Book Review: After

After by Amy Efaw

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SUMMARY: Fifteen-year-old Devon Davenport lies on the sofa mindlessly watching morning TV. She is in physical pain, and her only recourse is to mentally disconnect. Suddenly her life turns upside down and she is left wondering what happened. Why is she being charged with attempted murder? Through a series of conversations with her court-appointed attorney, Devon begins to uncover deep-seated resentments and awaken to the fact that she had been pregnant, has given birth to a baby, and thrown the infant into a Dumpster. Devon begins as an unsympathetic character who grows, giving readers a better understanding of her choices. This is a skillfully written, emotionally raw story detailing one girl's difficult journey from denial of her circumstances to acceptance and redemption. (from School Library Journal)

OPINION: After is written in the third person, but the narrator is actually Devon herself. This unusual style gives voice to the fact that Devon is completely disconnected from reality, and has been for the last nine months. We, the readers, only know what Devon knows, and she is in such a deep state of psychological denial that the details are revealed piecemeal as events trigger her memory. This book is an answer to the question I think to myself whenever I hear a news story about human tragedy: "What kind of sick person would do something like that?" Get inside Devon's head in this dramatic novel, and be prepared to get emotional as Devon's case goes to trial. This book made me angry, it made me frustrated, it made me scared, and it made me cry.

Book Review: After

After by Francine Prose

SUMMARY: A school-shooting incident in nearby Pleasant Valley causes Tom's high school administrators to be worried about a ripple effect. A crisis counselor is hired and a watchdog atmosphere grows as the teens' privileges rapidly disappear. Tom and his sophomore classmates are annoyed but not overly concerned about the new security restrictions until they notice eerie disappearances of friends who fail to conform, including Tom's two best friends. The random drug tests, backpack searches, parental e-mail, and dress codes soon expand into mind-controlling daily assemblies, book censorship, and camps for "behavior" problems. After a tip from a Pleasant Valley basketball player, Tom is convinced that students everywhere are being sent away and hopes his father hasn't also been brainwashed via the e-mails from the school authorities. The pace picks up as Tom and friend Becca are caught trying to alert their fellow students to the menacing counselor and know that their lives are at risk. (from the School Library Journal review)

OPINION: How much freedom are you willing to give up for the greater good? Should schools implement dress codes? Is it OK for police dogs to sniff students' lockers for drugs? Should schools restrict your reading material? What starts as a contemporary story about school violence quickly turns into a dystopian fantasy as students gradually lose freedoms in the name of safety. Many issues of student rights are explored, but the author incorporates them in such a gradual way that it blurrs the line between right and wrong. How much is too much?