The Impossible Knife of Memory

Anderson, Laurie. The Impossible Knife of Memory. 2014.

Haylee and her dad have been moving about the country to avoid dealing with the dad's PTSD, but he decides to settle down in his hometown so Haylee can go to a real school. While there, he starts to battle the PTSD demons more than he had before. Haylee is trying to live a normal life, adjust to high school, and take care of her father all at once.

I really, truly wanted to love this book. It's by one of my favorite authors, and the idea sounded great. It is a good book, and I think it's a good picture of living with someone with PTSD. But it's also very slow-paced, which is going to make it a hard sell to my students, and I had to force myself to keep reading even though the only thing that was going on was that Haylee had a hard life. Some of my students who like to read "books about kids with BIG problems" might enjoy this book.

Recommended for: older teens
Red Flags: language, violence, alcohol and drug use
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars