The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

I had heard about this book from many students in my high school who chose to read this book one year for summer reading. Many raved about the book and said that it was really really good! I thought that the synopsis was enough detail to where I knew this book would fit in my single story. After reading through the first few chapters, my assumption was correct. Emily is a young girl who loves to run. She was on the way back from a track meet at which she had just set a record in, when their bus was hit by another vehicle which resulted in Emily losing one of her legs. When she wakes up she is confused as well as in shock. You see her struggle with the idea that she won't be able to run again as well as the physical pains of phantom pain. As the book goes on a little, she goes back to school and is faced with people who either ignore her or are far more concerned with her than they ever were before. I am really interested in seeing how Emily's attitude progresses throughout the book. I feel that I would be extremely bitter and depressed if I lost an entire limb.  The part that would bother me most would be the fact that there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it. In my last post I bought up this idea of empathy, and in trying to be empathetic I have been attempting to put myself in the shoes of the character in my book who is experiencing the disability. It is difficult, but it is also helping for me to see things in a different light.