White Bird by R.J. Palacio

White Bird picks up the story of Julian Albans from the novel, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Julian was the boy who bullied Auggie Pullman. Julian reaches out to his Grandmere, who lives in France, to help him with a school assignment. He wants to learn about her experiences as a Jewish girl during the Holocaust.

Julian is attending a new school, Beecher High. He tells Grandmere that he still feels badly about how he treated Auggie over his facial deformity. His Grandmere explains that it is what we do after learning from our mistakes that matters most. Julian tells her that he wants to write his essay for school about her life. Grandmere is initially reluctant but then agrees to tell him the whole story, even though it will be very difficult.

Grandmere's story begins with her life in the 1930's in France. At that time, her name was Sara Blum and she lived in the village of Aubervilliers-aux-Bois in the Margeride mountains with her father Max, a renowned surgeon and her mother Rose, a math teacher and one of the first women to earn an advanced degree in mathematics. Her early life was idyllic, living in a comfortable home with beautiful furniture, pretty clothes and many toys. In the spring, Sara and her parents would picnic on the edge of the ancient forest called the Mernuit which surrounded their village. In the spring, the forest floor was covered with bright blue and violet bluebells, making it a magical place.

In June 1940, France surrendered to Nazi Germany, dividing the country into two zones, the Occupied zone and the Free Zone. Aubervilliers-aux-Bois was located in the Free Zone. This meant that life went on mostly the same for Sara: she was able to ride her scooter to school, walk to the market with friends, and go to the cinema. But soon the Vichy government began to pass laws restricting what French Jews could do. They were banned from certain public places, they had Juif or Jew, stamped on their identity cards and soon an anti-Jewish propaganda campaign began, blaming Jews for the troubles in France. In the summer of 1942, Jews in the Occupied Zone were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing. The Vel' d'Hiv roundup also took place in July. This was the mass arrest of 13,000 foreign Jews who were sent to a stadium in Paris. They were placed on trains and deported to the east, to concentration camps.

Sara found her school, the Ecole Lafayette to be a haven. In the spring of 1943, one day during math class, Sara was found daydreaming and sketching in her book. Although Mademoiselle Petitjean was kind, Sara fled the class when the bell rang, leaving behind her sketchbook. It was fortunately retrieved by her seatmate, a boy called "Tourteau" which means crab. This was not his real name but an unkind nickname given by his classmates because he used crutches after a bout of polio left his legs too weak to walk.  People said he had contracted polio from his father who worked in the sewers.

When Tourteau returned Sara's book, she thanked him but didn't intervene when another classmate, Vincent pushed him to the ground. Vincent was very handsome and many of the girls had a crush on him including Sara. That changed when he made an anti-Semitic remark to Sara, and after he praised her drawing, she felt humiliated and angry. Her friends, Marianne and Sophie tried to comfort Sara, telling her that his father works for the Nazis. It was at this point, Sara realized that life was changing.

When Sara told her parents what happened, they argued over leaving France. While her father wanted to leave, her mother believed that things would improve. That night Papa asked Sara to promise to continue wearing her winter boots even though it was April. Although Sara promised, the next morning she wore her pretty red shoes to school. 

That day in school, during math class, Pastor Luc entered Mademoiselle Petitjean's class. After whispering with Pastor Luc, Mademoiselle asked Sara and Ruth to quietly gather their things and to come with her. She told them that there was a round-up of the Jews in Aubervilliers-aux-Bois and that the Nazis were on their way to the school to take the Jewish children. Mademoiselle told the two girls that a maquisard (member of the French Resistance) would take them and the other Jewish students to hide in the forest. Sara had left her coat back in the classroom so Mademoiselle offered her scarf.  When the maquisard led the twelve Jewish students from the school into the woods, Sara did not follow. Instead she ran back into the school and hid in the bell tower. She didn't want to ruin her beautiful red shoes.

When the Nazis arrived, Pastor Luc almost succeeded in convincing them that none of the Jewish students had shown up for school. But just when they were about to leave, Vincent yelled to the Nazis from inside that school,  that the children were in the woods.  With the new snow, the soldiers were able to easily follow the tracks of the children and Antoine, the maquisard. The Nazis executed Antoine and took the children away in the truck despite Pastor Luc and Mademoiselle's attempt to convince them to let the children go. Not wishing the children to be taken alone, Mademoiselle decided to accompany them. Only Ruth survived the ordeal: they were taken to the camp at Beaune-la-Rolande and then forced to march in the snow to Pithiviers. The younger children could not keep up so Mademoiselle stayed with them. They were never heard from again.

Still hidden in the bell tower, Sara watched as the two gendarmes searched for the three children who were missing from the roundup. She knew the only reason she wasn't caught in the round-up was because she cared more about her shoes. Suddenly Tourteau appeared in the tower, and asked Sara to follow him. He told her that to remain in the tower would mean being discovered.  He led her out of the school, through the sewers to his home in Dannevilliers, fifteen kilometers from her own town. Because Julien's neighbours were suspected Nazi collaborators, he hid Sara in the dilapidated barn across from his house.  When Sara tried to thank him, he asked her to call him by his real name, Julien Beaumier.

Julien's parents, Vivienne and Jean-Paul, provided Sara with a blanket and some food and made the loft in their barn livable. Although Vivienne told Sara that she would be reunited with her parents who were also in hiding, Sara knew from her dream she would never see her maman again. As Julien and his family worked to keep Sara safe, she lived each day with the fear that she might be discovered and taken away to a camp. Sara spent long hours alone, sometimes sketching, reading the books Vivienne brought her and daydreaming that she was a white bird that flew over the countryside. 

By the spring of 1944, both Sara and Julien had grown into young adults. Sara was tall with long red hair and Julien, a handsome young man. People and events outside the Beaumier home had changed as well. Vincent had joined the new police, the Milice who collaborated with the Nazis. Pastor Luc had joined the Maquis. The Beaumier's celebrated Sara's birthday with a special cake and they listened to the radio. They learned that the Allies had captured Monte Cassino in Italy and were on their way to France. Sara had hope for the end of the war and began to consider plans for after the war. Sara and Julien had also fallen in love.

The next day on his way to Ecole Lafayette, Julien was arrested by either the Nazis or the gendarmes. While going through Julien's possessions, Vincent found Sara's sketchbook and made the connection that it belonged to the missing Jewish girl they never found in the round-up. Remembering the time he followed Julien back to his barn, Vincent decided to return to search the Beamier's barn. This set in motion a chain of events that had deadly repercussions for all involved.

Discussion

White Bird builds on the story told in Palacio's first novel, Wonder and in the short stories from Auggie and Me. In this new story, told in graphic novel format, Julian Albans reaches out to his Grandmere Sara, to learn about what happened to her during World War II, as part of a school assignment. Her life story offers some important lessons for his own journey.

Julian was the class bully and treated Auggie terribly. Now he's ashamed of how he acted. However, Grandmere reminds Julian that it is what we do after we have learned from our mistakes that is the most important thing. Our mistakes do not define us. Julian's Grandmere wasn't harsh with her grandson because she recognized that youth often make mistakes and don't always understand the significance of events and actions when they are young. In her own life, Sara had a similar experience: she didn't stand up for a boy in her class who was ridiculed for having a disability. Instead, she was concerned about being popular and fashionable. Her experiences during the war, matured her and made her realize the wrong she had willingly participated in.

Grandmere encourages Julian to be someone who has a light inside him, rather than a person attracted to the darkness. Grandmere tells Julian how she questioned her father about why the Nazis hate Jews. Her father explained that he believes "...that all people have a light that shines inside of them. This light allows us to see into other people's hearts, to see the beauty there. The love. The sadness. The humanity. Some people though have lost this light. They have darkness inside them, so that is all they see in others: darkness. No beauty. No love. Why do they hate us? Because they cannot see our light. Nor can they extinguish it. As long as we shire our light, we win. That is why they hate us. Because they will never take our light from us."

Vincent represents what the Nazis were and what they believed. Vincent was a handsome boy that all the girls wanted, but inside he was ugly. He looked at Julien, crippled by polio and did not see another person. He didn't see Julien's humanity because his own inner ugliness prevented him from seeing Julien's light. Sara didn't understand this and so she didn't intervene when Vincent pushed Julien down. She didn't confront Vincent's injustice and unkindness to Julien. However, Sara's experiences during the war help her to understand that she was part of that injustice by simply not speaking up. This is the lesson she wants to impart to her grandson, Julian: you must stand up to evil.

She explains this at the end of her story, when Julian is attempting to understand how the Holocaust could have happened. His Grandmere tells him, "Evil is only stopped when good people finally come together to put an end to it. There must be the will." She encourages Julian to act, "If you see injustice, you will fight it. You will speak out."  He promises Grandmere that he will be a light. Grandmere tells Julian, "...It always takes courage to be kind. But in those days when such kindness could cost you everything -- your freedom, your life-- kindness becomes a miracle. It becomes that light in the darkness that Papa talked about, the very essence of our humanity. It is hope. " 

White Bird is a work of historical fiction that is both written and illustrated by Palacio. The graphic novel is divided into three parts as well as a Prologue and an Epilogue, separated by a black blank page, each with a thought-provoking quote. The illustrations, created digitally are exquisitely coloured, especially the panels showcasing the bluebells in the Mernuit forest. The title of the novel is taken from the motif of the white bird symbolizing freedom, that is found throughout the novel.

Palacio, in her Glossary writes that White Bird  "... was not based on any one person's story, but was influenced by the many inspiring stories I've read over the years about children who went into hiding during the Holocaust and the ordinary citizens who helped them." Stories like White Bird are important not only because they help others learn about and from the Holocaust, but to also because they inspire readers to work towards creating a world free of discrimination and prejudice. 

The graphic novel format is the perfect vehicle to do just this, to engage and inform young readers about such important topics like the Holocaust, bullying and prejudice in a way that is not overwhelming. Using this format has allowed author/illustrator Palacio to highlight both acts of cruelty and acts of courage and kindness.

White Bird is a fitting addition to the Wonder story.

Book Details:

White Bird by R.J. Palacio
New York:  Alfred A. Knopf     2019
220 pp.

The Boy At The Back Of The Class by Onjali Q. Rauf

"I don't think any of us had ever heard a story like it before. And as sad and as scary as it was, it was even sadder and scarier because it wasn't just a made up story from one of our reading books. It was all real. Ahmet had survived everything his pictures had shown us and was here. With us. Knowing that made me feel sorry and proud and scared for him all at once; but most of all, it made me want to tell him he was definitely the bravest person the bravest person I knew."

The Boy At The Back Of The Class is a sweet story about acceptance, friendship, kindness and refugees. 

****Spoiler Alert: the identity of the narrator is not revealed until the last chapter, but I've decided to use the narrator's name in my post.

A young student, Alexa who is nine-years-old lives with her mom, a librarian in a flat in London, England. Alexa lost her father three years earlier in a car crash and now worries the memory of her beloved father is slipping away.

On the third Tuesday, after school has started again, a new student arrives in Alexa's class. Although her teacher, Mrs. Khan introduces the boy as Ahmet, she doesn't tell the class anything about him. Alexa notes that Ahmet, quiet and shy, has eyes like those of a lion, and she notices his tattered red backpack.

Almost immediately, Alexa, who has three best friends, Tom, Josie and Michael, decides to befriend Ahmet, but there are few opportunities to actually talk to him as he's not out for recess and he isn't around at lunch.

After school rumours abound, with Alexa's classmate, Jennie stating that Ahmet was likely dangerous and couldn't come out during break. But when he reappears at the end of the day, Alexa can't resist in running over to Ahmet and offering him a candy she's been saving for him. 

Rumours continue to swirl; he has a contagious disease, his family are super-rich and have sent him to the school for protection. But it is from two parents gossiping that Alexa overhears that Ahmet is a "refugee kid". That night she tells her mother what she's overheard and wants to know what being a refugee kid means. Alexa's mother explains that refugees are people who are forced to flee from their homes, often leaving everything they own and even the people they love, behind. 

The next day in school Ahmet has Ms. Hemsi to help him. After school, Alexa and friends approach Ahmet with treats. They learn from Ms. Hemsi that Ahmet is from Syria and speaks Kurdish. Alexa is thrilled when she sees Ahmet taking a bite from the apple she's given him. But she's also very worried, because Brendan-the-bully has been watching Ahmet. And the very next day, Brendan does bully Alexa and her friends as they play football with Ahmet. Fortunately Ms. Khan comes to their rescue. 

Ahmet experiences more bullying at school and gets into a fight with Brendan, when Alexa attempts to give him a pomegranate at lunch hour. In an attempt to help his classmates understand what he's been through, Ahmet gives a little presentation before the half term holiday. He tells the class that he is a refugee from Syria, whose family fled because of war. Ahmet reveals that his family travelled over mountains and rivers, carrying their cat, suitcases and his little sister. However, in a drawing of the boat they used to cross a big sea, the cat and his sister are missing. Ahmet's drawing of their life in Greece, living in a tent with people from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eritrea show only himself and his father. Alexa figures his mother is sleeping in one of the tents. His journey continued to France and finally to England. 

After hearing Ahmet's story and seeing the pictures he drew, Alexa has many questions. She wonders where his sister and mother are and what happened to his cat.When Alexa brings Ahmet one of her Tintin books to read, she discovers they have a similar love of the character. This prompts Ahmet to share that he doesn't know where his dad is, that he might be in France and that his sister Syrah is "in the sea" and that his mum is sick somewhere. This information deeply upsets Alexa and she's unable to sleep that night.

However that changes when Alexa overhears a man and woman talking on the bus on her way to school the next morning. The man indicates that the government is planning to close the border by the end of the month. Alexa is upset because she believes that this means unless Ahmet can find his mother and father before the border closes, he will never see them again. At school she tells her friends what she overheard, breaking her promise to Ahmet to keep the details of his family a secret. They decide to tell their teachers, Mrs.Khan and Ms. Hemsi. Although their teachers attempt to reassure them that everything is being done to help Ahmet, Alexa and her friends remain unconvinced. Together they begin to brainstorm ideas and form plans. Then Alexa has the "Greatest Idea In the World", a plan that involves skipping school, taking the train, and the Queen! But will it work? Can they help Ahmet find his parents and be reunited?

Discussion

 The Boy At The Back Of The Class tackles the difficult and complex issue of refugees. Since the author Onjali Q. Rauf resides in England, this topic is approached from a British point of view.

The novel is based on the Syrian refugee crisis which began in March of 2011, when the government of Bashar al-Assad attempted to put down peaceful demonstrations - called the Arab spring- against his government. Millions of Syrians fled the country, to neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Many fled further, across the Mediterranean Sea into Europe and the United Kingdom. This journey was dangerous and thousands of refugees are known to have perished, including little three-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose body was photographed on a beach in Turkey. With the overwhelming number of refugees, many people in Europe were not welcoming and calls came to close borders.

In The Boy At The Back Of The Class, Ahmet is young refugee from Syria who has arrived in England without his family. While many of his classmates are curious about him, they remain distant. But one young girl decides to reach out and be his friend. When she learns his story, Alexa decides to try and help. Through the various characters in the novel, author Onjali Q. Rauf portrays how people view refugees.

The character of Alexa is open-minded, compassionate and empathetic. She immediately wants to befriend Ahmet, knowing that her friends will do the same.  "After all, having four new friends would be much better than having none. Especially for a boy who looked as scared and as sad as the one now sitting at the back of our class." Alexa, who we learn is of mixed heritage with her mum being born in Indonesia and her father from Austria, is puzzled over people who don't like those who are different.

"The Deep Thought my brain had found was wondering how anyone could be scared of me just because I didn't look like them.Everyone in school looks different and likes different things --and has parents who come from all kinds of different places...I like looking like I have a suntan, and I like everyone being different. It would be too boring if everyone was exactly the same as each other."

The novel is populated with plenty of characters who are not friendly towards the refugees. There is Brendan-the Bully who torments Ahmet at school, Mr. Irons an upper level teacher who doesn't intervene to help Ahmet when he's being bullied, Alexa's Aunt Christina who complains about the benefits refugees receive and even neighbours who are not happy about Alexa's actions in helping Ahmet. The author highlights some of the objections towards refugees and repudiates them through her characters. For example, best friend and classmate Josie tells Alexa and their friends, " 'But my dad said Refugee Kids are dangerous, and that they lie and steal things,' said Josie, looking confused. He told me to stay away from the new boy and not to talk to him, because he was probably a criminal."  However Alexa and Josie's friends, Michael and Tom reveal that their parents told them to be nice to the new boy. This causes Josie to rethink what her father has told her. "She didn't say anything, but I knew she was thinking that her dad must have made a mistake. There was no way the new boy could be dangerous or a criminal -- not when he was the same size as us and had just run away from bullies and a real war."

Through the character of Ahmet, the author shows the humanity of refugees. As Alexa and her classmates get to know Ahmet better, they see he is a kid just like them, one who likes to play football and who has a favourite food. The author also invites her readers to consider what it might be like to lose everything, your home, clothing, a favourite pet and a beloved sibling while fleeing from people trying to kill you. Rauf also points out, through Alexa's family history, that many of us were once refugees or newcomers to countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and America.

The Boy At The Back Of The Class is a thoughtful treatment of the refugee situation, encouraging young readers to think about what it might be like for someone like themselves to lose everything and have to flee their home. This novel is a good starting point for younger readers to learn about Syria, Middle Eastern culture and the conditions that brought about the refugee crisis. Readers don't know the identity of the narrator until the very end of the novel, although there are hints that it is a girl, but her name is never mentioned.

Since the author is British, young readers may also encounter an entire vocabulary they are not familiar with, for example,  jumper for sweater, rubber for eraser and "takes the register" is a phrase for taking attendance. There are a few quirks in the novel, for example Alexa and her mother do not own a home computer and use an atlas to look up the location of Syria, and pomegranates are a fruit that can be found in any large grocery store in Canada but apparently not so in London.

Book Details:

The Boy At The Back Of The Class by Onjali Q. Rauf
London, England: Orion Children's Books     2018
297 pp.

What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

David Drucker lives with his mom and dad and has an older sister Lauren whom he affectionately calls Miney because "she's always felt like the only thing in a confusing world that belongs to me." Lauren, "smart and cool and beautiful" was the most popular girl in high school, president of her class and homecoming queen.  

David, who is a strapping six foot two, has an I.Q. of 168 and knows he's different. His doctor has suggested that he has a "borderline case of Asperger's" but David, who's read the DSM-4 (the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) doesn't believe he meets the criteria for such a label. He admittedly has trouble in social situations, preferring routine and order, but he feels he can be empathetic and he can make eye contact. He's been relentlessly bullied and so he's given up trying to fit in, preferring to be alone.

During lunch hour, David always sits by himself in the school cafeteria.  He's done so for the past 622 days until one day Kit Lowell sits down at his table. David, who's not good at names, is tempted to add her to his notebook which he uses to keep track of people, The notebook was his sister Miney's idea, suggested after David was bullied in middle school. Miney felt he was too trusting, and so they made a list of people, dividing them into those trustworthy and those to avoid.

David immediately acknowledges Kit's father's death, something that none of her friends will do.  Kit finds David's directness refreshing. She's decided not to sit with her usual table that includes her best friends Annie and Violet and has chosen David's table because she knows she will be left alone. Kit tells David she doesn't want to talk which he respects. Although it's been a month since her dad was killed in a car accident, Kit doesn't want to go to school. After arriving late to Mr. Schmidt's physics class, Kit abruptly leaves without permission. David decides to follow her out, but he does ask to leave. He finds Kit in the concession hut by the bleachers and tells her that he's not following her but wanted to make sure she was okay.

Kit is puzzled by David's concern for her. She doesn't know much about him except that he's awkward, frequently bumps into people, and wears headphones when he walks around at school. But Kit also remembers that her father suggested she get to know David Drucker, telling her he is an interesting person. And she also notices that beneath his long hair, David is rather cute.

Kit continues to sit with David at lunch hour. When Kit asks him why he always sits alone, David tells her that he shares nothing in common with the other students other than they are the same age and born in the same town and that many of the students have not been nice to him. Kit tells David that she chose his table because she knew if she asked him to leave her alone he would respect her request.

Kit's friends however are not satisfied to leave her alone and they begin confronting her. But Kit continues to sit with David during lunch. To help her, David takes notes in physics class for her, which really impresses her. He also reveals he can make a very good chicken tikka. Kit begins to feel David is a sort of "good weird." After school Kit offers David a ride home which he accepts even though he drove his own car to school. After dropping David off at home, Kit goes to the Pizza Palace where her friends, Gabriel, Justine, Annie and Violet hang out. Several other girls from their school also join them and begin questioning Kit about her new friendship with David. Kit defends spending time with David, telling her friends that he is "pretty interesting".

Meanwhile, David's sister Miney returns unexpectedly from school, with purple hair, bloodshot eyes and a new piercing. David tells his sister about his developing friendship with Kit who has sat with David for four days now and who admits that she enjoys talking with him. This leads Miney to advise David that he needs to ask Kit out to study together or work on a school project. And she decides that David needs a makeover, a new haircut and some new clothes besides the khaki pants he always wears.

Kit's life becomes even more complicated when she uncovers a devastating secret her parents have been keeping from her. She is so angry at her mother that she is no longer speaking with her. At the same time she's also asked David to help her figure out how her father was killed in the car accident. As her friends continue to question her ongoing friendship with David, Kit and David's friendship continues to blossom. But will their new friendship survive as they both face having their inner most secrets unexpectedly revealed?
 
Discussion

What To Say Next is a sweet, touching story about two teens struggling to find their place in the world. David Drucker, a teen with autism, has given up fitting into the social scene in his high school and is a loner. Kit, very different from David, is part of the in-crowd. But since the death of her dad a month earlier, she's struggling with her own guilt leading her to withdraw socially.

Both David and Kit undergo a personal journey of growth and self-revelation throughout the novel.  For Kit this journey involves confronting the secrets both she and her mother are keeping. At the beginning of the novel, Kit wants her friends to acknowledge the death of her father instead of just skirting around the topic. When her friends remark that she is struggling to cope with "everything" Kit thinks, "I shake off my irrational annoyance at her euphemism. Everything is obviously my dad being dead. Why can't she just say that instead?"

Ironically, despite Kit's desire for her friends to talk about her father's death, Kit herself refuses to publicly talk about it because, as it turns out, she's keeping a big secret regarding her father's death. It is a secret orchestrated by her mother, but which terribly burdens Kit. She withdraws from her friends and seeks shelter at David Drucker's table, a loner whom Kit expects will leave her alone.

However David surprises Kit when he immediately acknowledges what has happened to her by stating that her father has died. He "... just said the words right out loud. The unvarnished, ugly truth." Nevertheless the weight of the secret she's carrying around is unbearable and at one point she considers telling her friends the truth about what really happened. "I consider explaining everything to my friends. Finally coming clean. Telling the whole story of this nightmare from beginning to end. But I can't. There are some words we are not allowed to say out loud." 

As Kit's friendship with David blossoms she decides to ask him to help her figure out the physics of her father's car accident and to learn  "...if it could have been stopped. What was the very last second someone should have put their foot on the brake?..."  David agrees to help his new friend, dubbing the effort, "The Accident Project". But when he accompanies Kit to the scene of the accident, she flees. Nevertheless, David is persistent as he wants to help Kit come to terms with her father's death.

When David's mathematical calculations indicate that Kit's father should not be dead she resolves to tell the truth. "On the way over to McCormacks, I resolved to be brave and  honest. I realize I can't keep going, not like this. My mom wanted us to build and then live in a glass house of lies. But it's time to start throwing rocks..." Kit believes that David will keep her secret. She doesn't stop to think how David might feel when he learns the truth. David with his Asperger's doesn't think about Kit, instead he feels betrayed because Kit asked him to find the truth of her father's accident when she knew it all along.

When the truth about the accident is revealed, Kit is finally able to talk to her friends, opening the door to healing and forgiveness. She is relieved to have the truth come out although she now believes David is "the enemy".  One noticeable flaw in Kit is that she never apologizes to David for lying to him and setting him up to solve her father's accident when she knew the truth all along. Instead, she first focuses on David's actions rather than her own.

Besides dealing with her role in her father's car accident, Kit must also come to terms with the secret she's learned about her mother. When Kit searches through her father's files she finds a file filled with special memories of his only child. For Kit this is proof that, "Our lives were good. Maybe even perfect." However, Kit makes a shocking discovery about her family and yet another secret her mother has been keeping. This leaves her feeling confused and hurt. After a night of partying, drinking and kissing David, Kit wakes up the next morning hungover and filled with regret. She begins to understand how her mother could have made the mistake she did. This realization leads to the beginning of her healing the rift with her mother.

For David his journey is more about confronting the real world and learning to live in it. When Kit comes into his world David discovers the value of friendship. "Here's the thing about making a friend that I didn't understand before I started talking to Kit: They grow your world. Allow for previously inconceivable possibilities." He acknowledges that "Before Kit, I never used the word lonely, though that's exactly what I was."

David has relied heavily on his sister Miney's help. It was her idea for him to keep a notebook to help him keep track of the people in his life. Whenever David experienced difficulties, Miney was always there to help him. She helped David grow his friendship with Kit and was the impetus behind his makeover, and his asking Kit out. After his notebook is published on Tumblr, David gradually recovers from his horror and humiliation. When David learns his sister will be leaving soon he realizes he will be fine when she's gone. "The old me would have cried or screamed or begged her to stay. But I'm not the old me anymore. Despite the events of the past seventy hours, I am growing up, getting stronger. I'm miles away from Normal -- I will never live in the same state as Normal, nor do I necessarily want to -- but I'm getting a little closer..."

When David reveals Kit's secret and accuses her in front of everyone at the restaurant, this is a problem Miney cannot fix. To David's great distress he learns Miney is on her way back to school. However Miney tells him, "You don't need my help the way you used to." Instead Miney tells him "But look how quickly you figured out what you did wrong. The old you might have not even noticed that Kit was upset. Or might have insisted that she was being overly sensitive. You're getting better at this empathy thing..."

David recognizes that he needs to apologize to Kit and despite being scared, he devises a creative and very touching way of apologizing. In a series of sweet but practical notes, he explains to Kit that he has Asperger's, and asks for forgiveness to become friends again. In the end though, David gives Kit "one last gift" that of explaining to her that there was nothing she could have done to save her father. "This wasn't your fault. Mathematically or legally. There is nothing you could have done. So instead of trying to watch it happen differently, why don't you try not to watch it at all?" Kit thinks David is simply being kind but he tells her "the math never lies".  This opens the door for Kit to forgive herself, a big step towards healing.

Buxbaum has crafted a beautiful story about the meaning of friendship, forgiveness and redemption. The real gem of this novel is the main character, David Drucker who is endearing and realistic, with a big heart that makes up for all the difficulties his Asperger's creates. He practices krav maga, copies Newtons third law in Latin "to keep it interesting" and tells Kit that if "you were a radio wave, you'd have your very own frequency." He might not have all the social cues worked out, but his intentions are good. What To Say Next encourages us all to be more empathetic, to believe in second chances and to help one another in our own journeys.

Book Details:

What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
New York: Delacourt Press      2017
292 pp.

Restart by Gordon Korman

Chase Ambrose, star of the football team was the most feared kid at Hiawasse Middle School. Chase along with his buddies, Aaron Haikiman and Bear Bratsky, terrorized just about everyone in the school and in their town. Their prime target was Joel Weber, a gifted pianist.

But Chase's life changes drastically when he falls off the roof of his house. The fall results in a separated shoulder,  a severe concussion and acute-retrograde amnesia.  He doesn't remember his mother or father or his older brother Johnny who's a college student home for the summer, and he can't quite remember his name. The only memory he has is of a little girl. Chase, who's also star of the Hiawasse football team, is told by Dr. Cooperman that he is out for the year. 

When Chase returns home, he meets his father's new wife Corinne and his four-year-old half sister Helene, both of whom seem wary of him. "They look at me like I'm a time bomb about to go off in their faces. What did I ever do to them?" This is Chase's first hint that he's not been a very nice person.

Chase's mother doesn't fill him in on his life before his accident. At school Chase is accosted by Aaron and Bear who are eager for him to return to the football team. Chase also meets with the school principal, Dr. Fitzwallace who urges him to see this as a "chance to rebuild yourself from the ground up, to make a completely fresh start." Chase wonders "What was so wrong about the old me that now I have to be somebody else?" At lunch Brendan Espinoza is terrified when Chase sits down at his table. He is immediately bullied by Chase's friends who force Chase to sit with them.

More incidents reveal to Chase that he was just not well liked, but in fact most people were terrified of him. When he first meets his half- sister Helene, she is completely terrified of Chase. At school when Chase tries to help a girl, she flees in terror. Students act odd, conversations end when he walks by, and people turn away from him as he walks down the hall. From Aaron and Bear, Chase learns they are assigned community service at the Graybeard Motel on Portland Street, helping the elderly residents. They were arrested and assigned community service for planting several cherry bombs in the piano at open house. Aaron and Bear dismiss what happened, telling Chase they do what they want and the adults can't do much. Their conversation leaves Chase doubting his removal from the football team for the season. This leads Chase to confront his mother about not telling him he was assigned community service. When he tries to downplay what happened, his mother's account at the school open house makes Chase feel ashamed.

Meanwhile Brendan Espinoza can't get anyone from the video club to help him make his video. Brendan is a nerd, honor roll student, president of the video club, and Academic Decathlon champ. With Joel Weber gone, Brendan is certain Chase and his friends will target him now. But Chase seems friendly and different. So when he sees Chase in the hallway, Brendan invites Chase to help him shoot his video. Brendan's video of him riding a tricycle through the Shiny Bumper car wash almost gets Chase in trouble again. But Brendan diffuses the situation and Chase acknowledges that it was Brendan's good reputation and not his bad one that saves him. Because they had so much fun together, Brendan invites Chase to join the video club. Shoshanna Weber and the other members of the club are horrified when they hear this. Shoshanna's brother Joel was the victim of Chase and his friends cherry bomb prank. It was the reason he has left Hiawassee to attend another school. But Brendan insists Chase is not the same person as he tells the group, "...He was helpful. He had good ideas. He was even nice. He's different."

Ms. DeLeo tells they club they must accept Chase. At the meeting, they discuss working on entries for the National Video Journalism Contest which will feature profiling a senior citizen. They are also working on producing a video yearbook which includes student interviews and information on school clubs and teams. Chase is assigned to cover the football team. Shoshanna refuses to believe that Chase is a different person. "No. Amnesia can wipe out the details of your past, but it can't change the kind of person you are. "

Chase decides to accompany Aaron and Bear to the Portland Street Assisted Living Residence where they  are assigned to take snacks to the residents. Chase watches as his two buddies eat most of the cookies  on the cart and refer to the residents in disrespectful ways. Chase is upset by how his friends behave and starts to really help, adjusting beds and helping find TV remotes.At the home Chase meets Julius Solway who was awarded a Medal of Honor for his service during the Korean War. Chase finds Julius to be a "cool" guy and begins to develop a relationship with him. His interest in  Julius's medal leads the elderly man to admit he can't find his medal. At a meeting of the video club, Chase suggests to Shoshanna that she video Mr. Solway for her entry in to the video contest.

Chase joins Shoshanna as she interviews Mr. Solway. As time passes, Chase finds himself struggling against being pulled back into his old bullying ways by Aaron and Bear. The choice to be a new person means gaining new friends and losing old ones. And it offers Chase the unexpected opportunity to confront and right a wrong that the old Chase did.

Discussion

Restart is a thoroughly enjoyable account of a thirteen-year-old boy who gets a chance to change his life as a result of an accident. Korman deftly weaves his story using multiple narrators; Chase Ambrose, Shoshanna Weber. Brendan Espinoza, Kimberly Tooley, Aaron Hakimian, and Joel Weber.  Chase's memory is wiped clean, offering him a second chance. The old Chase was a bully who terrorized Joel Weber so much that his family was forced to send him to another school after a terrible prank. That prank resulted in Chase and his friends Aaron and Bear being arrested and assigned community service. But even there Chase and his friends continued their bad behaviour, treating the residents disrespectfully with Chase stealing Mr. Solway's medal. Besides Chase's story, Korman also includes a subplot involving Brendan Espinoza who attempts to attract the interest of Kimberly Tooley who only has eyes for Chase.

Following his accident, everything the new Chase uncovers about the old Chase is unsettling. He remembers how he gleefully ripped the head off of his half-sister Helene's teddy bear and when his brother Johnny left for college, Chase remembers the scorn he felt for his brother who's terrified and his mother who is sad. He learns that he seriously hurt Brendan by pushing his head into a drinking fountain, causing him to need three stitches. His friends Aaron and Bear tell Chase that he was the one who chose Joel to bully.

The new Chase is completely different, friendly, kind and helpful. He enjoys his visits to the assisted living center. "But I find the residents kind of interesting. They remember stuff in real life that you can only read about in history books." He is horrified when Bear takes twenty dollars from Mrs. Swanson who "isn't all there" and when Bear refuses to return the money, Chase uses his own money to right this wrong. He helps Shoshanna complete her video project for the competition partly out of interest and partly to repay what he did to her family and he apologizes to both the Weber family and to Brendan.

Chase's transformation from bully to good guy isn't without mistakes. Korman presents his journey as a process that Chase undertakes and that involves conflict and some mistakes. Chase experiences conflict over who he was then and who he is now. He wants to believe there was some good in him. Chase has flashbacks of what he describes as his "wonderful toughness -- punching and shoving kids, kicking their heels out from under them in the halls," Chase also remembers "feeling important and confident and powerful. Maybe some of that came from what a jerk I was, but surely not all of it...I was a somebody in this town." Chase makes mistakes as when he accidentally hurts Joel while trying to stop Aaron and Bear as they vandalize the music room,  and he lies to the principal about what happened, backing up his friends' lie. But he also looks outside of himself to see how what has happened affects those around him, his friends, the teachers and the principal.

Eventually Chase has to choose who he's going to be - the bully or the nice guy, and who he wants as his friends. After the incident with Joel, Chase realizes that he'd rather have the new Chase's life rather than his old one back. This is shown when Aaron and Bear reveal to Chase that he was the one who stole Mr. Solway's medal.  "As I run, hot tears of shame are streaming down my face. Since my accident, I've heard a lot about the person I used to be. Never did I imagine this." His shame and desire to do the right thing overcome the threats of his friends and Chase tries to return the medal. When his attempt results in a brawl, he comes clean, accepting sole responsibility for the theft. Although the consequences maybe be severe, Chase doesn't want to go back to being the person he was before the accident. His father recognizes his attempts to be a better person. "...It takes strength to eat the blame and not rat out Aaron and Bear, especially when they more than deserve it. Or to try to make things right with Solway or even the Weber kid, whether they appreciate it or not. You're strong, all right. And stupid. But everybody has stupid moments. The trick is not to let a few bad moments cost you the game."

Chase recognizes how angry and self-absorbed he was prior to his accident, in contrast to the shame and disgust he now feels. "Back then I had such a high opinion of the great Chase Ambrose that I considered myself untouchable. Now it's the opposite. I hate myself so much that there's no way any judge could hate me more." But Chase is in for a surprise from the very people he spent years tormenting, demonstrating the importance of forgiveness and the need to recognize that people can change.

Mr. Solway, the crotchety resident of the nursing home is a mirror character to Chase. He is disliked by almost everyone there; he's rude and mean. He has his own table in the dining room and his nickname is Mr. Happy Face. He is like Chase before his head injury.  Chase thinks Mr. Solway is the coolest person he's ever met. They are "memory-loss buddies" and this leads Chase to wonder "if I blocked out what a jerk I used to be because I can't face it." As the two become good friends, Mr. Solway undergoes a remarkable transformation, moving about again and showing an interest in life and even making the difficult journey in to the court to speak up for Chase. Like Chase, he's become less self-absorbed and focuses on doing what's right.

Restart is classic Gordon Korman, with a likeable main character and a great cast of supporting characters, particularly the witty Shoshanna Weber and the nerdy Brendan Espinoza. The novel has a strong plot that's well executed with a dash of Korman humour. The novel is chock full of themes; forgiveness, redemption, the meaning of friendship, identity and how change is possible. Restart would have made more sense set in high school and the characters a bit older. Overall, Restart is a spectacular novel and highly recommended. It's nice to see good, solid fiction for younger readers and one that will especially appeal to boys.

Book Details:

Restart by Gordon Korman
New York: Scholastic Press    2017
243 pp.

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

"Well, there was a quote I couldn't quite recall, and I just found it. Listen." He began to read, very slowly. 'Music is the hidden arithmetic of the soul, which does not know that it deals with numbers. Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting.' That's exactly what I was talking about."

Jimmy Kerrigan to his daughter Dewey as they eat lunch together, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The Green Glass Sea is a story of family, friendship and loss during World War II. The lives of two girls, Susan Gordon and Dewey Marie Kerrigan intersect as their families are brought to Los Alamos in this narrative about the Manhattan Project and the American effort to develop the atom bomb.

The story begins in 1943 with ten-year-old Dewey Kerrigan being picked up by Corporal Margaret Beckwith on the steps of her neighbour, Mrs. Kovack's house in St. Louis. Dewey had been living with her nana but she had a stroke and had to go into the hospital. Her father is in Chicago helping with the war effort and Dewey hasn't seen him since the Fourth of July.

Corporal Margaret Beckwith tells her that her father is no longer in Chicago but at a location in New Mexico so secret that even she doesn't know. She is placed on a train to Lamy, New Mexico and a porter is assigned to care for her. On the train, Dewey discovers there is an observation car and she takes her magazine, Boy Mechanic, and her radio set to the car to tinker with.

In the observation car Dewey meets a young man, who looks like a bum but who knows about radios. Coincidentally, the man who gives his name as Dick Feynman, is also traveling to Lamy, New Mexico and he knows Dewey's father, Jimmy Kerrigan. Dick tells Dewey that they will be living at a place called the Hill. When they arrive in Lamy, Dick waits with Dewey until she is picked up by Sergeant Prager who takes her to get a pass to the Hill from Dorothy McKibbin. Finally Dewey is reunited with her beloved papa who drives her to their home in Los Alamos. Her father has been sent to Los Alamos to work on creating a special "gadget" that will win the war for the Americans.

The story then jumps to August of 1944. Susan (Suze) Gordon is playing cards with her mom in their house. Suze and her mother and father, who were both professors at Berkeley arrived on the Hill in the fall of 1943. Suze's father is a metallurgist, her mother is a chemist. Although eleven-year-old Suze wants to be friends with girls like Judy, Barbara, Betty and Joyce, she finds herself unable to break into their clique. In an attempt to win their approval, Suze tells the girls that she knows a shortcut to the Tech PX so they can get cokes.

Meanwhile Dewey who has finished a picnic lunch with her papa, decides to go to the dump for parts for her latest project. At the dump she meets her friend Charlie and his little brother Jack. Dewey is in Charlie's eighth grade math class. The boys are there looking for wood for their secret treehouse while Dewey finds copper tubing and a broken typewriter. The three help each other with their cumbersome load of "finds" and make their way back.  On their way they encounter Suze and the girls she is with. When Suze sees Dewey, she ridicules her by calling her "screwy Dewey". Instead of playing with the other kids, Dewey is always working on her radio or some other project at recess. Suze's bullying of Dewey doesn't have the result she expects, as Charlie defends Dewey and even offers to buy her a coke.

A few days later, Suze's mother Terry takes her to visit a friend in another part of the Hill called Morganville. That friend turns out to be Jimmy Kerrigan, Dewey's father. When Suze realizes this she is not friendly towards "screwy Dewey".

The story then moves to March 24, 1945 with Dewey's father telling her he has to meet with General Groves and his committee who have arrived from Washington. After he leaves, Dewey is visited by Suze's mother, Terry Gordon who is looking for Dewey's father and becomes interested in Dewey's "time machine". On Sunday Dewey and her father have a picnic in Bandelier National Monument. Dewey notes that her father seems very sad and troubled. During their time together he tells her that before the war he worked with a German mathematician, Josef who lived in Berlin. Before the war they "were trying to understand how the world works, and borders didn't matter. But they do now."  Now Josef and Dewey's father are in a race to solve the same problems. The General has asked Dewey's father to help them understand papers published by German scientists and this means he has to go to Washington. Terry Gordon offers to take in Dewey for the time Jimmy is away however, Suze is not happy with this. When she expresses her displeasure at "screwy Dewey" coming to live with them, Suze's mom becomes angry and tells her never to use that name again. Moving in with the Gordons turns out to be the least of the many challenges Dewey will face as the war moves towards its devastating conclusion.

Discussion

The Green Glass Sea offers a fascinating look into life for a very specific group of people during World War II: the children of the scientists who worked on creating the first atomic weapon. The atomic bombs dropped on Japan which resulted in the nation's surrender and the end to war in the Pacific were the first weapons of mass destruction ever used. The Green Glass Sea portrays the scientists who worked to develop the atom bomb and their families as highly intelligent people who were determined to help their country win the war in Europe and the Pacific.  These scientists were the top researchers in their fields of physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and metallurgy. Their family circumstances were similar to those of most Americans and their children had the same problems all children face growing up.

The two main characters in the novel are two girls who do not like one another but who eventually are drawn into a bond of friendship. Dewey and Suze are very different, yet they face a common struggle to fit in and be accepted. Dewey is brilliant and interested in creating machines. But her intelligence is not the only thing that sets her apart from the other children at the Hill: she has one leg shorter than the other requiring her to wear a special shoe and she wears very thick glasses. Suze is also highly intelligent but in a different way than Dewey: she is very artistic. Like Dewey, Suze's physical appearance sets her apart from others: she is big and strong. While Dewey is quiet and thoughtful, Suze is loud, unkind and a bully. Dewey doesn't care about fitting in but to Suze, fitting in is so important that she is willing to make fun of Dewey in the hopes the other girls on the Hill will include her.  The two girls are thrown together when Dewey comes to live with Suze's family while her father is in Washington. Suze is determined not to welcome her in any way: she doesn't want Dewey to have the top drawers of the dresser, she draws a line across the room dividing their space in two and marks the days off the calendar that Dewey is at her house.

Dewey takes it all in stride; she feels sorry for Suze because the other girls never ask her to play. Over the span of the following two months, Suze's view of Dewey undergoes a radical change.  After the death of President Roosevelt, Suze begins to warm to Dewey, apologizing for damaging her cigar box and the two girls share secrets about their names. When Dewey struggles to find the right pieces for her gadget, Suze decides to help her and in the process discovers that she can make works of art from the nuts, bolts, screws and other metal pieces Dewey has collected. Suze introduces Dewey to superhero comic books. But it is a trip to the dump to look for a drawer to hold Suze's next collage that cements their friendship. When the two girls are confronted and bullied by Barbara and Joyce, they both stand up for the other. And when Dewey is orphaned, Suze shows deep concern for Dewey and is determined that she continue to live with them. "If anyone had told her two months ago that she'd be asking to let Dewey stay with her, she's have told them they were nuts. But it felt right."  The two eventually form their own club, naming it Shazam.

As they get to know each other, Suze's view of Dewey changes. She recognizes that both she and Dewey are different but while Dewey seems comfortable with herself, Suze is not. Dewey teaches Suze to accept herself as she is. Suze realizes that she can be herself with Dewey who accepts Suze as she is. "She'd never had a conversation like this with another kid. She didn't feel like she had to be funny, or try to show Dewey how smart she was..."

Historical fiction succeeds if it instills in readers an reasonably accurate understanding of the era being portrayed. Many scientists working on the Manhattan project did not know exactly what they were working to create. Because the project was so secret, only a small group of scientists knew what they were working towards. Once the testing of the bomb was successful and the immensity of its power was realized, many of the scientists who had worked on the bomb, were strongly opposed to it being used.  Klages succeeds in realistically portraying this opposition in her novel.  Dewey's father appears to recognize how powerful the "gadget" they are attempting to build will be and for that reason he hopes the Germans have not progressed as far as the American scientists.

 After the test at Trinity, and realizing the immense power of the bomb, Terry Gordon expresses serious reservations to her husband, Dick Feynman and Dr. Teller about what they have done and the possibility of using the bomb on civilians. Dewey overhears their conversation:
"She heard Dick Feynman talking, and stopped in the doorway to listen. 'Well, yes. We started for a good reason, and we've been working so hard. It was pleasure. It was excitement,' he said. 'But you stop thinking about -- you know? You just stop. And now..."
And now that we've seen what it can do. My god,' Terry Gordon said, her voice raised, sounding angry. 'They can't use it. Not on civilians. Not on anyone, for that matter. I mean, maybe as a demonstration, but--'
'That's not realistic, Terry,' said Dr. Teller in his Hungarian accent. 'It's no longer an experiment to be demonstrated. It's a weapon, to end this terrible war once and for all.'
'At what cost, Edward? At what cost? Look, Chicago's drafted a petition. If enough of us sign it, they'll have to listen, and --'

Readers learn via a short radio clip what the American government eventually decided to do and today we know that two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Klages writes in her Author's Note at the back of her novel that she chose not to focus on the bombing of the two cities because the massive loss of life resulting from the atomic bombs is very hard to comprehend and beyond portrayal. She notes that readers experience the difficulty of coming to terms with the death of one person through the character of  Dewey who has to deal with the death of her father. However, the atomic bombs killed approximately 140,000 people in the initial blast with many tens of thousands dying of burns and radiation sickness in the weeks and months that followed. Death on such a scale in incomprehensible.

The title of the novel is a reference to green glass found after the Trinity atom bomb test on July 16, 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Temperatures generated from an atom bomb explosion were so high that the sand at the Trinity test site was metamorphosed into a new rock called trinitite. Trinitite has a green colour and most of it is mildly radioactive.

The Green Glass Sea is an excellent work of historical fiction about a unique period in history. Few novels have been written for young people about the Manhattan Project and Klages has done an excellent job in making this time period come alive for young readers. It's unfortunate that the book cover is so uninviting. Klages wrote a sequel to this novel,  White Sands, Red Menace which continues the story of Dewey and Suze in the Cold War era. 

For information on the Los Alamos site, the Atomic Heritage Foundation has a webpage: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/location/los-alamos-nm/: 

The US History website has a page devoted to the Manhattan Project:  https://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp

Book Details:
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
New York: Puffin Books     2006
318 pp.

Friends For Life by Andrew Norriss

Francis Meredith is sitting on a bench during lunch break when he first meets Jessica. He immediately knows something's not quite right when he sees her walking across the grass in Victoria Beckham's zebra dress on a very cold February day. She sits down on the end of the bench and is shocked when Francis offers her a sip of his hot tea. The girl tells Francis that she is dead and that no one is able to see her or hear her. Except Francis. The girl, who reveals herself to be Jessica Fry, has been dead for a year but she doesn't remember the circumstances of her death. Francis and Jessica agree to meet again after school.

They meet and decide to go to Francis's home on Alma Road. Jessica is now dressed for winter - she just has to think about what she wants to wear and it appears on her body. Francis takes Jessica to his special room upstairs at the top of his house. This room is filled with Francis's drawings of fashion designs as well as a sewing machine, bolts of material, a table covered in paper patterns, dressmaker's dummy and a couch. On a set of shelves are at least fifty dolls, each dressed in a different outfit that Francis has created. Francis explains to Jessica that he's doing a history of fashion.

Jessica tells Francis that she does not remember how she died but that she knows she is dead. She was in her third floor hospital room and saw her body covered by a sheet. Despite feeling calm, Jessica feels there is something missing. She has been returning every night for the past year to her hospital room to try to determine what that something is. Neither knows why Francis can see her while others cannot. Francis and Jessica discover they have several things in common including their love of fashion, they are the same age and are only children to single mothers.

As the days pass, Francis and Jessica spend all their days together. Jessica goes to school with Francis, helping him in each of his classes. They spend time after school in Francis's special room on the top floor of his home. To those who can't see Jessica, Francis appears to be a loner who doesn't talk to anyone. Francis begins to be bullied by Quentin Howard, a boy in his class who knows about Francis and the dolls.

Meanwhile Francis's mother, Grace becomes more and more concerned about the amount of time Francis is spending alone. Since his mother can't see Jessica, she believes he comes home every day and spends time alone in the attic. Worried after hearing Francis talking to himself, Grace suggests that Francis meet a new neighbour's son, Andy who will be starting at Francis's school, John Felton,  the following week. Andy doesn't want to attend school and Francis's mother is hoping he can help Andy.

It turns out Andy is a girl named Andi Campion, a stocky, redhead who called Thug by her mother. Andi's mother explains that it is short for "Thuglette", a name she gave her daughter because she was always getting into fights when she was younger. Francis takes Andi to his bedroom where Jessica is waiting. Both Francis and Jessica are shocked when Andi is able to see and talk to Jessica. They reveal Jessica's situation to Andi who thinks she's very cool. Andi is curious about Jessica, especially about her not remembering the circumstances of her death. Both Francis's mother and Mrs. Campion are astonished that Francis and Andi seem to get along.

Andi reluctantly agrees to go to school as long as Francis is with her. However, Francis warns her that he might not be the best person to hang with, telling her he is viewed as "different" and therefore is not popular. He takes Andi to his fashion room in the attic, showing her his creations. Andi tells Francis she has an uncle in the fashion industry who makes lots of money. At school the principal agrees to Francis's suggestion that Andi be placed in his class. With a little help from Jessica during math class, Andi is able to succeed. She also manages to save Francis from the bully whose been tormenting him.  The three friends spend many happy days together. Andi believes that Jessica should know how she died, so she arranges for her mother to take them to the village where Jessica lived. They locate her grave and convince Jessica to visit her home. When she does this, she does not return. Frances decides to visit Jessica's house and meets her aunt, Joanna Barfield who is a counsellor and tells him to call anytime.

Jessica does not return for days, leaving Francis and Andi upset. When she does finally show up she's wearing her hospital gown and can't remember exactly what happened. Every time the three teens discuss how Jessica might have died she fades.  Meanwhile, Francis's reputation for working wonders spreads because of Andi's transformation into a good student and a girl who has started to wear skirts. This leads to a request by Roland Boyle's mother to have Francis help talk her son into returning to school at St. Saviour's. Francis reluctantly agrees and when he visits Roland he discovers that he too can see Jessica. The group of four now sets out to discover what they might have in common that allows them to be able to see Jessica while others can not. Little do they know that what links them will help save the life of a girl in distress and free Jessica from being stuck as a ghost. 

Discussion

Friends For Life is a simple story about three teens who are considering suicide but are saved by an unexpected relationship with a ghost. That ghost who succeeded in killing herself, has been sent to save them as well as an unknown fourth person. The title of the novel has a double meaning - not only friends for life in the usual sense of being friends forever but also friends who save the lives of others contemplating suicide. Friends For Life explores the factors that often lead teens to consider suicide and what kinds of interventions might help in preventing suicide.

Francis, Andi and Roland do not fit in with their peers - each of them is very different. Francis loves clothing and fashion and dresses dolls. Andi has a body type that is different from the tall, slim, blonde type promoted as "beautiful" by the fashion industry, film and media. Roland, with his heavy-set large frame, also has a different body type considered unattractive for a boy.

In the novel's exploration of suicide, Jessica tells how she became very depressed after the death of her mother and then her grandmother. Although her aunt and uncle were, as she described it, "nice" this was not enough. It is the character Roland however who puts into words exactly how a suicidal teenager thinks. "It's funny, isn't it," said Roland, "how people being nice doesn't help when you feel like that. You know they want to help, you know they're trying to help, but it's like they're in another world. They have no idea how you're really feeling. Or what to do about it."

"You can act as if you think it matters whether you've done any schoolwork or what you eat or what you wear, but in the end...the pretending is such an effort, and you get so tired, that all you really want is for it to stop. For everything to stop."

Both Jessica and Roland state that once the idea of ending things takes hold, it becomes very difficult to ignore. Francis states that more than anything teens in this situation want to be like their friends, but find they cannot.  "And that's what gets to you in the end, isn't it?" It was Francis who was speaking now. "The being different. You want so much to be like everyone else but...He looked sympathetically across at Roland as he spoke. "You know it's never going to happen. You're always going to be different. With you it's your weight; with me it was all this."

The friendship between the three teens and Jessica changes their perspective on life and helps them to consider the things they might have done to help themselves. Francis and Jessica realize that not telling anyone how they were feeling, was a mistake. Francis wonders why he didn't try to tell Quentin Howard to stop teasing him. When Roland is teased at school by Dermot about his size, he finds that the support of his friends and the school administration changes how he views the teasing. It no longer matters and he wonders "why on earth he hadn't told Dermot to leave, or simply walked away.  The thing he had most feared would happen had happened, but for some reason it had been okay. Perhaps it was because there were people around him who said it was not okay; perhaps that was what made the difference. Or maybe it was simply the realization that someone telling him he was fat wasn't that important. It didn't mean anything."

Jessica the ghost helps Francis, Andi and Roland understand there were alternatives to the choice she made and to prevent them from making the same mistake. Roland determines that her continued presence as a ghost means there is someone else she is meant to help. Eventually Jessica discovers that person is another student at John Felton who is being bullied by fellow students. Like Jessica, it was a series of traumatic events that led to life becoming unbearable for this student.

At the end of the novel, Francis gains more insight about suicide and how people come to this point as he reads through the letters he receives after he and his friends intervened to help the student.  Many of the people were not starving or in chronic pain but instead felt they were "different" and that they felt alone. This leads Francis to wonder why being different is so painful. Jessica's Aunt Jo tells him that it may be that some people feel things more deeply than others and this combined with sometime traumatic in their lives leaves them vulnerable.

Friends For Life is a sensitive treatment of youth suicide filled with realistic characters who form a supportive, caring relationship with each other, demonstrating the power friendship can have on transforming the lives of those around us. The novel ends on a hopeful note with Francis feeling more positive about being different and coming to the conclusion that life can change very quickly. Francis discovers that he has learned to accept what makes him different and that has helped those around him accept him too. "And the strange thing was that, now that he didn't really care what other people thought, most them seemed quite happy to let him be as different as he liked."  He recognizes that his life has changed quickly over the span of a few months. Life could "appear so impossible at one moment, and so full of hope and possibilities the next."  That change can bring about opportunities for unexpected happiness. This is the lesson Francis's unexpected meeting with Jessica taught him - "how much fun there was to be had in life, how full of opportunities it was, how many chances it gave for enjoyment." 

 Friends For Life is highly recommended. Originally published in the United Kingdom as Jessica's Ghost. Andrew Norriss has stated he normally writes comedy and the story told in Friends For Life was not the usual stuff he writes. Over the course of ten years his story took shape. Norriss writes that he at times, like many of us, has experienced difficult times and is grateful to the "Jessicas" in his life "whose mere presence was a constant reminder that, even at its darkest, life if full of possibilities and that, yes, miracles can happen."

Book Details:

Friends For Life by Andrew Norriss
New York: Scholastic Books Inc.   2015
234 pp.

Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Fish In A Tree is about a young girl whose struggles to read make her the target of the class bully. The arrival of a new teacher changes the course of her life and makes her a catalyst for change in her friends lives too.

Ally Nickerson spends most of her time getting into trouble at school. She's been to seven schools in seven years. Whenever she tries her best, Ally is told she's too messy or she doesn't try hard enough. In her current school, she's frequently sent to see the principal, Mrs. Silver. When her teacher, Mrs. Hall asks her to write a page about herself, Ally refuses to do the assignment. At a class baby shower for Mrs. Hall, Ally's card causes a huge commotion. The card she's given Mrs. Hall is a sympathy card, the type you'd give to someone who had a death in the family. Once again she finds herself struggling to explain her strange behaviour and is sent to see the principal.

Her behaviour leads Ally to be frequently bullied by her classmates Shay and Jessica. They also enjoy picking on Albert, a large boy whom Ally describes as a "walking Google page". However one girl, Keisha Almond stands up for Ally and often confronts Shay and Jessica in class about being mean.

Ally's mother works as a waitress at A.C. Petersen Farms to help support their family. Her father has been deployed overseas and Ally misses him intensely. She also misses her grandpa who passed away recently and used to read Alice In Wonderland to her. Ally identifies with the story because she sees it as a "book about living in a world where nothing makes sense..."

Ally's secret, which she wants to hide from every one, is that she finds it difficult to read. Words are like insects marching across the page. She can't quite grasp them long enough to know what they are. In second grade Ally didn't recognize her own name and in third grade the teacher told her mother that she "might just be slow, that my mom shouldn't expect too much of me." Her grandpa's gift of Alice in Wonderland is like a "gift that's locked in a glass box". What Ally does love however, is to draw. In her sketchbook, which she calls the "Sketchbook of Impossible Things", Ally draws anything that pops into her head, like "...a snowman that works in a furnace factory."

Mrs. Hall's maternity replacement is Mr. Daniels, a young man who is very different than either Mrs. Hall or Mrs. Silver. For one thing he doesn't tolerate Shay's meanness in class and he works to make all the kids feel like they belong. When Ally doesn't complete the assignment about herself, Mr. Daniels discovers she likes math and she loves to draw. He tells her that if there are problems in class, the two of them will deal with it together and she won't be sent to the office. At "show and tell" Ally listens to her classmates show and describe things that tell the class about themselves. She almost doesn't show what she brought - a 1943 steel penny that her soldier father gave her. Mr. Daniels thinks its cool Ally showed the class her coin.

The next day Mr. Daniels gives everyone a notebook to write in and tells them they can write about anything and that it will never be graded, which makes Ally very relieved. Their first entry is to be about themselves. Ally decides to test Mr. Daniels to see if he means what he said by only drawing a black cube. Her drawing leads Mr. Daniels to ask her why she chose to draw this. She tells him the black box represents a dark room and her desire to be invisible.

Mr. Daniels changes the class seating placing Ally beside Keisha. The night of the holiday concert, the music teacher, Mrs. Muldoon hands out beautiful bouquets of red flowers donated by Jessica's father. When Keisha leans in to smell hers, some of the buds fall off. Annoyed, Mrs. Muldoon takes Keisha's bouquet away from her. Upset at what has happened to Keisha, Ally rips her bouquet apart to share with her classmate and finds herself also without a bouquet for the concert. This leads to the beginning of their friendship.

Mr. Daniels assigns his class to write about a short story he read to them in class. Ally tries to enlist her brother, Travis to help her, but he tells her is not good with writing. He states that "my brain is like gears with no grease" and "It's like asking a blind man to drive a bus." After spending most of the night writing her paper, Ally turns in the assignment to Mr. Daniels. He praises her for turning in her homework and for writing more than she usually does.

Keisha invites Ally to sit with her a lunch. Soon after this Ally decides to invite Albert to sit with her and Keisha. Albert reveals to the girls that his family is not very well off, which explains why he gets a free lunch everyday. The three friends are ridiculed by Shay who calls them the "Island of Misfit Toys", a reference that Albert doesn't agree with.

The day they are assigned to write a story, Ally panics and decides to come to class with her arm in a sling. Mr. Daniels is puzzled about her injury and questions her. After three days he tells Ally that he will have the nurse call her mother if she shows up with her arm in a sling the next day. This prompts Ally to remove the sling. When Keisha is asked to rewrite one of her stories, Ally realizes that Mr. Daniels has never asked this of her. So she decides to write something so terrible that he will have to ask her to redo it. However, Mr. Daniels doesn't seem concerned.

Ally invites her two friends for ice cream at her mother's restaurant one day after school. Albert tells them that Mr. Daniels questioned him about his bruises. Ally too has noticed the bruises on Albert's arms. Albert tells Ally and Keisha that he is confronted everyday by a group of boys that he meets on his way home. He doesn't want to fight, despite Keisha's encouragement to stand up to them, because he believes he will be blamed for the violence.

Ally continues to struggle in Mr. Daniels class but she also has moments of success. When they are asked to write a poem, Ally's poem wins the Fantastico Poetry Award. The prize is a certificate and a coupon for ice cream. However, Ally is upset because she believes she only won the award because Mr. Daniel's feels sorry for her.

The situation comes to a head when the class goes to the Noah Webster House. Shay makes fun of Ally when the guide shows the class a white dunce's hat and explains how it was used in the late 1800's. Ally runs out of the house and is found a short time later by Mr. Daniels. He tells her that she is very smart and that he believes the reason she struggles so much with reading is because she has dyslexia. Mr. Daniels lets Ally know that he wants to help her and that he was going to call her mother and ask if she could take some special tests. Even though Ally is scared she agrees to take the tests. Little does she know just how much her life will change and how she will become an inspiration to her some of her classmates to change how they view themselves.

Discussion

Lynda Mullaly Hunt has crafted a beautifully written piece of fiction that is guaranteed to capture the interest of young and adult readers alike. That's because Ally Nickerson is a heroine everyone can identify with and everyone is rooting for. Ally begins the novel believing that her situation is hopeless. School is a painful endeavour that she has to endure every single day. Not only is learning almost impossible but the ridicule from her classmates is constant. In Mrs. Hall's class Ally knows "The rest of the class is getting tired of me again. Chairs slide. Loud sighs. Maybe they think I can't hear their words: Freak. Dumb. Loser." She endures the constant bullying from Shay who taunts her. "The world gets dumber every time Ally Nickerson speaks." Even when Mrs. Silver begs her to let her help her, Ally refuses.

But things begin to change with the arrival of Mr. Daniels and it is his presence that will set Ally on a remarkable journey of self-discovery. Mr. Daniels is an exceptional teacher who recognizes that each student is different. For example, Oliver, who tends to just talk and talk is reined in by Mr. Daniels with a secret code between the two of them - he tugs on his earlobe whenever its time for Oliver to stop talking. He quickly tells Shay that her ridicule of Ally "isn't cool. We don't do that in here." And he calls his class Fantasticos. This is very much in contrast to Mrs. Hall who tended to ignore Shay's taunts of Ally. Mr. Daniels recognizes Ally's artistic abilities, while Mrs. Hall considered her drawings to be "doodling". Mr. Daniels encourages Ally to submit whatever she can while Mrs. Hall allowed Ally to "slide". Mr. Daniels wants to work out their problems in the classroom; Mrs. Hall preferred to send Ally to the principal's office.

To Ally, Mr. Daniels demonstrates that he considers each of the students unique by his treatment of Oliver. Instead of telling him every time "that he's doing something wrong in front of everyone", Mr. Daniels has an "ear-pulling signal" with Oliver. Ally recognizes that Mr. Daniels not only cares about the students but that he "actually seems to like that we're different." He doesn't seem to want perfect, silent children.

The turning point for Ally is in Chapter 14 Boxed In and Boxed Out. In this chapter, Ally experiences what it's like to do something really well in front of her classmates. Mr. Daniels gives Ally's class boxes sealed shut and asks them to try to determine what is in each box. The exercise is designed to test the students' power of observation and to "think outside the box" -  to think creatively. Ally quickly proves that she "can do this thing as well as everyone else, and it is the best. The best feeling ever." This marks the first time Ally has been able to succeed in the classroom and the first time she has fit in with a group of her peers.

Ally's problem in school is eventually revealed. Ally indicates that she gets headaches whenever she tries to read and that the letters seem to move. When the principal, Mrs. Silver asks her to read a poster on the wall, Ally notes "The letters on the poster look like black beetles marching across the wall. I could probably figure most of them out, but I'd need a lot of time." She describes reading as "...like when I drop something and my fingers scramble to catch it and just when I think I've got it, I don't." Her mind works differently than others in that she seems to have a "mind movie" in her head. Mr. Daniels tells her what he believes her problem is and that he is going to try to help her.

One of the major themes in this novel is that of identity. Ally's inability to read has made her believe that she doesn't fit in and that she is hopeless. Albert too experiences a crisis of identity; his size and intelligence make him different. When Ally, Keisha and Albert are collectively labelled "The Island of Misfit Toys" this is a reference to the island of toys who have been made incorrectly in the Christmas classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Albert argues that "Something is not a misfit simply because it has a different name."

Ally applies this to how she feels about herself.
"And then I think that if someone hung a sign on me that said anything, having that sign there wouldn't make it so. But people have been calling me "slow" forever. Right in front of me as if I'm too dumb to know what they're talking about.
People act like the words "slow reader" tell them everything that's inside me. Like I'm a can of soup and they can just read the list of ingredients and know everything about me. There's lots of stuff about the soup inside that they can't put on the label, like how it smells and tastes and makes you feel warm when you eat it. There's got to be more to me than just a kid who can't read well."

This is the first time Ally begins to think of herself as someone other than a person who can't read. This new reality is a struggle for Ally. When she realizes that Mr. Daniels doesn't critique her work in the same way as her classmates she remembers "how good it felt to do something right. To fit in." Now that she's felt this, she wants to experience it again. First her fear of writing overcomes her and she puts her arm in a sling to avoid the assignment. When that doesn't work she knows she has to make a choice. "So now I'm stuck. I don't know who to be; the one who admits that I can't do it, or the pretender." Ally's fear makes her choose once again to be the pretender. But with Mr. Daniels' help Ally faces up to what she can't do, eventually even admitting she can't read to her friends. Once she stops pretending, and gets the help she needs, Ally's life begins to really change. At the end of the novel, when Mrs. Silver reads the poster in the office to her, Ally recognizes the truth it holds. "Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask for help."   C. Connors

Other characters also struggle with their identity, especially Albert. When Ally tells her friends that she has dyslexia she confides that she is worried she will grow up to be a "nobody". Albert and Keisha encourage her to "Be yourself. Be who you are." but Albert admits "I know what kind of grown-up I want to be. But I don't know who I am now."

Another theme touched on in the novel is the power of words. Albert acknowledges that "There are always people ready to tell you who you are, like a nerd or a jerk or a wimp." This leads Ally to think about the power words have.
"And I think of words. The power they have. How they can be waved around like a wand -- sometimes for good, like Mr. Daniels uses them. How he makes kids like me and Oliver feel better about ourselves. And words can be also be used for bad. To hurt.
My grandpa used to say to be careful with eggs and words, because neither can ever be fixed."

The novel takes its title from the popular quote, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." This quote is often inaccurately attributed to Albert Einstein but there's no proof that he ever said or wrote this. In the novel when Mr. Daniels is attempting to convince Ally that he can help her and that she is very smart he paraphrases the above quote, "Everyone is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking that its stupid."

Ally is remarkable heroine full of grit and determination. Mr. Daniels points out Ally's courage to her when he tells her, "Coming to school every day, knowing what you're in for. Knowing school will be hard. And that other kids are going to razz you. And you still come every day and decide that you're going to try again." That grit leads to a powerful transformation from believing she is hopeless and incapable of learning to believing that she has a life filled with possibilities.

Fish In A Tree is a wonderful novel that will help middle school children understand better learning disabilities, how some people learn differently and how they can be helped to learn. Filled with believable characters, several of whom experience profound transformations in the novel, Fish In A Tree concludes with a powerful message of hope. This is an outstanding novel and highly recommended.

Book Details:

Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books     2015
276 pp.

Audacious by Gabrielle Prendergast

Audacious is a bold story about a girl struggling to understand herself, her place in the world and deal with the many problems in her life.

Sixteen year old Raphaelle's family moves to the wide open prairies when her father gets a new job as a professor of history at a university. Their new home is spacious, allowing Raphaelle and her younger sister Michaela to choose their own rooms. Life is supposed to be better, a fresh start for everyone.

Raphaelle is eager to move given that she has had a history of problems and acting out at all of her many previous schools. In an attempt to start over and remake herself, she changes her name to Ella and insists on attending the nearest public school, John Cretchly Collegiate rather than the Catholic one her parents want to send her and Michaela to. Michaela also decides to shorten her name to Kayli and will attend the Catholic Girls School.

Through a series of flashbacks told throughout the novel, we learn that Ella's family has had its share of struggles; Ella's mother lost a baby, a little boy named Gabriel shortly after he was born. Her mother has never seemed to recover from this loss which left her unable to have more children. She was a stay at home mom, but found it difficult to cope and so went out to work at the local public library. But in their new town, there are no jobs at the library and she begins to lose weight. Ella begins to suspect that her mother's struggle with bulimia has returned yet again. While all of this has been going on, Ella's father is mostly uninvolved, his focus being on trying to build his career as a professor.

On her first day at school, no one talks to Ella. She decides that there will be no pranks, vengeful practical jokes - nothing inappropriate, no challenging anyone's beliefs or morals. Ella will be the good girl; she will avoid controversy and blend in. In contrast to Ella, is Kayli, popular and happy, the sister who brings home two new friends the first week of school.

Ms. Sagal, Ella's art teacher is impressed by her drawing of a mandala. Sam, a boy in Ella's class also draws a mandala. Their serious approach to art attracts the attention of two classmates, Eugenia whom Ella nicknames "Freckle Arms" and a second girl she calls "Puffy Blonde". Sam and Ella are drawn to one another but their interest is affected by the strong cultural differences between them. Sam, as it turns out, is short for Samir and he is Muslim, the exact type of boyfriend Ella's family would not approve of. Sam tells Ella that he is serious about his faith, but that his family used to be more moderate until the 9-11 event.

Ms. Sagal tells Sam and Ella that she is in need of more pieces for the art exhibit. Ella who is struggling to cope with all the problems at home, reverts back to her bad behaviour and decides to do something controversial. The impetus for this comes from Sam whom Ella tricked into whispering into her ear resulting in him calling her "audacious". This gives Ella the idea for her art piece - nine pictures of women who go against convention. She will use the letters in the word, "audacious" to determine the subject of each picture. A will be Arab, u stands for unemployed, d for disabled and so forth. However, Ella has a shocking idea for the letter "c" - a crass, four letter slang to describe a part of the female body. Ms.Sagal approves of Ella's idea, without knowing about the subject matter for the letter "c".

Ms. Sagal's interest in Ella leads her to breakdown and confide in her teacher, telling her about the loss of Gabriel, her mother's bulimia and her father's refusal to acknowledge the problems within their family.

Ella begins her project, photographing various people for each of the letters in the word, "audacious", including Sam's older sister, Hala who represents "arab", Ms. Sagal's daughter, Marika who is disabled for the letter "d", and a homeless woman named the Phantom for the letter u which stands for ugly. For the letter "c", Ella takes a picture of her own body. Ella hangs all of her pictures but one up the day before the exhibition, returning early the next day to place the "c" picture in her artwork. Her idea is that although we use these different words to describe women, in reality these words are not who we are; in reality we are all very similar.

As it turns out, Ella is not the only student with a controversial piece of art. Samir's art is a statement for the creation of a Palestine homeland - controversial but not pornographic like Ella's work. While Ella's work is shocking, and Ms. Sagal seems to approve, the offending picture is removed from Ella's art, but the fallout is just beginning. One of the students takes a picture of the "c" picture and posts it to Facebook. Considered child pornography, Ella is arrested and charged and Ms. Sagal is suspended. This happens all before Christmas but only leads to a crisis of epic proportions within Ella's family. Her mother, whose bulimia is now life-threatening ends up in hospital and Kayli, the only seemingly perfect person in the family is failing in school. This crisis provokes their father to finally notice that the family is deeply in trouble and to act.

Can Ella come to terms with who she is and with the realities of life? Can she and her family pull back from the abyss they find themselves teetering over and find a way to heal and help one another?

Discussion

This novel in verse is well written, the prose sometimes rhyming and very well done. The subject matter is for more mature, older teens and touches on themes of bullying, forgiveness, acceptance, and identity. The theme of identity is especially reflected in Ella's journey of discovering and accepting herself and is also mirrored in Samir, a Muslim who experiences conflict between the personal freedoms secular society offers and the duties his Muslim faith requires of him.

Facing a crisis in school, charges in court and a deteriorating relationship with Samir, as well as her art provoking a possible hate crime, Ella questions the suffering people experience in life and the existence of God. She also begins to comprehend the consequences of her actions not only for herself but also for others who were innocent. The reality of this doesn't sink in until she goes to visit Ms. Sagal who has been suspended over the art exhibit. Ella sees that she is a single mom who needs her job to be able to support her disabled daughter and that's when she begins to think about somebody besides herself. This is a significant step in her journey towards maturity.

The theme of identity is especially prominent in the novel and Prendergast employs the pink chiffon dress that Ella mentions at the beginning of the novel as its symbol. Prior to their move to the country, Ella as Raphaelle discovered this pink dress at thrift store and loved the long sleeves and high collar as well its bright colour. The dress becomes a symbol of her identity - her desire to not conform to please others and a symbol of her rebellion. Raphaelle wore this "floaty, hot pink vintage dress/To a black and white ball...", making her stand out in a sea of black. The other girls in junior high lured her into a room underneath the stairs with a bottle of whisky and then locked her there, until her dad came with the police to rescue her. 

With the move and the fresh start, Ella decides to give the dress away, but Kayli rescues it, recognizing that it is an integral part of who Ella really is. When Ella is packing to run away with Samir to New York, she discovers the dress and decides to keep it, recognizing and accepting what her sister did months ago. As proof of this, Ella decides to wear this dress to the Phantom lady - Charlotte Connelly's  funeral. Charlotte Connelly was a woman who lived life on her own terms - even if that meant being on the street. Given the significance of the pink dress to Ella's life and to her inner struggle, its unfortunate that the cover art doesn't really capture that significance, especially given the title of the novel. For someone like Ella, a more flamboyant pink dress might have worked to engage readers.

Prendergast tackles many controversial topics in Audacious including the "Arab question", art vs. pornography, and the feminist notion of a woman's right to control her own body, as well as the nature of suffering and the existence of God. Despite all these weighty issues, the story doesn't feel bloated with too much substance because Raphaelle is a character who seems to be truly struggling to figure herself out. Her questions about the nature of God and suffering are especially pertinent because many people, not just teens, struggle to understand this mystery and it is often a serious roadblock to faith.

Audacious is the first in a series of books, the second to be titled, "Capricious", which seems fitting given the ending of this novel. 

Book Details:
Audacious by Gabrielle Prendergast
Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers 2013
327 pp.