Weeks and Days

Gr 10 Up—Emily is a typical high school girl who is just going through the motions of her adolescence until she meets the mysterious Stephen. Stephen, for reasons unbeknownst to Emily, has picked her out to be his girlfriend. Readers are not given much of an idea why Stephen, who is a senior and part of Student Council, decides to pursue Emily, but he does nonetheless. When he asks her to think about something that she really wants to do, she explains that she has always wanted to develop camera film and learn about that process. Stephen then enrolls them both in a photography course at the local college. Emily really begins to fall for Stephen, and their conversations, which are unrealistic for high school students, encourage her to open up to him. Readers realize, along with Emily, that Stephen has a secret that he has kept from everybody in his life except his parents, and they are at a loss to help him. Stephen's secret is discovered way too early in the plot, which will cause readers to have to trudge through to the end.