More Than Anger

by Lexi Bruce

Overview

It is no secret that Anna's parents are going through a rough patch. When that rough patch turns positively volatile, Anna starts to wonder why her parents are staying together at all. Will their anger destroy everything Anna has ever known? Can Anna allow herself to fall in love when she sees how it can turn so easily to hate?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538382646
Publisher:	Enslow Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	12/16/2019
Series:	YA Verse Series
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

Editorial Reviews

★ 2019-10-25
The misery of Anna's home life is a secret weighing heavily on her shoulders.

Only child Anna feels caught between parents whose personal cold war regularly erupts in outright, vocal hostility. Once upon a time they had a happy household, enjoying vacations together and silly laughter over meals. Now her kindergarten teacher mother is unemployed and her epidemiologist father works long hours. The Atlanta teen, who aspires to become a globe-trotting journalist, tiptoes around on eggshells. The tension at home interferes with her schoolwork, resulting in angry lectures from her father and disappointment in herself. Her mother drinks too much and expresses her anger by aggressively cleaning the house. Anna has a budding romance with classmate Dave and a close relationship with her best friend, Jess, but as her home life becomes increasingly unpredictable, her shame over hiding the truth about her life increases. Debut author Bruce's novel in verse exquisitely captures the emotional pain of a girl who desperately wants to enjoy school dances, take pride in her academic work, and connect with parents who are too preoccupied with their own conflict to see the suffering they're causing her. Anna's direct, vulnerable first-person narration will draw in readers as she attempts to navigate stressful situations on her own. All characters seem to be white.

An emotionally layered, deeply affecting work accessible to reluctant readers. (Verse novel. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews

12/06/2019

Gr 8 Up—Sixteen-year-old Anna's parents bicker constantly. Anna's mother is unemployed and drinks, while her father works long hours to avoid problems at home. Anna feels unseen by her parents, who spend more time arguing than paying attention to her. She hides her unhappiness from her friends, suffering in silence. Skeptical about relationships, Anna is afraid to explore romance with classmate Dave. She often wonders if she could be happy romantically. Readers of this novel in verse will empathize with Anna as her heart breaks watching her parents suffer in a relationship that clearly fell apart ages ago. She is a character to cheer for, and her feelings are honest, raw, and relatable. VERDICT Recommended for those who love books by Sarah Dessen and who appreciate a tearjerker.—Kharissa Kenner, Bank Street School for Children, New York

School Library Journal