I read this one with my fourth graders! I loved the conversations we had with this one.

I learned a lot that I didn't know. I will definitely use this book in my teaching.

Rupi Kaur just has a way with words that overwhelms my heart with sunshine. The words she shares are so simple, and yet they have the power to say things I did not think anyone else felt. I did enjoy milk and honey a little better than this one, but I was not searching for perfection. I was searching for something that I could connect with, and I got that.

This book has been on my TBR shelf for a really long time. I believe that I put it on my list a few months after it come out. (In my mind, I was like “2012? That wasn’t so long ago!” And then I remembered that 2012 was four years ago. Oh my goodness…) I do this thing where I’ll add something to my TBR shelf and then I’ll think that because it’s there, I’ll read it sooner than anything else. I’m starting to realize that this is NOT the case. (I’m trying to fix that.) This past semester, I took a children’s literature class and my professor RAVED about the importance of this book. After that, I HAD to pick it up. It took me FOREVER to get through (thank you procrastination :P) but I’m really glad that I read it because I think that it is so very important.

I want to be a teacher when I grow up, and because of this, I’ve been reading a lot of children’s lit and middle grade recently. As I have been doing this, I have come to a realization that there are two (probably more but for the purpose of this review I’ll say two) different types of middle grade/children’s books. 1) The kind where you can read it, have fun but don’t necessarily learn too much from it and 2) the kind that show you something, teach you something, or help you experience something important. This book is of the second type.

I believe that the reason I did not connect with this book as much as I thought that I would was because I have read other books in the past with this theme that really helped me grow. But, I think that for upper elementary and middle schoolers, this book could be really important. I really am a fan of books that help children learn something that we just kind of expect people to know. This book has themes of acceptance, empathy and friendship which are all things that I believe that students need to learn. In the end, I did enjoy this book. I can’t even really say that there is anything wrong with it. I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to teach this book in my classrooms in the future.

I will forever be in a confusing relationship with John Green's books. I feel like people most often fall into two camps. There are people who like The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska, and then those who like Katherines and Paper Towns better. In my mind, these books are are opposite ends of a "John Green" spectrum with Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Let it Snow in the middle.

I prefer TFIOS and Looking for Alaska to the other two. For some reason, the other two didn't give me the "OH MY GOODNESS" feeling. So, going into this book I was trying to predict where on my "John Green spectrum" it was going to be. From the synopsis, I predicted that it was going to be on the Katherines and Paper Towns side of the spectrum. It's not that I thought that I wasn't going to like it. The synopsis just didn't excite me that much.

After having read it, I would put this book in the middle of my spectrum with Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Let It Snow. I was surprised by it. I really enjoyed Aza's character because I could relate to her even though we very different. I think that's what I like most about John Green's books. In all of them, even the ones that are not my favorite, I am able to relate with people who are so incredibly different than I am. His books allow me to appreciate people for their differences while relating to them at the same time. It's a really wonderful experience and I am grateful <3

ALSO this book had a beautiful representation of mental illness and therapy. I myself have gone to therapy for the past three years of my life, I do not have OCD, but I could empathize with Aza's experiences because I have been through some of them myself. I believe that we often read to understand those around us, and this book really gave me a perspective on something that I am not very knowledgeable about. John Green did a wonderful thing in creating a story where the reader gets to see inside the head of someone who is really struggling with her mental illness. It's not comfortable. It's not pretty. But, it's real and for that reason, this book will stick with me.