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A review by prettypious
The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert
4.0
There was A LOT going on in this book. It’s a YA book but a lot of my middle grades kids like to read up so I have to preview to make sure the book’s content is age appropriate for them. This book is not appropriate for middle graders as there is a lot of explicit sexual activity and reflection related to sexual activities that developmentally is out of their reach, but I do recommend for high schoolers.
Anyways I liked the book enough. The end was a lot better or more focused than the first half-3/4ths of the book. The story was good and the writing kept my attention but honestly that middle grade/YA genre centering Black and Afrolatino/a youth is filled with really REALLY strong writers (Thomas, Reynolds, Acevedo, Zoboi, Jackson, Alexander, etc.,) and In this particular book it’s the story/content that sells the story not the storytelling/prose, so there is a little sense of missing or apathy related to the writing.
I’d choose this book for my older kids 13+ especially in units related to coming of age, character arc and development, sexuality diversity, the disease of drug addiction, and maybe diverse families.
One small little note, I thought she wrote Birdie kinda whiny and I didn’t like that. I think there was a way to articulate or demonstrate her innocence without making her sound like a whiny, self centered brat which she often did. I also thought her characterization of Carlene was inconsistent in a way that was not solely due to character development, and sometimes her description of drug addition and recovery is a little too sanitized compared to reality, but luckily most kids today won’t know the severity of how bad it gets so maybe that’s a good thing.
Anyways I liked the book enough. The end was a lot better or more focused than the first half-3/4ths of the book. The story was good and the writing kept my attention but honestly that middle grade/YA genre centering Black and Afrolatino/a youth is filled with really REALLY strong writers (Thomas, Reynolds, Acevedo, Zoboi, Jackson, Alexander, etc.,) and In this particular book it’s the story/content that sells the story not the storytelling/prose, so there is a little sense of missing or apathy related to the writing.
I’d choose this book for my older kids 13+ especially in units related to coming of age, character arc and development, sexuality diversity, the disease of drug addiction, and maybe diverse families.
One small little note, I thought she wrote Birdie kinda whiny and I didn’t like that. I think there was a way to articulate or demonstrate her innocence without making her sound like a whiny, self centered brat which she often did. I also thought her characterization of Carlene was inconsistent in a way that was not solely due to character development, and sometimes her description of drug addition and recovery is a little too sanitized compared to reality, but luckily most kids today won’t know the severity of how bad it gets so maybe that’s a good thing.