{"id":138,"date":"2023-11-11T19:30:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T19:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/?page_id=138"},"modified":"2023-11-28T02:21:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T02:21:05","slug":"what-about-willl","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/?page_id=138","title":{"rendered":"WHAT ABOUT WILL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"ABOUT THE BOOK<\/span><\/h3>\n

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\u2014everything changed.<\/p>\n

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. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover for Will who, struggling with addiction to pain medication, becomes someone Trace doesn\u2019t 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 But when the brother he loves so much becomes more and more withdrawn, and escalates to stealing money and ditching school, Trace realizes some secrets cannot be kept.<\/p>\n

PRAISE FOR WHAT ABOUT WILL<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

A 2022-2023 Great Lakes Great Books Nominee (MI)
\nA 2022-2023 Camellia Children\u2019s Choice Book Award Nominee (AL)
\nA 2022 Bank Street Best Children\u2019s Book of the Year<\/strong>
\nA 2022 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHeartfelt\u00a0<\/strong>novel in verse.\u201d \u2014Forbes<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2605\u00a0\u201cHopkins\u2019s\u00a0heartrending<\/strong>\u00a0novel in verse\u00a0evocatively<\/strong>\u00a0conveys Trace\u2019s attempts to call attention to Will\u2019s dangerous behavior and his yearning to \u201cfix\u201d his broken family.\u00a0Standout\u00a0<\/strong>supporting characters include Mr. Cobb, Trace\u2019s Vietnam veteran neighbor, and Catalina, a new girl on his baseball team. . . the verse format suits Trace\u2019s first-person narrative; its brevity cuts to the heart of Trace\u2019s raw feelings of isolation and powerlessness. . . \u00a0A\u00a0realistic, emotionally charged portrait<\/strong>\u00a0of a family divided and their fragile steps toward a shared future.\u00a0Recommended<\/strong>\u00a0for middle grade collections.\u201d\u2014School Library Journal<\/em>,\u00a0starred review<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWritten in her recognizable free-verse style, Hopkins conveys the\u00a0raw and realistic<\/strong>\u00a0emotions of a broken family. The book covers multiple\u00a0tough subjects<\/strong>\u00a0. . . in a manner that is\u00a0digestible for a younger audience<\/strong>.\u00a0What about Will<\/em>\u00a0is a story about family, love, loss, hope, and understanding that you don\u2019t have to go through hardships alone.\u201d \u2014Booklist<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fears of stable, straight-arrow athlete Trace are clarified in\u00a0lovely sparks of concrete poetry<\/strong>\u00a0among Hopkins\u2019 free verse, as he learns to tell adults when he sees his beloved brother acting dangerously.\u00a0Compassionate optimism<\/strong>\u00a0for a boy who can\u2019t control the chaos around him.\u201d\u00a0\u2014Kirkus Reviews<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn effective verse, Hopkins (Closer to Nowhere<\/em>) tells an\u00a0honest and moving<\/strong>\u00a0portrait of a family in flux as they navigate newfound emotional and physical distance\u2026Hopkins\u00a0tenderly portrays<\/strong>\u00a0a younger brother learning to advocate for himself and those he loves by speaking up and asking for help.\u201d\u00a0\u2014Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA gentle, but honest, look at depression and addiction that also models positive responses and community support. For fans of\u00a0Ghost<\/em>\u00a0by Jason Reynolds and\u00a0Before the Ever After<\/em>\u00a0by Jaqueline Woodson,\u00a0What About Will<\/em>\u00a0is\u00a0important and moving<\/strong>.\u201d \u2014YALSA<\/em>, on audiobook edition<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABOUT THE BOOK 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\u2014everything 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. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover for Will who, struggling with addiction to pain medication, becomes someone Trace doesn\u2019t 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. PRAISE FOR WHAT ABOUT WILL A 2022-2023 Great Lakes Great Books Nominee (MI) A 2022-2023 Camellia Children\u2019s Choice Book Award Nominee (AL) A 2022 Bank Street Best Children\u2019s Book of the Year A 2022 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick \u201cHeartfelt\u00a0novel in verse.\u201d \u2014Forbes \u2605\u00a0\u201cHopkins\u2019s\u00a0heartrending\u00a0novel in verse\u00a0evocatively\u00a0conveys Trace\u2019s attempts to call attention to Will\u2019s dangerous behavior and his yearning to \u201cfix\u201d his broken family.\u00a0Standout\u00a0supporting characters include Mr. Cobb, Trace\u2019s Vietnam veteran neighbor, and Catalina, a new girl on his baseball team. . . the verse format suits Trace\u2019s first-person narrative; its brevity cuts to the heart of Trace\u2019s raw feelings of isolation and powerlessness. . . \u00a0A\u00a0realistic, emotionally charged portrait\u00a0of a family divided and their fragile steps toward a shared future.\u00a0Recommended\u00a0for middle grade collections.\u201d\u2014School Library Journal,\u00a0starred review \u201cWritten in her recognizable free-verse style, Hopkins conveys the\u00a0raw and realistic\u00a0emotions of a broken family. The book covers multiple\u00a0tough subjects\u00a0. . . in a manner that is\u00a0digestible for a younger audience.\u00a0What about Will\u00a0is a story about family, love, loss, hope, and understanding that you don\u2019t have to go through hardships alone.\u201d \u2014Booklist \u201cThe fears of stable, straight-arrow athlete Trace are clarified in\u00a0lovely sparks of concrete poetry\u00a0among Hopkins\u2019 free verse, as he learns to tell adults when he sees his beloved brother acting dangerously.\u00a0Compassionate optimism\u00a0for a boy who can\u2019t control the chaos around him.\u201d\u00a0\u2014Kirkus Reviews \u201cIn effective verse, Hopkins (Closer to Nowhere) tells an\u00a0honest and moving\u00a0portrait of a family in flux as they navigate newfound emotional and physical distance\u2026Hopkins\u00a0tenderly portrays\u00a0a younger brother learning to advocate for himself and those he loves by speaking up and asking for help.\u201d\u00a0\u2014Publishers Weekly \u201cA gentle, but honest, look at depression and addiction that also models positive responses and community support. For fans of\u00a0Ghost\u00a0by Jason Reynolds and\u00a0Before the Ever After\u00a0by Jaqueline Woodson,\u00a0What About Will\u00a0is\u00a0important and moving.\u201d \u2014YALSA, on audiobook edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-138","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellenhopkinsbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}