YA Book Response

The central concern that the character’s conflict is focused on is fitting in, in both a physical
and social manner. The story really represents what a lot of middle and high schoolers go
through as they develop – the struggle between caring about what other people think and being
themselves. This battle influences all of the character’s decisions and actions, and for the most
part characterizes that part of her life. In terms of school, the entire environment, for her, is like
an unsafe place – somewhere were she will be teased, judged, and mocked. Trying to avoid
embarrassment and attention, she pretends that their words do not hurt. This is a central part of
her developmental experience as she does everything in her power to be like everyone else, from
getting her ears pierced to going to parties. This great time of emotional change makes her
incredibly vulnerable to people’s thoughts and opinions. As a result, she changes herself
accordingly. In this way, school is not simply a setting for her; it is the story of her life.

Honestly, it is quite obvious that this conflict manifests itself into her behavior and actions.
She has a hard time paying attention in school, struggles to pass her assessments, and tries out
for the basketball team. As she is more worried about her social life and how other people see
her, she sacrifices a lot of who she is. As a teacher or adult in the school environment, you’d
think someone would notice and be a little more concerned than what was demonstrated. The
conflict was also manifested outside of class, specifically in terms of her relationships. Like most
teenagers, she was very snippy when it came to her siblings, but even more when it came to her
long-time friendships. She acted older than she normally would, wanting to hang out with boys
and talk about makeup. It was clear that her friend was uncomfortable with it, but she hated it
when her “friends” did that to her. Because of this, it seems fair to say that the character was
becoming more and more like the girls she hung around with. Like many teenagers today,
though, she definitely did not realize it. She shut out her friends and family that really cared
about her. Ultimately, though, she made the right decisions in the end.

To effectively meet her needs, the adults that seemed to do best were her parents. They
always tried to find the best of the situation, distracting her with other activities and being as
supportive as they possibly could. They advised when they thought she might need it but let her
make her own decisions. I think a lot of parents today can either be too strict or too lenient, but
her parents seemed to find a good balance. As someone that was recently (and really still is) a
teenager, her problems are quite common, and parents cannot really help it. However, the
teachers in her life could have definitely done more. From what was portrayed, they never tried
to get to know her or ask what was happening outside of class. That really can define who a
student is so just saying “someone is not paying attention” is very insensitive. Students at that
age have so much more going on that what people see on the outside. Also, while they
encouraged students to be kind, they did not really step in when people were bullying her or try
to talk to her about it. Sometimes you need that outside perspective to see what is really going
on. If this student were real, I definitely would have said something as her teacher or coach. I
would want to get to know her because what happens outside of when I see her still influences
who she is.