Or Not

March 1, 2008
Gr 9 Up-Eighth-grader Cassie Sullivan is big for her age, physically and intellectually. She has strong opinions: She hates WWJD bracelets and NCLB-driven standardized tests. She rejects cell phones, CDs, and MP3s, but adores her vinyl record collection. She also loves visiting her family's place in the Colorado mountains, gazing up at the stars and thinking about infinity. She believes that the world is almost certainly more than 6000 years old; that things with faces probably shouldn't be eaten; and that war, despite any trumpeted reasoning, is still just a sad human failing. At the beginning of the school year she defends evolution and finds herself, as she starts the first of the 11 journals that comprise this diary novel, ostracized fromand bullied bymost of her classmates, who begin calling her Cassie the Antichrist. Her refusal to sing "America the Beautiful" in choir earns her the name Osama O'Sullivan. With some help from her brother's college-age girlfriend and a compassionate GT teacher, Cassie considers a scheme to skip through her current hell and jump directly to high school, all the time wondering "is it worth it? Is anything worth it?" Librarians will want to slip this excellent and therapeutic selection to precocious early teens facing similar alienation, depression, and bullying issues. Just be aware that there is frank language and references to drug and alcohol use."Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2007
Cassie is an eighth-grader in 2002, when emotions from the 9/11 attacks are still raw, and everyone is trying to make sense of the drastic changes around them. Cassie works out her confusion by journaling effusively over the course of the fall semester. A bit of a hippie throwback, Cassie prefers vinyl to CD, is a vegan, refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and doesnt shave her legsall traits that make her an outsider at her school. But its her negative view of the countrys support for reprisal that incurs the most wrath from her peers. She withdraws as much as possible, until she finds some refreshing, more tolerant friends in a writing group. If the language and philosophical musings sometimes veer into precocious pretension, Cassie is interesting and likable, and her voice grows stronger as her character develops. This character-driven novel may require some handselling, but introspective teens will gradually find themselves absorbed by Cassies life, and empathize with her struggles.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)