House Arrest: Because Timothy was eye-rolling before it was cool

Stealing is bad.
Yeah.
I know.
But my brother Levi is always so sick, and his medicine is always so expensive.

I didn’t think anyone would notice,
if I took that credit card,
if, in one stolen second,
I bought Levi’s medicine.

But someone did notice.
Now I have to prove I’m not a delinquent, I’m not a total bonehead.

That one quick second turned into
juvie
a judge
a year of house arrest,
a year of this court-ordered journal,
a year to avoid messing up
and being sent back to juvie
so fast my head will spin.

It’s only 1 year.
Only 52 weeks.
Only 365 days.
Only 8,760 hours.
Only 525,600 minutes.

What could go wrong?

This sums up why your students should read House Arrest by K.A. Holt.  The fact that it's written in first person AND in verse should do nothing to persuade them further. 

I mean, a thoughtful but impulsive boy who wants to help his family?  Could your students relate to him?  I know mine could.  It was so easy to get drawn in.  

And that's the thing.  You read the description and your brain goes to "bad kid."  But once you realize that his baby brother Levi is so sick, that his dad abandoned the family because this was too hard for him, and that his mom is doing her best to keep it all together, you realize that Timothy is really a "good kid."

This book put me in mind in some ways of Out of My Mind, where initially, it feels like a child's physical challenges create almost insurmountable obstacles.  And that's where Timothy finds himself at the beginning of the book, which is his journal.  The one he has to write in every day.  

Boys don't write in journals,
unless it's court-ordered.
At least, this is what I've figured.

I
I have
I have nothing
to say.

I'm not allowed to have nothing to say.

Get this book for your classroom library!  It's a quick read with a powerful impact! Want some thought-provoking questions for class discussion?  Check out my resource for it on TeachersPayTeachers.