makes her decisions about the future.

15 year old Walker Morgan has lived in the small town of Red Cedar, Oklahoma, his parents run an antique store. The three of them are members of a militia group called the Soldiers of God. Every couple of weekends they have practice war games. These games practice bible study, wil;derness skills, and make a lot of there friends come together. You can tell his parents are hiding something him from him because he can tell they speak differently with him than around other people. He finally found out that his dad was part of the FBI. That made it really hard for him because he could not tell anyone what his parents did. A couple of weeks after he found out that his parents were in the FBI his mom was shot by a man in the militia. With out his mom he had to go through physical and physiological terrain which was really hard on him. I enjoyed the book a lot, it was pretty boring towards the beginning but it got a lot more exciting towards the end. The author used a lot of detail and expressed a lot of moods through her writing. While I was reading the book it kept me in my seat the whole time, except during the beginning. After the first couple of chapters it got really interesting and I wanted to read all of the time. "Paper Trail" was a really good book I would recommend it to twelve years of age and up. I would rate it about a three and a half because of the beginning.

Are your parents who you think they are? Do you know your family history? Are your friends in your town really your friends? Do you really know if what you believe is the truth? Hold on to your sanity and read this really scary, really exciting book about a boy that's confused by the world he's always known in a small town in Oklahoma.

Wow! It was a wild ride that this story took me on. I loved it! I think you will too. Read it today and see what it would be like if your world wasn't the truth.

This is the best book I have ever read...seriously. I'm not one to cry in books, but at the end of this one I was balling. The story is exciting and scary. It's fiction, but also had truth to it. The whole thing is scary because it's so real. From the moment his mother dies in front of his eye, to the last chapter (I'm not going to give anything away), it was hard to put down.It's not your ordinary book, more like a scary fairy tale. I had no clue what I was getting into when I first read it for a book report, but I'm really glad I did and I've read it twice after that. This is original, exciting, and cliffhanging. Read it.