He is kind, sweet, and as we will find out far more courageous than anyone would have given him credit for, but Kylie can't see past the spots on his face, or the fact that he is into things like science and reading - he isn't one of the cool kids. When Kylie first moved in she met a neighbour boy who has tried to befriend her. Kylie has a chance to make sure she is never bullied again - but only if she becomes a bully herself. She plans to make friends with Jaz, the most popular girl in school, who also happens to be a heartless bully. She is determined that things will be different this time, and she knows just what she has to do to be accepted. Kylie was bullied at her previous school.
Could Kylie's stepfather have found them? And of course there are the usual difficulties of starting a new school and trying to make friends. Pressures build up with strange phone calls. Kylie's Mom is working and exhausted, they live in a run down flat, and the money barely stretches to covering groceries - and as Kylie's little sister keeps reminding her - this is all her fault. Forced to flee, they ended up in a shelter, and are now trying to start life over with a very different set of circumstances. Kylie and her family had a prosperous upper middle class life - until the day Kylie's stepfather nearly beat her to death.
This may be a short story, but it is one of the most intense books I have ever read, and the author manages to capture in a limited amount of space more than most novels do. The author does not go into graphic detail of the physical abuse, but she goes into very graphic detail of the emotions involved with such realism, it is almost difficult to believe this is based entirely on fiction. The question is, with subjects as difficult as child abuse and bullying, do you really want to feel like you are there in the flesh? This book literally had my stomach in knots and at one point I actually broke into a sweat. L A Weatherly is most certainly one of these gifted authors. Some authors have a talent for writing so vividly and realistically, the reader can feel as if they are actually there, experiencing the events first hand.
Summary: Painfully realistic depiction of child abuse and bullying, but with a wonderful message of redemption.
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