Say Something: A Hate List Novella by Jennifer Brown

From Goodreads, 

"In Hate List, Jennifer Brown delivered a powerful story about grief, friendship, and forgiveness in the aftermath of a school shooting. Now, she explores an evocative new narrative while digging deeper into the themes first touched upon in her debut novel.

David Judy knows what it's like to be bullied. Shy and gentle, with a soft voice and "a girl's name for a last name," he is a prime target. Thankfully, there's one girl David feels at ease with -- Valerie, the girl who's been dating his neighbor and sometimes-friend, Nick. Valerie is kind to David and pulls him into their circle of outcast friends, where he finally feels like he (sort of) belongs. So when David starts to suspect that Nick and his friend Jeremy are planning a revenge plot against their tormentors, he wrestles with whether or not to tell someone. By the time he finally works up the courage to say something...it's too late.


David tries to put what he knows behind him -- to forget and move on -- but that's hard to do as senior year starts and he watches his old friend, Valerie, struggle in a deep, dark place of guilt and confusion. It's time to speak up. David may not be able to end bullying, but by standing up, he might just make a difference. And that's what matters."

Goodreads - Say Something

Last week I reviewed my reread of the book Hate List.  When I repurchased this book there was the included novella in the back called Say Something.  I had no idea that Jennifer Brown had written a novella to follow up the original award winner.  I was extremely excited to finish the book so that I could read this novella. 

Say Something is told by David who was friends with Nick and Valerie.  Nick was the gunman in a school shooting and Valerie was quickly associated with it because she had written a hate list.  But David is dealing with a mixture of emotions since the shooting.  He really cares about Valerie and enjoys her friendship, especially since he feels like an outcast most of the time.  David thinks that Nick and Jeremy are going to plan something against the classmates that are on the hate list.  He struggles with telling someone.  And by the time he sees the gun that Nick has under his coat, it is too late to tell someone.  In the aftermath, David continues to struggle to figure out his place and if he should tell the police the information that he knows. 

This book (yes, I'm going to call this a book even though it is a novella) focuses a lot on the bullying that took place at school.  In the first book, we learned that there was bullying going on like in most schools, but this book really emphasized how bad it was and who was being bullied.  Nick was bullied and even fought fights for kids who were being bullied.  I honestly felt like Nick was villainized in the first book, but was brought back to being just an average kid who was struggling in this book.  I felt bad for David and for Nick.  David was relentlessly picked on for his last name.  Nick stood up for David a couple times because he was just fed up with all the bullying.  I feel like most (not all) school shootings are a result of continuous bullying that has taken place.  As a teacher, I always step in and intervene if I witness or encounter a bullying situation.  The problem is that many kids won't tell an adult if they are being bullied because they are often labeled as a tattle tale and that just causes more bullying.  I don't know what is going to have to happen to fix the bullying and school shooting issue.  Part of me thinks that it is how kids are being raised today versus how they were raised 20 years ago.  Parents are less and less involved in their child's life and they place the blame on the school 95% of the time.  I think the biggest question is what can adults do and change to make a difference in how children respond and act in certain situations. 

This book is a follow-up to the first book, but I feel there was a bigger story that could have been told.  I honestly would have loved to have read a story from Nick's perspective.  There could have been a deeper back story that told of his childhood and even how he was through school.  Bullying could have been addressed and even having the reactions of peers and adults would have been extremely interesting to read.  We could have learned the real backstory to what happened and how Valerie really fit into the whole picture and plan.  It would have been a good novella instead of David's story. 

Overall, this book was good, especially since I read it right after finishing Hate List.  The focus on bullying was a good move by Jennifer Brown because it is such an issue in schools today.  I give this 3 stars.  It was good, but as I mentioned above I think there was a bigger story to tell.  

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

From Goodreads, 

"Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life."

Goodreads - Hate List

Awards and Nominations: 

• Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award (2010)
• Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2011)
• Missouri Gateway Readers Award (2012)
• Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for High School (2012)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2014)

This is actually a reread for me, and I was not excited about it.  As we all know I started reading through award-winning books a few years back.  This was a book that was on the Missouri Gateway Readers Award list.  I had read it before and found the book okay.  Not great, not terrible, just okay.  I didn't want to read it again but had made the agreement with myself to read through the award books and document it by writing reviews on this blog.  Thus, I'm stuck rereading the book.  The exciting part is that the copy I have has the novella in the back.  I'll review it next week!

Valerie never wanted anyone to die.  Sure she was different than most teenagers.  Sure she had a hate list of all the things and people she hated.  She never thought that her boyfriend Nick would take things so seriously and decide to shoot the kids at her school.  Valerie too was a victim and now she is trying to recover in a million different ways.  A lot of people think she is guilty and should pay for what she did, even though she did nothing but make the hate list.  She is mentally trying to deal with and sort out her personal problems, her family problems, and all the problems that come from being at school.  The entire time you will ask what exactly happen and will Valerie ever be okay. 

In today's world, we see and hear more and more about school shootings.  Schools practice lockdown drills and students know what to do in case they have to lock down a room by themselves or with a sub.  A lot of books in the past ten years have had school shootings as a theme and central driving point behind the book.  This book of course has the school shooting as a backdrop.  But it isn't the driving point and focus of the book.  Hate List focuses on Valerie and her role in the school shooting and more importantly her role after the shooting.  I find it such an interesting approach by Brown because of Valerie's role.  She made the hate list, but she had no idea there were plans for a school shooting and she ends up being a victim.  Some people quickly forgive her and say she is innocent because she didn't shoot anyone.  While others think she is to blame and should pay for it because she made the hate list.  And through the entire book, we follow Valerie as she goes to a therapist to try to sort out her feelings and pull her life together in some way, shape, or form.  There is a big mental health push in this book, and frankly, I think it was done so tastefully.  At the end of the copy of the book I have, there's a question and answer session with Jennifer Brown.  She states that she had come up with Valerie and laid out all the details of her.  But she then had her husband who is a psychologist make a plan on how she would be treated.  I think this was a wonderful approach by having someone who is a professional develop part of the book and determine how therapy would actually be for Valerie.  The entire book was wonderfully written and laid together perfectly.  

I stated earlier that this book was just okay on my scale.  I think this is largely in part because of Valerie's entire dysfunctional family.  Her dad honestly became the bad guy in this entire thing.  He was an awful human being who blamed her for everything that had happened.  He didn't give anyone in his family the love or support that they needed during a trying time.  He was only focused on himself.  Valerie's mom was pretty scattered.  She went from thinking Valerie was going to try to kill herself to having complete trust in her, then swinging back to being paranoid and thinking she was going to kill people.  Her mom should have also been going to therapy from what I read in the book.  She was a lot to handle, but at the end of the day, she still loved Valerie which is more than I can say for Valerie's dad.  Her brother seemed pretty supportive in the beginning, but he changed too as the book progressed.  He became more like their dad and told Valerie to basically stop causing a scene and ruining things for him.  I think they all needed to go to therapy together and separately.  They were a ruining point for me because of how dysfunctional they all were.

This book wasn't as bad as I had remembered it being.  I don't think this would be a perfect fit for just anyone.  I think that anyone who is struggling with mental health issues might want to consider reading this book with a friend or family member.  It touches on self-harm and obviously the school shooting.  I give this 3 stars.  The book was okay, but it just wasn't the book for me. 

Found by S.A. Bodeen

From Goodreads, 

"In the thrilling final book of S.A. Bodeen's middle-grade Shipwreck Island series, it's up to a young girl to save her shipwrecked family from a time-traveling "curator" of souls and a treasure-hunting criminal—and get them off the island!

Sarah Robinson and her family are shipwrecked on a remote and mysterious island. Their food is scarce and there's no sign of rescue. They have seen strange creatures, rescued a mysterious girl, and found the Curator, who has captured Sarah's father and stepbrother to use in a bizarre time travel experiment. And then the only man who knows about their island comes back—he's looking for buried treasure, and won't leave without it, even if it means leaving the Robinsons stranded.

Time is running out. They must get off the island."

Goodreads - Found

We have finally reached the final book in the Shipwreck Island series.  It is always bittersweet to finish a series.  Luckily, I haven't invested too much time in this series because all of the books are geared for middle school kids and are really short.

Found continues the story that started with the book Shipwreck Island.  Sarah is taking Fox to find the face rock.  Marco is working with the Curator to get the other half of the progenitor so that the Curator can replicate the animals he needs in order for his spaceship to fly again.  Nacho is back at camp with his Mom, Cash, and Sarge trying to stay safe and alive while a lady has them at gunpoint.  The question of if they all survive and get off the island is finally answered in this book. 

This book was probably the fastest-paced book in the series as it had very little time lapse throughout the book.  It was also probably my least favorite in the series.  I felt like there was so much packed into this book which is great, but it felt like it was all crammed in so the series could end.  I don't feel that there was enough detail or emphasis on certain things that happened in the book.  There was a huge secret of what the progenitor looked like and I honestly thought that we would at least find out what it looked like, but sadly we never found out.  I also really hated the ending of this.  The book ended with them getting off the island.  There was no epilogue to this book which was BEYOND frustrating.  I really wanted to know if the kids got a brother or sister and how everyone was doing months after the trip.  It would have been a nice touch to give a glimpse of life after being stranded on an island for a few days. 

I still stand behind my statement that this entire series would have been better suited as just one book.  I think that Bodeen took time and wrote a really solid first book.  The rest of the books in the series seemed more and more rushed as they progressed.  I don't know if Bodeen was putting pressure on herself or if it was her publisher, but there was a clear and distinct lack of details and effort in the last two books than I saw in the first two.  I think this rushed effort really hurt the series.  And again, I still think this would have been better rolled all into one. 

Overall, this book was okay to finish the series.  As the books progressed I started to lose interest in them.  The first book packed a punch, but the fire died down as I read each book.  I give this 3 stars.  I wanted more from this book than what I got.  It was good to finish the series, but it could have been ten times better with more details and an epilogue. 

Trapped by S.A. Bodeen

From Goodreads, 

"It's up to Sarah Robinson to save her shipwrecked family from a time-traveling "curator" of souls and a treasure-hunting criminal in Book 3 of the Shipwreck Island series.

Sarah Robinson and her family are shipwrecked on a remote and mysterious island. Their food is scarce and there's no sign of rescue. They have seen strange creatures, rescued a mysterious girl, and found The Curator, who has captured Sarah's father and stepbrother to use in a bizarre time-travel experiment. And then the only man who knows about the island comes back--he's looking for buried treasure and won't leave without it, even if it means leaving the Robinsons stranded. Sarah knows an important key to finding the treasure, but will she keep it a secret?"

Goodreads - Trapped

We are back with the third book in this series!  I've enjoyed all of these extremely quick reads.  And I'm extremely excited to get the final book from the library at school and get it read. 

Trapped follows the first two books, Shipwreck Island and Lost.  Sarah and Marco have gone to find Sarah's dad and Marco's younger brother.  The end up meeting the Curator of the island who happens to be an alien.  After showing them scenes of his planet and what happened, Sarah and Marco decide to try to help him to save their family and his planet.  The Curator, named Leo, explains why there are strange creatures everywhere.  He is looking for something called a progenitor and explains that it had been traced back to the island.  Marco soon realizes that the progenitor is in a trunk he pulled off the ship they were on in the first book.  They try to hurry to get the progenitor, but a man named Fox appears at the island.  Fox has been searching for "his" treasure and will do anything it takes to get it.  The book ends as all of the kids race to save each other and their families. 

I enjoyed the sci-fi twists that happened in this book.  There were hints at the sci-fi storyline in the second book, but this one really ramped everything up as we were introduced to Leo who is from another planet.  I love that he was able to show Marco and Sarah everything that had happened that led his people to flee their planet.  The entire alien plotline was completely unexpected, but also really exciting to see how Bodeen weaved it into this story of survival.  I think she also did a great job of subtlety bringing in the fact that our planet will eventually reach a point where there is no return.  Leo mentions that if Sarah and Marco help him save his planet that Leo's people would be able to help the people of Earth if it ever came to it.  I would have loved if Bodeen had spent a little more time talking about our planet and what is happening to it.  I think it was a great opportunity to bring some environmental awareness to young kids and it maybe make a change starting with the next generation.  

As I mentioned in my last review, a map would have been a great addition to this story.  I also think that some illustrations would have been an excellent addition.  There are many unique things in this story from the mashed up animals to the scenery.  I kept trying to visualize what the mashup was of the animal that killed Leo's grandfather and is now stalking them all in the woods.  Obviously a black panther is one of them.  But it kept mentioning a long red tail and a red beard.  I cannot think of any animal that has a red beard besides a turkey.  And the animal didn't have feathers like a turkey does.  A picture would have been much appreciated to really visualize the animal. 

I'm excited to find out more about the progenitor and what exactly it is.  The entire time Leo was shielding everyone from seeing what it was.  I'm excited to read the final book and see how this series ends.  I would love for Leo to save his planet and either come back and visit or bring the family to visit him on his planet.  Either way I'm sure the final book in this series will pack a punch.  I give this 4 stars.