★★★★
Things are very different here in America.
Ravi moves to America after his dad gets a promotion and he thinks things are going rather well at first…but things change after he goes to school.
“Yes, ma’am,” I say, standing at attention.
Everyone laughs.
Meanwhile, Joe’s best friends moved away, his dad is now a truck driver and his mom lost her nursing job and is now a lunch lady. OH! And the school bully knows all of this.
Things are not going well...for either of them during the first week of classes.
As the bully circles closer, the two of them are going to have to make a decision. Give it all up or stand together.
Winning is not always about shining the brightest. Sometimes it’s about sharing the light with someone who has been waiting in the shadows all along
This one worked surprisingly well for me.
I enjoyed how the author balanced the two characters.
Ravi was quite relatable and his perspective really invited the audience to emphasize with “off-the-boat” (as he calls it) kids.
And Joe was nicely done as well – he has an issue with paying attention when distracting sounds are happening and his disability was tastefully done.
It always annoys me when there’s “the disabled kid” in the book and thankfully, that was not how Joe was treated. It certainly was part of his identity but not his entire character .
As for the plot – I thought the bullying in this book felt realistic. So many times the “bully” (Dillion) is someone so easily taken down that the fact that he’s a “bully” is almost laughable in the first place.
I felt for poor Ravi and Joe as they suffered under Dillion and I liked how the book subtly showed how to overcome bullying (namely – sticking together and supporting each other).
I enjoyed how this book didn’t focus heavily on action, romance or even adventure – it was a true-to-life and from-the-heart kind of tale, and don’t we all need more of these in our lives?
Audiobook Comments
Read by Josh Hurley and Vikas Adam – the audio was really well done – an absolute delight to listen!
Interested in this one from Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan? Buy it here: Amazon
Miranda Reads 