In the book Girlhearts by Norma Mazer there is a main character named Sarabeth Silver loses her mother to a heart attack during the early winter. Sarabeth, a Canadian teenager lives with her single mother Jane Silver, as her job, she cleans houses. She goes to high school; Sarabeth has a pet named Tobias. Sarabeth never knew her father, Benjamin Robert Silver- who was killed in a freaky car accident that caused him to die. Her mother Jane Silver, and her ex-boyfriend Leo, was a father figure for Sarabeth. The story of her mother’s death went like this, Sarabeth was at home, waiting for hours for her mother to show up, Sarabeth panicked when her mother never arrived on time and she called her mothers best friend Cynthia. Cynthia told Sarabeth to not worry and that her mother was a big girl and can take care of herself. The suspicious things didn’t make sense, like why would her mother forget her wallet or her purse? Or forget to make her bed, which was made everyday her mother woke up. Sarabeth fell asleep; she woke up to her cat Tobias, She went to see if her mom was there, there was no sign of her. Sarabeth called Cynthia and told her that her mother never came home that night and Cynthia said that’s odd she will never do that, Cynthia called the police department and called a missing person on Sarabeth’s mother. Sarabeth went to school with worry later that day Cynthia called and told Sarabeth that they found her in the park unconscious; her mother had a heart attack at age 29, too young to even have heart problems. Sarabeth wanted to see her mother as soon as possible; But Sarabeth had to wait until the next day. Sarabeth didn’t listen early in the morning Sarabeth went anyways. She took a cab there, Sarabeth didn’t have enough money to go and come back. The cab driver was nice enough to drive her there and back for what she only had. Sarabeth went up to see her mother. She asked if she could see her, but the nurse said that she couldn’t see her. But she could still look at her. When Sarabeth saw her mother, she was in a coma and looked different and didn’t look like her mother at all. Later on, her mother passed away and Sarabeth had to go on with her life and know that her mom would want her to not live in misery.
This book is based on inspiration and being brave. The author of this book has a little bit of a background and here he is. Norma Mazer was born May 15, 1931 and died in October 17, 2009. She was an American author and teacher, best known for her books for children and young adults. Her novels featured credible young characters confronting difficult situations such as family separation and death. Those novels are A, My Name is Ami, After the Rain, B, My Name is Bunny, Babyface, Bright Days, Stupid Nights, Chocolate Pudding, C, My Name is Cal, Crazy Fish, D, My Name is Danita, Dear Bill, Remember Me?, Downtown, E, My Name is Emily, A Figure of Speech, Girlhearts, Good Night Maman, How I Saved My Life, I Trissy, Last Mission, Missing Pieces. She was born in New York City but grew up in Glens Falls, New York, with parents Michael and Jean Garlan Fox.Mazer graduated from Glens Falls High School, then went to Antioch College, where she met Harry Mazer, whom she married in 1950; they had four children, three of whom survived Mazer, one of whom, Anne Mazer, is also a writer. In addition to Antioch, Mazer also studied at Syracuse University. In 2009, Mazer died of brain cancer at age 78. I thought this book is a good book for young teenage girl and how they can relate to this if this had ever happened to them. It touches my heart and soul and reaches out to me, that you should be thankful for what you have and don’t ever take that for granted.