Indies Introduce

Young Adult

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  The Truth Project, Dante Medema
  HarperTeen, 9780062954404, October 13, 2020 (Young Adult)
  

  “When budding poet Cordelia decides to focus her senior project on her family’s genealogy, she submits a DNA analysis only to discover the horrifying truth that the man who she always believed to be her father is not really her biological father. Beautifully written in verse form, poignant, and affecting, The Truth Project is something truly special that will grab hold of your heart and not let go.”

  Lauren Nopenz Fairley, Curious Iguana (Frederick, MD)
  
  

  “High school senior Cordelia Koenig is set to finish high school with ease; all she has to do is use her genealogy test results to explore her roots though poetry. It’ll give her time to focus on her old crush, Kodiak, and give her some breathing room in her small Alaskan town, never mind the fact that she’s always felt like the .5 kid in her perfect Alaskan family. But that feeling explodes when her test results reveal that her father isn’t actually her father. Cordelia reaches out to the man who shares 50 percent of her DNA to try to find a place in a world that seems to be falling apart around her. Written in verse and pulling no punches, The Truth Project is a gorgeous, exploratory novel tackling questions of identity, betrayal, and self-discovery. Going far beyond that sense of being unmoored as you turn 18 and graduate high school, this book asks the true hard-hitting question: ‘Who am I, really?’”

  Emily Hall Schroen, Main Street Books (St. Charles, MO)
  

  “The Truth Project is a deep, heart-moving, conversation-starting story written in verse, emails, and texts about a girl who learns hard truths about her birth, her identity, and her parents. Her family lessons read flawlessly side by side with her young adult dramas with boys, girls, friends, school, poetry, teachers, plans, and overdramatic emotions. If finding identity and searching for belonging in any setting is what you’re looking for, read The Truth Project!”

  Drew Durham, Books Inc. Palo Alto (Palo Alto, CA)