The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan

The Bitter Side of Sweet was the last book from my school's book fair that I read while home for the holidays in Florida. I picked it up based on the summary on the back, which showed it was about modern day slavery in Africa. Later on, I realized that one of my students had been reading it too and showed it to me once, so it's been getting a bit of traction among my kids. It ended up being excellent, so I'm glad I chose it!

The story follows two Malawian children, Amadou and his younger brother, Seydou. Both were unwittingly sold into slavery in the Ivory Coast when they left their drought-stricken home to look for work to support their family. They were sold to a cacao plantation and spend their days harvesting cacao pods for the farmers. They are beaten regularly, work under extremely dangerous conditions, and given barely enough food and water to stay alive. The brothers have been working on the farm for two miserable years when the story begins. After an early, failed escape attempt. both are broken and resigned to their fate. The best Amadou can do each day is try to protect Seydou and keep him alive.

Their story changes, however, when a young girl named Khadija is brought to the farm to work. She has the spirit of a wildcat, and constantly tries to escape the farm. She is continually caught and beaten, but she refuses to give in. Before long, she befriends Amadou and begins to make him think about trying to escape again. When Seydou is grievously injured one afternoon, he decides that the time is right to take his brother and attempt an escape once more. With Khadija there to help, the three embark on a terrifying and dangerous journey to freedom.

This novel was amazingly compelling. The writing was smooth and the action was well-paced. I was completely engaged in Amadou's journey and raced through the pages to see how everything turned out. What made the reading experience even more powerful was the fact that the story is based on the truth of what happens on cacao farms in Africa. I had no idea that child slave labor was regularly used to make chocolate. The author, Tara Sullivan, includes some information in the back of the book about this issue and it was equal parts disturbing and educational to read about. The fact that child slaves are used to produce a sweet for more privileged children across the world is awful to contemplate. It made me think a lot harder about all that Christmas candy I got over the holidays. Buying those fancy chocolate bars labeled "fair trade chocolate" is something I will try to do from now on.

This was my favorite book out of the three I read during my trip. It was well-written and alerted me to an issue that I didn't know anything about. This is definitely a high-interest book that I will place in my classroom library and recommend to my kiddos.


Challenge Tally
Clear the Shelves 2018: 21 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 44

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

That's Not What Happened was the second young adult book that I read while I was home in Florida for the holidays. I found this one at my school's book fair and was intrigued by the description on the back, so I picked it up.

The story follows a high school senior named Lee, who is dealing with some significant emotional trauma. When she was a freshman, she was involved in a school shooting. During the shooting, she was hiding in a bathroom stall with her best friend Sarah. Both girls were shot at, but the gunman missed Lee. Sarah was killed instantly. In the days after the shooting happened, a lot of stories about the victims began circulating in the inevitable media frenzy that followed. One of the stories was that Sarah died bravely defending her Christian faith to the shooter. This story, circulated by another surviving student listening from outside the bathroom, has become a legend in Lee's small town. Sarah is regarded as a hero and her story is an inspiration to the community.

The problem with this is, that the story is completely untrue. Lee knows that Sarah didn't say anything before she died. They were huddled together silently in that bathroom stall, scared out of their minds. Lee doesn't know what anyone else may have said to the shooter, but she knows for sure that Sarah did not speak to him at all. When the story was first circulating, Lee didn't say anything to stop it. She believed it was more helpful to Sarah's parents to let them believe the lie. However, now it's three years later, and Sarah's parents are now going to write a book about the incident. Lee can't stand the misinformation that will result when the book is published and believes that it's time for all the survivors of that terrible day to share their stories about what it was really like. Dismantling the myth around Sarah's death won't be easy though, and could turn the whole town against Lee. Many people have made significant life changes around this story and won't let it go easily. She must decide if it will be worth it to speak up or if she should just stay silent.

I found this story to be very interesting, and, sadly, very timely. School shootings are a disturbing reality that kids have to think about today and it was interesting to explore the fallout and trauma of such a terrible event. Lee and her friends struggle with survivor's guilt and PTSD, as well as a lot of the modern difficulties of being involved in a high-profile crime, including the agony of being accused of being "crisis actors," becoming figures in a political debate about gun control, and being hounded by the press for details of what happened. Lee's struggle with what to do in the aftermath was compelling and multifaceted. I could see reasons for her to stay silent and reasons for her to speak out. Her struggle was portrayed sensitively and realistically in a way that younger readers will be able to understand.

Mixed in with the sections about Lee's story are letters written about the students and teachers that died in the shooting. These letters help to give readers a sense of all those who lost their lives in the event. The point is stressed that even if someone wasn't particularly heroic during the incident or if they weren't a particularly good person before the incident happened, they still deserve to be remembered and mourned. No attention is paid to the shooter himself or his possible motives for his crime. He isn't even named in the book. All of the focus is saved for those impacted by what he did, and how the ripples of his crime spread across an entire town. No gory details or graphic descriptions are given; the focus here is on how people tried to pick up the pieces in the wake of the tragedy. In this way, the story is able to deal with a difficult topic without being exploitative or disrespectful.

I definitely enjoyed this novel and thought it portrayed school shootings in a realistic and sensitive way. I think young adult readers will be completely engaged in the story and come away from the novel with a better understanding of the power of stories and the impact of violence on students and communities. While the serious subject matter may not be appropriate for all readers, for the right kids, That's Not What Happened will be a deeply moving read.


Challenge Tally
Clear the Shelves 2018: 20 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 43

Screenshot by Donna Cooner

I traveled home to Florida during my winter break and I brought a bunch of young adult books with me. I managed to finish three of them during my trip, and they were all surprisingly solid picks. All three came from my school's book fair, so my main reason for picking them up was to preview them for my students; it was an added bonus that I legitimately enjoyed them myself as well.

Screenshot was probably the book my students were most excited to pick up this year, thanks to an intriguing trailer in the preview video Scholastic put out for the kids. The story follows a sixteen-year-old high school student named Skye. She's an ambitious young woman who dreams of a future career in politics. She's been working hard to win an internship with her state senator for the summer, so maintaining a clean and professional public image is very important to her. She's been very successful so far and has earned good grades, held down a part time job, and served on her school's student council.

However, all of Skye's careful planning is thrown into jeopardy when her friend uploads an embarrassing video from a slumber party to a social media platform. Although her friend takes the video down a few minutes later, the damage is done. Someone online takes a screenshot from it and begins using it to anonymously blackmail Skye into doing embarrassing things. At first, the blackmail requests are small, like telling her to paint her nails a certain color. The demands quickly ramp up though, and the tasks Skye are asked to do threaten her friendships and her future. If she refuses to comply with the demands, the person will post the screenshot online, and her family, classmates, and, potentially, the senator's office, will see it. Skye must decide how far she's willing to go to protect the public image she's so carefully crafted and figure out who is trying to ruin her life.

This plot summary definitely sounds a bit silly, and it is, but the book as a whole was surprisingly enjoyable, very timely, and full of excellent points about social media, the cost of maintaining a public image, and self-confidence. Skye's character felt realistic, and her worries and anxieties over her reputation were spot-on to how teenagers think.The story was interesting and fast-paced enough to keep me reading. I was engaged the whole time and I believe that younger readers will be as well. I really wanted to know who it was that was blackmailing Skye and why they were doing it, and I wasn't able to guess the ending ahead of time.

The narration in the novel is primarily from Skye's point of view, but each chapter ends with a few pages written from the perspective of one of her friends. These short sections contain bits of information that Skye doesn't know, and serve to show how the pieces of ourselves that we share with others or post online are only a small part of our lives. For example, Skye views her friend Asha's near-constant status updates as being annoying and self-centered, but when the narration hops over to this friend, we learn that she is in deep pain over a significant health issue her mother is dealing with. The online posting is a way for her to deal with the hurt and turmoil in her home life. Skye and Asha have been best friends since they were little kids, and Skye has no idea what Asha is going through. It really makes readers consider how much we truly know about the people closest to us, and wonder about how much of what we see online from them is genuine.

Screenshot is an excellent choice for teen readers. While it is definitely a young adult book, I manged to get a lot of enjoyment out of its story and the questions about social media that it raised. Any story that can remain interesting, feel relevant, and encourage kids to show empathy and kindness to others is an extremely valuable resource. I will be placing this in my classroom library and I can see myself recommending it quite frequently to my seventh graders.


Challenge Tally
Clear the Shelves 2018: 19 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 42

Icebreaker by Lian Tanner

It's been a little while since my last blog post, but my absence here is due to an understandable reason. Not only did I finally made my big move to Connecticut, I managed to find myself a new teaching job too. This is my first review from New England, and I'm writing it in between figuring out how to pay my rent online and lesson planning for my new seventh graders. I was afraid to make this move, but it's worked out better than I could have hoped so far.

But anyway, I digress. I did manage to finish reading a book towards the beginning of this month and never got around to reviewing it here. It was a doozy too. Icebreaker by Lian Tanner is a fever dream of a novel, with a premise so improbable and a setting so bizarre that the whole thing should be a literary train wreck. However, this odd little story is surprisingly compelling and it made for some enjoyable guilty pleasure reading.

I will endeavor to explain the plot as I normally do, but it won't be an easy task. There's a lot you have to wrap your brain around to be able to slip into this world. The story is set on an old icebreaker ship that maintains a constant, circular course around the arctic. The ship has been traveling the same course for 300 years without stopping. Whatever the crew's original mission was has long since been forgotten, and the descendants of these people have organized themselves into three warring tribes comprised of the officers, the cooks, and the engineers. They spend all their time in a combination of maintaining the ship, fishing for sustenance, and fighting with each other. Their whole world is the icebreaker. They have never experienced life any other way.

The protagonist of the story, a young girl named Petrel, is unique in that she has no tribe. Her parents were executed for a crime when she was just a baby and ever since then, all of the groups shun her. Her life is lonely, but she's a tough kid and has managed to survive mostly on her own. Her only friends are two large gray rats that can talk and appear to be at least partly mechanical. You see what I meant by calling this novel a fever dream? I don't know how Tanner managed to think this stuff up.

Anyway, one day Petrel spies something unheard of--she seems a boy floating on a piece of ice in the sea. Hoping to have found a friend at last, she sneaks him aboard the ship and tries to form a bond with him. All is not what is seems, however, because the boy isn't just a stranded kid. He's been sent on a secret mission from the outside world to destroy something valuable hidden on the ship. What follows is an adventure that causes Petrel to go from being the forgotten girl to a young woman who stands up for herself and fights to protect what she holds most dear.

There's so much about Icebreaker that just doesn't make any sense or is completely impossible. You have to be willing to suspend your disbelief to enjoy it, but if you can do that, it's actually not too bad. Petrel is an interesting character that changes and grows throughout the novel, the story is intriguing enough to keep you turning the pages, and its pacing is just right. This is a quick read that's perfect for those times when you want to escape to a different world for a little while, but you don't want to have to think too much. It's a fairly well-written dystopian sci-fi novel for young readers.

I don't have much to say beyond that, so I fear this won't be a very detailed review. What I can say is that I'm glad to have given this novel a shot. It will make a great addition to my woefully inadequate new classroom library. Hopefully one of my wayward seventh graders will pick it up and see themselves in Petrel or fall in love with its improbable, crazy world.


Challenge Tally:

Clear the Shelves 2018: 18 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 32

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

The Memory of Light was a random purchase I made at my school's book fair ages ago. I was intrigued by the description on the back cover, which previewed a story about a teen that attempts suicide. It reminded me a bit of It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, another story about a teen struggling with depression which I read a few years ago and enjoyed immensely. Hoping that this would be another winner, I decided to give it a shot this month.

The plot of the novel concerns Vicky Cruz, a sixteen year old girl who wakes up in the hospital after a suicide attempt at the start of the story. Vicky had been dealing with feelings of depression since the death of her mother a few years prior, and the struggle finally became too much for her to handle. After she is stabilized, she meets her psychiatrist, Dr. Desai, who recommends that she stay in the hospital for a few weeks to let her mind recover and participate in therapy. Realizing that she is still having suicidal thoughts and needs help, Vicky agrees.

As she begins to participate in her therapy, Vicky meets a handful of other teens who are also staying at the hospital to treat mental illnesses. There is Mona, a quirky and bold young woman struggling with bipolar disorder, E.M., an angry young man that has trouble controlling his aggression, and Gabriel, a young man who doesn't like to talk much about what his issues are, but who espouses great wisdom and kindness in their group sessions. As the days go by and the group gets to know each other, Vicky starts to heal and begins to come out of her depressive haze. She is far from cured, but she begins to see hope for her future.

Unfortunately, an unexpected event sends Vicky home early, where all the problems that contributed to her mental illness are waiting for her. The memory of her late mother, a father whose overbearing demeanor does more harm than good, and a demanding private high school full of kids that know about the suicide attempt await her. It doesn't take long for her suicidal thoughts to return, and Vicky must use what she learned at the hospital to cope with her depressed feelings and advocate for her own mental health.

I really liked this novel, and what struck me the most while I was reading was how real everything seemed. The way Vicky described her feelings of depression felt absolutely authentic to me and made me root for her character to overcome her illness. She spoke about her thoughts of guilt, pain, and suicide with an unflinching frankness that rang very true and made the story come to life. This is a young adult novel, but nothing was softened for a teenage audience, and the result of this is that I got a very clear view of how clinical depression invades a person's mind and twists their thoughts and actions. It helped me to understand this illness more. I think it would do the same for anyone that reads it.

The plot itself is only okay. I thought that some pieces of it, including her father's incredibly tone-deaf actions, the trip the whole group takes to Dr. Desai's ranch, and Vicky's heroic actions at the end of the novel, were unrealistic. However, I was invested enough in Vicky as a character to overlook the unlikely situations and enjoy the story anyway. This is one of those rare novels where character development is enough to carry you through the rough patches.

It came as no surprise to me that at the end of the novel, the author included a note about their own struggles with depression, including their own suicide attempt. it was very obvious throughout reading that Francisco Stork must have been very familiar with depression and the damaging thoughts it unleashes in a person's mind. He wrote that his hope was that Vicky's story might help another teenager out there struggling with suicidal thoughts, and he includes several resources for people to turn to to get help. After reading this, I feel that Stork must have saved more than one life with his words. His approach to this difficult topic resonated deeply with me, and I'm sure others have felt the same way.

Ultimately, I did end up enjoying The Memory of Light a great deal, but in a completely different way than I enjoyed It's Kind of a Funny Story. The latter deals with depression using dark humor and more absurd-style storytelling. The former deals with it in a way that feels very realistic and serious. Both are worthy of a read. I am going to put The Memory of Light onto my donate pile, and my hope is that it makes its way into the hands of someone who can learn from it, whether it becomes a push to someone to reach out for help, or a tool to help someone relate to a family member struggling with mental illness.

     

Challenge Tally:

Clear the Shelves 2018: 17 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 31

Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire

I picked up Egg & Spoon because of its author. I've been a fan of Gregory Maguire's ever since I discovered Wicked back in my college days. I loved his dark take on the world of Oz, and went on to (mostly) enjoy his other novels over the years. Each of his works are different versions of well-known stories, with his source material ranging from fairy tales like Cinderella to classic literature like Alice in Wonderland. Egg & Spoon is based on Russian folklore and stars Baba Yaga, a famous and enigmatic witch from children's stories. Unlike the other works I've read from Maguire, Egg & Spoon is a young adult novel. So, I started my reading curious about how his often-inappropriate writing style would work in a more restrictive genre.

The plot follows two young protagonists. The first, Elena Rudina, is a peasant living in a small village called Miersk. At the start of the novel, she is living on the brink of starvation and struggling to take care of her ill mother. Her two brothers have both been taken away, one to be a servant to a wealthy family far away, and the other to be in the Tsar's army. She does what she can for her mother, but her situation is growing increasingly bleak. Unusual weather conditions have ruined the crops, and all the livestock in the town has either run away or been eaten already.

Elena's story takes a turn when she meets the second protagonist via a fortunate train delay. Ekaterina Ivanova is the opposite of Elena in almost every way; she is rich, highly educated, and doesn't want for anything. She is traveling with an elderly aunt to a party at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to try and catch the eye of a young prince. When a section of the train tracks she is traveling on is damaged, she is forced to stop in Miersk to wait for repairs. Bored and lonely for someone her own age to talk to, she begins spending time with Elena, reading from storybooks and chatting. They don't exactly become friends, but they pass the time together.

Once the train is ready to move on and leave Miersk, a series of events occur that lead to the girls accidentally switching places. The penniless Elena is left on the train headed for Saint Petersburg and the wealthy Kat is left stranded in a destitute village. As the two attempt to right the situation, a wondrous and nigh-unexplainable series of events takes place that lead to both of the girls teaming up to save Russia alongside a trio of legendary folktale characters.

I realize that the last paragraph of my summary is laughably thin, but to attempt to detail the adventures of Elena and Kat any further would necessitate way too much explaining on my part, so it's the best I can do. This is one of those books that doesn't summarize easily. It's a long and winding tale based on absurdities and magic. Anyone interested in the finer points of the plot will have to read it themselves.

I struggled a lot with this one. At nearly 500 pages, Egg and Spoon is a long novel, and it felt like it. Most of the middle was a slog, and I wasn't inspired to read. I went days without picking it up and then had trouble reconnecting with the rambling and weird storyline. As a result, this book that should have taken me inside of a week to finish took almost a month. Maguire's trademark wit was halfway present, especially in the Baba Yaga character, but it was definitely missing something. It lacked the playful edge and compelling characters present in his other works. I didn't particularly like Elena or Kat and my attention was constantly drifting. There were beautiful passages here and there and a handful of memorable quotes, but overall, this was a weak offering.

It's a shame too, because Maguire is undoubtedly capable of delivering amazing and clever stories. This just wasn't one of them. I do admit that the ending of the novel was great, and its ultimate message of sharing what you have to ease the suffering of those around you was inspiring. Those factors bumped the novel up to two stars for me. It just wasn't enough to make the long trek to get to that point worth it. Egg and Spoon falls into that weird territory of being over most young readers' heads and beneath most adults' notice. It wasn't terrible, but I can't think of anyone I'd recommend it to. This is most definitely one for my donations pile.

Challenge Tally:

Clear the Shelves 2018: 16 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 30

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

I came across These Broken Stars on a book blog years ago, and decided to pick it up based on the very positive review I read. After burning out on smart-ass teens and their problems in Kids of Appetite a few days ago, I wanted to read some young adult fiction that felt a bit more straightforward. I figured that this science fiction adventure would meet that need nicely, and I was very pleased to find out that I was right.

The story follows two teenagers taking a trip on the luxury spaceliner, the Icarus. Lilac LaRoux is the daughter of the richest man in the galaxy and is traveling to celebrate her upcoming seventeenth birthday. Tarver Merendsen is a much less well-off soldier, fresh off a mission in which he saved several lives. His new-found fame has earned him some public attention and a spot on the first class decks, which is where he first bumps into Lilac at a party. There is a definite spark of passion between them, but as they come from two different worlds, and Lilac's father is extremely strict and controlling regarding who she associates with, both understand that they can never be in a relationship together.

They are forced together again, however, when the Icarus is suddenly pulled from hyperspace and crashes onto the nearest planet. Due to Tarver's military training and Lilac's technological knowledge, they are able to evacuate the ship in an escape pod and survive the rough landing. Once the dust settles, the pair realizes that they are in major trouble. All of their communications equipment was destroyed in the crash and they have no way of signaling their location to anyone. They set out together to try and find other survivors from the Icarus or any inhabitants on the planet that might be able to help them get home. As they travel, several strange occurrences lead them to realize that not everything on the planet is what it seems. Eventually, they discover a tragic secret that will change the course of both of their lives.

This novel was shockingly entertaining, and I was absolutely hooked from page one. I've always been attracted to survival stories, and this one was both fast-paced enough to stay engaging, and detailed enough to present two well-developed characters. The plot twists were interesting, the romance was slightly cringe-worthy, and there was teen angst-galore. In other words, it was exactly what a book like this should be like, but more competently written then usual.

Like with many of the books I've read lately, this one shifted narration between Lilac and Tarver with each chapter. I liked this method here, and I thought each character retained their own voices and motivations nicely. There were times that I found myself frustrated with some of the choices they made, especially Lilac and the meanness she often used as a shield, but I admit that all of their actions were in keeping with what you would expect teens in space to act like.

As this was a really enjoyable adventure story, there were only three small things I didn't like. First, the protagonists names are probably some of the most made-up sounding names I've ever heard. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen. The authors might as well have gone with Beauty McDelicate and Handsome Toughersen. That's a small (and petty) complaint though. It's not like I could have come up with anything better.

My second gripe is with Lilac's father, Roderick LaRoux. He's meant to be an unlikable character, but the way he tries to control his daughter's personal life felt very uncomfortable to me. He was extremely concerned about what might be going on in her sex life, and it was repulsive. It's to the point where Lilac is forced to be brutally mean to all men to keep them away from her, lest they raise the ire of her rich daddy, who will literally arrange for them to be killed. I thought that was gross. 

My last issue was with one of the plot points at the end of the novel. Lilac and Tarver eventually need to figure out a password to unlock something. They try many words with no luck, until Lilac eventually figures it out. The password ended up being the very first word that they should have tried. Like, very obviously. It was the first word that popped into my mind. It was ridiculous that it wasn't the first thing they tried too. If you ever read this one, you'll know what I mean. 

Despite those smaller things, I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed These Broken Stars. I would recommend this in a heartbeat to young adult readers. While I don't think that I would want to read this one more than once, it was an excellent journey that I'm glad I embarked on. This is the first book in a series, but it can definitely stand alone. There is a firm ending to it, so I don't feel like I have to read the rest of it right now. I might do so in the future, but for now, I'm very happy with my experience.

Challenge Tally:

Clear the Shelves 2018: 15 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 29

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

I picked up Kids of Appetite fairly recently. It was one of my typical young adult impulse purchases. What stood out to me about this one was the beautiful cover design, the fact that it was set in Hackensack, New Jersey (a place I took a surreal vacation to in my younger days), and the fact that it was written by David Arnold. Arnold made some serious waves in the young adult community with his first novel, Mosquitoland. I haven't read that one yet, but I heard an insane amount of good things about it, so I figured that this novel, his second, was a safe bet. I pulled it off the shelf on a whim, looking for something a bit lighter after the dark majesty that was We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 

The novel begins at a police station, where our two protagonists are being interrogated in separate rooms. We are told that a murder has occurred and both characters witnessed it. Few details are given in the beginning; the only concrete fact the reader is given is that both characters are desperately trying to drag out their interrogations for as long as possible. Quite mysterious.

The first character we meet is Victor Benucci, a high school student still reeling from the death of his father two years before. As if that isn't hard enough for him to process, he was also born with Moebius Syndrome, a condition in which his facial muscles are totally paralyzed. He can't show expressions, can't blink, and slightly drools all the time. The second is Madeline Falco, an eighteen year old girl struggling to make her way in the world after the death of both of her parents in a drunk driving accident. She lives with her uncle, her only remaining relative, but his drinking is out of control and he is becoming abusive. The narration shifts between them from chapter to chapter, and as they give their interviews (very slowly) to the police, the full picture of what they witnessed emerges.

Tied up in the recounting of the murder is the evolution of Vic and Mad's relationship, and Vic's quest to spread his father's ashes around the New Jersey/New York area in several specific places. The story is difficult to summarize as it involves a lot of backstory, but essentially, Vic's journey begins when his mother receives a marriage proposal from her boyfriend. He freaks out at what he sees as a betrayal to the memory of his father, grabs his father's urn full of ashes, and runs out his front door. His initial plan is to scatter his father's ashes at a museum he likes to hang out at, but when he opens the urn to do so, he discovers a letter from his father inside of it. The letter lists five specific places that he would like his ashes spread, but the letter is meant for Vic's mother, so it's written using inside references to their relationship - to an outsider, it isn't understandable. Vic decides to make it his mission to figure out the locations in the letter and fulfill his father's last wishes before returning home again.

As he is trying to do this, he runs into a group of ragtag kids from his neighborhood that are always hanging out together. The kids all have troubled backgrounds and are essentially homeless. Mad is a member of this group. They all live together in an abandoned greenhouse in a closed-down botanical garden. As helping people is what this group always tries to do, they offer to help Vic with the ashes. Sparks ensue between Mad and Vic, mysteries are solved, love blossoms, and, eventually, a murder occurs. It's quite a long, winding story.

I had very mixed feelings on this novel. Some of the aspects that I liked were the non-sequential storytelling and the mystery elements. Both the murder and the quest of the ashes were interesting storylines, and wanting to figure out what happened kept me reading. There were a lot of heartfelt moments as well, with the themes of friendship and kindness having a prominent place in the story. The ending of the novel was pretty cool as well, as it had a neat little twist that framed the story nicely and offered some extra information about some of the more minor characters. I mostly enjoyed reading this, and it went relatively quickly.

What I didn't like was David Arnold's tone and style. He clearly graduated from the John Green school of young adult fiction; his characters are impossibly eccentric and quirky, a manic pixie dream girl teaches a geeky boy how to love, frequent references to literature and music that no modern teenager would know fill the pages, and everyone is an incredible smart-ass with perfect comedic timing. I am officially weary of these tropes. Instead of seeing humor and beauty in Arnold's writing, I saw pretentiousness. I don't mean to say that his writing is bad, on the contrary, it is probably a great example of this particular style of storytelling, I just don't think I like it anymore. I'm getting burned out on sarcastic, wise-beyond-their-years teenagers, I guess.

Because it felt like every sentence was crafted specifically to go on a "clever quotes" list, I had difficulty connecting with the characters. I thought the constant one-liners undercut the very serious problems the characters were facing. There is no better example of this than Coco, one of the kids that hangs around with Vic and Mad. She is only eleven, and has run away from home. She can't go to school because she can't provide an address or a guardian name, so she lays around in the greenhouse all day, stuffs herself full of junk food, and swears profusely. This wasn't funny to me (in fact, it was rather alarming), but the group didn't seem to have a problem with it. Her situation is disturbing, but it was played for laughs. Inclusions like this made the story feel odd, like the situations didn't match the emotions. It featured kids with very serious problems, but the overall mood was lighthearted. The kids don't have regular access to a toilet, shower, laundry, or kitchen, but hey, at least they're having fun and being cool, right? It is clear that the group existed just to further Vic's character development, and their situation would not be tenable in real life.

I also got confused about who was narrating which parts of the story, as both Vic and Mad are written using the same voice, more or less. Their quirks are different, but their general personalities are the same, an offense that's difficult to excuse in a story with split narration. I think Arnold struggled with writing a believable teenage girl, as Mad came off as the weaker character to me. I found myself frequently pausing in my reading and looking back to figure out who was talking.

Despite all that, Kids of Appetite wasn't a terrible read. I enjoyed parts of it and rolled my eyes at others. It's the very definition of a "meh" kind of book. I'm disappointed with this as I know David Arnold has a lot of fans, but this wasn't the story for me. However, if the story wasn't for me, I wonder who exactly this novel was written for. It's classified as a young adult book, but it contains vocabulary and references clearly designed for an older audience. I doubt that very many teenagers would catch all the meanings behind the jokes. I think it's meant, at least partially, for older women that like to dabble in young adult fiction. This would normally include me, but the issues with uneven tone made it a bit too juvenile for me to enjoy. I still want to give Mosquitoland a shot due to all the praise its received, but Kids of Appetite isn't destined to become a favorite. On the brighter side, at least I have another book for the donate pile.

Challenge Tally:

Clear the Shelves 2018: 14 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 28

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

After reading the rather lengthy Giants in the Earth last week, I wanted a lighter read next. I decided on Jennifer E. Smith's Windfall, a young adult impulse purchase that I made last year (based on the pretty cover). I had a feeling that this would probably be a fun story, but would ultimately end up on the donate pile afterwards. Since I'm looking to get rid of some of my books before I move in August, I figured this was a good choice.

The plot concerns Alice, an eighteen-year old girl making her way through her senior year of high school in Chicago. She hasn't had an easy time growing up; both her mother and her father ended up dying just over a year apart from each other when she was nine. Ever since then, she's lived with her aunt and uncle. Her life with them is great, but she struggles daily with the pain of losing her parents. To make matters more emotionally complicated, she's been secretly in love with her best friend Teddy for years, and is on the verge of finally confessing her feelings to him. 

At the start of the novel, Alice buys Teddy a lottery ticket for his eighteenth birthday. To everyone's astonishment, it ends up being a winner. All of a sudden, Teddy goes from scraping by in a one bedroom apartment with his single mom to being a multimillionaire. This windfall is a blessing for his family, but as the months wear on, this newfound wealth changes Teddy. A more arrogant, careless version of himself begins to emerge, which devastates Alice. She abandons her plan to confess her feelings and begins trying to resign herself to the fact that the jackpot she brought to her best friend might end up separating them forever. Windfall is a novel about the randomness of life and the power of money, with both of its characters learning about how some moments in life irrevocably change everything that comes after them--and it up to you to make those changes good ones or bad ones.   

This was a nice read, with a surprising amount of emotional depth to it. While Teddy and his money are what most of the events in the novel revolve around, the story is still mostly about Alice and her quest to define herself after the loss of her parents. Since their deaths, she has filled her time doing what was important to them. She volunteers at a variety of places, plans to move back to their old hometown of San Francisco, and focuses her college search on Stanford, the university her mother loved. While her life is good and these plans are fine, she's beginning to realize that her identity is getting swallowed up in things her parents valued, and as a result, she's not sure who she is. Teddy's lottery winnings force her to reevaluate what she's doing with her life, as she starts to realize that the future she hoped for with him might not happen. Smith writes her inner thoughts and dialogue with others beautifully, with many heartbreaking and introspective moments emerging. Alice's character felt real and well-developed, and I found myself rooting for her as I read.

In fact, I could have done with way less of Teddy, as his self-centered, immature nature grew under the influence of all his money. He said so many uncaring, tone deaf, and mean comments to Alice over the course of the the story that I was completely fed up with him. I couldn't understand why Alice persisted in mooning over him when he hurt her so regularly. Alice comments several times throughout the story that she know he has flaws, but can't help feeling the way she does about him. This is a common trope in young adult fiction - liking the "bad boy" even though you know it's not healthy for you - and I don't find it to be particularly realistic or compelling. Of course, Teddy is revealed to have a heart of gold underneath all that bravado, which, hey, might be true. However, I didn't feel like Alice needed to deal with this project of a boy when she had so much work she needed to do on herself. It would have been a less orthodox, and more brave choice, to have her remain his good friend, but this novel ends the way that most young adult romances do. 

So, my initial thoughts about Windfall turned out to be true. It was a fun read, but not a special favorite. I would not hesitate to recommend this to a teen reader interested in romance, but I don't think adults will find a ton to hang onto here. It was an entertaining few hours, with a surprising amount of emotion to it. It will be one for my donate pile, where I hope it will find its way into the hands of a teen reader who falls in love with it.

Challenge Tally:

Clear the Shelves 2018: 13 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 26

Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee

After exploring some pretty heavy nonfiction last week, I decided to pick something on the lighter side for my next read. Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee fit the bill nicely. This was one of my young adult impulse purchases from Barnes and Noble that has sat on my shelf for ages. I picked it more or less at random from a big stack of others just like it and dove in.

The plot concerns Hailey and Clara, two seventeen year old conjoined twins. As the story starts, they are beginning their senior year of high school in Bear Pass, the tiny California town where they live with their parents. They are joined together back-to-back, at the base of their spines. Growing up attached to each other hasn't always been easy, but thanks to the efforts of their mother, who makes sure accommodations are taken care of at home and at school, the girls have been able to live reasonably normal lives.

However, as they approach the end of their high school careers and college application deadlines loom closer and closer, the girls find themselves at a bit of a crossroads. Hailey, who favors pink hair and a punk rock aesthetic, longs to attend an art school, where she can continue to hone her painting skills. Clara, who is timid and always trying to minimize the amount of attention she draws to herself, secretly dreams of studying astronomy and physics. She longs to go to space and see Earth through the window of a shuttle. While the girls are extremely close to each other and love each other deeply, their differing desires are starting to bother them both. To pursue the dreams of one sister means that the other sister will have to give up what she wants. In addition, their over-protective mother is putting constant pressure on them to conform to her vision for their future - staying at home and attending a local community college that does not have an astronomy program and has a very weak art program. It's a near-impossible situation for them to navigate.

To add to the difficulty they are experiencing as they try to make plans for their future, they begin to have a little boy drama as well. Both Hailey and Clara have crushes on different boys, but they are afraid to pursue any relationships. How can you have a boyfriend when your sister is attached to your back? As they watch other students in their classes pair off, they despair of ever being in a romantic relationship themselves. Feelings of self doubt and intense sadness creep into their minds, especially for Clara, who is always very hard on herself.

As their school year moves forward, both girls must begin making tough decisions and pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. They consider everything from one twin sacrificing her own happiness for her sister's dreams to risking a highly-dangerous separation surgery. Together, they work through this painful process of figuring out who they are and what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Gemini is a novel about a bond between two sisters who are closer than most, and how that bond pulls them through the uncertainty of growing up.

I thought the novel was pretty enjoyable overall. The plot was intriguing and caused me to think a lot about what choices I would make if I were in Hailey or Clara's (or their mother's) position. I thought Mukherjee did a nice job of characterizing the twins differently. She shifts the narration between the girls from chapter to chapter and each voice felt distinctive. I identified hard with Clara, the more reticent and anxious sister, and I enjoyed pulling for her throughout the novel. This was a quick read for me; I was able to finish over the course of two days. It was the perfect book for the mood I was in. I wanted something interesting and on the lighter side, which this was, despite tackling some emotional topics.

There were only two elements of the novel that I wasn't a fan of. The first was the girls' mother. I found her to be unreasonably over-protective and annoying. In my mind, if you make the highly unorthodox decision not to separate conjoined twins, then you must move mountains to help them live normal lives. The mother in this story did that, but only to a point. She got special desks in the girls' school and became a great tailor to alter their clothes, but then she refuses to let them do things like date boys, go to school dances, or attend the colleges they want without massive, emotional arguments. I get that she was trying to shield them from the judgements and rudeness of others, but it got old. She felt less like a real person and more like a plot devise designed to consistently stand in the way of her daughters' happiness.

The other element that I wasn't a fan of was the ending, which felt cheesy, forced, and unrealistic. It was a bit too happy for me. I felt like Mukherjee glossed over a lot of the difficult questions she raised in her previous chapters and just ended things with a shrug. I wish she had dug deeper into the implications of the decision that the girls ultimately ended up making.

Despite those things, Gemini was still a very entertaining read. It's not destined to be a favorite of mine, but I did enjoy it and I think young adult readers will find a lot to like in its pages. This one will end up on my donate pile. I hope it finds its way to someone who will fall in love with Hailey and Clara's unusual and engaging story. 


Challenge Tally:
Clear the Shelves 2018: 12 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 22

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

It seems that I've hit a bit of a reading roadblock lately. As my husband and I prepare to move across the country, I'm finding it hard to keep my mind on a book and stick to a reading schedule. Resigning from my current job, working on obtaining certification in Connecticut, and saying goodbye to all my friends and family is weighing on me right now. I usually find comfort in reading, but my mind has been racing a mile and minute this month and I'm struggling to focus.

Despite my worries, I've finally managed to finish something this week. I'd been wanting to read In the Garden of Beasts for a while now, and with my push to read more nonfiction this year, I thought it was the right time. I read The Devil in the White City, another of Larson's nonfiction novels, a few months ago and enjoyed it, so I went into this one expecting a similar experience - nonfiction that reads like fiction. In this, I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.

The plot concerns William E. Dodd, the American ambassador to Berlin in 1933. As the first United States ambassador to Hitler's Germany, he was in a unique position to watch the evolution of the Nazi regime - a government that many people hoped would help pull Germany out of an economic depression and get them back on the right track after WWI. He brought his family along to Berlin with him, and his own recorded experiences, along with those of his daughter Martha, form the basis of the story.

Initially, the family expected to enjoy a grand adventure. Germany at this time was an optimistic and stylish place, and most people assumed that Hitler's government would either fall apart in short order or become more moderate over time. As the Dodd family settled into their new home, their experiences seemed to support this view. Berlin felt like a normal city. However, as Hitler began to consolidate his power, things started to change. Dodd and his daughter became increasingly uncomfortable as they witnessed the growing brutality of the Nazis. Beatings, arrests, suppression of the press, and executions became the order of the day. Despite his best efforts, Dodd was never able to use his position as a diplomat to temper Hitler's government, and his reports back to the United States contained dire warnings about Germany's intentions. President Roosevelt, however, refused to act on this information. He was under intense political pressure to stay out of the affairs of foreign nations and to avoid taking any actions that might cause Germany to default on their loans from the U.S. Eventually, Dodd was removed from his position as ambassador for refusing to be more conciliatory towards Nazi officials, whom he came to view as murderers. He returned with his family to the United States, where he worked steadily to educate the population about what Nazi Germany was really like.

This novel was fascinating and a little infuriating. Its fascination came from the treasure trove of interesting information about how the Nazis were able to rise to power. I didn't know much about this time period beyond the basics you learn about WWII in high school, so I learned a lot while reading. It's clear that Larson did quality, meticulous research in putting this book together, with diary entries and letters from many different people filling out authentic details about the time period. The chapters shift between Dodd's perspective and his daughter Martha's perspective, which provides a nice blend of official, government-style information with more casual, personal-style observations. The story was consistently interesting, which made the reading go relatively quickly.

The infuriating aspect of the book lay in watching so many world leaders stand by doing nothing while Hitler rose to power. What this story proves is that Hitler's government was anything but solid. Paranoia, lies, disorganization, confusion, and sabotage were commonplace. These were not people who had a clear vision and a strategic plan in place from the beginning. The intervention of the United States, or another European nation, could have easily changed the course of history had it come early enough. It was frustrating to see the inaction of other countries, who favored a "let's just cross our fingers and hope its okay" approach rather than standing up for the rights of the oppressed in Germany. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but leaders were given warnings from figures like Dodd while the Nazis were gaining strength, and those warnings were brushed aside. It's a shame. I look at history a little differently now after reading this.

Of course, the parallels between what was going on in Germany and what is going on politically in the U.S. right now were impossible to ignore. We too have a leader who is actively trying to suppress the press and is prone to emotional outbursts. We too have a leader who inspires a fanatical following that believes everything he says, no matter how obviously untrue. We too have a leader that is obsessed with keeping "undesirables" out of his country. While it seems outrageous to suggest anything close to the Holocaust could happen here, we must remember that no one in Germany thought that about Hitler either, and the inaction of those people led to tragedy on an unfathomable scale. It's kind of scary to think about what could come next.

I very much enjoyed In the Garden of Beasts, and would encourage anyone interested in the history of WWII to pick it up. It focuses in on a part of the war that isn't often talked about and answers questions about how someone like Hitler was able to rise to power in a modern, civilized country. This one made a deep impression on me and any book that helps to challenge the way you think about the world is worth a read.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 8/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 11 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 21

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

I love reading books about other books. Of course, those types of novels only cause my to-be-read pile to grow, but I really like seeing the magic that books work on other people. I don't know a lot of people that enjoy reading in my own, day-to-day life, so seeing others describe which books have influenced them makes me feel less alone. They let me know that somewhere out there in the universe, people like me exist. I own lots of "best of" type books that exist purely to list reading recommendations. I also have lots of online lists of recommendations saved to try and read from later. It's basically an obsession at this point. My life mainly consists of reading books, reading articles about books, reading books about books, talking about books, shopping for books, and (occasionally) eating and sleeping.

So, when I spotted Alice Ozma's The Reading Promise at my school's book fair a few years ago, I was instantly intrigued. This memoir promised to be about Ozma's impressive feat of  reading out loud every night with her father from the ages of 9 to 18. I was interested to see what her favorite novels were, compare them with the books I loved as a kid, and see how the stories she shared with her dad strengthened the bond between them. I bought the book and stuck it on my shelf, then ended up never getting around to reading it. With my Clear the Shelves and True Books challenges underway, I decided it was finally time to give The Reading Promise a shot.

The novel begins with Ozma recounting a bit of her childhood and explaining how she started her reading project. Her father was an elementary school librarian and they would read together already on most nights, but one evening, the idea of a reading streak entered Ozma's head. She proposed reading out loud together for 100 night in a row to her dad, and he readily agreed. Once that milestone was reached, Ozma extended the challenge to be 1,000 nights of reading in a row. Once that milestone was reached, the pair just kept on going all the way until she graduated from high school and left for college. The pair never missed a night and ended up reading all sorts of novels together, from old favorites like The Wizard of Oz, to newer selections like The Harry Potter series.

All of this reading forms the background to a series of vignettes about Ozma's life, with events such as her parents' divorce, her grandparents' deaths, her sister leaving for college, and other typical family milestones taking center stage. Her writing flows nicely and is easy to read, and her humorous anecdotes make the pages go by quickly. This is a relatively short read, and an enjoyable way to spend a few afternoons.

What this novel is not, unfortunately, is a book about books. The reading streak is consistently pushed to the background in favor of other family stories that have very little connection to the novels Ozma and her father make their way through. While the books and reading are always there, they aren't a significant part of the story. Few actual titles or opinions about books are even mentioned. What The Reading Promise truly is is a memoir about the life of a very young woman who hasn't undergone anything especially interesting in her life aside from achieving an unusually close relationship with her father. While her writing is nice and her stories are sweet and sometimes touching, this book isn't at all what the cover suggests it will be.

At the end of the novel, Ozma includes a partial list of the novels she read with her father during their streak. I was glad to see this element, but disappointed that it was so incomplete. Ozma explains that they has no idea while they were reading that their project would stretch on so long, so they didn't write down all of the books as they were going. That's completely understandable, but what we're left with is a rather short list that is composed of mostly Judy Blume, J.K. Rowling, L. Frank Baum, Beverly Cleary, and Donald J. Sobol (of Encyclopedia Brown fame). I was hoping for some lesser-known recommendations.

Unfortunately, The Reading Promise just wasn't what I wanted it to be. Based on the cover and summary on the back, I don't feel like I had unreasonable expectations for it. This was described as "the heartwarming, true story of a young woman, her single father, and the power of books." Most of that is true--just not the part of about the books. Books were there, but they did not hold as prominent a place in the story as I was expecting. Ozma's vignettes about her childhood and her dad are undoubtedly charming, but this is not really about reading. Ultimately, I was left wanting more from this one.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 7/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 10 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 20

 

The Widow by Fiona Barton

The Widow is the very last book I had left to read from the sizable stack of novels my mother loaned me. Now that I've finished it, I'm officially done with the pile! I'm not complaining about this by any means, because everything my mom picked was pretty good, but I'm glad to be able to return them and get back to reading the backlog from my own shelves. Goodness knows I have enough of it.

The plot of The Widow concerns the aftermath of a terrible crime. At the start of the story, Jean Taylor is in mourning for her husband, Glen. He died recently after being struck by a bus while running errands. Unlike most widows though, she is unable to grieve in peace because of her husband's notoriety. A few years prior to the accident, he was arrested for the abduction, and presumed murder, of a toddler. He won his trial due to a lack of evidence against him, but most of their community still believed he was guilty. Jean stood by her husband throughout his case, supporting him and believing him to be innocent, despite a few worrying details she managed to ignore. Now, Glen's death brings renewed media attention to her doorstep. Many people believe that she might share more details about her husband, or maybe even reverse her support of him, now that is gone.

 Jean is damaged and depressed after the ordeals she has gone through with Glen. Without his controlling presence in her life, she begins to realize the strangeness and deception that existed in their marriage. She begins talking to Kate Waters, a determined reporter, anxious to quell the press gathered outside her house by giving an exclusive interview. The process of answering Kate's questions begins to stir up memories for her and leads her to reexamine what exactly was going on in her house. Once she is able to clarify some of her feelings and suspicions, she must decide exactly how much of her story she wants to share.

The Widow is told through multiple perspectives at different time periods. Some of the chapters take place during the time the abduction happened, and some of the chapters are told in the present day, as Jean prepares to be interviewed by Kate. Many characters are used as narrators, with some sections being told by Jean, some by Kate, some by Glen, some by the detective that worked the abduction case, and a few by other, more minor figures. Over the course of the story, the time periods catch up to one another, forming one cohesive narrative of what exactly happened to the abducted child. The pacing was excellent, with just the right amount of information doled out to the reader to keep them hooked on the story. This is the kind of novel you read in just a few sittings, anxious to put all the pieces together and sort out the details. There are lots of twists and turns to think about and the story is darkly interesting, like a Lifetime movie crossed with a Law and Order episode.

The characters are similarly well developed, each with distinct voices and personalities. Jean's character, unsurprisingly, is the best of all. It's obvious from the beginning of the novel that something isn't quite right with her, but what that something is isn't immediately apparent. Is she merely traumatized by her husband's actions, or is something inside of her influencing her behavior? It's obvious that she is a woman with secrets--that she knows more than she's letting on, but it's difficult to figure out whether she is knowingly lying to herself, or if she has genuinely blocked things out. She is an interesting character to try and understand, and her unreliability as a narrator keeps you guessing throughout the story.

The Widow was a fun read, and is perfect for fans of crime dramas or anyone looking for an exciting story to get lost in for a few hours. This is escapist reading at its finest, and its unusual, jumbled narrative style provides a nice mystery for readers to puzzle through. This is not the kind of novel I generally pick up on my own, so I'm pleased that I got the chance to experience it. Once again, I have to give my mom credit for passing on a great recommendation. 

Now, with her pile of books read and returned, it's time to get back to my own piles of unread books. While my mom's purchases skew towards self-help and crime dramas, my purchases skew to young adult and fantasy/science fiction novels. It will be nice to get back to some of my guilty pleasures for a little while.


Challenge Tally:
Clear the Shelves 2018: 9 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018:17

True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman

I bought True Notebooks several years ago from Amazon, thinking that it might make a nice addition to my classroom library. This memoir about an author's year teaching a writing class at a juvenile correctional facility in Los Angeles seemed like an inspirational read, and I thought my students might appreciate seeing the writing of other teenagers. When the book arrived, a quick flip through the pages showed me language that was entirely too vulgar for an 8th grade classroom, so I stuck it on my shelf. I figured I'd eventually read it on my own. With my True Books Challenge underway this year, I decided that now was the time.

True Notebooks is a memoir of Mark Salzman's first year teaching a writing course to the inmates at Central Juvenile Hall in East L.A. He is unsure about volunteering at the facility at first, but as he gets to know his students better and reads the work that they produce, he becomes a true believer in the program. The young men that he works with are incarcerated for serious crimes, mostly murders. They are facing very long sentences for their actions. Some of them know that they will never live on the outside again. Writing becomes an important outlet for them to process their feelings and sort through the emotional trauma they have experienced. They write about family members, childhood memories, life in prison, and many other topics, and most of their work is genuinely thoughtful and  moving.

Salzman's chapters are all centered around his visits to the prison and focus on his feelings about teaching there, the affection he develops for many of the boys, and his students' work. Several actual excerpts from the inmates are included, which bring their stories to life for the reader. The boys' words call many troubling questions to mind about the juvenile justice system, racism, and the purpose of prisons. Salzman doesn't attempt to answer these questions or take a political stance on anything. Rather, he raises the issues and leaves it to the reader to ponder. Certainly, there are no easy solutions when it comes to dealing with children that commit criminal acts. It's easy to repeat sayings like, "don't do the crime if you can't do the time," but taking a closer look at the human beings behind the orange jumpsuits muddies the waters a bit.

I picked up this book assuming that it would be another motivational story about teachers, like Freedom Writers or I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had. Those novels show teachers succeeding in the classroom and changing the lives of their students. True Notebooks, as I soon found out, is different. This is not a book with a happy ending. This is not a book where the students overcome their difficulties and go on to have happy lives. The boys in Salzman's class have no futures. They are caught up in gangs or drugs or both. They are serving life sentences or close to it. They will turn 18, get transferred to maximum security adult prisons, and leave their writing class behind. Salzman will only be in their lives for a short time, and there are no guarantees that his writing class will help them with anything. Seeing the boys bare their souls in their writing and then lose their cases and disappear to other prisons was disheartening. At the same time, it was a powerful comment on how our juvenile justice system functions and how poverty and gangs doom children to lives spent behind bars. Despite this heartbreak, the novel as a whole still manages to be a meaningful story. The writing that the boys produce offers a window into a world that most readers have never visited. Their experiences help readers develop empathy for a part of society that is easy to ignore or dismiss. Their stories are still valuable, even if they will be imprisoned for the rest of their lives. This novel is not really about showing a great teacher (even though Salzman is), it is about showing a group of students who, despite incredible disadvantages, refuse to give up.

In the end, True Notebooks was a good read. It was not what I was expecting from a "teacher book," but it gave me an interesting look at a segment of the population that I knew nothing about. I encountered a lot of difficult questions as I read about the justice system and society in general, and while these questions are frustrating to ponder, they are important to think about. The novel wasn't perfect by any means. There were sections where it dragged a bit and sections where I wished for more of a narrative. However, overall, I am glad I got a chance to read the work of the students featured in the story. Salzman did a good thing in teaching these boys and this is a great pick for anyone who teaches or is interested in disadvantaged students.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 6/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 8 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018:16