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Overview
One moment can change everything.
Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself.
Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets.
The more time that Amber spends with Cade, the more she’s drawn to him. And the more she’s troubled by his darkness. Because Cade’s not just living in the now—he’s living each moment like it’s his last.
Editorials
From the Publisher
“The Day Before is lyrical, vivid, and poignant. Like hidden gems that sparkle in the sand, each verse tells its own story; a heartfelt reminder that life's treasures -- friendship, love, and compassion -- are often discovered when we least expect them.”
-- Sarah Ockler, bestselling author of Fixing Delilah and Twenty Boy Summer
Children's Literature -
One day sixteen year-old Amber wakes up and takes a hired limousine to the Oregon Coast without her mother's knowledge and without explanation. It is the day before something momentous is going to happen in Amber's life and she wants a day alone to gather her thoughts. But, not too surprisingly, she meets the perfect boy who seems to have secrets of his own. Throughout a day of shared meals, kite flying, building sandcastles, and boat riding, the two discover, without revealing any details to each other, that they have much in common. Blossoming romance eventually paves the way for the revelation of details, each story equally dramatic. Each is carrying a major burden and does not know how to handle it. Written in free verse, the book gives lyrical descriptions of sand and sky and loneliness and painful decisions. This book is a good way to introduce free verse poetry to students while telling a romantic love story. Reviewer: Myrna Dee MarlerSchool Library Journal
Gr 9 Up—In this novel-in-verse, Amber's life has become the stuff of supermarket tabloids. She's recently learned that her family is only her family due to a mix-up at birth. After the death of the girl who went home with her birth parents, the mix-up was revealed. Now her birth parents have legally won joint custody. Rather than spend her last day before departing for her forced visit in a long, sad goodbye, she steals away to spend a solitary day at the beach. While there, she meets Cade. He, too, is running from reality; in his case, the fear of serving as his Dad's liver donor the next day. The circumstances of Amber and Cade's chance meeting are only slowly revealed, which sustains an air of mystery for both the characters and readers. The day they spend together is sweet, if somewhat saccharine, but will certainly appeal to teens looking for a good, fast-paced whirlwind love story with a happy ending. Schroeder's fans will not be disappointed.—Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJKirkus Reviews
Letters from the past are interspersed into a free-verse chronicle of a crucial day for two teens who meet by chance at a beach town.
Amber heads out to the beach for a day by herself away from the family she loves, and, through a chance encounter with Cade, makes a lifetime connection, as this is also a critical day for him. Cade recognizes Amber as a child who was switched at birth in the hospital. Her birth parents have gone to court to have her live with them for half the year; the child they raised has died. Amber's anxious and angry, and somehow Cade is the balance she needs, due to his own mysterious challenges. Sometimes the poetry just tells the story, and other times it is almost too precious: "Lips on lips, / feel the heat. / Silky soft, / honey sweet."Teen jargon (including some cursing) appears just often enough to feel realistic, and it helps to keep the cloying effect of the plot line in check. Unfortunately, as the day goes on, the intensity of this brand-new relationship that's been forged in moments strains credulity. Like the limo ride from home to the beach, the connections over shared music and the secret Cade shares that makes him so vulnerable, it's all a tad overdone.
Melodrama heightened by romance.(Fiction. 12-16)