Gr 8 Up–In her signature dramatic style, McDaniel explores the grief, anger, and upheaval caused by a school bombing. Complete with pep rallies and teen romances, Edison High School is ordinary and suburban. But when a bomb explodes just before morning classes start, students find their lives turning upside down. Through the perspectives of teens impacted by the blast, readers will quickly empathize with their confusion, despair, and determination. Characters represent a mix of the school’s population, including a popular cheerleader, the student-council president, a goth girl, and an outsider. While characterizations can be broad, none of them slips into stereotypes. The characters speak and act in a believable manner save for some instances–e.g., one teen refers to his “Web avatar,” which seems a bit dated. The shocking fate of two characters involved in a romantic relationship is revealed dramatically. The depiction of the explosion, panic, and glee felt by the main perpetrator while witnessing the explosion from a safe distance are realistically detailed. However, the exposure of the true perpetrators is a bit rushed and anticlimactic. Reluctant readers will be drawn to the novel’s brevity, romance, and ripped-from-the-headlines subject matter.–Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA
A bomb detonates one morning at Edison High School, killing nine people and wounding many others. McDaniel follows several students before and after the tragedy in characteristic heavy-handed, melodramatic fashion. The characters--the bad boy with a heart of gold, the ambitious class president, the sociopathic loner who built the bomb--are little more than stereotypes, lessening the topical novel's impact.
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