Both of Me

From award winning author, Jonathan Friesen, a contemporary story dealing with mental illness and an unexpected friendship.

Elias Phinn copes with his painful reality by slipping into the imaginary realm of Warilia, a world that colors his every waking moment and feels more real than the actual one around him. When his carry-on luggage is switched with that of the beautiful and mysterious Clara, Elias becomes convinced that she is a Warilian diplomat’s daughter. But as the two become friends and their carefully constructed worlds begin to crack, Elias must save them both before everything falls apart.

Poignant, heartrending, and powerfully real, Both of Me is the latest young adult novel from award-winning author Jonathon Friesen. As it explores themes of friendship, mental illness, and self-discovery, this gripping novel will catch—and keep—the attention of teen readers.

Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3 and 11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.5 and 11-12.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.6 and 11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant.