Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stayton Public Library | TEEN ELLIS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Willamina Public Library | YA ELLIS | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Imagine if you had witnessed something horrific. Imagine if it had happened to your friend. And imagine if you hadn't done anything to help. That's what it's like to be Logan, an utterly frank, slightly awkward, and extremely loveable outcast enmeshed in a mysterious psychological drama. This story allows readers to piece together the sequence of events that has changed his life and changed his perspective on what it means to be a good friend and what it means to be a good person.
This is What I Did: is a powerful read with clever touches, such as palindrome notes, strewn throughout the story and incorporated into the unique design of the book.
Author Notes
Ann Dee Ellis received her MA from Brigham Young University. This is her debut novel.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-9-Something terrible happened last year involving Logan, his friend Zyler, Zyler's physically abusive father, and a girl named Cami. Logan's parents moved the family to a new neighborhood to try and offer Logan a fresh start. But it is not working. The repercussions have followed the eighth grader. He tries to be invisible, but he is tormented by kids in his class, who know something happened, but not what; by his scout troop (including the adult leader); and by his jock younger brothers. Still, Logan does not completely withdraw from the world. He builds sets for the school play, lands a small role in it, and starts an odd, palindrome-filled friendship with a girl. Through his thoughts, memories, brief bits of dialogue, and visits with a psychiatrist, Logan's past is slowly unveiled. This novel is reminiscent of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Doubleday, 2003) both in its layout and in the emotional flatness of the narrator. Readers are in the protagonist's head, which, since he has been severely traumatized, is not always a pleasant place to be. But Logan is doing the best he can and is very likable. The odd layout-no chapters, only small sections that cover a thought or moment in time-is a stylistic touch that could have come across as gimmicky, but instead tells the story in an inventive way. This is an intense, well-told story that will make readers think hard about how they would handle rough situations in their lives. Expect it to generate a lot of questions and discussion.-Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Part staccato prose, part transcript, this haunting first novel will grip readers right from the start. Fragmented scenes re-create, with grim authenticity, the almost claustrophobic perspective of the eighth-grade narrator, Logan, as he struggles to come to terms with his role in a despicable crime. "A year ago I was fine. That's when there was nothing wrong," Logan says early on. In relaying the action chiefly through Logan's terse observations and through script-like reproductions of dialogue, Ellis never veers from Logan's point of view. In this way, she infuses the narrative with his guilt over what happened, the details of which are revealed only in a climactic finale. At the same time, the narrator's frustration does not become the audience's, thanks to Ellis's skill in dramatizing his vulnerability. Readers will recognize themselves in Logan's difficulty overcoming his shame, even if the scale of his experiences is larger than their own, and sympathy as well as curiosity about his circumstances will drive them forward. Logan's progress is slow-but realistically so-and brings with it an almost cathartic relief for the audience. Plaudits go to the art department, too: a particularly attractive book design incorporates small drawings between each segment of text. Ages 12-up. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Traumatized by an event that wrecked both him and his best friend, eighth-grader Logan moves with his family to a new town and a new school, where his parents make the mistake of revealing their shady past to their new neighbors. Soon, rumors fly all over the town and in school that Logan is a rapist, and he becomes the victim of vicious bullying. Needless to say, Logan is much too lovable to be a rapist, and the only person he can turn to is Laurel, a quirky girl his own age who's obsessed with palindromes. Logan's mumbling, realistic, terse and to-the-point narration will help teen readers overlook the over-baked, near-problem-novel format of the plot. It's Logan's relationships--both the good and the bad--that are the most appealingly complex, and Ellis finds unique opportunities--the theatre, palindromes, Boy Scouts--in the plot for these connections to meld or explode. But the truth feels blunt and anti-climactic when it's finally revealed: The audience already knows Logan is well on his way to recovery. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Eighth-grader Logan is struggling to deal with a violent situation he witnessed a year ago between his best friend, Zyler, and Zyler's abusive father but insists to everyone around him that he is fine. Just fine. Reluctant readers will be drawn into this story, which also includes bullying classmates and a dismal winter camping trip. Frequent line breaks, screenplay-style dialogue, and e-mails and notes illustrated with black icons break up the scenes. Logan gets to play one of the Lost Boys in the school play, and finds that the theater crowd offers a respite from bullies. A friendship with a girl named Laurel (a palindrome collector who is is thinking of changing her name to Laral), and a relationship with a counselor help Logan to begin the healing process and convince him to reconnect with Zyler. This psychological drama effectively explores our failure to protect youth from abuse inflicted by peers or adults. Caution: there's a slang term for scrotum on page 1.--Dobrez, Cindy Copyright 2007 Booklist