R.I.P. Eliza Hart

Gr 9 Up—A riveting coming-of-age tale and tragic absorbing mystery. Eliza Hart appears to have it all: she's beautiful, rich, and smart. The teen also has unipolar depression. Unlike bipolar sufferers, Eliza is perpetually immersed in a bottomless depression. When she is in kindergarten, Eliza makes a new friend, Ellie Sokoloff, and the girls are inseparable for the next two years. The narrative smoothly shifts between both girl's perspectives in alternating chapters, although the story is predominantly told from Ellie's point of view. Ellie moves away after first grade and the girls lose touch. Her family relocates to New York where Ellie suddenly develops a crippling sense of claustrophobia anytime she is in a small, enclosed space. Her Mom takes her to countless therapists with no resolution. On top of this, Ellie is shunned and rejected by her classmates. Finally, Ellie finagles a scholarship to an elite boarding school in California. It is here that she thinks she can reinvent herself. Despite not revealing her phobia, she becomes the class reject again when she discovers her long-ago best friend Eliza is also there. Ellie is devastated when the popular Eliza starts mean rumors in the school. The depths that both girls go to hide their psychological struggles is heartbreakingly dismal. Neither girl can tolerate their psychosis any longer, yet they are not willing to reveal their deep-rooted secrets. The protagonists' portrayals are realistic and teens will easily relate to their shattered dynamic of friendship, popularity, and secrecy.