Telling Christina Goodbye

By: Lurlene McDaniel

Narrated by: Ashley Albert

Trisha Thompson and her best friend Christina are having a great senior year. Trisha and her boyfriend, Cody, are making plans to attend Indiana University together in the fall, while Christina has already received a scholarship to the University of Vermont. Everything would be perfect if only Trisha got along with Christina’s controlling boyfriend Tucker, who is trying to convince Christina not to go away for college. But suddenly their lives change one night when Tucker is driving the four home from an away basketball game. When his car hits a patch of black ice and overturns, Tucker walks away with barely a scratch, but Trisha is injured, Cody is in a coma, and Christina is dead. Those left behind must learn that it takes time for their scars—both visible and not—to heal. And they must find the courage to move on with their lives.©2002 Lurlene McDaniel; (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Imagination Studio, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

A compelling inspirational novel about the way everything can change in the blink of an eye.

Good Teen Story, Terrible Narrator

What did you love best about Telling Christina Goodbye?

It's a good story for teens who are struggling with this issue, or just to gain some sympathy

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting... probably the concept of a jealous boyfriend, and a girlfriend who doesn't have a chance to leave him behind. The coma is interesting too. Least interesting... Honestly the narrator makes it way less interesting.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Ashley Albert?

Someone like Ali Ahn.. Someone who can sound young, and can do all the voices (she can do a variety of female and male voices that all sound different) and put the proper emotion in. Ashley Albert is just too monotone and alternates between nasaly and throaty to give variety to the voices--everyone basically sounds the same, or they sound monotone and unemotional, or just very juvenile. Drives me crazy.