Written in the present day, and exploring the past, this new book from author Colleen Nelson challenges readers, offering the opportunity to look at their own personal responses.
Summary:
“Jess is an angry loner trying to escape a troubled past, who acts out by setting things on fire.
Sara Jean is a dutiful granddaughter trying to escape a strait-jacketed future, who has her heart set on being a writer.
They both are heartbroken over being abandoned by a parent.
They come together over a 250-hour community service sentence to clean out a garage full of secrets that has implications for them both.”
This was an incredibly difficult book to read, not because of the writing but because of the content it includes. Writing wise, this book had some great sections and beautiful descriptions – particularly at the beginning while explaining the world we were entering. I particularly loved this:
But sometimes the urge to light a fire was too strong. It was a snake slithering up his throat, desperate for escape.
What I liked:
This book attempted to tackle the horror that a life in residential school has caused to a whole community – both the lives of the First Nations people and children who were forced to go and their families then and now, but also amongst the white people nearby. I appreciate that someone spent the time to create a story around this, as I think it’s been too quickly glassed over and it’s too easy to forget how much of a negative impact these schools have had.
I like that both the main characters are real. They have struggles and pain and moments of enjoyment that are relatable. I think the author has done a terrific job at creating inter-character relationships – both positive and negative.
This book touches on some complex topics (obesity, racism, parental relationships, etc) and really makes you look at them more closely – like a magnifying glass on situations that you can easily ignore in your every day life. I think that this was done effectively.
What I found hard:
The topics in this book aren’t easy. They are raw and, frankly, painful.
In particular, the blatant and hate-spewing racism. I was completely taken aback in shock with some of the conversations from the people in the community about the native people. I had to stop reading and deal with my feelings and inner turmoil when I read them. I guess I kind of knew that some people could feel that vile…. but I’ve never seen it in real life. It’s despicable to hear characters in a story talk like that, even if it’s potentially accurate of some people’s racism. It really upset me.
I was also blindsided when I finally settled into the book and found the first swear word. It completely caught me off-guard and threw me a bit for a loop. As I kept reading, the profanity increased and became almost regular. I know the intention was to use it to showcase the rough and toughness of the characters but it was so foreign to me in a book – particularly one written for youth. I felt it was overdone and definitely made this book too mature for even the audience that it seems to have been intended for.
Given the material of the book, the language, and just the overall feeling of the novel, I think that it isn’t appropriate for the 12+ age range that it’s marketed towards. I think readers need to be older – possibly 18+.
If you are interested in this book for your students, there is a free teacher’s guide on the publisher’s website that gets you thinking chapter by chapter, asking hard questions, and evaluating some of the more challenging material – such as how, in a world where we want to fight discrimination, obesity seems to be the only difference that is deemed acceptable to belittle and berate.
250 Hours does get you thinking – that’s for sure. I suspect that’s likely what the author was going for.
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