This Is What I Did: (edition 2007)

Logan's having a hard time adjusting to his new school. His best friend is gone, his family has moved across town, and rumor about what happened have followed him here--and make him the target of bullies.

What did happen was pretty horrific to witness, and Logan is caught up in the guilt of not having done anything to stop it or help. This is more about his healing and getting past the incident than it is about the bullies.

Short, choppy writing style really shows off the character. Good book but difficult to get the right audience for. (Maybe fans of Robert Cormier, if there still are any in the teen set?) ( )

Reviewed by Mrs. Foley

Interesting book. A quick read with some little pictures or photos interspersed in the writing. It might really make students think about reporting what they know about some of their friends' home lives. And what might be helped if they would...

Review from Publisher's Weekly:
Part staccato prose, part transcript, this haunting first novel will grip readers right from the start. Fragmented scenes re-create, with grim authenticity, the almost claustrophobic perspective of the eighth-grade narrator, Logan, as he struggles to come to terms with his role in a despicable crime. "A year ago I was fine. That's when there was nothing wrong," Logan says early on. In relaying the action chiefly through Logan's terse observations and through script-like reproductions of dialogue, Ellis never veers from Logan's point of view. In this way, she infuses the narrative with his guilt over what happened, the details of which are revealed only in a climactic finale. At the same time, the narrator's frustration does not become the audience's, thanks to Ellis's skill in dramatizing his vulnerability. Readers will recognize themselves in Logan's difficulty overcoming his shame, even if the scale of his experiences is larger than their own, and sympathy as well as curiosity about his circumstances will drive them forward. Logan's progress is slow-but realistically so-and brings with it an almost cathartic relief for the audience. Plaudits go to the art department, too: a particularly attractive book design incorporates small drawings between each segment of text. ( )

This powerful book takes a look at a character who feels powerless in his world and who is bullied. The format is a combination of dialogue and narration. ( )

Book talk:
Any book I can't put down, any book that can so quickly make me care about the main character, has to get five stars as my rating.
From the first page, when Logan curls up on the floor after being terrorized (kicked in the balls) by three classmates/scouts/bullies, I wanted to know what was going to happen to him. And once the secret Logan is hiding is brought into the mix (still page one), there was no stopping. What happened with his friend Zyler and Zyler's dad? Logan says he can take anything and that he proved that at the Klondike Derby. What happened at the derby that was so terrible that even being attacked by these bullies wouldn't make him tell his own dad? What happened that was so terrible, that the family moved so Logan could change schools and get a fresh start? And what happened to his best friend Zyler? ( )

I can't recommend "This Is What I Did" enough--this was the first book I ever read cover to cover in one sitting.

Ann Dee Ellis really puts us into the mind of a traumatized teen whose healing process is thwarted by well meaning but clueless parents who only succeed in making him the the target for bullying. ( )