Krueger 1

Courtney Krueger
Professor Martin
Children Literature
December 12 2017
When We Collided Book Review

The Schneider Family Book Awards, administered by the American Library Association

(ALA), are given to youth books that give a look into the life of a person with a disability. Dr.

Katherine Schneider gives 3 awards every year, one for young children, one for middle school

and one for teens. Katherine Schneider decided to give out this award to books about disabilities

because she herself has one and is blind. Katherine believes that it is important for disabilities to

be recognized and that people are aware of the struggle of the disabled. Any book can be

submitted to be considered, then ALA will vote for which books should be on the “consideration

list”. Jury members carefully read and analyze all the books on the list and select the winners

during a meeting, later giving them the award during an award ceremony.

The award is a silver and blue metal award that has an image of young children holding

hands around a world. The image symbolizes young boys and girls getting

along and unity regardless of differences. The award reads “Schneider

Family Book Award” on the top, followed by the image and then the

award title written in Braille at the bottom to honor Katherine Schneider. There are many criteria

for the books chosen, including that they must represent people with disabilities that portrays

them as normal people. The disabled people should be realistic, and not include any stereotypes

or negative connotations.

Emery Lord is a 30-year-old woman who lives in Cincinnati and has written 4

contemporary young adult books; Open Road Summer, The Start of Me & You, When We
 Krueger 2

Collided and The Names They Gave Us. When We Collided is Emery Lord’s third book she has

released, and it deals with mental illness, a topic that she too struggled with as a teen. Lord likes

to focus her book on relationships, but not just romance ones. Relationships between family

members and close friends as she recognizes the importance of those relationships in her own

life. Lord wanted When We Collided to accurately depict a person with bipolar disorder so, with

the help of research and feedback, she created the character of Vivi. Lord chose to write When

We Collided not only because she wanted to write a summer love story, but because she wanted

to write a story that shows readers the difficulties of dealing with both love and a mental illness

and how fighting through both is worth it.

According to Kirkus Reviews, the book When We Collided by Emery Lord is a book

about the romance between Vivi and Jonah and the difficulties they face. Vivi and her mom are

on vacation in Verona Grove, where Jonah lives. Vivi meets Jonah, who becomes her hot

summer romance as well someone who she cheers up from a dark time in his life. Jonah believes

Vivi is too good to be true, and fears of driving her away. Vivi is a wild and energetic person

who has a need for attention and physical intimacy, but her beauty and excitement fuel Jonah’s

patience. Vivi’s disinterest in Jonah’s family stress and her growing mental illness cause

difficulty in their relationship. This book is mainly about Vivi and her struggle to overcome her

mental illness, while keeping her new-found love in the process.

The plot of the book starts when Vivi and her mother move to Verona Cove for the

summer, meanwhile Jonah and his many siblings already live there. Jonah’s father passed away,

which causes his mother to spiral into a state of depression, leaving him to take care of their

family. Jonah is a cook who works at a restaurant owned by his father and a family friend. Vivi

works at a pottery, where she meets Jonah and his little sister, Leah. Slowly, Vivi becomes a part
 Krueger 3

of their family; always over the house, providing fun and love for the whole family. Vivi and

Jonah spend their summer together and fall in love. Vivi has bipolar disorder and claims she is

better, refusing to take medication or talk about her problem. We learn of Vivi’s dark past and

notice her slowly resulting back to her old ways. She becomes a little crazy and get in a

motorcycle accident while attempting to fly. She goes through surgery and is admitted into a

psychiatric hospital in which she meets with a therapist and decides that she needs help. She

decides it’s best for her to move back to her home in Seattle and part ways with Jonah.

There are many major themes in When We Collided, one of which is resilience. Vivi’s

character practices resilience repeatedly and learns how to live with her bipolar disorder and her

dark past. Because she ruined her friendships she must make new friends, and she must learn to

accept her past and live from it, not making the same mistakes again. Jonah is arguably the most

resilient character in the book as he learns to deal with the death of his father and his depressed

mother. Despite his setbacks and difficulties, Jonah realizes that him and his family are okay and

can bounce back from their hard times, becoming even better than before.

Another theme in this book is sacrifice. Throughout the whole book, Jonah gives

sacrifices repeatedly, putting everyone’s needs above his own. He goes out of his way to work

hard to make his family function without his parents and is willing to give up so much for them

and for Vivi to keep their happiness. For example, even after Jonah gets told to go away after

visiting her, he still reaches out to her and tries to maintain their relationship. Sacrifice is

something that Vivi struggles with throughout the book, but it is something she learns by the end.

For most of the book she is a very self-oriented person, like when she disregards Jonah in his

time of desperate need because she’s too busy focusing on herself. But in the end, she learns that
 Krueger 4

to get better she needs to make sacrifices, like taking her meds when she doesn’t want to, or

moving back home because it’s best for her even though it means leaving Jonah.

Jonah Daniels is a character who grows and changes throughout the book. In the

beginning of the story, Jonah is struggling with coping with his father’s death, his mother’s

depression, and his new responsibility to manage a family of 7. Jonah has very little confidence

and a lot of insecurity, especially in his relationship with Vivi. Despite going through rough

times, Jonah is hard working and willing to make so many sacrifices and to never give up.

His persevering personality is shaken when he realizes that he cannot keep running his

family on his own. After talking with his family friend Ellie, he concludes that he must get help

for his mother. He learns how to deal with his mother’s depression and with Vivi’s bipolar

disorder, how to communicate them and how to show them support. Learning to understand the

needs of the people he loves that are broken is a very important thing that he learns throughout

the book.

Towards the end of the story, he comes the epiphany that all those times he thought his

family could never be okay again, he was wrong. Instead of trying to convince himself that they

are going to be okay, he truly believes it. After having a good moment with his family, he says,

“I think we’ll more than survive. I think we’ll be good. Maybe even great” (315). This boost of

confidence is a big breakthrough for Jonah and the realization that everything is going to be okay

shapes his character, resembling resilience. Jonah is no longer insecure and falling apart, but he

becomes confident and knows that after things fall apart, they find away to come back together,

even better than before.

Vivi Alexander is a girl who’s lived in Seattle most of her life and moves to Verona Cove

for the summer. She falls in love with the town instantly and becomes very close with the
 Krueger 5

Daniels, specifically Jonah. In the beginning of the book, Vivi is an extremely energetic girl,

who is bubbly and warm. She is kind, loving and spontaneous. She is a little wild at some points,

but even during her craziness, Vivi falls in love with Jonah and his whole family. She puts a lot

of time and effort into them to cheer them up.

As the book goes on, Vivi’s dark past seems to unfold and become known. Vivi has

bipolar disorder and had lost her friends back in Seattle due to sleeping with one of their

boyfriends. Her episode resulted in depression and her cutting herself. As time goes on, Vivi’s

old habits and ways start to come back to her. Her anger issues get worse as she yells at her

father the first time meeting him. After realizing her father is not the man she thought he was,

she becomes depressed. She doesn’t leave her room for days and then all the sudden she has a

boost of motivation. Her enthusiasm turns into her ignoring Jonah and his needs and going on a

hunt to find something she believes the universe wants her to find. On her journey she gets in a

motorcycle accident.

After going through surgery and meeting with a therapist, she realizes that she needs help

and to do what’s best for her. Even if what’s best for her is taking medication she doesn’t like,

communicating with people, being more accepting, reuniting with old friends, moving back to

Seattle, and losing Jonah. Moving back to Seattle means that she understands she needs to work

on herself and getting better. At first, she didn’t like Officer Hayashi‘s advice, but she eventually

said to herself, “What if I dealt with what I’ve got?” (305). She realizes her problem and admits

she needs help which is the first step to her getting better and figuring out her life.

When We Collide is a book that deals heavily with mental illness as both Jonah’s mother

and Vivi are struggling with it throughout the book. In both cases, this book does an excellent

job of accurately portraying a person with a mental disorder and what that is like for them.
 Krueger 6

Although they are struggling with mental disorders, they are treated like normal people, because

they are. They are considered regular characters and are not alienated or outlasted from the story

because of their struggles.

Vivi wrestles with bipolar disorder and during the summer when she’s at Verona Cove,

Vivi experiences the maniac symptoms. In her previous depressive state, Vivi explains how she

could not feel anything and in a desperate attempt to feel something she cuts herself. While in

Verona Cove, instead of not feeling anything, it appears she feels too much. But, when she meets

her dad she learns that he is not the person she thought he was, she snaps. She screams at him

and throws her shoes and him and rides away on her motorcycle. After her episode, she goes

back into her depression for a couple of days and does not leave the house or is motivated to do

anything. After that, her mania stage flips back on and she goes crazy. Feeling all the excitement

and rush of life, she thinks the universe is showing her something and she goes on a journey to

find it. While speeding on her motorcycle, she feels alive and attempts to fly, which results in her

crashing. Her need to feel alive is what causes her to get hurt yet again.

After getting hurt a second time in attempt to feel, she realizes she needs help and works

to get it. Before reading this book, I was not aware of specifically what bipolar disorder is and

what it’s like to experience it. When describing bipolar disorder, Vivi says, “sometimes it feels

like being on a carnival ride, so fast and dizzying and fun at first. Then it goes on for too long

and you can’t stop” (326). This book gives you the perspective of someone who’s going through

it, which allows the reader to understand what it’s really like. When We Collide shows how

Vivi’s disorder affects her relationship with her friends, her mom and her boyfriend and the

control it has over her life. It also shows how with help and guidance Vivi can overcome it and

take control of her life back.

 Krueger 7

In When We Collided, Jonah’s mother struggles with severe depression after the loss of

her husband. She spends 6 months locked in her room, refusing to get out of bed. She

occasionally makes attempts to leave the house, but ends up back where she started. One time

she goes to the grocery store but ends up having a breakdown in the middle of the store. The

book focuses not only on her mental illness, but the negative effect it has on her and those

around her. Her lack of motivation to run the family leaves the responsibility on Jonah, which

leads to a lot of stress and pressure for him. Towards the end of the book, Jonah realizes that he

needs to work on getting his mother help, and she agrees. His mother starts to attend support

groups for help and strives to get better. The description of Jonah’s mother is an accurate

depiction of what dealing with depression is like and the negative influences it can cause.

In terms of creating an awareness and acceptance of mental illness, When We Collided

hits the mark. This book accurately portrays people with mental disorders and educates readers

of their struggles and difficulties. The book is intended for readers ages 14-18 and I believe it

appeals to the age range it’s meant for. This book is revolved around love and romance and at the

same time educates readers about mental illness, making it a great read for contemporary young

adult books. One of the weaknesses I saw in it is that the love story is a bit cheesy at some

points, however most love stories are in my opinion. I was not super fond of the book because

it’s not in my usual genre, however I appreciated the knowledge it gave me on mental illness and

I see why it won the award it did. Overall, I thought this book was well written and a great read

for someone who’s interesting in reading a love story that deals with important issues as well.