Saenz, B. (2009). Last night I sang to the monster. El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press. Zach is an alcoholic straight A student. He has a very angry brother, depressed or bipolar mother and an alcoholic father. He wakes up finding himself in a rehab facility. He does not remember how he got there and what happened. He is very angry and detached from everyone. He has cabin mates that help him to open up and that he forms a bond with. Rafael who he sees as a father figure and Sharkley, who leaves and it makes him sad. Them Amit comes and he forms a rather shakey bond with him. His therapist Adam has a huge influence on him and he guides him to think and feel. He finally remembers what happened during a breathing treatment to his family. His brother killed his mother, father and then was putting the gun back and forth between himself and Zach. He ends up killing himself and leaving Zach alone. He is 18 and considered an adult but in reality he is still just a messed up kid with no family. He ends up leaving and ends up in California with Rafael who ends up adopting him. He is also looking into going to college. He has finally reaches a happiness scale of 10!
I had a hard time following the story at first but once I got into it, I was hooked. I really wanted Zach to be okay and to find happiness. I really loved Rafael and his grounding influence on Zach. This would be a great book to explore with 10-12 grade students.
The plot in this story kept you in suspense about how Zach really showed up at the rehab facility. You knew that something happened to his family but you could only guess and the reality was not what I had assumed happened. I also think the setting of this book is important, the story could not take place anywhere else.
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