Defect
by Will Weaver

    DEFECT by Will Weaver
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  7/24/07
    Publisher:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux
    Reviewed by:  Carrie Spellman
    Rating:  5 Stars


    David is more than just odd, or strange, or different.  David is kind of a genetic anomaly, truly a freak of nature.  
    His "hearing aids" actually minimize sound, under his hat are bat-like ears, and under his sweatshirt, well, that's
    the craziest part of all.  David actually has wings.  Not big feathery things, but a thin layer of tissue that allows
    him to coast through the air if he jumps from a high point.

    Anybody in high school knows that being different isn't usually a good thing.  Even the wrong haircut can lead to
    months of torture.  For David, his differences could be life threatening.  He's already been shipped from foster
    home to foster home, from school to school.  When he gets in trouble at his most recent school, he prepares to
    start all over, again, somewhere else.  This time though, the only thing that changes is the school.  Amazingly, this
    time he might actually be okay.  Sure, he's still not telling anybody about the hearing and the wings, but he's not
    getting beat up, either.  And, he might actually have a girlfriend!

    David accompanies his maybe girlfriend, Cheetah, to the Mayo clinic, and finds out some surprising information
    about himself.  Along with a few creepy flashbacks.  With this new information, David is going to have some
    very tough choices to make, and some harder lessons to learn.

    I was expecting something completely different from this story, but I couldn't have been happier to be
    completely wrong!  This story is incredibly touching and powerful, and honest.  All of the characters are amazing
    and strong and realistic.  The choices David makes may not be the ones you would make, but you feel the
    weight of them right along with him.  And the lessons he learns are the simple but huge kind that everyone needs
    to be reminded of from time to time.  It's a beautiful, simple, incredible thing.