Upstander by James Preller

 


I am a huge fan of James Preller. His stories are always real and honest, though gritty and tough to read (in a good way). In Upstander, which is a companion novel to the previous released Bystander, we learn Mary's story. Mary is much like any other middle school student- she wants to be liked, get good grades, and stay away from conflicts of any kinds. It just so happens that life isn't always that simple. She lives with a drug addicted brother, there's always drama with kids at school, and there's seemingly nothing she can do to avoid any of it.

This book will have readers eager to see how Mary handles each conflict in her life and also, hopefully, cause them to question what they would do in similar situations. I think every kid will be able to identify or relate to something that Mary is going through in this book and that is one of the biggest reasons I think this book will be crazy popular with my students!

I strongly urge every teacher to talk this book up and every student to find it and read it!

-TK

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