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A review by drey72
If I Tell by Janet Gurtler
4.0
drey’s thoughts:
Jaz is seventeen, and the only biracial kid in her small town. At least, as far as she knows. She doesn’t have any friends in school, and is thrown into a whirlpool of emotions when she sees her best friend Lacey making out with her mom’s boyfriend. And that whirlpool gets deeper and wider when she finds out her mom’s pregnant. What a mess!
Jaz can’t confide in anyone–the only two people she’s ever felt comfortable talking to have betrayed her. So she keeps things bottled up, only to find out that she has too many emotions fizzing inside her all at the same time. And her anger leaks out in spurts and splashes as she lashes out at her (former) best friend, at Simon, and even at her mom.
The emotional roller-coaster Jaz is on pulls you along as it goes up (new boy) and down (facing Simon or Lacey) and up (new friend at school) and down (her mom’s emotional state), so much so that you wonder when she’s going to let it all out. Which will happen, of course. The only question is when. And where. And who’s going to get hurt in the process… (ok, that’s more than one question)
This is an addictive read–you can’t put it down until you find out how Jaz fares. Excellent teen read covering topics far and wide, including racism, bullying, depression, self-identity, and trust.
drey’s rating: Excellent!
Jaz is seventeen, and the only biracial kid in her small town. At least, as far as she knows. She doesn’t have any friends in school, and is thrown into a whirlpool of emotions when she sees her best friend Lacey making out with her mom’s boyfriend. And that whirlpool gets deeper and wider when she finds out her mom’s pregnant. What a mess!
Jaz can’t confide in anyone–the only two people she’s ever felt comfortable talking to have betrayed her. So she keeps things bottled up, only to find out that she has too many emotions fizzing inside her all at the same time. And her anger leaks out in spurts and splashes as she lashes out at her (former) best friend, at Simon, and even at her mom.
The emotional roller-coaster Jaz is on pulls you along as it goes up (new boy) and down (facing Simon or Lacey) and up (new friend at school) and down (her mom’s emotional state), so much so that you wonder when she’s going to let it all out. Which will happen, of course. The only question is when. And where. And who’s going to get hurt in the process… (ok, that’s more than one question)
This is an addictive read–you can’t put it down until you find out how Jaz fares. Excellent teen read covering topics far and wide, including racism, bullying, depression, self-identity, and trust.
drey’s rating: Excellent!