What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Twice Taken
This topic is about Twice Taken
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SOLVED: Children's/YA > SOLVED. YA - unofficial society of teens with weird lives, at high school. [s]

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message 1: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments For the past twenty years, I've remembered this book as being 'Whatever Happened To Janie?' Well... now I'm reading 'Whatever Happened To Janie?' and this scene isn't in it anywhere, so I obviously combined two different ones in my memory. But what is this book?

Here's what I remember: The heroine has just started at a new school and something fairly weird or horrible is going on in her life; I forget what, but it's something that was quite public so the other students know about it. On her first day there, she gets a message to meet up at a particular room at lunchtime. When she goes there, she finds it's an unofficial group of teens who have some kind of weird or difficult stuff going on in their life and formed the group to support each other. I think one of them was HIV positive, but I can't remember the other issues.

I'm fairly sure I read this on a particular US holiday I went on. If I'm right and not misremembering that as well, that would place it in early 1999.


message 2: by Kate (new)

Kate Farrell | 4040 comments Mod
Drsarah ~~
You can "bump" your thread every month or so. This pushes your thread back to the top of the folder instead of languishing here on page 179 where fewer eyes will see it. Get back in the game! Bump!
You can do this by typing a new comment at the end of the thread, or even by typing the word "bump."
Good luck!


message 3: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments Oooh, thanks, Kate! OK, bumping.


message 5: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments Rainbowheart - no, it was definitely a school, and the genre wasn't horror. Thanks anyway!


message 6: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28723 comments No worries. I mentioned it because one character was HIV positive.


message 7: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments Bump (as just remembered hadn't done this in a while).


message 8: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28723 comments Rumors and Whispers?

If not, might want to look at the YA HIV/AIDS list.


message 9: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments Thanks. From the look of 'Rumors and Whispers' it doesn't seem to have been the same book. I don't think it's going to be on the HIV/AIDS list as this really was such a brief mention (it was just the reason why this other guy was part of the group; as far as I know it doesn't come up again, and I might even have misremembered that bit in the first place).

I have a very vague feeling that the heroine's problem might have been that she was kidnapped and returned, which could be why I mixed it up with 'Whatever Happened To Janie?' in my mind. But I could be wrong about that. The one thing I remember is this whole thing of the kids who had something unusual about them who had their own unofficial support group at school and who invited the heroine along to it.


message 10: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments Bumping again.


message 11: by Kris (last edited Mar 31, 2020 06:44AM) (new)

Kris | 55035 comments Mod
Sarah, is revenge a theme (e.g., League of Strays by L.B. Schulman)?

(Google search - site:www.goodreads.com "young adult" "secret club" misfits)

(Note: Some keywords found on Librarything.com -- misfits outcasts popularity secret clubs friendship identity)


message 12: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28723 comments That wasn't pubbed until 2012, though. Sarah read her book in '99.

This one's frustrating because I feel like I should know any YA book dealing with HIV/AIDS from that time period. But if it was only a brief mention, it may not have made it onto any lists.


message 13: by Adele (last edited Mar 31, 2020 05:31PM) (new) - added it

Adele | 1435 comments What about Twice Taken? Google books has a snippet view and there is a line where a kid says he is HIV positive.


message 14: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28723 comments Oh yeah, that's got to be it. Some reviews mention the support group.

"A support group of teenagers coping with family problems helps Amy to adjust after she's ordered to live with her mother following the discovery that her divorced father abducted her years ago."


message 15: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments Oh, wow; didn't realise there was another answer as for some reason I'm not getting notifications. Anyone know how I can fix that?

Anyway, I'm 99.9% sure this is the book (the kidnapping theme would explain why I had it confused with 'Whatever Happened To Janie?' in my mind), but there's so little to go on from what I can see online. I've added it to my wishlist for my birthday, which is about six weeks away, so hopefully I can find out then. Meanwhile, I'll mark it as a possible solve. Thanks, Adele, much obliged!


message 16: by Adele (new) - added it

Adele | 1435 comments You're very welcome. I hope it is the right one!


message 17: by Sarah (new)

Sarah (drsarah) | 176 comments I know this is already marked as 'Solved', but just wanted to confirm that I've now got the book and read it and it is the same one, so thanks again! (I'd misremembered the bit about her getting a message to meet them at lunchtime; maybe I'm conflating yet a third book into the mix! But, yes, this was indeed the one with the group of students with problems supporting one another.)


message 18: by Kris (new)

Kris | 55035 comments Mod
Great. Glad you found your book, Sarah. Thanks for the update.


message 19: by Adele (new) - added it

Adele | 1435 comments Sarah wrote: "I know this is already marked as 'Solved', but just wanted to confirm that I've now got the book and read it and it is the same one, so thanks again! (I'd misremembered the bit about her getting a ..."

Excellent! Thanks for letting us know.


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