Searching for David's Heart

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Searching for David's Heart is a young-adult novel by Cherie Bennett.

[edit] Plot summary

Darcy Deeton is a twelve-year-old girl who loves her older brother, David. After becoming jealous when he falls in love with Jayne Evans, Darcy inadvertently leads David to his tragic death by a car accident. The Deetons decide to donate David's most important organ, his heart. Darcy is so guilt-ridden about his death that she is determined to find the person who has his heart so she can find some closure. Darcy embarks on a wild adventure with her best friend, Sam. An aspiring magician, Sam knows how to pick locks, too. With their wits, they manage to travel across many states and stay in one piece. There is also a sub-plot about Darcy's father, who lost a job promotion to a black man. The stunning conclusion ties everything together: in addition to Darcy's finding closure, her father finally resolves his bitter hate against blacks. This is because the person who had David's heart is an African American boy named Winston Pawling (named after his grandfather).

[edit] Adaptation

Searching for David's Heart was made into a made-for-TV movie that premiered on ABC Family in 2004. It is about a teenage girl, Darcy Deeton (played by Danielle Panabaker), who is dealing with the death of her brother, David. She goes on a journey with her best friend Sam (Ricky Ullman) to find the person who received David's heart. In the movie, Darcy's brother is fatally killed when he tosses his keys up in the air and a car comes around the corner of a cafe and hits him on Darcy's birthday. She goes through life always thinking that it was her fault that her brother is dead. Darcy's mother and father decide to donate his heart to a transplant organization. She and her best friend, Sam, set out on a quest to find the person who got his heart and see if he has any of the characteristics of her brother. It is adapted from the novel of the same name published by Scholastic in 1998. The author is a screenwriter, novelist, playwright, and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and other Copley newspapers.