Please Ignore Vera Dietz
King, A. (2012). Please Ignore Vera
Dietz. New York: Ember.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King is about Vera Dietz, a teenager with issues. The story jumps right in and we find out that her (former) best friend Charlie has died. Even though it has been months since Charlie's death, Vera is still trying to deal with it all. She keeps seeing the ghost(s) of Charlie and struggles with "clearing his name" and telling the police what she knows.
The story uses flashbacks to show the strong friendship that Vera and Charlie have developed over the years and how they bonded over their troubled home lives. As they got older, Charlie started to hang with the "wrong crowd" and making decisions that scare Vera a bit. Then Charlie begins dating Jenny Flick, who begins to tell Charlie lies about Vera. Charlie begins to hate Vera and their friendship ends. In one of many flashbacks, we learn that Charlie came to Vera the night before he died and asked her to help him. He said that Jenny was going to do something terrible, but Vera does not help. Throughout the novel, she deals with this betrayal and finally decides to come to speak up and clear Charlie's name. She takes her story and proof that Jenny was responsible for Charlie's death.
This YA novel is deep. It has so much for young adults to think about--drinking and its consequences, the social hierarchy of high school, civic responsibilities, and a teen's decisions to accept or reject what their parents pass down to them. It is a story about family, friendship, destiny, and self-discovery and a story that readers can relate to in some way or another.
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