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Side Effectsx$9.56
 (4 reviews)
Best Price: $9.56
As if it doesn’t suck enough to have cancer, practically every time you pick up books or see movies where characters get sick, you know they’ll be dead by the last scene. In reality, kids get all kinds of cancers, go through unspeakable torture and painful treatments, but walk away fine in the end. From the acclaimed author of The Girls and Poison Ivy, Side Effects is about the pain, fear, and unlikely comedy of 15-year-old Izzy’s journey, told in her own powerful and authentic voice. It is Izzy’s story—screams and all.
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Customer Reviews
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Courtesy of Teens Read Too
By A2TX179XAT5GRP on 2007-02-15
Izzy wakes up one morning concerned because her glands are still swollen from a recent sickness--and she soon discovers that she has cancer. She's placed into a children's hospital where people come talk to her until she no longer hears what they're talking about. All she can do is concentrate on drawing.
Her mother is a basket case and Izzy is in shock.
Now her life has drastically changed. People who were her friends no longer talk to her and people she's never talked to are fake around her. She doesn't quite know how to react, but it's not with the anger her best friend feels.
Izzy goes though treatments: pain, the puking, and the needles, but still never loses her sense of humor.
SIDE EFFECTS takes a deep look into the medical and emotional roller-coaster of cancer patients. With Izzy, you hear the knowledge first-hand, which makes you both laugh and cry.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel
One Girl's Battle with Cancer
By A33H58TBFG3GSV on 2007-05-20
From the author of The Girls (a realistic look into the inner workings of an all-girl clique) comes a novel about an almost-fifteen-year-old who is diagnosed with lymphoma. The once-healthy Izzy is suddenly hospital-bound. The faces of the nurses, doctors, and counselors who surround her blur as she undergoes chemotherapy. Meanwhile, her mom is a mess, her father is fairly steady, her little brother doesn't quite understand what is going on, and her best friend isn't allowed to visit her.
While her body battles cancer, Izzy's tongue stays as sharp as the needles that the nurses stick in her arm. Instead of a book riddled with angst, the story details Izzy's treatments and her physical and emotions reactions bluntly. Instead of being a sob story, this is the story of survival. Izzy refuses to give up, and readers won't give up this book until they've reached the final page. Well-done.
Leisure readers in grades 4-8 will find it outstanding.
By A14OJS0VWMOSWO on 2007-01-06
Izzy has cancer - and is back in school trying to catch up. Her descent into illness - and struggle to retain to a world of normalcy - makes SIDE EFFECTS an outstanding survey of cancer recovery, delving into much more than the usual physical issues of struggling with cancer. Leisure readers in grades 4-8 will find it outstanding.
Rare book of its kind. Must read. 
By A2JKM8KF3296CW on 2007-06-15
One things for sure, there are not many books like this.
As readers we get to see the world of a cancer patient through Izzy's eyes, our fourteen year old cantankerous (or regular teenage angst) main character. For six grueling months we follow her from diagnosis, treatment, to conclusion... sorry, no spoilers here. As readers we come away with both an attachment to the storyline and an appreciation of what having cancer must feel like.
I'm happy that someone has finally written a good teen book about cancer that doesn't 1. bog us down with too much medical jargon, 2. chips away at the mystery for all of us looking in from the outside, and 3. gives us a characters we can relate to. My complaint is that at times the story feels a bit disjointed. Also, if I ever talked to my Mom the way Izzy does, illness or not, I wouldn't be typing this review right now!
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