Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

From Goodreads,

"What if you could spend one last day with someone you lost?

One day Carver Briggs had it all—three best friends, a supportive family, and a reputation as a talented writer at his high school, Nashville Academy for the Arts.

The next day he lost it all when he sent a simple text to his friend Mars, right before Mars, Eli, and Blake were killed in a car crash.

Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident, and he’s not the only one. Eli’s twin sister is trying to freeze him out of school with her death-ray stare. And Mars’s father, a powerful judge, is pressuring the district attorney to open a criminal investigation into Carver’s actions.

Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a Goodbye Day with her to share their memories and say a proper goodbye to his friend.

Soon the other families are asking for a Goodbye Day with Carver, but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these Goodbye Days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison?"

Goodreads - Goodbye Days

Awards and Nominations:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2017)
• AML Award for Best Young Adult Novel (2017)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2019)

Everyone has a cell phone, including young kids.  It has become a part of our body.  We take it with us to the bathroom, we have it nearby when we eat dinner, and we most definitely have it within arms reach while we are driving.  Everyone will admit that texting and driving is wrong, but alas we still do it.  The phone buzzes and we reach for it to see who it is.  We will send a "quick text" while we are stopped at a stoplight, because we aren't technically driving at that moment.  Texting and driving is so dangerous, and thankfully this informative book tells the story of a texting and driving accident through the eyes of a teenager.  

Carver is a typical teenager with three best friends: Mars, Blake, and Eli.  Carver's three friends were on their way to pick him up when Carver sent a text to Mars who was driving.  Mars tried to respond and ended up crashing the car which fatally killed all three passengers.  In the days following the aftermath Carver must figure out if he is guilty or not.  While Carver is trying to figure out how to live again, Blake's grandma reaches out about doing a goodbye day to have closure and peace to what happened.  Together they spend the day doing all of Blake's favorite things.  One by one, Carver has a goodbye day with each of the families to help them get closure, and to help himself get closure on what happened.  

Favorite quote from Goodbye Days: 

"Night descends as a falling blanket.  The city is a constellation of lights, each one representing a hand that turned the lightbulb.  A hand attached to a mind containing a universe of memories and myths; a natural history of loves and wounds."

This book was perfect in every single way.  The biggest and obvious message in this book is to not text and drive and to not text people when you know they are driving.  I absolutely hate when I tell someone that I'm leaving and driving to X location and a few minutes later they will text me.  It's irritating and distracting.  I should probably turn my phone to silent to help alleviate this distraction, but like many people I know, I don't.  This book sends such a strong message about not texting and driving.  Carver texted his friend who was driving and that resulted in him looking at his phone and the car crashed.  Carver had to deal with the guilt he felt over what had happened.  I think for many young people they can picture themselves and their friends in this book.  Carver went from being a member of a group of four to being the only one left.  He was all alone because of one text message.  I think this book should be a required read for everyone when they get their learner's permit or their driver's license.  Young people (and adults!) need to know the dangers of texting and driving.  It takes one simple glance at a phone to end your life or someone else's.

"For the most part, you don't hold the people you love in your heart because they rescued you from drowning or pulled you from a burning house.  Mostly you hold them in your heart because they save you, in a million quiet and perfect ways, from being alone."

I loved the quote above because it really made me think about the people I care about and cherish.  Carver, like many people, took his friends for granted.  He didn't realize what he had until it was gone.  People live their day to day life and don't think about people and the way they have impacted us.  I know that when I was in high school I was one member of a group of eight.  We were a very close group and we have many memories together.  The last time all eight of us were together was at graduation.  I honestly thought we would all keep in touch and continue to be friends, but we didn't.  We have drifted apart.  I still keep in touch will some of the girls, but there are others that I haven't heard from in a while.  I will forever hold these girls close to my heart because as the quote above says, "They saved me in a million quiet and perfect ways from being alone."  If we hadn't all become friends we would have been alone throughout the ups and downs of high school.  I honestly didn't know what I had until graduation was over and we had all parted ways.  Unlike Carver, all of my friends are still alive and well, and I miss each and every one of them every single day.

I absolutely loved this book and think that all teenagers should have to read it.  It was so moving and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time wondering what was going to happen with the investigation and during all of the goodbye days.  It was wonderfully written by Zentner and it made extremely excited to read some of his other work.  I give this a solid 5 out of 5 stars!