The Book High

It's a shame the title is so ridiculous, because the book itself is not. It's an honest and insightful look in to what makes a person "good" or "bad" and how one changes the way others perceive him. It also shows beautifully the difference that adults can make on the lives and self-images of children--either to help them or to hurt them (hopefully unintentionally).

My strongest emotions at the end of this were anger and gratitude. The portrayal of the school system in this book is heartbreaking. Bradley's teacher frustrated me so much--people like that have no business being teachers. She had him sitting in a back corner surrounded by empty desks and told the new boy that she was sorry those were the only open seats, because she knows nobody wants to sit by THAT boy.

And then announcing to the class that there were 16 A's and the rest B's... except for one F, when every student in the class will know who got the F is beyond belief heartless.

What honestly made me angry was the depiction of the school board and the angry parent meeting that got Carla fired. The one person who actually cares about the students and helping them learn to think for themselves (educating them, in other words) is the person they gang up on and reject. The saddest part is that I fear that depiction is all too accurate in so many cases.

What made me grateful was that in the midst of all of these horrible teachers and misguided systems, there are people like Carla. People who aren't so quick to give up on the students. People who want to help mold healthy individuals and not simply produce students who excel at doing what they're told. People who don't make the poor Mom have to repeat "But deep down inside he's really a good boy," because they can already see it for themselves.

And the birthday party scene where all the girls start fighting over who gets to help Bradley and explain to him what happens at birthday parties goes a long way to restoring my faith in humanity after the school board scene. That whole party was just so wonderfully well done, with Bradley slowly relaxing and everyone being so kind to him and all of them just having so much fun as a result. Beautiful!

Lovely, lovely book. I can't wait to recommend it to my students!