What's it To You by Judy Irwin - Review and Giveaway

(Middle Grade Fiction)

This review is in conjunction with a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly drawn commenter will win a $25 Amazon/BN GC.

What if nothing was the worst thing you could do?

For 13-year old Tim Stockdale, it's all about keeping his head down and fitting in with the friends he's managed to make at his new school. His older brother, Eli, is the opposite. He's trying to set up a Gay-Straight Alliance at his high school, where he's a junior. Even though the school board is against it, Eli’s not afraid of what the fallout might be.

So when Tim's new friends start to bully a kid they think is gay, Tim's torn - he doesn't want to do anything to risk being cast out of the crew. But when Eli is hurt in a protest, Tim's own failure to do anything starts to get under his skin. Will he find his way at his new middle school, and figure out what's really worth standing up for?

MY REVIEW:  This short book by Judy Irwin is about a young boy trying to fit in at a new school--one that is very different from the school he is familiar with. He finally meets some friends, but the problem is these "friends" are bullies--something he is not familiar with and he doesn't know how to handle them or what he should do when they start bullying another classmate.

There is a strong familial relationship between the parents and sons, and one thing he learns through the course of the book is that even when you think people won't like you if you take a stand, you might not be as alone as you think.

I did have one issue with this book and that's the fact that it is so short. With more length, this could have gone from being a good book to being a great book. With a longer book, the characterizations could have been deeper. There were many issues that, because of the shortness of the book, were just lightly touched on instead of getting to any real depth with them.

However, it's written on a level that young middle grade students, around 8-9 years old, can easily understand and not be overwhelmed with and perhaps the length works really well for that age group.  It certainly has a worthwhile message that needs to be shared.

3.5 stars - This was a good book. I liked it.

Now enjoy an excerpt:

Tim is out on the driveway, playing around with the basketball. So far, he's bounced it hard off the garage door, twice, and each time his mom sticks her head out the side door and shouts, "Keep it down!" at him.

When he bounces it off the metal garage door for the third time, he keeps an eye on the side door, expecting his mom to pop out, really mad this time. But nothing happens.

Tim dribbles the ball up and down the driveway, he's moving fast enough so that he's breathing hard. Every time he comes up to the top of the driveway, near the hoop, he takes a throw. The first four times it goes right in, but on the fifth throw it goes really wild and bounces off onto the lawn.

As he jogs over to grab the ball, Tim hears the side door open. He turns to face his mom. "Sor-ry," he drawls, with a grin. "Didn't mean to - Mom, what is it? What's wrong?"

Tim stares at his mother.

Her face is blotchy, and her nose is red. She's holding her purse in one hand, and car keys and a tissue in the other. She brings the hand with the tissue and keys up to her face, and rubs at her nose with the tissue.

"Tim, it's bad. It's Eli, and it's bad," she says, wiping at her eyes. "I have to get over to the hospital. I can't go into all the details, I just have to go." She unlocks the car door, and throws her purse onto the passenger seat.

"What - what happened?" says Tim. "Is he OK?"

Author Judy Irwin's books are about kids dealing with everyday stuff, like parents and divorce, friendships and bullies, and figuring out how to handle different situations and circumstances. She lives in Toronto with a dog, a cat, and a hamster, plus her husband and two children, ages 11 and 14. Judy always wanted to be a writer, and wrote her first book in fourth grade. It was about a boy named Japan, who lived in Japan. She studied English Literature at the University of Toronto, and some of her favorite authors are Judy Blume, Laurie Halse Anderson, Beverly Cleary, Edward Eager and Andrew Clements, and especially F. Scott Fitzgerald.

'What Did You Say?', Judy's first book, is about 12-year-old Tash. The book takes place at a trailer park up north. 'We're Done', Judy's second book, takes place in a middle school. It's about Luke, who first appears in 'What Did You Say?' Tash and Jon, from the first book, are also characters in this one. In 'What's It To You?', Judy's third book, 13-year-old Tim Stockdale (who first appeared as Luke's classmate in 'We're Done'), is figuring out where he fits in at Carlyle.

For Judy, the middle school years are especially interesting since they can be some of the most challenging for kids. It's a time when kids are faced with new issues, and bigger problems, than many have experienced before. As they figure out how they feel, and decide how to respond, they're also figuring out who they are, and shaping the nature of the person they will grow into.

Links: www.judyirwin.com

www.amazon.com/author/judyirwin

We're Done by Judy Irwin - Review tour and giveaway

(contemporary YA novella)

This review is done in conjunction with the author's virtual tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, so comment today AND follow the tour (if you click on the tour banner above, it'll take you to a list of his tour stops) -- the more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a fun prize!



What if it turns out that YOU'RE the bully - and you didn't know it?

Up until now, life has been good for 13-year-old Luke. He's good at sports, attractive, and he's a big wheel at Heyworth Academy, his private school. He likes to tease, and poke fun at the other kids, but that's just because he likes having fun. But things start to fall apart, six weeks into eighth grade, when Luke commits an act of 'goofing around' that ends up costing him his best friend and his beloved private school.

After he's expelled, Luke transfers to his local school, Carlyle. Now, he's on the outside looking in. His looks, and background (not to mention his Heyworth hoodie), make him stand out, and the tough guys zero in on him right away.

The upside-down world that Luke finds himself in at Carlyle gives him a whole new way of looking at things. Can he recover from losing his school, and his best friend, and find new friends and a way to fit in at Carlyle?


We're Done is a timely book considering the tragic news stories I see, time and again, of kids killing themselves over bullying.

This book takes a different tack, though, and casts the bully as our hero.  It was a bit difficult for me to like Luke at first, and that's a brave thing for an author to do:  give us a protagonist we don't care for.

Luke isn't mean on purpose, he just doesn't realize what he's doing is really hurting people.  He's got it all: he's popular, cute, smart, captain of the soccer team at a ritzy private school. What he needs is a kick from reality right in his rear.  And he gets it.

His "goofing off" gets him expelled from school.  Worse, this last incident involved a family member of his best friend, now ex-best friend.  He loses everything: school, friends, status.  More, his parents are pretty well unavailable.  His mother spends most of her life sleeping, and his father travels for work.  His sister is a worse bully than he is, and the little we see of her is just horrible.

He's plunged into the foreign world of public school and it's a big awakening.  Suddenly he's not the cool kid anymore.  He's the one made fun of.  He doesn't fit in anywhere, and he can't even play soccer.  The one person he knows is someone he hurt the summer before, and she wants nothing to do with him.

Luke doesn't undergo an immediate transformation, for which I am grateful.  It takes awhile, and a few virtual slaps to the head, for him to see what he'd done in the past was hurtful. He observes some kids doing the same stuff he used to do to another kid, and it all slowly starts to come clear.  The author paints a very realistic picture of school and kids and it's both a little sad and encouraging.

I enjoyed this book.  It was a quick, enlightening read with a snappy plot and clean, descriptive writing.  My only complaint is that not all the ends were tied up.  I really wanted to see Luke take a stand with his sister and her behavior.  I'd have like to see at least a little of the problems with his parents cleared up (Luke does confront his dad, though nothing much really changes).  Even so, the book does have a satisfying ending with Luke and his growth.  And it left me wondering just what came next.  I was attached to this kid I hadn't liked at first, and I want to know he succeeds.

4 / 5 Flowers - a very good book

Judy Irwin writes books about kids dealing with everyday stuff, like parents and divorce, friendships and bullies, and figuring out how to handle different situations and circumstances. So far, she's written two books: We're Done, and What Did You Say? We're Done is about 13-year-old Luke and how he figures out what went wrong when he's kicked out of school for a bullying incident. In What Did You Say?, 12-year-old Tash tries to figure out what life will be like following her parents' divorce. In this book, which takes place at a trailer park up north, Tash first meets Luke, Jon and Polly.

Judy lives in Toronto, Canada, with a dog, a cat, and two hamsters, plus her husband and two children, ages 10 and 13. She studied English Literature at the University of Toronto. She always wanted to be a writer. She wrote her first book in fourth grade - it was about a boy called Japan, who lived in Japan. In addition to writing books, Judy is a freelance business writer.

For more info:

www.judyirwin.com
www.amazon.com/author/judyirwin