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A review by emmalen3
You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino
4.0
I think Alex Gino’s author’s note offers beautiful insight and context into how they wove this story. I highly recommend reading their words before getting into the book itself. As a grade 6 teacher, this book hits a sweet spot where challenging topics are discussed in a way that makes concepts approachable but still honours the impact of violence and micro-aggressions in our world. I think Jilly was a great character who owned up to her mistakes and took action in ways that felt quite honest. This has themes that feel similar to many of the stunning novels about gun violence and racism in our world, but are geared towards a younger reader.
I found some moments to be a little silly or unrealistic and am sometimes put off by such obvious descriptions of characters’ appearances (ie. She had creamy white skin and blonde hair parted down the middle- find another way to tell me this! We work on avoiding this during writing!), but those things are so small in comparison to the learning that can take place for a reader in this book.
I found some moments to be a little silly or unrealistic and am sometimes put off by such obvious descriptions of characters’ appearances (ie. She had creamy white skin and blonde hair parted down the middle- find another way to tell me this! We work on avoiding this during writing!), but those things are so small in comparison to the learning that can take place for a reader in this book.