You know, if I had known before downloading Kate Messner's Breakout that the entire story basically just consists of multiple letters, announcements, post it notes, text messages and the like, I probably would not have even bothered (because generally, if there happens to be too much of this in a given novel, I do tend to find that majorly distracting, and since Breakout is basically ONLY this, is ONLY very short letters, text messages, inserted poetry etc., yes indeed, I have found my reading experience for the most part rather massively frustrating and annoying).Īnd indeed, the featured letters and text messages of Breakout, they do not really in my opinion give me as a reader enough of a portrait of any of the featured characters (and it also has taken me quite a while to be able to even distinguish Nora from Lizzie and vice versa). Oh, and did I mention this book also includes references to some of my favorite poets AND makes a strong case for documenting sources and avoiding plagiarism? A librarian’s dream! The combination of black and white middle schoolers as narrators and the rural north country setting will hopefully make this book more accessible to those who think racism is a problem they have in cities or in the south, but “not in my hometown.” I cannot wait to share this with my own middle schoolers and hear the conversations that follow. Many excellent books have been written about race and class and privilege, but I sometimes have trouble getting my white students to read them because they take place in urban settings or for whatever reason they feel they can’t relate. Honestly, it’s a very rare author who truly writes appropriately for middle schoolers (many books are either slightly too mature or too goofy), and so far I have yet to read a book that quite takes this perspective. The epistolary style makes it so engaging and accessible for the middle school audience. But the book also takes on the issue of white privilege in the context of a rural north country town where most kids have no idea what it really means. I thought I was going to be reading a book based on the true story of a prison breakout that happened near my home, which had me intrigued from the start. I just finished Breakout and I hardly know what to say except please do yourself a favor and read it! I’ve been a fan of Kate Messner’s books for years but this is by far her best and perhaps most important work yet.
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