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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Not sure at first, wasn't I stantly attached/liked Trent as I did Perry in the itnber children's book I finished. The characters develop and grow on you☺
Really well done. One of the best genuine portrayals of grief, anger, and guilt I have ever seen.
emotional
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How can I begin to describe my feelings toward this book? Trent is an angry child. He was the person who hit the hockey puck that killed a boy named Jared. Once I started reading the book. I realized it was set in the same world as Umbrella Summer. Another Lisa Graff book; though I only read the summary of that book, not the book itself. Once I realized that, I freaked out because I absolutely love when books connect like that!
Moving on, I had a lot of sympathy for Trent, he's angry with his life because he believes everyone hates him for the accident he caused. when he meets Fallon, she is able to look past that, and it really comforted me. As a reader, I only saw what was going in Trent's mind and I really felt like he was a good guy, and it hurt me to see him isolating himself from his peers. In most books I have read, I find myself wholeheartedly siding with the child when they are in a disagreement with a step-parent/estranged parent. Especially when they are written as so harsh towards that child. Whilst reading the parts of the story when Trent is at school acting like a problem child to avoid seeing his father. I realized that if I was a student observing his behaviour, I would begin harbouring a large amount of dislike for him; and it hurt me. Thinking about it made me feel awful, because I could be missing on a wonderful, insightful young boy, only because I judged him for outward appearances. Reading his thinking made me like him a whole lot.
While having these disturbing thoughts, I really became distraught when his step-mother blatantly did not let him hold his younger sister. I personally felt it was because he accidentally caused a peer to die, but his father said it was because he got angry all the time, rendering him too irresponsible to hold the baby. (Trent got angry and started yelling when he noticed, causing the baby to cry.) Whatever the reasoning, I was on the verge of tears because I just felt it was so awful that they would do that to him. Yes he had a bad way of solving problems, but he was only twelve years old, and was not doing anything wrong. It was very mature of him to try and "begin again" with his father in the end as I would of had a harder time going back if that happened to me.
Speaking of the end, I felt like the author rushed to ending as I felt as though there were many loose ends, the ending is the only thing that prevented me from rating five stars as I was really angered by it, especially the fact that WE DON'T LEARN HOW FALLON GOT HER SCAR. The author just left it there. I honestly have no other complaints other than the ending. This book made me reflect on how I have been living my life and how i don't know everything about how others live theirs. I would wholeheartedly recommend this to others.
Moving on, I had a lot of sympathy for Trent, he's angry with his life because he believes everyone hates him for the accident he caused. when he meets Fallon, she is able to look past that, and it really comforted me. As a reader, I only saw what was going in Trent's mind and I really felt like he was a good guy, and it hurt me to see him isolating himself from his peers. In most books I have read, I find myself wholeheartedly siding with the child when they are in a disagreement with a step-parent/estranged parent. Especially when they are written as so harsh towards that child. Whilst reading the parts of the story when Trent is at school acting like a problem child to avoid seeing his father. I realized that if I was a student observing his behaviour, I would begin harbouring a large amount of dislike for him; and it hurt me. Thinking about it made me feel awful, because I could be missing on a wonderful, insightful young boy, only because I judged him for outward appearances. Reading his thinking made me like him a whole lot.
While having these disturbing thoughts, I really became distraught when his step-mother blatantly did not let him hold his younger sister. I personally felt it was because he accidentally caused a peer to die, but his father said it was because he got angry all the time, rendering him too irresponsible to hold the baby. (Trent got angry and started yelling when he noticed, causing the baby to cry.) Whatever the reasoning, I was on the verge of tears because I just felt it was so awful that they would do that to him. Yes he had a bad way of solving problems, but he was only twelve years old, and was not doing anything wrong. It was very mature of him to try and "begin again" with his father in the end as I would of had a harder time going back if that happened to me.
Speaking of the end, I felt like the author rushed to ending as I felt as though there were many loose ends, the ending is the only thing that prevented me from rating five stars as I was really angered by it, especially the fact that WE DON'T LEARN HOW FALLON GOT HER SCAR. The author just left it there. I honestly have no other complaints other than the ending. This book made me reflect on how I have been living my life and how i don't know everything about how others live theirs. I would wholeheartedly recommend this to others.
I had the best run of great books lately. I am a huge fan of Lisa Graff and she released two new books in May; this is the second and it's probably my new favorite of hers.
After Trent accidentally killed a friend of his, he has become a completely different person. He blames himself---of course, right?---and his guilt and sadness have turned to anger. As a result, his relationships with his friends are nonexistent and his relationship with his dad has become incredibly strained. He still gets along with his mom and brothers, but the least thing can set him off.
Once he starts middle school, he accidentally makes a new friend---he didn't mean for Fallon to become his friend, but it somehow happened anyway. And so now he has to find a way to both forgive himself and work through his anger before he completely wrecks that newfound friendship.
I love Lisa Graff's books because they treat kids like people. It's not like, "A horrible thing happened and Trent was sad for a while but then everything was magically okay." Bad things happen sometimes and when they do, we don't always react in the best way.
Highly recommended.
After Trent accidentally killed a friend of his, he has become a completely different person. He blames himself---of course, right?---and his guilt and sadness have turned to anger. As a result, his relationships with his friends are nonexistent and his relationship with his dad has become incredibly strained. He still gets along with his mom and brothers, but the least thing can set him off.
Once he starts middle school, he accidentally makes a new friend---he didn't mean for Fallon to become his friend, but it somehow happened anyway. And so now he has to find a way to both forgive himself and work through his anger before he completely wrecks that newfound friendship.
I love Lisa Graff's books because they treat kids like people. It's not like, "A horrible thing happened and Trent was sad for a while but then everything was magically okay." Bad things happen sometimes and when they do, we don't always react in the best way.
Highly recommended.
Okay, so this book is a decent enough portrayal of PTSD and guilt for the age range it's written in. The writing is beautiful and the metaphors! The metaphors!
On the other hand, MPDG trope and we didn't get to find out what happened to Fallon. I get what she was going for but at the same time, I WANT TO KNOW. The parents were also shitty parents.
On the other hand, MPDG trope and we didn't get to find out what happened to Fallon. I get what she was going for but at the same time, I WANT TO KNOW. The parents were also shitty parents.