It Wasn't Me

September 1, 2018
Six seventh-graders in small-town Massachusetts reluctantly spend school vacation week participating in a restorative-practice justice circle in hopes of identifying a vandal.Amateur photographer Theo is the victim of a hate crime--his self-portraits in the student gallery defaced with "scribbled threats [and] gay slurs" and followed by a seemingly related incident in the darkroom--yet none of the five students who were in the gallery at the time admit culpability. A "non-horrible" teacher brings Theo and the five suspects together in a radical approach to conflict resolution, reminding them that "all of us are fighting unseen battles." Told primarily through Theo's first-person present-tense perspective, punctuated by daily assessments completed by his classmates, the book resists casting any one character as the obvious perpetrator. In true Breakfast Club fashion, the time spent together is sometimes hilarious and sometimes tragic, and it leaves secrets revealed--one student recently lost a sibling, several are navigating cultural expectations and stereotypes, Theo's dad split last year--and intimate connections forged. Fans of Levy's Fletcher Family series about two white dads and their adopted sons will recognize Jax Fletcher. Of the five suspects, Jax and Andre are African-American, while Alice Shu appears Asian, and Molly and Erik are identified as white along with Theo. Both refreshingly and frustratingly, Theo's sexual orientation is never made explicit; the text emphasizes the impact of the harassment rather than the relevance of its content.A timely, introspective whodunit with a lot of heart. (Fiction. 8-14)

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Starred review from September 17, 2018
When Massachusetts seventh-grader Theo’s self-portraits are vandalized with gay slurs in the student gallery, and someone destroys his long-exposure pinhole cameras shortly afterward, it seems that someone is out to get him. In a Breakfast Club–like scenario, teacher Ms. Lewiston calls Theo and the bystanders of the incident—as Theo narrates “the Over-achiever, the Jock, the Nerd, the Weirdo, and the Screw-up”—to a five-day “Justice Circle” during school vacation. Framed by daily reflective assessments written by each bystander and told through Theo’s eyes, Levy (The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher) subtly takes the reluctant group from anger and suspicion to a moving level of friendship, vulnerability, and trust as the kids open up to one another. Adults are virtually invisible, save the venerable Ms. Lewiston, which successfully creates an all-kid dynamic peppered with laugh-out-loud moments. What at first seems like a novel solely about bullying becomes a story about six kids who find their way to true friendship and fierce loyalty, and why restorative justice is worth the time and effort it takes. Ages 10–up. Agent: Marietta B. Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary.

October 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-When someone defaces the self-portraits that seventh grader Theo reluctantly hung in the school gallery, he just wants the whole school to forget his humiliation; his darkroom photos are destroyed soon afterward, though, and Theo feels that he is being targeted. The principal is eager to suspend the guilty person, but Theo's favorite teacher wants the five suspects who were in the gallery when the damage was discovered to come together in what she calls a "justice circle" to resolve the problem and make amends. And so Theo is trapped in a classroom with the students whom he calls the Nerd, the Princess, the Jock, the Weirdo, and the Screw-Up for the entire school break. Even though each student claims to be innocent, each has secrets, and they come to realize, as Ms. Lewiston tells them on the first day, that each is fighting an unseen battle. As Ms. Lewiston guides them through the resolution process, the tweens begin to see beyond labels, and Theo vacillates between wanting to know who hates him enough to vandalize his photos, and not wanting to learn that it is one of his newfound friends. Levy writes in an easy style with laugh-out-loud humor, offering characters that slowly reveal deeper complexity. Although the conclusion has a made-for-TV-movie predictability, it delivers an affirming message without being trite or preachy. VERDICT This is an engaging read with quirky, likable characters with whom tweens will identify. A good purchase for any collection serving middle schoolers.-MaryAnn Karre, Binghamton, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2018
Grades 5-8 Having to go to school over break stinks, but circumstantial evidence surrounding vandalism brings six unhappy seventh-graders together for a justice circle facilitated by a favorite teacher. Like The Breakfast Club, each student carries a label by which they are automatically judged (the nerd, the princess, the jock, the weirdo, the screw-up), and this experimental gathering seeks to discover not only who destroyed Theo's photographs but why. Despite a slow start, the story becomes as much a whodunit as an examination of judging others based on assumptions. Each day, the five possible perps fill out a questionnaire, offering readers a glimpse into the characters' personalities and thin layers of clues. Meanwhile, the six learn about each other's backgrounds, passions, and commonalities, leading to surprising results. Told primarily via Theo's first-person narrative, readers join him as he discovers what happened and feel his ever-changing emotions about the events. Plenty of laughs and loads of interesting introspection help drive the story. Fans of Levy's Family Fletcher books will love that Jax is one of the suspects.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)