Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner Published by Feiwel & Friends on June 5th 2018
Genres: Young Adult, YA, Contemporary, LGBTQIA
Goodreads
In Adrienne Kisner's Dear Rachel Maddow, a high school girl deals with school politics and life after her brother’s death by drafting emails to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in this funny and heartfelt YA debut.
Brynn Haper's life has one steadying force--Rachel Maddow.
She watches her daily, and after writing to Rachel for a school project--and actually getting a response--Brynn starts drafting e-mails to Rachel but never sending them. Brynn tells Rachel about breaking up with her first serious girlfriend, about her brother Nick's death, about her passive mother and even worse stepfather, about how she's stuck in remedial courses at school and is considering dropping out.
Then Brynn is confronted with a moral dilemma. One student representative will be allowed to have a voice among the administration in the selection of a new school superintendent. Brynn's archnemesis, Adam, and ex-girlfriend, Sarah, believe only Honors students are worthy of the selection committee seat. Brynn feels all students deserve a voice. When she runs for the position, the knives are out. So she begins to ask herself: What Would Rachel Maddow Do?
I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher. This does not influence my thoughts on the book or this review.
I love novels written in unique formats like an epistolary format so when I heard about Dear Rachel Maddow, I knew I had to read it. This debut was definitely interesting that had a unique format.
After a teacher asks her to send an email to her role model (Rachel Maddow) for an extra credit assignment, Brynn starts to write draft emails to her that she never sends. Writing to Rachel allows Brynn to process her emotions, even if Rachel never replies. As Brynn’s year away from the honour students classes makes her realize that her and her friends are undervalued by the other students at the school, she has to decide whether she should run for a student representative position. Dear Rachel Maddow is about a teen debating her place in the world and it’s a wonderful debut novel that has a unique voice.
I really liked Brynn’s character. Sometimes, it’s difficult for me to connect to characters when the point of view is in a unique format but I found that the epistolary format worked well. I also liked that all the secondary characters were well rounded, especially for a novel that was under 300 pages. Dear Rachel Maddow wasn’t too plot-driven but I did like the story line, and found it definitely engaging. I was rooting for Brynn and her story.
Overall, Dear Rachel Maddow is a solid debut novel and I recommend it.
