Reconstructing Amelia-Kimberly McCreight

  I loved this book! This was another recommendation from my Entertainment Weekly summer reads. I wasn't quite sure what it was going to be about and I just plunged in without reading about it. I'm glad to say I was not disappointed.
   Throughout the book the chapters alternate between mother and daughter (Amelia). It starts off the first day of her death and then throughout the book when the mom is trying to find out what happened, the alternating story of Amelia is actually telling you what happened. You don't find out until the end what really happened from both sides. It's like once the mom figures something out then it goes on to having the actual story told by Amelia.
   This is a great book to have teens read, I think. A lot of this had to do with gossip and bullying. Everything that happens to Amelia has something to do with all of those things. It also shines a light on how sometimes teachers, who you are supposed to trust, can be another person in reality. I flew through this book because I just couldn't wait to see what happened. I think it's important for teenagers to understand how things can be blown out of proportion and things are never really as bad as they seem. It's so funny to think back to when I was a teenager and thinking something was the end of the world. Now looking back, you just have to laugh and think how silly you were. Bullying is a huge part of society now and it's completely awful and there need to be steps in school systems to take actions before something awful happens. Maybe the school systems need to read this book too! LOL. Sometimes it's not just the students who are playing a part in gossip and bullying.