Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni - OPTIONAL

Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni, 276 pages. Scholastic Press (Scholastic), 2019. $17.99

Language: PG13 (16 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Ivy is an artist—something most people know—but what Ivy keeps secret are the pieces she makes. Surrounded by so much good art, how can hers compare? Instead of putting out her own photographs to be criticized, Ivy decides to thank others for their art—but there is a line between doing something kind for the artist and doing what Ivy believes is best for the artist. Can kindness be unkind?

Several messages and morals pierced my heart as I read Tell Me Everything (rights to speech and art and kindness; everyone is going through something; put yourself out there), so many that I wonder what you will get out of the book if you read it. I connected so well with Ivy because I feel and understand some of her fears; the validation in knowing that I am not alone in my thinking helps me feel that it is okay to be who I am. However, finishing this book was difficult for me because I felt that Enni let me down in the last 70 pages of Ivy’s story. There is what feels like an unnatural shift in events, and I nearly stopped reading because I didn’t want to watch what was going to happen. And then the ending felt different, less real, less plausible than the rest of the book.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen