I don't remember if this was required reading when I was in school or not, but I do remember seeing a bunch of my classmates reading this. This was a quick read. I expected it to be a hard book to read because of the subject matter, but the writing style was more like a diary. All I have to say is, if this isn't required reading and trust me, I was one of those kids who HATED required reading and would not do it at all. I would highly recommend that this be on every high school English syllabus.
I did give this a 4 out of 5 stars. You can guess right off the bat that the main character experiences severe trauma.
It also makes you guess how she is going to deal with it. Is she going to do this or is she going to pull a Hannah from 13 Reasons Why. None of that is in this book. The main character is Melinda, a freshman in high school who is severely hated by almost everyone in the school. During the summer, she called the cops while at a house party that was being thrown by seniors and there were underage drinking. The real reason why she called the cops, nobody knows because she has become a selective mute.
It follows her throughout her freshman year being judged, hated, bullied, walked on, and criticized by her teachers and school staff. She observes her teachers and classmates around her and becomes a little judgemental herself. She finds some solace in an abandoned janitor's closet where she sits with her thoughts.
She does have some parental issues that seem to get better once she talks to them and she does the dad's job of cleaning the front yard.
My heart did break every time she came into contact with the source of her trauma and the ending my heart was in my throat.
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