Review: The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

The Mockingbirds
(The Mockingbirds #1)

Author: Daisy Whitney

Publication Date: November 2nd 2010

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Contemporary / Realistic Fiction

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Synopsis:

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

My Thoughts: So I had heard a lot of good things about this book. But I forgot about it for the longest time. Then one day, I saw it on the bargain shelf at Chapters and remembered it was supposed to be good, so I picked it up. It's a relatively short read, just over 300 pages. Surprisingly, I actually read it shortly after buying it, much to the disappointment of all the books that have been sitting on my shelf for over a year, just waiting to be read.

Basically, the book is about a girl who is date raped. She doesn't really remember much but starts to have flash backs and realizes that she did not in fact give permission to have sex. It was her first time and she doesn't remember it, worse, it apparently happened twice. As the story goes on, she begins to remember more and more, getting madder and madder at what's happened to her. She enlists the help of the student led and operated court, which is the Mockingbirds. They are there for the students because the teachers live in a dream world where nothing wrong ever happens at their school, the students are perfect and even if someone comes to them about an issue, they ignore it or that person is kicked out for some reason or other. So the students are there for justice.

It's a pretty interesting read and I thought it did a great job of showing how someone reacts to being date raped. A lot of rape victims are afraid to report it because of what it is, and you learn as you go on that this has actually happened before, but that person was too afraid to push forward. A lot of people are ashamed and feel like they asked for it. Which isn't true. Unfortunately there isn't much justice in the world when it comes to rape but I thought the way it was handled in this story was good. I really liked the writing style and was pretty much able to sit down and read this book in one sitting. It kept my attention and kept me reading. I will definitely be looking to continue on with the series and will be watching out for more by Daisy Whitney.