TORN

High schooler Perry’s track scholarship is threatened by a severe injury in Thompson’s YA novel.

Perry Fletcher has a bright, exciting future ahead of him as a high school senior track athlete with an eye on a state college scholarship—that is, until he slips while chasing a porch pirate who’s made off with a parcel on this rainy Saturday. A doctor eventually diagnoses him with a torn medial meniscus that will likely require surgery, leaving Perry with strong feelings of anger, fear, and frustration as he watches his chances of becoming a college athlete dwindle. “I don’t care what she or anybody else says. I’m going to work through the pain and keep going.” He persists with his running and tries to focus on being a volunteer peer tutor for others in his school. He’s in for a nasty surprise, though, when he realizes that Doyle, the student he’s assigned to assist, is not only his sister’s boyfriend, but also the boy who stole the package off his porch in the first place. When he secretly slips out to go running one day, Perry spots signs that Doyle’s life is much more difficult than he initially anticipated—he’s living in his car. Doyle may be a thief, but his circumstances mean that Perry must learn to take a compassionate approach to truly help both Doyle and himself. This high-interest, low-reading-level novel is set in Open Dyslexic font and formatted with wide white margins; its concise sentences and short chapters make its content accessible to a variety of teen audiences. Thompson’s newest with Finding Forward Books, the follow-up to Standing for Me (2025) shows a simpler approach to story, one that doesn’t sacrifice too much emotional or narrative complexity. Its message about the moral high ground is somewhat didactic in the vein of many hi-lo “social problem” stories, but many readers may still find literary value and reliability in Perry’s struggles.

An accessible, emotionally complex narrative about overcoming injury and anger for teens.