Language: R (21 swears, 3 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: MS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Typical school days, typical time at home, and typical hang outs with her friends are starting to get complicated. Alma (13yo) doesn’t know what to do with new feelings for a boy or what to do about her parents arguing or how to stop her friend from moving away. She makes lists, listens to music, and writes letters that will never be responded to as she tries to make everything simple again.
The entire book is written in poems, and I was struck by how much you can learn about a person with only snippets of their thoughts and of the major events going on in their lives. Alma’s struggles and disjointed thoughts are relatable as she deals with loss and confusion—loss of different kinds of relationships and confusion regarding several different topics. Beauty is in how her thoughts on the different topics start to overlap. Some endings are final, but others allow for the opportunity of a new beginning.
The characters are a wide variety of ethnicities. Josh is part of the LGBTQIA community. The mature content rating is for mentions of alcohol, drug use, innuendo, partial nudity, and mentions of condoms, prostitutes, rape, and sex. The violence rating is for mild assault and mentions of guns and death.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
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