Realistic, modern, nostalgic, relevant, relatable, tough, engaging

Frogman’s Response was a book that I didn’t think I would relate to quite as much as I did. I found myself identifying with Matthew constantly in a way that made me uncomfortable in a way that books don’t often elicit in me. I could see how my high school self would have made similar mistakes and reactions as Matthew and it made me confront where those feelings might have come from. Hoarding disorder is so common in the Midwest (which is actually where I grew up!) it’s almost hard to find a family that doesn’t have too many boxes somewhere. Though I never saw it on the same scale as Matthew, the emotions that Matthew feels are all too familiar to so many kids. This book is uncomfortably relatable in the best way that will make you nostalgic for high school and so glad you will never have to go back all at the same time.

Quick Summary: Matthew gets anonymously famous at his school after posting advice under the pseudonym Frogman on his school’s counseling website until the school bans him. Addicted to anonymously helping his classmates, he and his friends make a school blog and run it the way that they think it should be run. Little did they know that the well-intentioned advice would start to wreak havoc on the student body, but Frogman becomes the only way that Matthew feels in control of his life when living in his mom’s hoarding house. When Matthew’s private notebook gets stolen, Matthew worries that everything in his life will begin falling apart…

This book is engaging, realistic, and right on point. Regardless of if these teenager struggles are similar experiences to yours, you can’t help but see yourself somewhere in this high school. The energy, the aesthetic and the situations feel like the most realistic depiction of high school that I’ve read in so long. You can’t help but sympathize with Matthew and his friends. Frogman’s Response is a firm reminder that high school is hard and growing up is hard, which is something that we often forget as we get older and stop sympathizing with teens quite as much. Voss will put you right back in the shoes of these teenagers.

Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr | Facebook