At the end of the "May" chapter, I cried. I really don't cry much over fiction, but that got me. It wasn't a sad cry. But yeah. Let's just say that was a good ending to a chapter. I found Holling and his sister's relationship so sweet; especially after he "found" her. I can't wait for "Just Like That" to come out. I'm just going to keep binging Gary D Schmidt's books until then haha

I've always looked at historical events with an outsiders perspective. I think most people do. In history class, you learn about all the little bits of information about these historical figures, but you're not really affected by it. Not unless you've lived it, really. But reading this book made me think of these events in a different way. I think about now like it actually happened. Like, yeah, I _know_ it actually happened in real life, but it just doesn't _feel_ that way when you're reading a textbook about Martin Luther King Jr., or Bobby Kennedy, or the Vietnam War. Reading this book did give me a different perspective about all of this. Holling's family was really affected by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, particularly his sister, Heather, who strongly believed in equality, was on the side of these people, and considered herself a flower child (ngl I didn't know what that was until I read this book haha). And many of the adult characters were related to men in the war, and you can see how much it affects them.