A review by booktrunks
If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth

5.0

I bought this book recently, and if I was being fair to all the books waiting on my shelf, I would have waited much longer to read this. BUT, it sounded really interesting, so I skipped the line, and I regret nothing! This is a fantastic and moving book with a great balance of friendship, family and found-family, loneliness, and nostalgia. I found Lewis to be such a realistic and lovable character, his imperfections and struggles really reflected what I see in the lives of my students today, and the contrast of his happy/hopeful moments to his disappointing/beat-down moments was so emotional (and even infuriating at times)! There's a lot that this book has to say about the school system and the abuse of power from teachers/staff that can take place, and I think it's important to hear. I can think of many people I would recommend this book to, but it also falls into a category I call "books I think educators need to read." I will definitely be picking up other books by Gansworth!