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Posted 20 hours ago

All The Things That Could Go Wrong

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A neat story, well told, but I spent so much time feeling just a bit annoyed with both the main characters. The album standout “you’re just drunk” skillfully captures the specific frustration of having to piece together someone else’s story, and his upbeat collaboration with Up Next alum BENEE, “fun out of it,” traces a secret summer fling that has evolved into something more serious. There was just the right amount of choice to suit everyone without being overwhelming and I received comments from parents and staff about the quality of books offered compared to previous sales which have always been based around current crazes and well known celebrity authors. It could also encourage children who are expressing their emotions in a negative way to talk to someone about how they are feeling. His brother has been taken away from him for reasons he’s not ready to admit, his parent’s marriage is decaying and he’s all alone.

But their mums are friends and they force them to finish off building Dan’s raft together – neither of them relish this prospect to begin with, but as they work together, things begin to change.Alex is terrified and spends his days trying to avoid them, but knows they’ll get him again tomorrow. The whole point of this book is clearly to make a person feel empathy for a bully and to understand that bullies have back stories and things going on in their lives that cause them to bully. Consequently, Dan’s aggression and annoyance is taken out on the vulnerable target in his year group: Alex. Dan is angry; angry that his brother left him; angry that his parents won’t stop fighting but most of all: angry at the world.

All the things carries to important a message for that to happen, so I just wrote what was in my heart and let it bypass my head.Daily life is a struggle for Alex, plagued by worries caused by his OCD and living in fear of the awful bullying at school. Then the boys' mums arrange for them to meet up and finish building the raft that Dan started with his brother. The last thing he wants (and the last thing Alex wants) is for “that weird kid at school” to come and mess it up for him. Daily life is a struggle for Alex, plagued by thoughts of the germs all around him, the cracks in the pavement and the worries about what awful things might happen if his parents do not say “be safe” back to him before they go their separate ways each day.

I was a little worried going into it as I really enjoyed We Used to Be Kings by Stewart Foster, which I believe is an adult book, and was worried that maybe I wouldn't enjoy this one as much. Mental health is such an important topic for teenagers to learn about, and I thought Alex's OCD was treated well in this book. Bronnie is so lovely with the boys and we also felt that having a man enthusing about the books set a great example. I had to get into the story a little, as it is very different from what I usually read, but it was such a moving story!We have a very complex family dynamic going on for both protagonists which completely juxtapose each other. Nothing has been the same since his big brother left, and he's taking it out on the nearest and weakest target: Alex. There was something so special about this book, and while it was painful to read, everything Foster wrote worked so well. But when their parents arrange for them to work on the one thing Dan shared with his brother, they're forced to work as a team and sort out their differences. With a forward plot through the two main characters' perspectives, the stories in this book try to explore how pre-teens face life's problems that they have to find solutions for on their own.

The portrayal of OCD was excellently displayed, and I did enjoy the snippets of how frustrated the OCD made Alex, yet he had no way to control it.They would also only drop off a case of books and leave us to run it – it was so lovely to have you on hand to chat to the children and recommend them books, as well as the small (but appreciated! The relationships he had with his Mum and Elliott felt particularly great in this respect, like they want him to feel better, but they also just want him to get on with playing his guitar or swapping footie stickers at lunchtime. Then, as I learned more about Dan and what happened to his brother, Ben, I started to understand his aggressive attitude.

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