Falling from Fire

by Teena Booth

High school freshman Teri Dinsmore is a nobody. Daughter of the oft-married “Best Lookin’ Gal in Town,” younger sister of a popular member of the “rowdies,” her only real friend is the rumpled, eccentric Wesley.

Then a fire, indirectly caused by her birthday celebration, burns down her home and sends her family into a tailspin. All of a sudden Teri begins to see herself and her family in a whole new way. At school, everyone knows who Teri is, including Doug, her secret crush. Even Wesley, the most maddening person she knows, is looking at her with a new light in his eye. When her past disappears in the fire, Teri must put the pieces of her life back together, this time in a way that really fits.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Teen

208 pages, Library Binding

First published June 11, 2002

Reviews

[Katya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arg this book was sooo good. You know that tingly feeling when something is happening that is so darn cool? man. I had that the whole time I was reading it!

Its about this girl, who according to herself, is not very attractive. She lives in a family with a single mother who could pass as a model, a sister who is gorgeous and a popular member of the rowdies, and a cute little brother. I guess you can say shes the ugly duckling of the family. Anywho. One day on her birthday, she forgets to put the matches away from her cake and her little brother gets into them and sets the house on fire. Their house gets burned down, and her life turns upside up- meaning for the better. She suddenly becomes popular, goes out with the boy of her dreams and so and so. Then after a while, she realizes what she had all along was just fine and you will have to read it to find out what happens next. SO GOOD!

[Hadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

FALLING FROM FIRE is about a nobody, Teri Dinsmore, and her life before and after her house burns down in flames. Although the fire was not until chapter 12 I enjoyed both parts. I was so happy when her relationship with Wesley was repaired, they had something special that would be bad to lose. Teena Booth's writing in this book was beautiful, not to detailed but enough to get a picture going in your head. She did a great job writing from the view of Teri and it really sucked me in and made me keep reading. I enjoyed all the character but Teri and Samantha were my favorite. I gave this book 5 stars because this one really raped me in and held me there though out the whole thing.

[Jill]

Teri's life can be divided into two chunks- before the fire and after the fire. Before the fire, she is all but invisible at school and home. After the fire, people art school notice and befriend her. She must make some hard choices as she figures out who is genuine and who is not.

6th-8th grade

[Kelly Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Falling from Fire is a book about one girls life named Tersa and how it all changed after a fire. Before this fire no one would ever talk to her. She was the least noticed in her family since her mother was the most beutiful woman in town. Now Teresa needs to make the right choices weather to stick with her old freinds or get new ones.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

14 year old Teri is struggling to figure out where she fits in now. She is a Nobody in high school, doesn't have a boyfriend, and isn't beautiful like her mother, etc. This all changes one night when the house burns down. Suddenly people see her at school, and treat her specially. Maybe the fire is just the new start Teri needed.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute book. I love re-reading this book. It has such a good storyline and the characters are very well written. I really like the relationship between Teri and Wesley. Both of them seem perfect for each other.

[Debrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

House burned down.
Family life.

[Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldnt put it down. Really good!

[Levant Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Falling from Fire by Teena Booth is about a 14 year old girl named Teri who lives with her 18 year old sister and a younger brother named Andrew. Her mother has an interesting love life. Teri becomes close friends with Wesley. Eventually on March 15, the family celebrated her birthday which led to the house burning down. I thought this was an interesting book because Teri's life contains references from Shakespeare's works such as "Julius Caesar" and "Romero and Juliet." From this book I learned that life is full of tragedy but you can learn from those tragedies and see your life a different way. For example, this caused her to view her mother and sister in a deeper outlook. I rated this book 4 stars because I enjoyed reading the book and I didn't realize how fast I read it. I would like to read another book like this or at least a sequel to this since the main character positively changed her perspective of life thanks to a negative event.