This Is Not a Love Letter

Gr 9 Up—A few days after Jessie (who is white) told her boyfriend (who is black) that they needed to take a break, he is reported missing. His mother thinks he has run away; the police think he may have jumped into the river and drowned. Jessie knows these theories cannot be true. She thinks he was murdered, and has a good idea who did it. Nobody but Jessica knows that Chris was badly beaten up recently. Even though he says it was just because other players from his baseball team were jealous of his Division 1 scholarship offer, Jessie thinks it was racially motivated. Told through flashes of the past and present, Jessie searches for where Chris may have gone, not wanting to believe the worst. She starts to regret that she never returned the love letters he wrote her. Despite the length, the story touches on a few promising concepts but does not dig deeply to truly bring the characters or story to life. The pacing moves a bit too slowly to be engaging as a mystery or thriller, and the plot drags a bit in the middle but rushes to an unsatisfying conclusion. The narrative tries to discuss racism, but only explores it at the surface level. Even though Jessie is the narrator, the story focuses so much on Chris, readers do not get to know her.