Yearbook

This is the first of five books now published by my friend Ally. I bought a couple of them a few weeks ago when I saw that she had been published during one of my "I'm not going to buy anything in Deseret Book trip" (I'm about 50% by the way) and was both thrilled and a bit envious that she has accomplished this. Then I found out that it was about high school students and figured it would be a fun trip down memory lane. What I ended up finding out though was that this was a really great book to read.

This is the story of a handful of high school students, some of the LDS faith, others not, a couple teachers and a principal and how all their lives tie in together and lessons learned along the way. I found the characters to be very real without being "Molly Mormon" or the obvious lost soul who just needs to be baptized to turn his/her life around. I liked the telling from the different character's points of view. I liked that I saw a few of my friends in the characters - but I think that is part of the appeal because everyone has someone from high school who was just the way that one of these characters is portrayed. I see it in every grade that I teach - the girls who are Mikey's, the boys who are Dave's. They are universal, which is what I think makes the book so much fun to read and the plot so believeable.

I have her next book in the trilogy, First Day, and plan on reading it soon. I may have to drop some not so subtle hints to get Reunion for Christmas or something.

If you are interested in a fun and uplifting book, especially enjoyable after a bad/long day, this is the book for you.