Stories Collide (25)
THE YOU I'VE NEVER KNOWN by Ellen Hopkins
Ariel and her dad have moved around since she was two and her mother left them, and now she found the place she wants to stay until high school is over because of her budding feelings for her best friend; Maya is pregnant and living on a military base with her husband, wondering if she should stay because of his drinking and abusive tendencies; as past secrets are revealed and the stories collide, a scary truth about Ariel's history and her father surfaces. Ariel's chapters are in free verse, sometimes revealing two poems in one. Maya's chapters are in journal format in prose.
Both work well for their stories and help differentiate them. The reveal of Ariel's past is easy to guess about halfway through the book, but is still angering and emotional, and the reader learns it is based on an actual experience the author had with her daughter. A moving book with honest look at love and sex. (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2017)
Ariel and her dad have moved around since she was two and her mother left them, and now she found the place she wants to stay until high school is over because of her budding feelings for her best friend; Maya is pregnant and living on a military base with her husband, wondering if she should stay because of his drinking and abusive tendencies; as past secrets are revealed and the stories collide, a scary truth about Ariel's history and her father surfaces. Ariel's chapters are in free verse, sometimes revealing two poems in one. Maya's chapters are in journal format in prose.
Both work well for their stories and help differentiate them. The reveal of Ariel's past is easy to guess about halfway through the book, but is still angering and emotional, and the reader learns it is based on an actual experience the author had with her daughter. A moving book with honest look at love and sex. (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2017)