Catch & Release

I should have died quick. But I didn't. I'm a miracle of modern medicine, only the medicine doesn't get much credit, I notice. People say I'm lucky, or I'm blessed, and then they turn away.I'm not the only miracle. There's Odd too.Polly Furnas had The Plan for the future. Get married to Bridger Morgan, for one. College, career, babies. Etc. All the important choices were made.It was all happily-ever-after as a diamond-ring commercial.But The Plan did not include a lethal drug-resistant infection. It did not include “some more reconstruction and scar revision in the future." And it certainly did not include Odd Estes, a trip to Portland in an ancient Cadillac to "tear Bridger a new one," fly fishing, marshmallows, Crisco, or a loaded gun.But plans change. Stories get revised and new choices must be made.Polly and Odd have choices: Survival or not. Catch or release.From BooklistPolly has physically recovered from the flesh-eating bacteria that attacked her face near the close of her senior year. She has lost one eye and that side of her face is now deeply distorted. Much more brutal than the physical scarring, however, is the fact that the boyfriend with whom she had planned a happily-ever-after future dumped her while she was hospitalized. He just couldn’t stand the imperfections that New Polly bore—aesthetically, psychologically, and socially. While in the hospital, however, Polly strikes up an acquaintance with another bacteria survivor, Odd Estes, who lost his foot to the disease and has been outfitted with a robotic prosthesis that he learns to work quite well. In addition to sharing the adjustment to life as bacteria survivors, they both love fishing, and Odd takes Polly on a road trip outfitted with some nearly Kerouacian moments. Woolston’s novel offers intriguing characters, contemporary ethical questions, and a story that will have appeal to a wide range of readers. Grades 10-12. --Francisca Goldsmith About the AuthorBlythe Woolston works as professional book indexer for academic presses. She is the author of The Freak Observer, which won the ABC New Voices Pick award, the Moonbeam Children's Book Award, and the 2010 William C. Morris YA Debut Award. She lives in Montana with her family.