Just Wreck it All by N. Griffin - NO

Just Wreck it All by N. Griffin, 336 pages. Atheneum (Simon), 2018. $19.

Language: PG-13 ( 80 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: MS – NOT RECOMMEDED

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Two years ago Bett was athletic, fearless, and prone to daredevil behavior (fizzicle feats, she called them). But when a dare gone wrong leaves her best friend severely and permanently injured, everything changes. Now, Bett is extremely overweight, depressed, and forbids herself from enjoying anything in life, from her favorite sports to having friends—anything she determines to be a plus. But some pluses can’t be avoided, and when that happens, Bett punishes herself through binge eating. As long as she can keep the pluses and minuses balanced, she can make it through another day.           

There were not many things I liked about this book.  There were too many stories going on and not enough time spent on any of those stories. For starters, I disliked her name Bett.  I had trouble remember if she was a boy or a girl early on in the book.  I kept waiting for it to be a nickname, but no, Bett was her name.  The pluses and minuses she gave herself were also confusing. A plus was good, but also bad. She wanted a plus, but didn't, so she would punish herself by eating too much if she got too many pluses.  I understand girls can binge eat, but in this story I couldn't quite tell if Bett was fat from binge eating, or just a big girl. Sometimes I felt like she was fat, but then she would be off climbing something or running extremely fast, so I guess ""fat"" was just the perception of herself, except for her binge eating should make her fat.  Confusing, right? Griffin added to many heavy topics into this novel; divorce, infidelity, abuse, vandalism, eating disorders, death, etc.  It was just too much for me.  All of the story lines was weak on each topic. The one thing I did like about this book was the cover, which is unfortunate because students will check this book out because of the cover, but be sorely disappointed by the plot.  I also liked the bus driver Eddie's character.  He was such a gruff, harsh guy but I felt like the kids on the bus connected with him and eventually knew how much he cared about them. Overall, I did not enjoy this book and would not recommend it.

Jessica Nelson Media Specialist