amended review, with spoilers:are all teen books written in eye-catching, typographically unconventional ways?? or i…amended review, with spoilers:are all teen books written in eye-catching, typographically unconventional ways?? or is it just this one reading list?? i have nothing really to say about this book, except that for a sixteen-year-old boy in jail, it might benefit him to adopt less girly handwriting. kids, stay out of jail. don't associate with criminals. don't lie about your involvement because any close reader will notice, and you will be screwed. and, really, less girly...i have just returned from my teen lit readers' advisory class and everyone just ooohed and ahhhed over this book and even though i read it last summer, the gushing reaction of everyone else made me drop a star from my previous rating. no. no. no. it is not "gritty and edgy", this is absurd. and a close reading of this book reveals several inaccuracies that pretty much solidify the fact that despite the narrator's repeated claims that he is innocent, well, he's not. at all. and so basically, this book becomes one long lie about a character avoiding responsibility for a shitty thing he did, and couldn't even lie well enough to effectively get out of. and greg's review points out what a shitty low--reward crime it was. i am sick of people who are not prepared to accept that their actions have consequences, in fiction or otherwise. be a man. although, with that handwriting, you are probably more likely about to learn what it is like to be a woman.