I find that lately my reviews are focused on what I liked and then what I didn't like because at the end of the day I haven't been thrilled with a book totally... and so it is with this one. While there are things I really appreciated about it, overall it feel short for me.
What I Liked: The Korean War tie in. So much of that time period is lost... schools rarely make it that far in US History or World History and even then it is told from a US perspective. The focus on bullying and how Junie ultimately dealt with it.
What I Didn't Like: The writing style, especially between Junie and her grandparents as they were telling their stories seemed unnatural. Junie's contemplation of suicide seemed very sudden and the build up to it didn't seem strong enough. Too much reliance on 2016 as a point in history where certain issues emerged. If this book is to last in middle grade libraries that reference will soon be lost to the readers. Instead of taking a continual dig at the election and results that year a more general approach seems better. Racism was an issue before and continues to be an issue - yes, there was a spike as some took the election as license to spew their hate, but there is much work still to be done. I could go on with some of my views on this but I digress.
I wish the book had been a straight up historical fiction about the Korean War aspect or the interaction between Junie and her grandparents and less about the friendship and bullying sideplots.
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