Push Back was a super quick read but dealt with a lot of tough subjects including, abuse, homelessness and abandonment. My heart absolutely broke for Zaine over and over again.

I love a story that features a second chance. I loved seeing Zaine deal with the bad decisions and watching him grow as an individual.

I got an ARC of this book.

I adored this book. It covered some really complex emotions and situations. Zaine is dealing with being homeless, being abandoned, and more pretty much alone. He has anger problems, but seriously who wouldn't. A lot of mental health issues show up as anger in men, especially younger men. So his anger was probably feelings of loss and abandonment. Such complex emotions for such a short book. It made the book so easy to relate to. 

Zaine made a stupid decision when he was dealing with his anger and it had big repercussions. This book is really big on the idea that actions have consequences. This is a huge thing I need my kids at the jail to understand. A lot of them blame the cops for arresting them and can't seem to wrap their heads around that their behavior is the issue. Some of the kids really need more support like Zaine did, some are more like the boys in the gang. 

This book showed that sometimes second chances can sound awful, but new things can turn out well. Zaine works hard in school and he learns some really interesting things in the course of his restorative justice program. It really allowed Zaine to grow as a person and see the real consequences of his actions for others. His actions hurt other people and he didn't seem to understand at first that it didn't matter that he didn't intend to hurt anyone, he did. He really grows up in this book and I am here for it. 

Highly recommend.

This was a very enjoyable read and did not go in the "standard" direction I thought it would go.

Zaine is in trouble after doing something stupid, but this character was pretty well fleshed out, considering how short this book is. The author did a good job of showing us his "bad" side, but also his "better" side. This comes through especially when he spends time with his 3 year old cousins.

Throughout the story, I actually felt for him. A useless mother who puts herself first each and every time and Zaine who feels unwanted and rejected.

Thankfully, this story did not go in the general direction of "everyone hates me so I will be bad". I like that the author chose to give Zaine a few people in his life who actually want him to succeed.

The scenes with Lucas were too short, I would have liked more of those, but overall, the story is good, the characters are fairly well fleshed out and I found myself cheering for Zaine.