Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff

From Goodreads,

"Everyone says that middle school is awful, but Trent knows nothing could be worse than the year he had in fifth grade, when a freak accident on Cedar Lake left one kid dead, and Trent with a brain full of terrible thoughts he can't get rid of. Trent’s pretty positive the entire disaster was his fault, so for him middle school feels like a fresh start, a chance to prove to everyone that he's not the horrible screw-up they seem to think he is. 
If only Trent could make that fresh start happen.
It isn’t until Trent gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Fallon Little—the girl with the mysterious scar across her face—that things begin to change. Because fresh starts aren’t always easy. Even in baseball, when a fly ball gets lost in the sun, you have to remember to shift your position to find it."

Goodreads - Lost in the Sun

Trent was the one who caused a freak accident that left a kid dead.  Trent carries this burden around with him constantly and he feels that it was his fault.  Trent's personality changes with everyone and he starts to realize that he's pushing his friends away because of this freak accident.  One day, Fallon Little comes to his rescue and befriends Trent.  While Trent doesn't want to be friends with the girl with the scar on her face, he realizes she isn't giving him much choice.  They find common interests of movies and baseball, and they eventually learn to find who they are in the big world.

One of my favorite things in this book was the relationship that was built between Trent and his homeroom teacher.  He had a bad attitude about everything and his teacher was well aware of this.  She eventually gave him an out by asking him to water the plants for her.  They slowly built a silent relationship where Trent was able to do something for someone and be at peace.  I think he needed the calm that the teacher offered.   I just like seeing teachers portrayed in this light in books, because there are honestly some amazing teachers out there who can make a difference in a student's life.

This book definitely wasn't one of my favorites.  I felt that it was written in a chaotic manner.  Trent's personality was so unpleasant throughout the entire book.  He was constantly complaining, sulking, and yelling at people.  He clearly needed to be in counseling and I was furious that he wasn't in legitimate counseling throughout the book.  As a teacher, I would have referred him for counseling as soon as possible, just based on the fact that he was involved in a freak accident where a kid died.  I don't feel that a journal was really doing any damage on the counseling front.  I felt like that was all a very inaccurate portrayal because any kid who was involved in an accident on that level, who was also having anger problems, would need to be in counseling as soon as possible.

I would recommend this book to middle school students.  It definitely wasn't one of my favorite books, and I only give it 2 stars.  It just didn't have the magic I was expecting.