The Book High

Possibly 4.5, I keep going back and forth.

I was surprised by how much I liked this one. I'm a teacher, so I tend to be a little leery of stories about teachers, since the fictionalized details pull me out of the story more than they do with other professions. This one managed not to do that, and my relief may have heightened my enjoyment of the story. The only few things that did bother me--and not even very much--were that Ian felt the need to reassure us at least three times that he wasn't perving on Aaron while he was a student. I appreciated the explanation the first time it was given, but having it repeated that many times made it seem like he was protesting a little too much....

The other thing was that Aaron was able to get into the school and just wander around the way he did. Perhaps it's different in high schools, but in my elementary school all visitors have to check in at the office and if they're not there for a specific purpose, they're not allowed in. That's the sort of thing I meant about fictionalized details pulling me out of the story. It kind of made the whole rest of that scene unbelievable for me. But that's just my overreacting quirk, I think.

I thought the brothers' grief was handled beautifully. It was believable and honest and the way they were dealing with it was paced perfectly within the framework of the story.

My favorite thing about this story was that Aaron stood up to Ian and wouldn't let him hide them. I love reading about characters who have enough self respect to not accept being hidden. I also loved the way he did it, that he was so kind and respectful and that it didn't come across as an ultimatum but just how things had to be.

And I have to appreciate a story that can make me both cry and cheer and then leaves me with a smile.