“That’s how I wanted to remember him – alive and in my life – fishing, skiing, playing golf, pulling practical jokes, sharing books and writers and writing.” So Shaw Sebring, son of a popular suspense writer, wrestles with accepting his father’s suicide.

The story begins with Shaw and his mother driving to Winnipeg from their former home in Vancouver, shortly after his father’s shocking death. Shaw is working hard to distance himself from his father, denying the similarities they shared, including a talent for writing.

At the start of the new school year, Shaw meets two other Grade 11 students, Tess and Jai. He and Jai, an East Indian youth, join the volleyball team. When Jai encounters racism, Shaw stands up to the attackers by fighting back – physically. Later, he is driven to write a powerful article about racism for the school newspaper that gets tremendous reception from his peers. Having learned that the pen is mightier than the sword, Shaw renews his commitment to writing.

Kristen Butcher writes this 12-chapter YA novel with simple language, appropriate for delayed readers. Occasional leaps in time between the chapters, with no clear cues from the first-person narrator, may confuse readers. The story will heighten social consciousness about issues such as homosexuality, prejudice, and suicide. Shaw’s relationship with Tess suggests a growing romantic interest without overshadowing the main storyline. The interactions between Shaw and adults (his mom, his English teacher, and his volleyball coach) are all realistically portrayed, though his mother’s ever-cheerful disposition, so soon after her husband’s suicide, seems surprising. Natural-sounding dialogue paired with details of everyday school life, such as ringing bells and collective groans at teachers’ requests, provide authentic touches to this story of personal growth.