Analise is babysitting late one night and rides her bike home. Quin and Laurie are coming from a party. Laurie has fallen asleep, but is jolted awake and Quin tells her he hit a deer. It's only later they realize that a person was hit and it was likely them who hit her.

I quite liked this. It is a YA book and it only took a couple of hours to read. The point of view alternates between the four main characters. I didn't like what some of the characters did, but I still liked the book. I will read more by this author. ( )

Very predictable story but entertaining ( )

Hit and run is a story told through the voice of four different people. Before I give my review I must say it was an emotional read for me in many ways. Lurlene McDaniels' books are always emotional, but I had several connections to this book. I'll try to be brief. As I read the opening, which were the thoughts of Analise I thought of two people. First was a boyfriend I had in my senior year. He was injured in a motorcycle accident and his parents were told he didn't understand anything going on. I wrote letters of encouragement to him and his parents read them to him and placed them under his pillow. He came out of his coma four months later and his mom called and said he'd asked for me because of my letters. He'd heard them. The second person was my cousin who'd had an accident and she also lay in a coma for several months. She talked about being able to hear what people said and understanding them but at the same time she was unable to communicate back with them. My final connection was with Analise's parents. Three weeks before my sons fifth birthday, while he and two of his cousins played in the front yard a truck ran off of the road into our yard and hit my son. What made this so heinous was the driver kept on going, making a delivery and telling his customer he thought he'd hit a kid. The only reason he was brought back was because a man making a delivery across from our house chased him down and brought him back to await the police. The cold heartedness of this man I equated with pure evil. He claimed he had not hit my son, my son hit his truck. My son lived, just by the grace of God, and outside of a permanent back injury is well enough to be in the military.

This was an excellent book. One that I could not put down. Quin is an athlete pushed by his father to let nothing stand in the way of his athletic career, not a girl and not a hit and run accident. Laurie is the girl who is so pushed to fit in with the "in" crowd by her mother that she will throw out what she knows is right to get what she wants. What she wants is Quin. Analise is the victim of a hit and run accident. She is locked inside her body unable to communicate with those she loves. Her boyfriend Jeremy proves he loves her by staying by her side all the way through the book. This is a hard look at right and wrong. Something I know teens can relate to. I loved this book and before I take it back to school I will lend it to my daughter who first introduced me to Lurlene McDaniel's books. Sorry I made her wait so long. ( )

If you like stories where the lives of several interesting characters intertwine with some drama, suspense, a little blackmail and deception then this book is for you. The main characters, Analise, Laurie, Quin and Jeremy find their lives tangled within each others after a serious accident. Unlike McDaniel's usual genre of writing, this quick read is 192 pages suitable for teen readers who might enjoy the 'soap opera' tangles and deception. None of these characters would be my friends but then again, they don't have to be. ( )

Grade Levels: 7-12
Category: realistic fiction
Read-Alouds: pp 12-19 (the accident); 88-92 (Laurie’s blackmail plan); 172-174 (Laurie finally telling what really happened)

Summary: The lives of four high school students; Analise who is the victim of a hit and run driver, is in a coma and eventually dies. Analise’s boyfriend, Jeremy, who loves her deeply and works through her injuries and her death by building furniture. Laurie, a freshman who goes out with Quin just to be popular like her mother was in high school. And Quin the high school athlete determined to become a professional baseball player no matter the cost. Quin and Laurie are returning from a party when Quin hits Analise. Thinking he hit a deer, Quin hides the hole in the road with brush and continues home. Laurie figures out Quin hit Analise and not a deer. Laurie knows that if the truth about the accident is made public Quin will lose his opportunity to play baseball so she blackmails him into letting her be his girlfriend. Laurie doesn’t become the popular girl she thought she’d be and loses her only real friend and eventually tells the police what really happened.

Themes: Morally right and wrong: Laurie wants to be popular so she doesn’t tell anyone the truth about the accident. Quin wants to be a professional athlete and is willing to let Laurie be his girlfriend, even though he can’t stand her and the situation just to keep her quiet. Quin’s dad, who hides the evidence of the accident by selling the car.

Discussion Questions:
• Laurie’s dad was supposed to come visit her at Christmas and didn’t. Do you think if he had Laurie would have told him about the accident? Explain your thinking.
• Did Laurie do the right thing by telling the truth about the accident? Should she have told the truth sooner? Why or Why not?
• What do you think happened to Laurie and her mom after she told the truth? Why do you think that?

Reader Response: This story was about a huge moral dilemma that could become a part of life for any one who drinks and drives. We have a huge problem with underage drinking and I would like to share this book with my students to show them how quickly lives can be irrevocably changed in a second by a bad decision made while drinking.