Genre: YA Contemporary
Published: May 16, 2013 by Nancy Paulsen Books
Length: 240 pages
Source: Goodreads (ARC)
“Kiara has Asperger’s syndrome, and it’s hard for her to make friends. So
whenever her world doesn’t make sense—which is often—she relies on Mr. Internet
for answers. But there are some questions he can’t answer, like why she always
gets into trouble, and how do kids with Asperger’s syndrome make friends?
Kiara has a difficult time with other kids. They taunt her and she fights back.
Now she’s been kicked out of school. She wishes she could be like her hero
Rogue—a misunderstood X-Men mutant who used to hurt anyone she touched until she
learned how to control her special power.
When Chad moves in across the
street, Kiara hopes that, for once, she’ll be able to make friendship stick.
When she learns his secret, she’s so determined to keep Chad as a friend that
she agrees not to tell. But being a true friend is more complicated than Mr.
Internet could ever explain, and it might be just the thing that leads Kiara to
find her own special power.”
First of all, I love how the cover has something to do with the story. Rogue, mutant, and BMX plays a big part in Rogue, and I think it’s smart and convenient how the definition is placed on the cover. This book is told from Kiara’s point of view, a 13 year old who has the Asperger’s syndrome because the medication that her father was taking when he had cancer affected her development. She constantly tells the readers of how she wishes she was like Rogue (a character from X-Men) and she even compares her friends and teacher to the characters in X-Men.
Kiara’s family revolves around music. Her mother, who was born in El Salvador, travels to different places to play music. Her father plays the banjo, and he used to have a band. Kiara also has 2 brothers who are in college so she’s just left with her father at home. She constantly tells her mother to come home, but her mother tells her she can’t because of her job. Kiara feels like the real reason why her mother wouldn’t come home is because she has the syndrome and that she is an “accident”. Since she has the Asperger’s syndrome, which is an autism that affects one’s behavior and communication, she has a hard time making friends and feels like she has to “work hard” just to gain friends. She got picked on at school by the popular girls, and during the book, she is home schooled. Throughout the novel, we get to see how the people that Kiara meets makes a big impact in her life and decisions.
Chad is Kiara’s neighbor who recently moved in. He’s a year younger than her, and Kiara is eager to be his friend. She follows whatever he tells her to do even though he treats her horribly, calling her names (i.e. retarded) like all the popular girls at school used to do. Chad’s character was just frustrating and maddening. He is very rude to Kiara even though she was kind to him ALL THE TIME. Chad is one of those characters who you would just want to punch in the face. He plays BMX which is a bicycle racing in dirt tracks.
What I love about this book is that we get to see how the characters change from start to finish. Kiara’s the one who made the biggest change which made me very proud of her. She started out having a very low self esteem and ended up being somewhat confident after all the trouble she has gone with the new “friends” she’d made.
I like how there wasn’t really any romance in this book. There’s a lot of adventure and twist that will make your jaw drop. It ended with a bam, and the whole book was just unpredictable. I recommend this to everyone, especially to those who are looking for a fresh contemporary read.
