Review: Graffiti: art or vandalism?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2013
It started with Shane doodling on his desktop. The media class teacher made him clean it off but it got the media crew talking about graffiti. Is graffiti a form of artistic expression or vandalism? Some argue it is a way for kids to express themselves when they have no other opportunity to do so. But what about that it is destructive and expensive to remove?Then some events happen that cause the Live! crew to move into high gear. Their teacher has been asked to teach a few hours a week at a camp for juvenile boys who have been in trouble with the law. While operated by Christians, the court sends boys there rather than hard core detention facilities. And then a new student arrives on campus and he has just come from that boy's camp. Izzy decides he wants to spend a day at that camp and shames Shane into going with him. Their experience will be recorded for a Live! program.And graffiti begins to appear all over the school. The new student is immediately suspected but the media class comes to his rescue.Teens will learn quite a bit about graffiti in this novel, such as that it has been around since ancient times and that there is walking graffiti (like campaign buttons). They will also have the opportunity to think about the right way of telling the world what they think. Is it graffiti? And then there is the reality of teen detention in the boys camp. Izzy and Shane realize it is a high price to pay for illegal activity.I like the graffiti quotes at the beginning of each chapter, for example, "A bird in the hand can be messy."I felt the resolution of the school graffiti problem was a little contrived, as were a couple of other aspects of the novel. Nonetheless I think teens would really enjoy it, especially those in areas where tagging or other forms of graffiti are common. This novel would be good for a young teen book discussion group.I received a complimentary egalley of this book from a publicity group for the purpose of this review.