Book Review: Happy & Sad & Everything True

Sometimes I settle for a middle grade book out of sheer frustration over the content in women's fiction. I have recently read and tossed aside 3 or 4 books. In two different books, I waded through 4 or 5 CDs (1/2 the book) before coming upon content I just couldn't tolerate. So discouraging! Indeed, for our December book club meeting, we had a book exchange. I received a psychological thriller from a popular author. In seeking an audio book for my car trips, I selected one of her other books as an introductory sample. With that one, I overlooked smut until half-way through, when I just couldn't take it anymore. 

Thus, on the next trip to the library, I selected Happy & Sad & Everything True by Alex Thayer. Slated for readers 10 and up, it straddles the age brackets of children's and tween. The main character is in the 6th grade, but includes characters who are in 2nd. I appreciated a clean book for a change.

Dee is sure her mother doesn't understand. She expresses her devastation at being placed in a class apart from her best friend Juniper. Her mother says it will give her the opportunity to make new friends. But watching a best friend detach from you is never easy. As she hides out in the school bathroom, she discovers she is not the only one with problems. As she helps others, she heals her own wounds simultaneously.

Thayer has presented, as the title describes, a range of emotions that children face, and presented them with honesty. The reader cannot help but feel for Dee as she endures mortification, confusion, frustration, and hope. She is an empathetic character who draws empathy from the reader. This would make a good read-aloud, but I would steer it toward 4th or 5th graders.

As for the gifted book, I cannot decide if I will wade through possible cautionary content or not (easier when it is a physical book and you can skip a page). I'm not against psychological thrillers, and this author has quite a following. I just prefer not to get bogged down in sexual promiscuity with graphic details. So sad! It has become harder and harder to find clean women's fiction. Perhaps I will have to stick with Christian fiction and miss out on reading skilled writers who cannot write without bludgeoning the reader with language, filth, and smut.