Product Description

The editor of the classic GO ASK ALICE has compiled the poignant journals of a 14-year-old date-rape victim who contracted AIDS and died.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125145 in Books
• Published on: 1994-03-01
• Released on: 2004-12-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380773152
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Booklist
Gr. 7-12. Fourteen-year-old Nancy, an asthmatic, meets 18-year-old Collin, a gentle, caring young man who appears to be the answer to her dreams--until he rapes her, leaving her HIV-infected. In spite of her rapid decline, explained in a note at the beginning of the book, as the result of her weakened immune system, Nancy leads a full, poignantly happy life because of the loving support of both friends and family.

It Happened to Nancy follows the YA-enticing diary format seen years ago in Go Ask Alice, which also was edited by Sparks. And the same reservations remain. Is this really a teen's diary, or is it Sparks' attempt to convey the reality of adolescent susceptibility to HIV/AIDS in a format that will impact YA readers? Does the occasional place lapse (the Arizona time zone is earlier than South Carolina's) reflect editing sloppiness while Sparks was changing both names and places for privacy, or a fiction writer's lack of focus? There is no way of knowing. Although this is frustrating for adults who monitor the children's/YA field, it's doubtful that it will make much difference to the book's intended audience. YAs will devour this book just as they did its predecessor. Nancy's initial "love" relationship with Collin, her subsequent date rape, and the terror of her diagnosis will be real to teenagers, especially girls. And Nancy's support network is truly educational. Adolescents crave the kind of friends who stand behind Nancy throughout her ordeal (she even has a boyfriend!), as well as the loving relationship she has with both her parents, divorced but determined to work together during this tragedy.

Sparks provides additional educational information at the end of the book, "Questions Nancy Wanted Answered About Rape and AIDS," a good thing, since Nancy asked her diary several questions without providing their answers in the body of the text. Parts of the book are graphic: Nancy worries about blood from her menstrual cycles, how to dispose of her tampons, and how to deal with her rectal ulcers, a common manifestation of AIDS. And, of course, she dies--the ultimate AIDS inevitability--unlike what happens in so many other books about teens and AIDS, both fiction and nonfiction. She progresses from happy-go-lucky junior-high-school student to AIDS patient to death in a spiral that will hold YAs' attention, without the didacticism of so many message-inherent titles. In spite of its flaws, Nancy's diary should be on our shelves. Frances Bradburn

About the Author
Beatrice Sparks is a family and adolescent therapist who edited the diary that formed the basis for Go Ask Alice, and has since edited many diaries on topics such as gangs, AIDS, and teen pregnancy in the 1988 Annie's Baby. She lives in Provo, UT.

Customer Reviews

Moving book in spite of possibly being fradulent
I read this book twice in a row at fourteen and cried at the end both times, after having earlier scoffed at the book because of how stupid and naïve Nancy acted. It's really upsetting to find it may be largely or entirely a fraud, that this sweet courageous young person may have been made up or had her life made into something that was largely the creation of Dr. Sparks. A lot of girls are like Nancy and don't see anything fishy about an older man wanting to date them or letting an older boyfriend spend the night when their parents are away. During the stampede (or whatever the chaos was) at the Garth Brooks concert she attends with her friends, Nancy has an asthma attack and finds herself being taken care of by a strange older boy named Collin. She never tells him to get away from her because she doesn't know him, or tell him he's too old for her at her age. (Four years of age difference in a relationship isn't that big of a deal, but if you're 14 and 18, it's not the same as, say, an 18 year old and a 22 year old.) She never even tells her mother about this relationship, or any of her friends. It turns out his real name is Gary and that he's 32 years old.

In hindsight some of it does seem too fishy to be true. How was Nancy's doctor able to give her an HIV test without her knowledge or permission, why does her disease get so serious so fast (unless Collin had a full-blown case when he gave it to her, or because of her strained immune system due to her serious asthma), why doesn't she go down to the Catholic rape crisis centre she called the morning after her attack, after telling the sympathetic nun on the phone she'd come over, why doesn't her mother take her to get tested for AIDS, STDs, or pregnancy as soon as she tells her about the rape? She takes her out of town on a beach vacation instead? And it's suspicious how all of Sparks's young diarists have the same exact moral preachiness, similar writing styles, never say anything against their parents (or if they do they quickly take it back), never get involved in these problems by their own accord but instead are pulled in by friends who drug them, rape them, or talk them into Satanic beliefs. Nancy may be a sweet religious old-fashioned Southern girl, but surely she couldn't have been that naïve. I was a few years younger than Nancy at the time these events are going on in the early Nineties, and well remember what the climate was like at that time, people deathly afraid of getting AIDS from toilet seats or mosquito bites, people desperate for more funding for research because so many people were dying and getting sick. None of that was felt in her small South Carolina town?

It's a moving book with a powerful and important message, but I no longer view it the same way I did when I first read it and thought it was a 100% true story.

But is the Story TRUE?
Ready for a book that you CANNOT put down? Then read this, but dont be as naive as 'Nancy' was to believe this is a true story. Nancy was left with AIDS after she was raped by 24-year-old Collin. Be ready for an intensly sad story...

But is it a REAL story? While reading it, be sharp for details that don't quite match, like a South-Carolina girl saying the people 'qued' up in a line (you know, that British word). For of us who keep diaries, don't we all write (at 12:01 pm) "The beginning of a future that is going to be more glorious than has ever nbeen known by mankind since the beginning of the earth...as well as the othger creations of infinity." And isnt it a little ironic that the LAST ENTRY EVER from Nancy is --> "I hope there is another ME, except ME"? Sounds like the author was preparing for a bang ending.

One more thing to remember:
Go Ask Alice 1971
Jay's Journal 1979
It Happened to Nancy 1994
Almost Lost (Story of a Homeless Teenager) 1996
Annie's Baby (Story of a Pregnant Teenager) 1998

How convienent Dr. Sparks found detailed diaries
of 'hurting' teens, sometimes two years apart from each other. And it's extra convienent that Dr. Sparks is able to follow these teens and write some journal-style novels such as Treacherous Love: The Diary of an 'Anonymous' Teenager and publish in mass markets.

Perhaps Beatrice Sparks wrote IT HAPPENED TO NANCY to follow the sucess of GO ASK ALICE. Even if she did, it is an suspenceful and saddening novel/true story.

WOW
It was so sad to read about a typical teenage girl who fell for an older guy. I discussed this book with my friends and we all agreed that if an older guy was giving us the time of day, we would fall for him. What girl wouldn't want an older boyfriend? That's what I thought until I read this book. When Nancy met Collin who was four years older them her, she fell in love with him. Though I would find it suspicous that I could never go to his apartment, I thought the story he told her was very convincing. When he raped her and gave her the HIV virus, her life went into a downward spiral. In her last few years of life, you follow her through touching and embarassing events, as well as many sad ones. I never cry when I read books or watch movies, but this one got to me. I recommend this book to any teen of pre-teen girl. I stayed up until 2:30 on a school night to finish the book because I could not put it down! This book really makes you realize how precious every second of life is.