The Wicked Edge

I was once again drawn to a Hi Lo book. I honestly love the idea of having high interest type books, though keeping them at a level for readers that are relatively new or perhaps a little uncertain. I truly believe everyone should be able to enjoy reading.

In this book Helen is the main character and she isn't happy about the upheaval going on in her life at the moment. Helen is moving home, her mum has a new boyfriend and she is switching schools, to the one her teacher mother works at. Of course all the staff know who she is because of her mum and that irritates as they seem to expect more from Helen, better behaviour and manners. The school is situated on a reservation so Helen really stands out, that coupled with her surname being White makes her the butt of a lot of jokes. Helen makes a rather rebellious, immature and reckless decision one day that makes her more popular with the cool kid of the school, King. King's sister realises her brother is intrigued by the new girl and tries to warn Helen off her brother in a quite violent way, going so far as to literally beat her up. Another girl Taylor takes pity on Helen and helps her sneak to a sympathetic teacher to get cleaned up as reporting King's sister will only make Helen more of a target!

My favourite character in the book was Taylor who stuck her neck out to help Helen when she most needed it. As for Helen, I initially felt sympathy for her starting a new school where she knew no one, knew nothing about the native traditions practiced at the school, being the daughter of a teacher, all things that make her stand out from the crowd. I understand that Helen resents her life changing and rebels which is what gets her noticed by the popular boy King. Sadly when Helen becomes part of the popular crowd, she soon "forgets" Taylor, the girl that helped her and was her friend before anyone else accepted her. Later Helen's actions eventually re-alienate her from the popular crowd when she picks on and makes fun of a special needs student.

I did enjoy reading this book, to sum up the book tells the story of when a former good girl goes off the rails and bad to impress a boy at a school. I think this book is another great example of a Hi-Lo book. I found the book had an interesting plot and characters and was presented in an easy read, flowing style.

Poetic comes to mind when I think of this book. How the author made each word count. The story was painted vibrantly even though it had its dark moments.

The main character, Helen watches her family life fall apart. Her parents divorced, her older brother takes off for college, leaving Helen to deal with a move onto a reservation to live in a trailer with her mother, and her mother's boyfriend who both teach at the school on the reservation.

She gets bullied by the Native American students as she is the only white girl - and to top it off, her last name is White! She's a good girl who touches the outer edge of trying to be bad, and it doesn't turn out very well for her.

Life lessons are hard. This was an easy read.

Short novel-in-verse for reluctant readers. The main character, Helen, is thinly characterized, but this goes beyond the "good girl falls for bad guy" premise and isn't a morality tale. There are some unexpected twists in the end and I would recommend it to readers looking for a quick, short, punchy story.