What About Will
by Ellen Hopkins (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Booktalk: Twelve-year-old Trace Reynolds has always looked up to his brother, mostly because Will, who’s five years older, has never looked down on him. It was Will who taught Trace to ride a bike, would watch sports on TV with him, and cheer him on at Little League. But when Will was knocked out cold during a football game, resulting in a brain injury–everything changed. Now, seventeen months later, their family is still living under the weight of “the incident,” that left Will with a facial tic, depression, and an anger he cannot always control, culminating in their parents’ divorce. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover for Will who, struggling with addiction to pain medication, becomes someone Trace doesn’t recognize. But when the brother he loves so much becomes more and more withdrawn, and escalates to stealing money and ditching school, Trace realizes some secrets cannot be kept if we ever hope to heal.
Snippet:
My Big Brother
Always
had a
short
fuse
but now
it’s permanently lit.
Okay, it was never
hard to set Will off.
It used to be a game
I played, mostly
just for kicks.
It was funny, watching
the blood throb
in his temples.
But sometimes,
when trouble
was staring at me
and I wanted to aim
it in a different direction,
I’d rile Will up
until he blew.
Then, when Mom
or Dad started griping
about my behavior,
I’d point at my brother,
all red-faced and cussing,
and ask, “What about Will?”
I never thought
I’d get sick
of that question.
Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
