From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up—Emily knew when she saw Belinda, a classmate with developmental disabilities, being assaulted under the bleachers she needed to intervene, but she froze, and now she's doing community service and trying to figure out how to live with herself. Belinda is attempting to determine how to go forward after rescuing herself. Told in alternating sections of Emily's and Belinda's voices, this book explores how even good people can fail morally. Emily and Lucas (who was also present that night) are wrong, and that is made clear throughout; their inaction is understandable but inexcusable, and that subtle distinction is an important one. In addition, Belinda is written thoughtfully and respectfully. She has a distinct voice that reflects her cognitive disabilities but without condescension. Given that portrayals of people with developmental disabilities so often either depict them as perfect angels or use them as a device by which the neurotypical characters better themselves, Belinda's full-fledged personality is important for readers to engage with. The parallel romances are charming and appropriate, and while Emily and Lucas's treads the well-worn paths of smart girl plus hot, sensitive jock, it is not an unpleasant trope to revisit. The secondary plots of Belinda's family conflict and Emily distancing herself from her friends are well-executed ways to flesh out the two protagonists' growth. VERDICT Highly recommended for realistic fiction collections.—L. Lee Butler, Hart Middle School, Washington, DC Read more Review PRAISE FOR A STEP TOWARD FALLING: “Universal human emotions and challenges link the characters across boundaries of gender, class, and I.Q. This is a beautiful, big-hearted book with important lessons embedded in compelling stories of two irresistible girls. Expertly executed and movingly realized.” (New York Times Book Review)“Without evading or sugarcoating difficult topics, McGovern shows that disabled and able aren’t binary states but part of a continuum—a human one.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))“Told in alternating sections of Emily’s and Belinda’s voices, this book explores how even good people can fail morally. Belinda is written thoughtfully and respectfully. She has a distinct voice that reflects her cognitive disabilities but without condescension. Highly recommended for realistic fiction collections.” (School Library Journal (starred review))“Through alternating chapters, Emily comes to understand her inaction, prejudices, and failings, and Belinda learns to face her fears, find her voice, and take charge of her future. McGovern’s ample experience with special needs youth is evident, as it allows this unique story shine from within.” (ALA Booklist (starred review))“Cammie McGovern’s second nuanced, thought-provoking young adult novel. A co-founder of Whole Children, a Massachusetts community center similar to the one about which she writes, McGovern obviously draws upon personal experience to create characters who are complex and fully realized.” (Chicago Tribune)“So much love for this wise and powerful book. Most of all for Belinda—a girl with a cognitive disability who shows how full a life can be, and who loves Pride and Prejudice and Colin Firth as much as we do. For fans of Jennifer Niven and Jandy Nelson.” (Justine Magazine)“Alternating viewpoints illustrate how braving the uncertainty of relationships, expectations, and life after high school transcends class or ability. The sensitive overview of tough issues gracefully balances romance with reality. Fans of Jane Austen will appreciate this unconventional homage.” (Kirkus Reviews)“Belinda’s voice is perfectly pitched: it’s clear that she’s thought her world through on her own terms. By including a wide variety of distinct characters, the novel shows that the presence or absence of a disability is just one of many aspects of who a person is.” (The Horn Book)“This book might lead to an interesting discussion about responsibility, about standing up for someone, about doing the right thing.” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA))“McGovern uses her experience working with youth with special needs to illuminate the everyday thought processes and internal lives of young adults who function differently in society. She gives readers characters, not archetypes. It’s a poignant, warm, compelling book that insists that mistakes and redemption can go hand in hand.” (The Globe and Mail) Read more See all Editorial Reviews
P**Y
Heavy handed message
Grade: DOne Word: heavy-handedWhen Belinda, a developmentally delayed student, is attacked, Emily freezes. Football star Lucas does nothing to help either. Now Belinda stays home from school and Emily and Lucas must do community service with special needs young adults.Alternating chapters between Emily's and Belinda's POVs, A STEP TOWARD FALLING is a story about judging others and learning from them. Emily had positive and negative traits, extremely judgmental, yet with a good heart. She seemed more like a teenager than an adult dreamt up, rather than a believable person. I did, however, find her voice plausible. I didn't find Belinda as authentic in her chapters, though infant seizures were mentioned as a possible cause, I was never sure why she was special needs. She has some autistic traits, but her verbal and reading skills seemed too high for a special classroom. I felt like Cammie McGovern threw a few convenient traits onto Belinda, rather than developing her as a person.I generally enjoy issue books, when the story isn't hitting me over the head with a message. A STEP TOWARD FALLING felt like McGovern was screaming in my ear with a bullhorn, "Don't be judgmental" and "special needs folks can teach you things".The premise and plot were strong and engaging, but the execution felt more like a lesson in being nice to special needs kids, rather than a satisfying story.THEMES: special needs, friendship, relationships, dating, bullyingA STEP TOWARD FALLING missed the mark with too forceful a message.
A**R
Sweet Y/A book with many social messages
This is a rather sweet Y/A novel with a heartwarming message about the developmentally disabled. The author clearly knows what she's talking about and describes different types of people with different challenges quite convincingly. It's about two young people, Emily and Lucas, one a nerd and the other an athlete, who see a fellow student who happens to have challenges being sexually assaulted by a fellow student -- and fail to come to her aid or raise the alarm. Their brains freeze, they say. The book is half narrated by the victim of the assault, Belinda, and half by Emily, the brainy girl who failed to do the right thing even though she burns with a general desire to help the disadvantaged -- as long as they are a generic group and not actual individuals.As punishment, the two miscreants are assigned community service. They have to help out with a group that meets weekly to discuss socially-acceptable ways to behave and tries to teach the students strategies and ways to relate romantically to others -- which can be difficult for this population. The two overcome their prejudices toward each other as well as toward those they are helping and also learn something valuable about courage and honesty from Belinda.There are aspects of this book that are a bit too cutesy and the author also weighs it down with too many subplots -- as if to tackle every social issue and ill there is in one book. So we explore gay identity, cancer, old age, losing a parent, the nature of true friendship -- it's all there. These topics threaten to overwhelm the story -- and the sweet developing love between Emily and the brawny football player Lucas. But at the end of the day, the story does carry through -- and the central message of the book as well.
E**1
Beautiful and Captivating
Whenever Cammie McGovern releases a book, I know I'm in for a treat because her books all grip me so much that I have to read them more or less continually because I simply have to know what happens next. The themes in this book were as amazing as everything she's published. The topic of young people with disabilities particularly resonates with me because of a boy I knew in my childhood who was mainstreamed into our class. While it was easy to see the differences between him and the rest of us at first, it didn't take me long to see his special abilities and beautiful heart, making the first impressions quickly disappear in my mind. Causes for the disabled are very important to me because of this early impression.I love the intertwining theme of first impressions through the discussion of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in this novel. Like all people, each of the characters struggled with this and made valuable discoveries upon getting to know one another as people. It was the perfect vehicle to make the point in a very natural way.I wish I could give this book unlimited stars, and that might not even be enough.
J**V
The author does a great job of humanizing all three as they move toward ...
A fascinating look at teens from completely different worlds. Emily knew Belinda when they were younger and kids were less aware of developmental differences. When their paths cross years later, Emily freezes and her inability to act leads to an unusual community service option that not only opens her eyes to the lives, feelings and needs of a group of disabled people, it makes her look at her own life in a new way. Lucas travels a parallel path, but his begins with his being part of the high school football team. Following the alternating stories of Emily, Lucas and Belinda is fascinating. The author does a great job of humanizing all three as they move toward a new awareness and her portrayal of the characters with developmental disabilities is superb.
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