| Leap | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2565946
Category: Book
Author: Jane Breskin Zalben
Publisher: Yearling
Studio: Yearling
Manufacturer: Yearling
Label: Yearling
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0440421748
EAN: 9780440421740
ASIN: 0440421748
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Daniel says: life caused me to grow up fast. Real fast. Like overnight.
Krista says: The real me?the one who knew I should treat Daniel the way I'd want to be treated?was angry at the other me. I just didn't want to lose Bobby by taking sides with Daniel.
Daniel and Krista used to be inseparable. Now that they're older, they've drifted apart?but when an accident leaves Daniel temporarily paralyzed, he needs his old friend more than ever. And Krista wants to help him. Only it's not as easy as it seems, not when Krista's feelings for another boy, Bobby, keep getting in the way. And it doesn't help that Daniel and Bobby were both star swimmers?before Daniel's accident, that is. Growing up is hard on everyone, but it's up to Krista to prove how strong friendship can be.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Leap and the Net Will Appear December 18, 2007
"Leap and the net will appear"
(Zen saying)
leap (leep) V: to spring, jump, bound, transition
It took me a few days after finishing LEAP by Jane Breskin Zalben to finally know how I felt about it.
When I read about this book I was sure I wanted it. I was very excited about reading it. When I began to read, the first few chapters I really liked. Well...it's not as if I HATE this book. It's hard to describe, because there's parts and bits of it I LOVED. It's like there was quite a bit of...excess, unnecessary things that the story could have done without. Like, for example, these to twelve-year-olds (Bobby Kaufman and Lainie Michaels) making out at Bobby Kaufman's party. I mean, come on, they're twelve.
I really loved the character of David and Krista. The story alternates between their two voices. I liked the idea of loss through life; through growing up and wide apart. It's realistic, you know, because by the time kids are really learning the difference between boys and girls, the friendship just sort of deteriorates. Daniel and Krista just fell away from each other, despite the roots of their friendship stemming back to when they were five (Krista narrates):
"Since Daniel and I stopped being friends, there are images of him that I can't get out of my head. Daniel is sitting next to me in the sandbox on our first day of kindergarten. Someone spills sand on me and I start to cry. Daniel leans over, flicks the grains away from my eyelids with his finger, finds a used tissue in the pocket of his overalls, and wipes the tears streaming down my cheeks. I'm impressed even at five years old. So we become inseperable. We eat lunch together. Have play dates. Pick each other for teams."
When Daniel, a great swimmer, is in a horrible accident leaving him paralyzed (becaue of his best friend, Bobby Kaufman's father) he has to go through therapy and walk with a walker. AND he has to learn how to swim all over again, which a devastating and depressing prospect for both David and his caring and deeply concerned parents. I loved the character of Daniel's mother.
So, Krista's father, Dr. Harris, whom is a physical thearapist, helps David. It isn't as if there's this thick stone wall bewteen Krista and Daniel. Whenever he comes over to her father's home-office, they say hello and talk. Then, slightly reluctantly, one day, Krista agrees to help Daniel learn to swim all over again, depsite her huge crush on Bobby Kaufman. She doesn't want to have to choose sides between Bobby and Daniel, though, to me, that was really dumb of her because Daniel is a great guy and Bobby just was NOT a particularly awesome human being AND obviously liked another girl, the popular girl of course, Lainie Michaels (whom surprised me, since by the end I understood and really liked). I didn't get her fascination or infatuation with him.
Daniel feels like he's going backward when he wants so badly to be moving forward, as does Krista, due to the fact that she's becoming friends with Daniel again.
Well, I don't want to give away the ending, though I'll tell you it was amazing. It sent chills down my spine and was worth reading the not-so-awesome stuff.
I believe Daniel's aunt, his mother, Emma's sister, said it best with this:
"Sometimes you have to take a step backward to go forward."
I believe that's true and that is one of the best and most appealing themes of LEAP. Each chapter is headed with a quote relating to the chapter's contents.
Upon further reflection, and, actually, writing this review, I see that the pluses outweigh the minuses.
LEAP is a book truly about transition and growing up, self-discovery, rediscovery, recovery, and life afterwards.
 Leap August 6, 2007
Leap is a perfect name for this novel about adolescents coming of age and making painful transitions in their lives. The story is told in two voices, Krista and Daniel's. These characters used to be inseparable until puberty got in the way. Now Krista has a crush on Daniel's one time best friend, Bobby, the school "hunk." In the summer before middle school, Daniel has a seemingly minor operation and ends up paralyzed. Bobby's father performed the operation, so Daniel and Bobby are no longer even speaking to each other. The book explores the themes of friendship, loyalty, and empathy as Daniel begins to heal from his injury and his friends rally to help him. Once he is on the road to recovery, his mother decides to leave the family to explore her own individuality, taking her own "leap." The characters are well drawn and the plot of the book is compelling. The situations the adolescents find themselves in accurately depict real life for middle school students. The characters do briefly refer to themselves as Jewish. In one incident in the novel, Krista refuses to get a tattoo because of her grandparents' concentration camp mark. Other than that the book is not overtly Jewish, but the major themes of compassion for those in need, responsibility for visiting the sick, and being a moral person are the backbone of this novel and speak directly to those looking for a book that exemplifies those mitzvot without preaching. Ages 10- 14.
LEAP tells of changed friendships, romance, and idealistic visions, and is a moving story of change. May 13, 2007
Jane Broskin Zalben's LEAP tells of formerly inseparable friends affected by an accident which leaves one temporarily paralyzed. Daniel and Krista had drifted apart: now Krista might be the link Daniel needs to return to the world of normalcy. LEAP tells of changed friendships, romance, and idealistic visions, and is a moving story of change.
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