What It Is About - FIVE Things You Need to Know:
1. *Shayla is a good girl and she wants to keep it that way. She follows the rules to a "tee".
2. *One goal Shayla has is for the "United Nations" to stay together. Those are her two best friend who each come from diverse backgrounds.
3. *As her older sister follows a case involving a police officer shooting a black man, Shayla finds herself at a crossroads.
4. *She and her close knit group of friends begin to "drift" apart, her family gets more and more involved in the local police case, and Shayla tries to find her place in the middle of it all.
5. *Standing up for what she believes may or may not "crack" the friendships she has always relied on while strengthening new ones that she never believed possible.
What I Thought Of It - Five Observations/Reflections:
1. *There were a lot of elements to the story. Some of them were light-hearted while others were quite serious and true to real life.
2. *At some points, the opposite degrees of "seriousness" bothered me; but then I realized the light and heavy was needed to balance the story.
3. *Shayla had a lot to deal with and I think the author did a wonderful job of portraying real and true feelings of a girl this age.
4. *Part of the plot comes straight from headlines and are important for our young to learn about.
5. *I also thought the decision that Shayla was faced with was handled with authentic realism and showed how a person can deal with wanting to do the right thing, while doing the "right" thing.
Who Should Read It:
Because of some of the mature and "adult" themes and topics, I would say the book would be best suited for readers in grades five and above. The perfect audience would be a middle-school reader as they would be best to relate to Shayla's story. Happy Reading!
Rating: 4 STARS out of 5 Stars
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