Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

From Goodreads,

"I'm not crazy. I don't see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it's a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts.

Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they've got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on: the crazies start to seem less crazy.

Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us."

Goodreads - Suicide Notes

May is mental health awareness month.  I read quite a few books about mental health, because it is such a huge issue in society, but also because we deal with it day in and day out at school.  I think a lot of problems we have today would be eliminated if mental health had been addressed.  Either way I thought it would be fitting to end the month with a review of this book about mental health. 

This book starts with a young boy named Jeff waking up in a hospital.  At first he isn't sure where he is, but he comes to find out that he is in the psych ward because he tried to kill himself.  Jeff attends group therapy meetings with other young people and he meets with his therapist to hopefully find out why he tried to kill himself.  Jeff makes friends with the people there and the new people who transfer in.  Over time Jeff finds them a little less crazy and starts to figure out why he tried to kill himself.

One thing that drives me absolutely crazy is when I am reading a book and I lose track of time progression within the book.  For example, I read a book where kids were trapped in a school due to a snowstorm.  As the book progressed the snow got higher and higher, but there was a total loss of time.  I couldn't tell how much time had passed and it really affected how I felt about the book.  This book on the other hand had an interesting format.  Each chapter of the book was titled with the number of days that Jeff had been in the psych ward.  This made it super easy to keep up with how long Jeff had been in the hospital.  It also made it a kind of countdown toward when he was going to be released.  It also fit with the title of the book Suicide Notes because each chapter was just a brief highlight and snippet of Jeff's day. 

This book was very similar to other mental health books I've read recently.  I think I am getting really burnt out on the mental health theme, and I probably need to take a break from it.  I feel like all mental health books are exploring the exact same topics.  Everything revolves around a teenager trying to kill themselves and them coming to terms with what happened.  However, I feel that authors need to be exploring other mental health issues.  We need to explore anorexia, bulimia, schizophrenia, depression, etc.  There are so many issues out there and we really need to start delving into all of them, not just suicide.  I think that because this book explored the typical suicide path that I felt like I had already read this before. 

I was slightly disappointed in this book because it was a lot like others I have read.  I enjoyed the format of the book, but felt really exhausted on the entire storyline.  I give this 3 out of 5 stars. 

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

From Goodreads,

"Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .

Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this "wishtree" watches over the neighborhood.

You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever."

Goodreads - Wishtree

Awards:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children's (2017)
• NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Nominee (2018)

Every town has traditions that have existed for years.  Sometimes they are parades, sometimes they are festivals, and sometimes they are just a silly event that takes place one day out of a year.  In my hometown we have October Daze which happens typically the first weekend of October.  Local businesses and organizations set up booths where you can buy hand crafted goods or delicious greasy food.  I have worked at October Daze and I have been a visitor.  I have plenty of good memories with friends and family while attending October Daze.  Traditions are important and this book really focuses on that.  

This book is told from the unique perspective of the tree.  Red, the wishtree, is 216 years old and is a part of an important tradition in town.  A wishtree is a tree where people write their wishes on a scrap of paper or fabric and tie it to the tree in hopes of their wish coming true.  This tradition has been a long and well known tradition in this town, until someone threatens that by vandalizing the tree.  One woman, who has a long connection to the tree, must make the decision on if the tradition should continue or if the tree should be cut down for good. 

There are so many amazing things I have to say about this book.  First I would like to focus on the artwork that was incorporated into the book.  The cover of the book was absolutely stunning with vivid and realistic colors.  I was honestly pulled in by the cover of this book more than anything.  But only once I started reading the book did I realize that there were illustrations throughout the book.  Most of the illustrations were leaves or branches, but there were also pictures of the animals that lived in the tree.  However, humans were nowhere to be found in the book.  I think Applegate chose to do this for a couple reasons.  I think she excluded humans so that the reader could visualize themselves in the book, but also because the focus was supposed to be on nature.  I think it is great that the focus was on nature because I feel like everywhere is turning into a concrete jungle.  We are constantly clearing land to make room for more housing complexes or shopping centers.  Most people don't think about the fact that trees put off oxygen for us to survive and they take in our carbon dioxide.  Life on earth would cease to exist if we didn't have trees.  I love that Applegate focused on the nature aspect of things instead of focusing on the humans.

Another thing I loved in this book was the whole idea of May Day and a wishtree.  In this book the wishtree is Red, who is decorated with scraps of fabric and paper one day out of year.  People write their wish on these slips of paper and they hang them on the tree in hopes that they will come true.  I love this tradition and I honestly wonder if there are any locations in the United States that does this.  One of the things that was important about this tradition was where and how it all started.  I think that many of our traditions continue without us ever remembering why they started in the first place.  Every tradition has a story to it, and I think it is important to hear the story every now and then to remind yourself why you do something.  Applegate made sure to include the back story on how and why the May Day wishing event got started.  

The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the slightly far fetched idea that trees can talk.  (When the tree started talking I definitely thought about Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas.)  In the book Red talks to two children and tells them the story of how it became a wishtree.  That's a little far fetched and I think it took away from the book a little bit.  I think that many children who read this would see this as a magical tree, while it was really just a regular tree.  As Red was telling the story it mentioned that we should listen to the tree because it might talk back to us.  I took this more as a message of we should listen to the leaves rustling or the critters playing in the trees, instead of listening for the tree to tell its life story.  

This book was very interesting and well written.  I give it 4 stars and will definitely be including this in my classroom library.  

From You To Me by K.A. Holt

From Goodreads,

"Amelia Peabody lives in a small town where nothing changes. And that's just fine by her. After losing her big sister, Clara, a few years ago, Amelia can't handle any more change. But when she starts eighth grade, she accidentally receives a letter that Clara had written to herself. In it, there's a list of things she'd wanted to do before the end of middle school and never finished, like get on the softball team and throw an awesome birthday party on the lake.
Amelia wonders if it's a sign from Clara. Maybe if she completed the list, her heart would stop hurting so much, and she could go back to being her old self. But as she makes her way through, Amelia finds that there's no going back, only forward. And she realizes she'll have to put her own spin on Clara's list to grow and change in the ways she needs to.
K. A. Holt's beautiful new novel is about grieving and growing up, and the ripples loss creates for a girl, a family, and a community."

Goodreads - From You To Me

I have a bucket list.  A series of things that I want to accomplish before I kick the bucket.  When I was scrolling through Scholastic I read the summary for this book and it just screamed bucket list.  I knew I had to purchase this book because it was the type of book that I live for.  Sure enough, I was not disappointed by this book about a girl receiving a letter.

This book follows Amelia who is going into the eighth grade.  She has been grieving for three years over the death of her sister.  She finds that each day is difficult and driving past the lake makes the pain almost unbearable.  On the first day of eighth grade she is supposed to get the letter that she wrote to herself.  Only the letter she gets isn't hers.  It's her sisters letter.  Amelia reads the letter and immediately feels connected to her sister.  Her sister wrote a list of things that she wanted to accomplish.  Amelia takes it upon herself to complete her sister's list and to hopefully find peace with her sister's death.

Favorite quote from From You To Me, 

"Does it help if I tell you everyone is sad in their own way, and you are definitely not invisible?"

This book was absolutely amazing.  When I started this I really thought that the entire focus of this book was that Amelia was going to run around with her best friend completing everything on her sister's list.  This wasn't the focus, and I'm secretly glad it wasn't.  While the letter and completing the list was an important piece of this book, I ultimately felt like the focus was on Amelia finding happiness.  So many people get caught up in situations in life and they lose sight of their own happiness.  They don't take the time to stop and think about why they are doing something or if it going to bring them any happiness.  Why keep doing something if it isn't going to make you happy?  Why stay at a job if you go to work dreading it?  I think that we as a society aren't happy with life anymore.  I also think that we all feel like everyone else around us is happy.  We all think that our friends and coworkers have a better and happier life than we do, but in all honesty everyone is struggling with something.  Some people bottle it up and keep their problems to themselves, while others need to talk about and flaunt their problems.  Everyone is different, but ultimately everyone is unhappy in their own personal ways.  I'm glad that Amelia worked on completing the list.  She ultimately started it for her sister, but I think that over time she worked on the list for herself.  She worked on it to help find some happiness and closure to her sister's death, and that is exactly what she got.

There wasn't a single thing that I didn't enjoy about this book.  It was perfect in all the ways a book should be.  I give this book 5 stars and recommend this to young adults.  This book has a lot of good messages and I think everyone could take something away from it.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

From Goodreads,

"This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world."

Goodreads - Boy Meets Boy

Awards:

• Lambda Literary Award (2003)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2008)

Favorite quote from Boy Meets Boy,

"Her husband was with her, they got married two days after she got her diagnosis.  He vowed he would never leave her side, and he didn't.  I don't know how to describe it.  She could be retching or shaking or not really there, and he would kneel right beside her, look her right in the eye, and say, 'I'm here.'  And the way he said it -- 'I'm here.' -- was an 'I love you' and a 'Hang in there' and an 'I'll do anything, absolutely anything' -- all these intense feelings in this one calm phrase.  If he had to leave the room, he made sure she had this teddy bear propped up next to her -- they called him Quincy -- to take his place.  Toward the end, there were these few moments when she got all anxious a few minutes after he left the room, and he would come right back in, as if he knew exactly how she felt.  I came to the room early on Saturday and I saw him curled up in the hospital bed, singing Beatles songs to her and looking her in the eye.  I couldn't go inside.  I just stood in the doorway crying, because it was so sad and it was so beautiful."

This book falls in the LGBTQ genre.  The book follows Paul who is a high school student who is openly gay and has known this since kindergarten.  He has his group of friends and everything is perfect until the new boy Noah waltzes into his life.  Paul then has to juggle his friends and Noah, and ultimately figure out how to fix everything with everyone.

When I first started this book I had some mixed feelings.  I felt like the book was slightly chaotic with a large number of characters being introduced quickly.  I felt like I couldn't keep everyone straight and there was just an information overload.  I continued to read a chapter here and there over the course of two and a half weeks.  Finally I sat down and decided I needed to just power through the rest of the book.  Once I powered through it, the book got better.  I came across the quote above and I really fell in love with it.  I sent a picture of the quote (okay, paragraph) to my boyfriend.  I explained that I could see us and our relationship in that paragraph.  Throughout the book Paul was dealing with feelings for Noah while Kyle had feelings for Paul.  It turned into a hot mess and ultimately led to Kyle saying the quote above.  It honestly moved me.  That is the picture of what love is supposed to be.  I feel like in today's society we get so caught up in the right and the wrong of who you love, and we don't focus on the fact that we should be simply loving one another.  We should be supporting one another in the best way that we possibly can.  But we don't.  We don't love each other through the good and the bad.  I think if we all just loved each other through everything that we would live in a much better world.

I hated some of the unrealistic aspects of this book.  For example, the cheerleaders rode in on motorcycles at a pep rally.  That isn't something that would happen at a high school.  At one point in the book Paul enters the school early before school starts and puts up decorations for Noah.  That isn't something that would be available or allowed to happen at a normal high school.  Or at least that wouldn't be something that would be allowed at my high school.  I just enjoy books that are entirely realistic or they are completely unrealistic.  I don't like a mix of the two worlds and this book really tried to mix the two.

Overall, I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  The character and information overload at the beginning was a huge downer for me and the unrealistic aspects was a turnoff.  I would recommend this to anyone looking for a LGBTQ book.  

Garvey's Choice by Nikki Grimes

From Goodreads,

"Garvey’s father has always wanted Garvey to be athletic, but Garvey is interested in astronomy, science fiction, reading—anything but sports. Feeling like a failure, he comforts himself with food. Garvey is kind, funny, smart, a loyal friend, and he is also overweight, teased by bullies, and lonely. When his only friend encourages him to join the school chorus, Garvey’s life changes. The chorus finds a new soloist in Garvey, and through chorus, Garvey finds a way to accept himself, and a way to finally reach his distant father—by speaking the language of music instead of the language of sports."

Goodreads - Garvey's Choice

In case you haven't noticed, there's been a theme to the books I've been reviewing.  They are all works of poetry!  April is National Poetry Month, which means reading lots of fantastic books that are quick and easy to read.  This book was quick to read, but I thought it was far from fantastic.

Garvey is a chubby kid who is constantly being pressured by his Dad to play sports.  But Garvey isn't the athletic type.  He enjoys astronomy and reading, and a newfound love for chorus.  Through singing, Garvey must try to find his voice to hopefully communicate to his Dad, that he isn't an athlete.

This book was an extremely short read.  I did not like how short this book was because I didn't feel like I had time to digest what I was reading.  This book had the general storyline of a child who is overweight and doesn't see eye to eye with a parent, they find something that they enjoy, and they finally get along with their parent.  There was nothing special about this book.  Also, due to the length of this book and the fact that it was written in prose, I felt like I didn't connect with any of the characters.  All of the characters lacked detail and depth, even Garvey the main character.

I give this book 1 star.  I felt like it was over before it even started, and being totally honest I felt like there was no depth to this.  This book was a total let down because it the summary for this book held a lot of potential.  My students love poetry and quick reads, which will be the only reason that I will put this book in my classroom library.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

From Goodreads,

"A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he?

As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually used his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator. "


Goodreads - Long Way Down

Awards:

• National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2017)
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2017)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Poetry (2017)
• NAACP Image Award Nominee for Youth/Teens (2018)
• Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult (2018)
• Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2018)
• Coretta Scott King Award Nominee for Author Honor (2018)
• Newbery Honor (2018)
• Odyssey Award Nominee (2018)

This book is written in prose and it starts with Will's brother Shawn being shot.  Will has to decide what to do because there are rules that are supposed to be followed.  He's not supposed to cry, he's not supposed to snitch, but he is supposed to get revenge.  Will finds his brother's gun and he decides he is going to get revenge on the person who shot his brother.  He steps onto the elevator and it stops at each floor.  Only the people who step on, aren't alive.  They're all dead.  Will must continue the long ride down to see if the elevator will ever reach the lobby.  

This book was a super quick read.  I read it in under an hour.  I absolutely love that this book was centered around violence and how it is passed on generation after generation.  This is such a real problem in America.  Everything we learn is passed on from our parents and siblings.  In this book violence is passed on and taught to children and siblings.  Violence is a real issue and there are children and teenagers who have to fear for their life.  They have to worry about being shot while walking to school and they automatically duck and take cover when they hear gunshots.  It is just a part of their life, but it shouldn't be.  I'm so glad that Reynolds made this topic the focus of his book.  I loved it even more that he showed the issue of violence through the eyes of a teenager who has been raised in it and struggles to make the right choice.    

I absolutely hated the ending of this book.  At the end they finally reached the lobby and all the dead people got off.  They just asked, "You coming?".  I was so confused.  I didn't understand if they were encouraging him to go and shoot the guy who killed his brother.  I didn't know if he was dead and they were walking him to the other side.  I had so many questions.  The ending just left everything hanging, and I hate when books leave everything hanging.  I would have loved if Reynolds would have given the book a proper ending, but he didn't.  

This book was good, but the ending was very weak.  I give this book 3.5 stars.  If you want a quick read or want to read poetry, then this is an excellent book for you.  There are a few choice words in it, which is why I won't put it in my classroom library.  

Rebound by Kwame Alexander

From Goodreads,

"Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Newbery Medal winner The Crossover, Chuck Bell takes center stage, as readers get a glimpse of his childhood and how he became the jazz music worshipping, basketball star his sons look up to."

Goodreads - Rebound

I absolutely love seeing my students get excited about books.  The week after our spring break I received our Scholastic book order and my kids were excited.  They are always excited to see what their new book club book is going to be and of course they are always excited to see what books I ordered for myself and for our library.  As I was unboxing and sorting books, my students were watching.  I pulled this book out of the box and one of my students said, "Uh... is that Rebound?  The book that goes with The Crossover?"  I smiled and said "Yes."  She dramatically fell in the floor and begged me to let her read it right that minute.  I told her I was going to read it first before putting it in the library.  Every day she asked me if I had finished it.  When I finally did she excitedly snatched the book off my desk and started reading it promptly.  It's the little moments that make a difference.  And luckily this book made a huge difference for one child.

This book is the prequel to the book The Crossover.  This book takes place in the 80s and follows Chuck Bell, the father of the twins in The Crossover.  He experiences a traumatic event that follows him and begins affecting his attitude.  His mom makes the difficult decision to send Chuck to live with his grandparents.  While at his grandparents he finds that he has a knack for basketball that he didn't think he had in him.  Being with his grandparents allows him to focus on himself and the rebound he needs to move forward in life.

This book was a good prequel, but I really wish I had read it before reading The Crossover.  I loved that in this book Chuck enjoyed reading comics, and throughout the book there were comics of Chuck playing basketball.  Graphic novels are becoming more and more relevant in children's books and I think it is great that Kwame incorporated this into this book.  I felt like the comics throughout the book really broke up the monotony of the book and the poetry.  Plus, it makes the book more interesting to students because there are "pictures" in the book.

One of the things that I didn't like about this book was the ending.  I didn't like how the book suddenly jumped to present day when The Crossover was taking place.  I was reading along and suddenly we were in present day and it was Jordan and Josh who were telling the story.  That really bothered me because I felt like it was a consistent story.  It definitely took me a minute to figure out what was happening and who was even talking.  However, I did like that Kwame made all the final connections to The Crossover.

I'm glad that I read this book, and honestly I feel like some of my students would love to have other books of Kwame Alexander's in my library.  I would love to have a class set of these books so that I could do a novel study over them.  It would be highly beneficial to study the content and poetry.  I give this book 4 out of 5 stars and I'm definitely excited to hear what my student has to say about this book.