The Way He Lived by Emily Wing Smith

Joel Espen was the nice guy of the community. Always friendly, always kind, and always helpful, everyone considered Joel to be a friend. So when he unexpectedly dies of dehydration on a boy scout camping trip, the whole town of Haven is shocked and upset. In this heartbreaking novel, the six teens closest to Joel each explain their story and must learn to cope with Joel's death, and learn to live the way he did.

I was not impressed by this book at all. Since the novel has the point-of-view of six different teenagers, and each teenager takes turns narrating, the novel was choppy and unorganized. There was no plot, just six people rambling on about nothing. It really made no sense. The characters didn't have any interaction with each other and the author should have tried to tie them together better. Quite frankly, I don't know how this mess of a story was published. Even Joel's death seemed like a mockery: he was the only one who died of dehydration on the trip because he gave his water away. That's really noble, but has he no sense of self-preservation? The only saving grace of the book was the character of Joel, and he wasn't even alive. He seemed to be a good person, and a respectable role model for teens.

4 out of 10.