On... The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm

I sit down to write this review not knowing whether I think positively about this book or hesitantly (notice that I did not say negatively).

Having spent two months with beautiful little seventh graders I think that Wilhelm did an admirable job at portraying life in middle school from a kid's point of view. I do think that all of the adult characters seemed out of touch or downright authoritarian but perhaps that was because Wilhelm did such a good job at writing from the kid's point of view.

Wilhelm's style made me want to keep reading even when I was thrown out by some pretty blatant profanity thrown in. To be perfectly honest I find such profanity offensive especially when used, albeit like it is in a middle school, so casually. Growing up none of the authors of the books I read resorted to sprinkling in and occasional curse word or two. Even one of my favorite secular authors, Mary Higgens Clark, rarely uses profanity in her novels and those are written for adults.

Although the profanity (around 10 words but 10 too many in my opinion) is the only negative I have about the book its use makes me hesitate to recommend the book. I would not assign this book to my students. There are better books out there.