Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz

     It's a year after 9/11. Random shootings are taken place and everyone is trying to figure out why they are happening. The story introduces Craig and Leo as the main characters and the two of them are trying to figure out their lives. This is my first time reading a book by Hannah MoskowitzHannah Moskowitz and I must say that she did an awesome job. There was a lot of thought and emotion put into the book. This romantic novel is a book that you wouldn't want to put down.
     When she introduces the characters right away the readers might think that there is something  wrong with Craig. He seemed a little weird at first but you have to keep reading to get to know him. He is a 15 year old African American boy who over thinks everything and is loud. He seems to have an obsession with animals since he has so many and doesn't mind living in their urine and around the awful smell. Who would really want to live with animals that are not clean and always smells.
    

The next character introduced is Leo. Leo is more quiet, a cancer survivor and comes from a broken family. Even though Leo is quiet throughout the story, he is funny in his own way, just by the language he uses and the way he thinks. Leo and Craig meets each other online and has been friends every since. When school starts they attend the same school and right away you can tell there is some kind of chemistry between the two. Theses two guys are both dealing with the after effect of the 9/11 tragedy in two different ways.
     I remember when 9/11 happened I was in the 6th grade and my teacher did not want to tell us about it. She told us to go home, watch the news and have our parents explain it to us. As you read more you will learn about what this tragedy had done to the two. Later on Leo kisses Craig and that's all he thinks about. Craig introduced us to his ex-boyfriend Cody and he hasn't been the same since the break up because Cody did something bad to Craig. This is probably the reason for his love for all the animals he lives with.  Craig wonders if Leo would help him get over Cody, but Craig doesn't want to hurt Leo.
     Overall this was a good book. I thought it started off somewhat slow but then it picked up as I continued reading. I wondered though, if the character were too young too know that they want to be gay or if they were only experimenting. I think at this age although love feels so good and so right, do they truly know what it means. Overall, they were good kids who just wanted to be themselves. Moskowitz did a good job at that and at the words she chose. Another think I liked about the book was how some things in the book was repeated three times just as the title has the same word three times. I will recommend this book to youths and as something that should be read in the classroom.