Things Change
Frequently Asked Questions about
Things Change
(Word Document)
Patrick's Books: Things Change 
?I want you to kiss me.?
These words come from the lips of high school junior Johanna. She is smart, studious, very self-consciousness, and more than a little shy, but decides to change her life by saying those words to Paul. Paul is a senior, known more for cracking jokes than cracking open his schoolbooks, who is determined to escape from his Michigan hometown filled with empty factories and broken dreams. Like many relationships, the one between Johanna and Paul is intense, emotional, and for Johanna, all consuming Although Johanna is a whiz at math, she can?t calculate the correct formula for balancing between her head and her heart as she becomes increasingly emotionally and physically involved with Paul. But when the touch of Paul?s hand turn from gentle to violent, Johanna has to decide if she can pull herself free of Paul?s orbit. Cut off from her best friend and deliberately distancing herself from her demanding parents, Johanna's all alone as she's trying to figure out what to do when her first love goes wrong and things change.
Published by Walker Books
for Young Readers
Voice of Youth Advocates (June 1, 2004)
Talk about a love story for the ages: Johanna is an insecure high school junior who opens the book with an uncharacteristic act of romantic pursuit. The object of her desire, Paul, is a class clown with a fear of abandonment and a tendency toward violence, making him total bad news wrapped up in an appealing package-a dangerous mix. In no time at all, Paul and Johanna have become each other's entire worlds, to the chagrin of her parents. Their story is a very tough one to read, primarily because the reader gets so frustrated with the choices Johanna makes to remain with Paul as long as she does. Fortunately Johanna ultimately realizes what she has gotten herself into. The question is, how will she get out? As aggravating and as stupid as Johanna appears here, there are young women-and adult women-in exactly the same situation. If just one of them reads this book and recognizes that she has hooked herself to a louse-albeit one with apparent redeeming traits such as a sense of humor or a tormented soul-and gets out of that relationship, then the book has done what the author obviously set out to do.-Matthew Weaver.
Booklist (May 1, 2004)
Gr. 8-11. Sixteen-year-old Johanna has always been daddy's perfect tough little Marine girl --a determined student who usually gets what she wants. Now she has her first boyfriend, Paul, the disturbing, anger-filled student body president. As Johanna and Paul become more involved, Johanna's grades drop, her relationships with her parents and best friend are compromised, and her life is jeopardized. From the opening sentence, I want you to kiss me, to the ominous conclusion, this is a compelling novel about teen dating, violence, and the tangled web of love and pain that permeates such dangerous relationships. Paul's pinning the blame on his violent father, who died long ago, may seem pat, and angry, poignant letters to his dad seem contrived, but readers will easily understand Johanna's excitement and attraction, as well as her need for love and security. Jones, the author of a number of professional materials for YA librarians, avoids didacticism in a debut novel that is both forceful and cautionary. For YAs wanting still another book on the subject, suggest Sarah Dessen's Dreamland (2000). --Frances Bradburn Copyright 2004 BooklistPublishers Weekly (March 29, 2004)
Alternating the perspectives of 16-year-old Johanna and her emotionally disturbed boyfriend, this psychologically involving first novel gives a frank, up-close look at a textbook case of dating violence. Johanna, a straight-A student, has always worked hard to please her controlling parents ("Love in our family was like a bad novel: all tell and no show") but has done little to make herself happy. Then she starts dating the boy least likely to win her parents' approval: ruggedly handsome, outspoken Paul, a senior and a kind of class clown who, Johanna soon learns, vents his anger by hurting himself and others. Predictably, Johanna's life changes drastically as she and Paul become involved. Johanna's passion for her new boyfriend is eclipsed only by her anxiety over hiding the bruises he leaves on her arms. Paul becomes increasingly possessive, insulting and aggressive. Meanwhile, Johanna loses her dignity, her parents' respect and her best friend's trust in order to keep Paul. Chapters told from Johanna's point of view convey a battle between heart and intellect. Paul's narrative reveals deep resentment caused by his father's abandonment and eventual death-especially Paul's letters to him, veiled in humor (they begin, "Dear Dead Dad"). This dark, at times insightful book serves as a warning, depicting the teen scene as it is, rather than how adults would like it to be. The provocative conclusion may well send chills down readers' spines. Ages 14-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.Bruce Springsteen songs mentioned in Things Change
| Adam Raised a Cain | An angry song about the theme of the sins of the father passed down to the son, which certainly is the tragedy of Paul?s story. |
|
Yahoo! |
| Backstreets | This plays in the background of Paul and Johanna?s break-up scene. It is about the loss of innocence, unfaithfulness, and heartbreak. |
|
Yahoo! |
| Badlands | Bruce at his most
hopeful; this is the person that Paul wants to be and Johanna wants to be with. |
|
Yahoo! |
Born in the USA (CD) |
As Johanna assumes more of Paul?s identity and loses her own, this is the CD she listens to, probably ?I?m on Fire? was her favorite song. |
|
Yahoo! |
| Born to Run | Paul?s personal theme song;
the images and obsessions of Springsteen are shared by Paul. |
|
Yahoo! |
| If I Should Fall Behind | Not only is it Paul and Johanna?s ?song? but the theme rips at Johanna. She?s in love with Paul and wants to be there for him, but at the same time, knows she can?t stay in an unhealthy relationship. |
|
Yahoo! |
| My Hometown | Written
about Freehold, New Jersey, it certainly could apply to my hometown of Flint, Michigan. I also like the father / son circular story. |
|
Yahoo! |
| She's the One | Used near the end of the book for the sake of pure irony. |
|
Yahoo! |
| Something in the Night | Paul quotes this after he breaks up
with Johanna; it is from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album, and is Bruce at his most relentless. |
|
Yahoo! |
| Thunder Road | The book is really a
riff on “what if” the male character in the song "Thunder Road" was like Paul, who used his skills to harm as well as charm. |
|
Yahoo! |
- Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention toolkit
- Teen Dating Violence from National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center
- Q & A from Womenslaw.org
- Love is not abusse
