Book: We are Absolutely Not Okay: Fourteen Stories by Teenagers who are Picking Up the Pieces
Authors: The Kids of Scriber Lake Alternative High School
Recommend: This is a tough read but worth the journey.
I just won a copy of this book from the members giveaway on librarything. I thought the concept sounded interesting. I love reading the work of teenagers. There is something so open and raw about the way that they write. These kids are no exception.
The authors
This book deals with kids who are learning and living through tough situations in their lives. Each story gives a snippet of some of the life changing events they have dealt with. While this book is a great read, there is a lot of adult material. This book includes drug use, alcoholism, abuse, cutting, suicide and a transgender student. I would caution any parent to read this with your teen and discuss it. This one is definitely a teaching tool and not for everyone.
The only major critique I have, is that a couple of the stories just don’t fit with the rest of the book. I get that it was a class project but I wouldn’t recommend a couple of the stories simply because they were not as strong as the others. In particular, Coming Out and Help Yourself are not worth the time to read. The rest of the book however is great.
Final Rating:
Get it used…
