3 Novels Address Real Teen Issues

Amy Clipston, while famous for her Amish novels, wrote two of my favorite contemporary YA stories, Roadside Assistance and Destination Unknown. The third in the series is Miles from Nowhere, also a good story. All three novels address issues teens face with likeable characters readers relate to. I have often wished Clipston had continued the stories of the characters developed in this series.

Roadside Assistance addresses wrestling with faith

In Roadside Assistance, Emily Curtis and her dad move in with her rich aunt, uncle and cousins after her mom dies and her dad loses his business and home. Emily feels judged by her relatives and bitter that she must live with them. Through the story, Emily works through her grief and struggles with her loneliness and inability to pray. While her popular cousin, Whitney, bops around with her cheerleader friends, interested in fashion, hair and makeup, Emily prefers getting under the hood of a car and tinkering with tools.  The neighbor boy, Zander Stewart, loves working on cars too, but his dad has different aspirations for him like becoming a doctor.

Emily talks to her mom in a journal where the reader can follow her wavering faith. She used to be close with her dad, but her relatives are coming between them, which also causes a lot of tension for her.

Emily struggles with getting Whitney’s hand-me-downs and the constant comparison her aunt makes with her and Whitney. Her grandma makes her feel less than because she prefers the perfect Whitney.

I liked this novel because I think it portrayed a realistic life of a hurting teen. In her pain, she tries pushing people away, but her new friends, Chelsea and Zander, stick with her and help her overcome her struggles. During this journey, Emily wrestles with God and finds peace as she works through her grief. She learns to trust others and to see she has friends and that she was never alone.

Destination Unknown tackles expectations

In Destination Unknown, Whitney Richards rebels against her mother who compounds the pressures of the senior year by expecting her to get perfect grades, insisting she pick her college alma mater, and by not letting her choose her own friends. In the first chapter, Whitney breaks up with her clueless, self-absorbed boyfriend and gets a D on her calculus test, ruining her perfect 4.0 GPA.  This gets her grounded and sent to a tutor, Taylor Martinez. Through their tutoring sessions, she gets to know Taylor and finds out they have a lot in common. Taylor is from the wrong side of town, according to Whitney’s mom, however, and the mother-daughter battles intensify. Whitney’s friends and cheerleader squad agree that Taylor is not the boy for Whitney.

I liked this novel because Whitney learns to stand up for herself and be the person she wants to be not based on what anyone else thinks or anyone else’s expectations. She learns the consequences of telling lies and how they hurt others. She grows by seeing people based on their character not their community or financial statuses.

Miles from Nowhere looks at choices, peer pressure

The third in the series is Miles from Nowhere. Chelsea Morris plans to study fashion in New York City. During the summer, she designs the costumes for her local theater group and meets a college boy, who makes her life more exciting than it used to be, but changes her from the responsible person her friends knew. It looks at how the choices we make affects our lives and the lives of others. The fun activities her new boyfriend encourages just mean trouble for Chelsea.

This novel looks at peer pressure and what can happen when we get separated from our real friends and take small steps that lead us away on a path we never intended. Loneliness and wanting to fit in can make us think, “It’ll be okay, just this once.” We all make mistakes and learn from them, and I know kids who made Chelsea’s choices. Consequences often lead us away from our dreams if we don’t forgive ourselves and others. It takes courage to step away, evaluate, and determine what’s really right for you.

You can find this series at your library or favorite bookstore.

Do you enjoy reading novels about things that occur regularly in normal day to day life?