Reviews

Breakout by Kate Messner

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andromedace's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this YA novel written from the perspective of three teenage girls in letters that they write as their town is experiencing a manhunt for two escapees from the town's maximum security prison. The story also touches on the racism experienced by a new student in town.

withthebanned's review

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3.0

Breakout was a lot of fun. I liked the format, it was written in the forms of letters and media that had been transcripted to go into a time capsule. I liked the main voices and enjoyed the different layers to the story. I don’t think it was particularly deep, but it was enjoyable overall.

thenextgenlib's review

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5.0

I went into this book with no expectations only having heard it was good. Boy, was that an understatement! This book was amazing! What an interesting way for Kate Messner to tell the story via letters, drawings, poems, typed phone recordings and messages for a time capsule submission after a prison break in their small New York town where most of the residents are white and most of the inmates are minorities. Nora’s last letter really got me about racial profiling and white privilege. We need more books like this from both points of view. It reminded me of an elementary style All American Boys. I loved it and highly recommend it. #weneeddiversebooks

dogtrax's review

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4.0

Excellent use of various text objects and development of young female characters. There’s a lot to dig into here around race, incarceration, friendship and secrets.

lizziegoodfriend's review

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-Does Lizzie’s grandmother know anything/did she help with the escape?
-I think the author did a good job of writing from 12/13 year old’s POV’s
-That last paragraph on pg. 433…OOF

tishreads's review

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3.0

Considering I just saw Hamilton a couple days ago, the references in this book were fun! I don't know how many kids will get it, but it's not integral to understanding the story anyways. It definitely made me want to read "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson as well. I like how we learned about Elidee's life through her poetry. I don't feel like we got to know Nora or Lizzie nearly as well. Even though Lizzie was the comedienne of the duo, their letter writing voices were basically the same. I would have loved to get to know Lizzie and her grandma more before the developments there.

As an adult, I wanted more details. I wanted to know exactly why Troy was in jail and exactly what Lizzie's grandmother did.

Overall, the book was engaging and touched on important topics such as racial prejudices and the problems within the judicial system. However, I don't think it went far enough on these topics to fully engage the middle schoolers it is aimed towards. I think the characters could have been further developed to allow readers to better connect and learn from the situations.

jcarsrud's review

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4.0

This book is kind of big, but it gets its length from text messages, letters, cartoons, and more. I really like this story and think it would be perfect for a 6-8th grader.