This is What I Did

Starred review from July 30, 2007
Part staccato prose, part transcript, this haunting first novel will grip readers right from the start. Fragmented scenes re-create, with grim authenticity, the almost claustrophobic perspective of the eighth-grade narrator, Logan, as he struggles to come to terms with his role in a despicable crime. “A year ago I was fine. That’s when there was nothing wrong,” Logan says early on. In relaying the action chiefly through Logan’s terse observations and through script-like reproductions of dialogue, Ellis never veers from Logan’s point of view. In this way, she infuses the narrative with his guilt over what happened, the details of which are revealed only in a climactic finale. At the same time, the narrator’s frustration does not become the audience’s, thanks to Ellis’s skill in dramatizing his vulnerability. Readers will recognize themselves in Logan’s difficulty overcoming his shame, even if the scale of his experiences is larger than their own, and sympathy as well as curiosity about his circumstances will drive them forward. Logan’s progress is slow—but realistically so—and brings with it an almost cathartic relief for the audience. Plaudits go to the art department, too: a particularly attractive book design incorporates small drawings between each segment of text. Ages 12-up.

October 1, 2007
Gr 6-9-Something terrible happened last year involving Logan, his friend Zyler, Zyler's physically abusive father, and a girl named Cami. Logan's parents moved the family to a new neighborhood to try and offer Logan a fresh start. But it is not working. The repercussions have followed the eighth grader. He tries to be invisible, but he is tormented by kids in his class, who know something happened, but not what; by his scout troop (including the adult leader); and by his jock younger brothers. Still, Logan does not completely withdraw from the world. He builds sets for the school play, lands a small role in it, and starts an odd, palindrome-filled friendship with a girl. Through his thoughts, memories, brief bits of dialogue, and visits with a psychiatrist, Logan's past is slowly unveiled. This novel is reminiscent of Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (Doubleday, 2003) both in its layout and in the emotional flatness of the narrator. Readers are in the protagonist's head, which, since he has been severely traumatized, is not always a pleasant place to be. But Logan is doing the best he can and is very likable. The odd layout-no chapters, only small sections that cover a thought or moment in time-is a stylistic touch that could have come across as gimmicky, but instead tells the story in an inventive way. This is an intense, well-told story that will make readers think hard about how they would handle rough situations in their lives. Expect it to generate a lot of questions and discussion."Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.