ROB&SARA.COM
P.J. Petersen and Ivy Ruckman
Delacorte Press
Fiction
ISBN: 0385731647
224 pages

Sara is an army brat, a high achiever who just wants to stay at one high school and be a normal kid for a while. Rob is a loner, a resident of Pine Creek Academy for troubled kids. His dad is distant, and his mom is an alcoholic. Rob and Sara are separated by hundreds of miles. These two seem to have nothing in common except their love for poetry, an appreciation that brings them to a website for teen poets --- and to each other.

When Sara posts a poem she has written, Rob e-mails her his comments, and the two begin a yearlong correspondence via e-mail. Along the way, the two learn lessons about independence, trust, friendship and love, as they “reach out into the cyberfog and grab hands.” In addition to learning more about each other, these teens also learn more about themselves, as they gain additional responsibilities during an important year in both of their lives.

ROB&SARA.COM was written in actual e-mails between its authors, P. J. Petersen and Ivy Ruckman. The two took on the personas of their characters and exchanged e-mails for a whole year. The result is two very distinctive voices and two well-developed characters. Although there are points in the novel where the action drags, readers will enjoy seeing Rob and Sara’s relationship develop through the course of their online correspondence.

   --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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