Review: Great book that tackles difficult topics
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2014
Take Chances is a YA novel that tackles plenty of difficult topics: school violence, prejudice, abuse, and dysfunctional families. The protagonist, Julie Bond, is a high school senior who’s been accepted to Stanford. She suffers from PTSD; as a kindergartner, she survived a horrendous incident of school violence. But, on her last day of school, poised to begin the next chapter of her life, the impossible happens again.The aftermath is just as bad. Her mother compounds the event: she’s a district attorney bent on prosecuting the son of the man who perpetuated the violence. Her classmates vilify her best friend, a student who was in the classroom with her. But Julie fights back. She refuses to let so-called justice put her friend in jail. And she refuses to let prejudice and hate destroy her friend’s memory.I admired the character of Julie Bond: she spoke up and did what she thought was right. I also admired KC Sprayberry’s ability to write about such challenging topics with sensitivity and grace. She was able to keep me turning the pages, but also knew when to dial down the intensity a notch. I’ll definitely be reading more books by this author.