Cardigans, Coffee and Bookmarks: Review: Mock, Yeah, -ing, Yeah, Bird, Yeah Yeah Yeah

This book received the most votes on Randi's last "What's Next?" post. Thank you for voting! :)

Title: The Mockingbirds (The Mockingbirds #1)
Author: Daisy Whitney
Publication Date: my edition - Jan. 2nd, 2012 (original - 11/2010)
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 332
Genre: Contemporary/Realistic fiction/"issues" book
Audience: Young Adult
Source: bought
Rating: 5 I would marry this book

Summary from Goodreads: Some schools have honor codes.

Others have handbooks.

Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way-the Themis way. So when Alex Patrick is date-raped during her junior year, she has two options: Stay silent and hope someone helps, or enlist the aid of the Mockingbirds-a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of the student body.

In this account of a teenage girl's search for her voice and the courage to use it, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that standing up for someone, especially yourself, is worth the fight.

My thoughts: I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. I didn’t expect it to be light by any means, given the subject, but the way Whitney handled the issue of date rape, the use of a student-run justice system, and Alex coming to terms with what happened to her amazes me; it seems incredibly realistic. Alex wavers between what to do, whether just ignoring what happened while facing the murmurs, comments, and leers of her fellow students, or going to the Mockingbirds and reliving everything over again; her disconnect from music, the thing she loves most in the world, because of what happened with Carter especially brought Alex to life for me since you often hear about/see (in pop culture only, for me, thank goodness) that kind of withdrawal with trauma. The only time I felt like things might be a tad unrealistic was how pushy her friends were about getting Alex to report the date rape; I thought they could have been a little more tactful in trying to understand Alex’s feelings and what she was going through rather than so constantly demanding action, no matter how much they would obviously want to. It seemed like they should have been there more for her (and they were good friends, I promise!) to listen and comfort rather than to push, BUT that may just be me because any of my good friends will tell you (well, maybe they wouldn’t since they’re pretty awesome friends!) that when there’s a crisis, I’m always willing to listen, but I don’t always know the comforting words to say, so perhaps that’s where I’m not seeing eye-to-eye with Alex’s friends’ actions. That’s really the only complaint I have, and it was a minor detail that by no means took over the story.

I enjoyed the setting – Themis Academy in Rhode Island; Whitney paints a vivid picture of a private boarding school in New England very well, from the description of the campus and its buildings to even the downtown area. The book mostly takes place during winter, which is fitting considering the dark topic in the story, and Whitney definitely makes sure you feel the cold and the wet and the wind. Not so much that it’s overdone, but enough so that you really feel like you could be on Themis Academy yourself.

I liked the little bit of romance. It isn’t instalove, it isn’t cheesy, and it’s very sweet. (I’m excited to see where it goes in the sequel, Rivals, which is already out.) I won’t ruin it for you, except to note that the romance starts very slowly because both parties have some major thoughts and feelings to work through which makes it all the more real. And the ending (both for the couple and for Alex herself) seemed perfect – not in a “oh well of course that was going to happen” way, but rather it leaves the reader satisfied. And there is a little suspense to the story (part of the reason I didn’t want to get too far into plot!) which makes this a very difficult book to put down. I definitely suggest The Mockingbirds if you’re at all into YA contemporary or issues books. Justina Chen, the author of North of Beautiful, wrote in her back-cover blurb that The Mockingbirds “Deserves a place of honor…alongside its soul sister, Speak.” I know many people recommend Speak (I still need to read it!), so if you liked Speak, give this one a look as well! And, bonus, the sequel is already released.