2018 School Spending Survey Report
Brutal Youth
Thomas Dunne: St. Martin's. Jun. 2014. 416p. ISBN 9781250019356. $25.99; ebk. 9781250019363. F
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The adage says it takes a village to raise a child, but what if the village is a dangerous place? Such is the case at St. Michael the Archangel High School, where even the best-intentioned adults wreak havoc in the lives of their students. It's the fall of 1991, and bullying is a deeply ingrained tradition at the school. In-crowd students haze newcomers with fevered zeal, the parish priest delights in belittling the principal, and the teachers turn on one another and their students. Into this mix tumble Peter Davidek, Lorelei Paskal, and Noah Stein, each carrying wounds and seeking a place to belong. What they find instead is a maze of traps and betrayals. Like mythic heroes, they must journey through their own fears and leave in their wake broken bodies and exposed truths.
VERDICT Debut author (and senior staff writer at Entertainment Weekly) Breznican captures a perfect balance of horror, heartbreak, and resilience and takes the high school novel into deeper places. Great for the beach but not just a summer read. [The author will appear at the June 29 United for Libraries program "The Laugh's on Us" at ALA in Las Vegas (http://ow.ly/xCQXL).—Ed.]
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