I would definitely recommend the book Burned to a mature classmate. Burned is a very touching story written in verse. I absolutely loved the heartbreaking tale and I think my classmates can handle it; but only if they're mature enough.

In the poetic book Burned, the main character, Pattyn, goes through many ups and downs. You would think that the safest place for a girl to be is her home right? Not for Pattyn. Well, how about her church? You'd think that'd be a safe sanctum; wrong again. Pattyn's family is a mormon family, which consists of many rules that make her life quite different from any other average teenage girl. Her family consists of an alcoholic and abusive father, her go with the flow mother, and Pattyn's six younger sisters. When Pattyn was a young girl, her and her father had a great relationship. They'd spend quality time together, but everything changed once her dad entered the darkside of alcoholism. As she got older, her parents had more and more children, everytime hoping for a boy but never getting lucky enough. She spent all her life being a good little mormon girl, just the way she was raised. Everything changed when she entered highschool. Pattyn starts reading love stories and fantazing over boys. One day after weeks of dreaming about love and lust, Derek, the school hottie, calls her pretty. Now in Pattyn's world, this was a big deal. Derek and Pattyn spend weeks dating but, after threats from her father, the two stop seeing eachother. This absolutely enraged Pattyn, resulting in some things her father would not tolerate. Next thing you know, Pattyn get's shipped off to her Aunt J.'s house. Her father was wrong in thinking this would give her the discipline she needs. Meeting the love of her life wasn't all that happened; she got pregnant. Now, dating a non-mormon is a sin, so getting pregnant before marriage is a pretty big deal. All good things must come to an end, so at the end of the summer Pattyn returns home to an even more abusive father. After taking two beatings from him, she's had enough and is ready to leave with her soulmate. A tragic accident occurs while the two love birds were on their escape that harms him and the forming baby, sending Pattyn over the edge. She figures since everything she loved is gone, there's no point in trying. Pattyn comes up with a master plan that will solve all her problems.

Burned reminds me of the book Fixing Delilah. In both stories, young teenage girls go on family visits. Neither of them were excited about leaving their turf, but both find love in an unexpected place. In Fixing Delilah, the main character also finds her inerstrength and realizes who she is, just like in Burned. In Burned, Pattyn discovers how much of a country girl she can really be, so does the character in Fixing Delilah. Even though both plots are very different, the characters are more closely related then you'd think.

In Burned, Pattyn falls for a sweet country boy. I can totally imagine myself falling for someone like him. I think southern cuties are absolutely adorable and can totally picture myself with a guy like him. Pattyn and I probably have the same taste in boys.

I found Burned to be one of the most heart touching novels I ever read. I think Ellen Hopkins is an amazing writer and I've read pretty much all her books for this reason. If you're ever looking for an impossible to put down book, I would definitely recommend Burned.