Posted by John David Anderson

 

Posted by John David Anderson is another one of the books my school purchased for our middle school book clubs this year. The cover definitely grabbed my attention and I felt like the summary on the back would be intriguing to a lot of kids, so I figured I'd give it a try myself. I read this partially on my lunch break in bits and pieces and then finished it off in a few sittings over winter break. I admit that it had a bit of a slow start, but I ended up being really glad I picked this one.

The story follows an eighth grader named Frost. He's a bit of a geeky kid that likes writing poetry. He has a small group of similarly geeky friends named Deedee, Wolf, and Bench. They've been a tight knit group for years and do everything together. Their comfortable group dynamic begins to shift, however, when two big changes happen at their school. First, after some inappropriate online activity, the school enacts  a complete cell phone ban. Without the ability to sneakily text each other during class, students turn to leaving sticky notes on each other's lockers. The anonymous nature of this leads to a lot of bullying and truly mean comments being flung around, some of which are directed towards Frost and his friends. 

The second change is the arrival of Rose Holland, a new student to their school. Rose's stocky frame and eccentric personality immediately draws a lot of negative attention from the other students. She takes a liking to Frost and his friends though, and inserts herself into their group. Without meaning to, she causes a divide between the boys that leads to a lot of complicated feelings on all sides. Frost is caught in the middle of the divide. He doesn't want anything to change, but he also doesn't mind Rose being around. Eventually the mean sticky notes and the situation with Rose work together to cause problems that can't be easily solved and Frost has to come to terms with the changing nature of people and relationships.

I ended up really liking this novel because everything in it felt very true. The characters acted like real middle schoolers, the conflicts between the boys were realistic, and the resolution wasn't neat and tidy. The main themes of the story centered around the power of words and how they can be used to hurt and to heal. There was a strong anti-bullying message as well, which are all ideas you would expect to find in middle grades fiction. What I thought was unique though was that a good chunk of the story concerned how friendships don't always last. In general, people don't keep their middle school friends for life. People drift apart for a variety of reasons and that's just a normal part of growing up. That happens here, with one of the friends in the group moving onto a different social circle. While there was some drama attached to his exit, he ultimately just didn't fit in with the group anymore and wanted to hang out with other people. It was sad, but it was also understandable. I liked that this was included because it's so relatable. I can imagine having some very interesting class discussions about this since so many kids will have experience with changing friendships to draw on. It's a life lesson that's not clichéd or cheesy to talk about. 

Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised by Posted. It was realistic in a way I wasn't expecting. I will definitely be recommending this to students this year. This will be my last book read in 2023 and it was a nice book to end on. It was about a lot of things that are difficult, but it contained a lot of hope as well. While the world can be a mean place, the relationships we build with those who move in and out of our lives will sustain us and make us strong.

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 24/24 - Complete!

Clear the Shelves 2023: 13/24