“I remember falling.”

From Gordon Korman’s Restart.

When Chase wakes up after an almost-deadly fall, everyone is happy he’s awake, but it all changes a bit when he realizes that he doesn’t remember his name, family, past, or anything else at all. While his mother, older brother, and doctor explain that Chase’s fall of the roof landed him in a coma for several days and now with a case of amnesia, Chase is still a bit freaked. With no other physical injuries besides the amnesia, Chase is released from the hospital with his one mysterious memory of a little girl in a dress. As he goes back to school, Chase is greeted with a life that seems confusing and foreign to him. Unbeknownst to him, before Chase’s fall, he led his friends Aaron and Bear on a bullying campaign against most of the school, especially the music-loving Joel. While Joel moved to another school to escape Chase, Joel’s twin sister, Shoshana, refuses to forgive Chase for his forgotten past. As the weeks go by, Chase doesn’t get many memories back, but he often finds himself at odds with Shoshanna, who hates him for reasons he can’t remember. When a video nerd, Brendan, helps Chase one day, it leads to Chase joining the video club with Brendan and Shoshanna, much to the shock of Chase’s former football team. When Chase learns that he, Bear, and Aaron were sentenced to community service at a retirement home, he decides to volunteer there. As Chase struggles with who he was and who he wants to be, his time volunteering helps him to grow in countless and unexpected ways.

Korman creates a story that is captivating and powerful. The main character is easy to connect with, and set in a story that is fairly believable. A must-read that pushes readers of all ages to evaluate themselves, Restart is a wonderful story from start to finish.