Don't you Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sometimes I recognize an author's name and I don't know why. At my last book buying trip I snagged on this book because the author's name seemed familiar. Later, I figured out I recognized it from her book Just Ella which was a 'thing' when I started teaching. In any case, I picked out this specific title to try because of its premise.

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey is a novel in the form of  a required journal written by a girl named Tish Bonner. Basically, Mrs. Dunphrey makes a deal many English teachers make which is "If you just write, I promise I won't read the entries you tell me not to." (It's a deal I've been tempted to make myself.) So, Tish writes in her journal. She writes even though she almost aims at being a poor student. She writes because there's too much going on in her life, she has no one else to talk to, and Mrs. Dunphrey keeps her promise not to read it.

As the book continues, Tish's home situation deteriorates until she comes to a breaking point and must make a decision.

This book hit me hard. When I finished it, I was in tears and I sat stunned for several minutes. The reasons for this are complicated and personal to myself.

First, it hit me right in an anxiety button. I've never been in a situation where there was not enough money or food to take care of the necessities, but it's always been one of my driving fears. I don't know why. Tish's situation in the book takes that basic fear and gives it a hard twist because, as a 16 year old with a younger brother to watch out for, her options for providing enough money to live on are very limited.

Second, I spent most of the book frustrated and angry and Mrs. Dunphrey for not seeing the warning signs that something serious was wrong with Tish. Of course, I know it's not that easy. It's not easy for me when I have 10 students in a classroom and I cannot imagine how impossibly difficult it is for someone with 30 or 40 students in a room at a time.

In the end, the resolution relies on the trust Mrs. Dunphrey earns with Tish by keeping her word. Still, it was very hard to read and very good.

Thematically, this book is about neglect and resiliency. It's about the love of a sister who tries to protect her brother. It is about a teenager dealing with sexual harassment of her manager at her job and her limitations in dealing with him because of her desperate need for money. In an overarching way, it is about both the flaws of the educational system and the strengths of individual teachers. It is a beautiful and tough book.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

I've been reading a lot of fantasy literature lately and I picked up this in attempt to get a break from magic and fantastic critters. I don't read many books that could be labeled mainstream, YA or otherwise so it was a nice change of pace.

Hope Was Here is about Hope Yancey, a 16 year old girl who's moving with her Aunt to Wisconsin to take up a position at a diner. Hope is a girl who has already had to deal with some pretty rough things, her mom abandoned her to her Aunt for one thing, but moving to a new town the summer before her junior year in high school feels like just one more hardship. However, Hope soon finds herself involved in the campaign for a new mayoral candidate in her small town's election for mayor.

There are a lot of things going on in here. There are themes of alienation, loss, grief, and abandonment. There's also a throughline of dealing with cancer and political involvement for teenagers. It is, overall, an empowering book for the young adult that underscores the power of the individual, even the individual teen, in the machine of politics.

This book is a Newbery Honor book, won a Christopher Prize,  was an ALA Notable book for the year, and appeared on the ALA's list for Best YA Books of the year. All and all, it's a rather impressive haul of awards which has opened it up to a couple of scathing reviews on Goodreads. Most of the negativity seems to be people enjoying being negative and critical.

It does seem a strange Newbery pick to me as the protagonist is so much older than the usual focus of the prize, but that's hardly the book's fault. The only criticism that seemed particularly valid was that the book had a somewhat overly rosy view of political process. Things worked out a little too neatly given the situation outlined in the beginning, however I don't think that detracts. I think the point is people, young people too, can band together to effect change despite of, or perhaps because of, the struggles they face in their personal lives. I think that's a valuable message for our young people these days.