This story could have been pulled from the lives of many of the students I teach. Like Isabelle, I have many students who have had to deal with an alcoholic parent. In Isabelle’s case, it is her mother. I have many students who have had to take care, raise their younger siblings. Isabelle has a younger brother and sister to take care of. On top of all of this, she has a part-time job and is going to school. She is in a vicious cycle. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders and she is afraid to try to remove that weight because of the consequences to the lives of her siblings. As I read this and saw her pain I wanted so much to take that pain from her. It hit too close to home. I had a student, a young man who lived this life with his younger brother. His mom was a drug addict. He’d had enough teachers show support that he finally took a leap of faith, left his mom in another state and moved back to Florida with his younger brother. He arrived a few days before turning 18, with the help of one of his high school teachers he was able to go to court to get custody of his brother.

Unlike my former student, Isabelle doesn’t want anyone knowing what is going on in her life and therefore, getting help for her and helping her deal with things is made more difficult. This is definitely a book I will recommend and it is a book I will put on my shelves at school. I see this as a book that may just help that one child who is like Isabelle and needs some encouragement to get help. Well worth the read. ( )

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Rodent is a quick, powerful read with a very realistic angry and bitter teenage girl who has had a really shit life. This is slightly reminiscent of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which was a great read as well. ( )

Difficult to read... but important to read and beautifully done. ( )

Rodents are very resilient. They survive when nothing else can-even become immune to poisons. Did you know a rat can tread water for days?”
“No, I didn’t.” I laugh.
“Survive being flushed down a toilet?”
“No.”
“So if you’re a rodent,” he says, “you’ll probably outlive us all.”

Isabelle’s character makes me happy. She’s a teenager that has to put up with an alcoholic mother, violently alcoholic uncle and take care of her two younger siblings, but she’s not the typical I-can-do-everything! teen I usually seen in these books. She gets angry, she’s selfish, she gets into fights; just as most teens in that typical situation would find themselves.

Will is the romantic interest of the book. He is a bit of an outcast himself, though not much is found out character-wise about him. Honestly, I would have liked the book better if they had remained friends and the ‘romance’ had been left out. He was an interesting character for what was given, though.

The main focus within the school is that Isabelle is placed with a small group (including Will and herself) called The Words on the Wall in which they come up with a theme and poster words on the cafeteria wall that will eventually include the rest of the students. It sounds like a great idea, allowing teens to express themselves through the theme, but of course teens can be cruel and (like all YA high books based in HS) there are your typical mean girls to look out for.

The highlight of the little group are their meetings in the drama club prop room! Zara is a bit of a stickler for rules and order, but Damien is a care-free artist that goes around picking out the most ridiculous props for everyone. The room eventually becomes a important part of Isabelle’s story.

Jacquie is Isabelle’s cousin and a picture of what Isabelle is on the road to becoming/could have become. She dropped out of school, has already been in juvenile hall for fighting, and dresses in very revealing clothes.

There were a few times where the story had the perfect adult for the perfect situation, or someone just happened to have arrived at just the right time. I’m not typically a stickler for these, but when it happens quite a few times in one book it gets on my nerves.

Overall, Rodent is a good contemporary young adult read. ( )

Isabelle is in grade 11. Her mother is an alcoholic, so Isabelle is the one who takes care of her two younger siblings, Evan and Maidie. Normally, she tries to stay invisible at school, but on her first day at a new school, she gets into a fight, which results in her being bullied.

I thought this was really good. It's YA, so it moved quickly and was a fast read. I definitely felt badly for Isabelle and hoped things would work out for her. ( )