Reviews

It Wasn't Me by Dana Alison Levy

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thereadingwren's review against another edition

3.0

3/5

The Breakfast club but middle grade and less stereotypical and sexist. (Don’t get me wrong I ADORE The Breakfast Club, but some aspects haven’t aged well)

I liked the plot of this and the whole time I just really wanted to know who was targeting Theo and why. Theo is a nice kid and some parts of his journey made me cry.

Even though this is based on stereotypes the characters felt very real. There are always layers to people. I am totally loving Alice, what a wonderful weirdo, I love her spirit. Also shoutout to my fellow metal head Andre, who makes my heart ache sometimes.

I appreciate what this book was trying to do. It was saying it’s okay to be whoever you are as long as you aren’t hurting anyone. It was saying how important honesty is but that it’s more important to understand how actions affect other people.

I’m not usually one for messages in books but I really enjoined this one and think it’s important for kids to read books like this.

rowen_tokito's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

annakim's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this story. On the one had, I was able to finish it one day, so it was clearly engaging enough to maintain my interest. On the other hand, I wish I was able to learn more about each of the characters. I know that the whole point of this story (and The Breakfast Club, from which this book unabashedly borrows heavily) is that people are different from what they seem on the surface. And the story kind of does that, but kind of in a way where someone shoots off a confetti cannon of character revelation and we're sitting there absorbing the surprise, but nothing else comes of it. Plus, I also realized just now that Alice is described over and over again as just being "weird" and "not fitting in with her family", but there wasn't anything else in the story to give her more depth. The other kids get more development than she does.

madelinefmcguire's review

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4.0

When Theo's photographs are vandalized at school with 5 students left at the scene the school decides something must be done. The principal is all set to suspend everyone at the scene, but Theo's favorite teacher Mrs. Lewiston thinks that having the students come in over their break with Theo for a Social Justice circle would be a better way to deal with the root of the issues. So now Molly, Andre, Erik, Alice, Jax and Theo are spending their vacation together talking and trying to get to the bottom of the incident, one things for sure by the end of the week no one will be the same.

This was a fun read, the format was cool because each new day was started with each character responding to a survey about the event. It's very heavily influenced by the breakfast-club (which I adore one of my favorite movies) but with an adult that you can root for and want to trust. It does a good job with some hard topics and shows a different side to students you thought you knew.