There are some big, important questions here that YA doesn't address often enough: When is an internet-style profusion of free speech a social good, and when is it just an excuse to hurt people? How can you fight for social justice without being so obsessed with purity and righteousness that you alienate all your allies?

Evie (like a lot of my students) sees teachers as a handy stand-in for The Man, because we have authority -- but she's seeing from her own perspective, as a student who's used to having complete freedom all day, not from the perspective of those who have to think about the entire school and the choices they'd make with that freedom. She comes to high school to be both tourist and anthropologist, and thinks she knows what would be best for the whole system she's never experienced before. She has a rude awakening: it turns out that when you interact with more people than your mom all day, life gets infinitely more complicated, and other people are also smart with their own ideas and lives and you don't know what's best for them after all. (It's good that she has this experience before getting to Cornell.)

I found Evie frustrating, mostly because she reminded me so much of me at her age. I kept turning pages to find out what lessons she would learn and how. There's nuance here, but ultimately I was a bit disappointed by the movie-style ending. I'm not sure how middle schoolers will read this, or whether they'll even be interested in the questions the way I was. I'll booktalk it to the 7th and 8th grades and see how it goes over. (Note: there are a couple of scenes of explicit, shirts-off making out.)

Read-alikes: [b:Moxie|33163378|Moxie|Jennifer Mathieu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494950979s/33163378.jpg|46824140] is a much better written book. I don't remember [b:The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks|1629601|The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks|E. Lockhart|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1313980820s/1629601.jpg|1623714] well enough, but I seem to remember it deals with similar issues? This is most like a YA version of [b:Schooled|1025250|Schooled|Gordon Korman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439571775s/1025250.jpg|1846097] -- hippie kid goes to traditional school for the first time and shakes everything up with their naive misunderstanding of The System. ( )

Soy una chica segura de mí misma. Me da igual lo que piensen de mí. Tampoco soy de las que se callan cuando algo no le gusta. ¿Por qué voy a cortarme en decir lo que pienso? Esa no soy yo. En el instituto creen que debería dejar de protestar, dejarme llevar. ¡Pero es que no lo puedo evitar! No soporto las injusticias. Aunque las cosas no siempre salen como planeas...
¿Qué hacer cuando la revolución que has iniciado se vuelve en tu contra?

Evie meets Rajas and Jacinda while out hiking in the forest. She had a sprained ankle and was waiting around for her mother, whom she refers to as Martha, to figure out she's missing and pick her up.

You never find out what Rajas and Jacinda were doing in the forest, as a matter of fact, you never visit the scene again. However, do you do learn - from Evie's first person present narrative - that they both go to the high school that she has enrolled in for her senior year.

The books details the clash of cultures as a homeschooler joins the public school system and sees first hand what public school and peer interaction is like. It details her interaction with her teachers and her clashes with authority - something she seems unaccustomed to since Martha, though her mother, is a bit of a free spirit, and while a fun character to read, she's not much of an authority figure in Evie's life than a friend. It raises questions on what happens when personal freedom impinges on the freedoms of another, and there is no responsibility for one's action.

Evie soon finds out that being a part of something is different than reading or hearing about it, that experience can change perspective. Even though I found the initialization of the conflict to be sudden and a little out of character, I found the story to be a quick and easy read, leaving room for some great discussion points on rights and responsibility.

[review of arc via netgalley] ( )

Loved the quotes and strong female characters. I also liked how it managed to subvert my expectations. The ending wrapped things up a bit too quickly, and there were a few "romantic" scenes that I felt were a bit too mature for the book's target audience. But all in all, an enjoyable read. ( )

Zwei Welten prallen aufeinander, als die 17-jährige Evie, die bis dahin zu Hause von ihrer alleinerziehenden, feministischen Mutter Martha unterrichtet wurde, erstmals eine staatliche Schule besucht. Zwar findet sie schnell Freunde in der Cheerleaderin Jacinda und in deren Cousin Rajas, aber Evie kann sich nur schwer in den strengen Schulablauf einordnen. Vielmehr kritisiert sie die Unterdrückung der Schüler durch Lehrkräfte und ruft gemeinsam mit Jacinda den Blog PLUTOS gegen Intoleranz und Sexismus ins Leben. Eine Lehrerin wird in diesem Blog an den Pranger gestellt und danach bricht eine ungeahnte Mobbingkampagne vom Zaune, die sich nicht mehr stoppen lässt und in der Evie selbst zum Opfer wird. Am Ende steht sie ganz allein da und hat nicht nur die Lehrerschaft, sondern auch die Mitschüler gegen sich und ihren radikalen Gerechtigkeitssinn aufgebracht. Die Highschoolstory mit zahlreichen philosophischen Exkursen liest sich durchaus spannend, enthält eine teeniegerechte Lovestory, ist jedoch sehr dem amerikanischen Schulsystem verhaftet. Insofern brauchbarer Zusatztitel für größere Bestände. ( )