He’s been violent and abusive, and he’s unstable.Īt heart, Cal is a good kid. His father has been in prison and has been addicted to drugs. While he had a loving mother, she wan’t always there for him, and after her death, his life got monumentally worse. It’s not a spoiler to say that she and her father are not happy about Cal’s being there and disrupting the “perfect” family they had before he arrived with his problems, his sadness, and his PTSD.Ĭal’s life has not been a good one. Just as Cal’s Truth or Fiction entries are related to the truths that he is about to share, Hannah’s definitions lead to understanding more of her life and how Cal’s coming to live with her family has affected it. Hannah’s narrative is prefaced with definitions for example: “FACT OR FICTION: You Can Know Where You Are and Still Be Lost” Answer: Take it from me.
While both narratives are in first person, which allows us to know what Hannah and Cal are feeling and thinking, Hopkins clearly delineates who is narrating each section by beginning Cal’s narratives with “FACT OR FICTION:” and then a truth or fiction. When we first meet them, Cal has lived with Hannah and her parents for a little over a year. We meet and get to know both Hannah and Cal, cousins whose mothers are identical twins, but whose lives couldn’t be more different. This is a story that, like her other books, is written in verse. With her first middle grade novel, Hopkins hits a home run.
Prolific author Ellen Hopkins is known for her young adult books that deal with tough subjects - especially drugs and the horrendous damage they can do to families and the lives of those who are caught in their tantalizing web.
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