Fade to Black by Alex Flinn

Flinn, Alex. (2005). Fade to Black. NY: HarperCollins.
ISBN: 978-0060568399
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Bullies, Friends, Down Syndrom, Violence, Hate Crime
Genre: Fiction
Annotation: Alex Crusan - HIV positive student and victim of a beating bad enough to put him in the hospital. Clinton Cole - Afraid of catching AIDS and angry that his little sister plays with Alex's sister. Daria Bickell - Down Syndrome student who witnessed the attack of Alex. Who is telling the truth? What is the truth?
Summary: Fade to Black alternates between the voices of Alex Crusan, an HIV positive student and victim of a beating bad enough to put him in the hospital; Clinton Cole, a classmate afraid of catching AIDS and known to have tormented Alex on multiple occasions; and Daria Bickell, a Down Syndrome student who witnessed the attack of Alex. Readers hear from Alex as he deals with the ignorance and hate of those around him, and also as he comes to terms with how he contracted HIV. Clinton, we learn, is angry, scared, and not afraid to be outwardly cruel to Alex. He is a classic mean jock. Daria has seen Clinton being mean to Alex and claims to have seen him at the scene of the crime. Clinton is innocent, but can't prove it, especially with his reputation and past actions. Plus, Daria says she saw him do it. Slowly, Clinton realizes his fear is grounded in ignorance, Alex's anger at Clinton and people like him lessons, and Daria admits she was riding high on the attention she was getting.
Evaluation: I really liked how Flinn wrote Daria's chapters like little repetitive poems. The book also deals with a lot of the issues surrounding HIV and the ignorance and fear that people have. I think teens will enjoy ferreting out the reality and arguing about the sensitive issues raised along the way.