Breaking Point by Alex Flinn

There are a great many stories about students who have been bullied so long that they snap.  In this story, though, it is more of an act of kindness that leads a student to his breaking point.  How could that be?  Because Paul is new to an elite high school where he assumed he would not find any friends but is, instead, befriended by Charlie Good — honor student, tennis player, and generally popular kid.  Charlie often asks favors, but it’s nothing Paul is unwilling to do.  Until, one day when Charlie asks Paul to break into the high school to change one of his bad grades to an A.  Paul isn’t sure if he can go through with it.  What will happen if he gets caught?  Why can’t Charlie just deal with one bad grade, anyway?  But when Paul tries to get out of it, Charlie gives him a really hard time.  Will changing the grade get Charlie off his back, or is it likely to simply make matters worse?  What should Paul do?!?

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Beastly by Alex Flinn

Kyle Kingsbury is rich, popular, and dates only the best looking girls. When a strange new girl shows up in one of his classes, he assumes he never noticed her before because she’s not attractive or popular… He has no idea that she is a witch who is about to test just how shallow he can be. When he breaks his promise, to bring this girl to homecoming, she puts a curse on him — turning him into an ugly, hairy beast. He needs to find true love within 2 years to get back to his former self, and his profile on MySpace, apparently, won’t do the trick. We are first introduced to Beast and a few other fairy tale creatures [little mermaid, frog prince, etc.] via a therapy chat room for those who have been or are considering becoming “transfigured.” Only two words can accurately describe my feelings for this book — freakin’ awesome!

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Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

I am going to a librarian’s conference soon at which I will be able to meet Alex Flinn, so I figured I should probably [finally] get around to reading this book. Everyone always talked about how amazing this book was, and I just had to take their word for it… Well, no longer!

Nick starts off not understanding why it’s such a big deal that he hit his girlfriend Caitlin. Why did she have to go and get a restraining order? Why did his best friends suddenly stop talking to him? But what starts off as a whiny, court-mandated journal for an anger management class soon becomes something more. Nick starts to see how the other guys in his class are too controlling of their girlfriends — and he thinks it’s wrong that some of them go overboard with controlling their girlfriends’ social lives or using physical violence against them. It takes a long time for him to admit to himself that he behaved in a very similar way, but he finally starts to see that the excuses he had been using to justify his behavior were just that… Excuses.

I am fortunate enough that I have never been part of an abusive or controlling relationship, but this is a reality for too many girls and women. I think this book does an amazing job of showing just how difficult it can be for a person to own up to his/her own faults — and I think it is also an excellent way to get people started with thinking about or discussing what is and is not acceptable in a relationship. I just hope that this book makes it into the hands of at least one guy who needs a reality check or one girl who needs the inspiration to stand up for herself. I’m sure that is what Alex Flinn would want.

Happy Reading!