Cut by Patricia McCormick

McCormick, Patricia. (2002). Cut. NY: Push.
ISBN: 978-0439324595
Awards: South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee (2002-2003)
Isinglass Teen Reads Award Winner (2004)
Gateway Book List (2002-2003)
Arizona Young Readers' Award Nominee (2005)ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2002)
ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers - Top Ten (2001)
ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2001)
Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award Nominee (2005)
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Cutting, Easting Disorders, Mental Illness, Family, Depression, Self-Acceptance
Genre: Fiction
Annotation: Fifteen year old Callie is in a mental hospital because she self-mutilates and refuses to speak. While we get to hear Callie's inner dialog, she fights the therapists attempts to help her.
Summary: The story begins with fifteen year old Callie in Sea Pines mental hospital with a group of other girls. Among eating disorders, substance abuse, and other cutters, Callie keeps silent. Through her inner dialog, readers slowly learn about Callie's severely asthmatic brother, a fearful mother, and an absent drunk father. Day after day, Callie sits through individual and group therapy silently observing the other girls, but saying nothing. Finally, after being threatened with being sent home as a lost cause, Callie starts speaking to her therapist. With her therapist, Callie comes to realize that she is not the cause of her family's dysfunction.
Evaluation: I picked this book to read because I don't know very much about people who self-mutilate, but understand that it is a fairly common way some choose to express inner turmoil. Keeping that in mind, I enjoyed Callie's progression from silent and ill, to wanting to get better. I also liked the other girls whose stories were equally as moving and disturbing, if not as developed as Callie's.