If You’re Reading This by Trent Reedy

If You’re Reading This, by Trent Reedy. Scholastic, 2014. 296 pages.

Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12-15
Maturity Level: 6 (ages 15-18)

One-line Summary: If You’re Reading This is a moving YA novel about a father establishing a relationship with his son after the father’s death in Afghanistan.

For Michael Wilson, life is an endless round of part-time work and full-time school. The first to supplement his family’s meager income, the second to boost his chances of a college scholarship. Okay—but he’d like to play football, too… And get to know a certain raven-haired girl named Isma much better than he does. But his mom is the major barrier to all of that.  She’s obsessed with his getting into college and not breaking any bones and not ending up like his dad, who was killed in Afghanistan. Michael’s life takes a decidedly weird turn when he starts getting letters from the deceased: If you’re reading this, then I’m very sorry but I didn’t make it home. I was killed here in the war, in Afghanistan. Dad wrote these letters in the event of his death, to be delivered just before his son’s sixteenth birthday, telling him everything a good father would like a boy on the verge of manhood to know. Michael finds his dad’s advice amazingly relevant, but still has questions. Like, Who is sending these letters? And, Why will no one tell him exactly how his father was killed?

The author, drawing on his own experiences of serving in Afghanistan, writes with directness and sympathy about the doubts, joys, and frustrations of being sixteen and male. Michael’s mom drives him (and the reader) nuts sometimes, but we sympathize with her all the same—and with his bratty sister Mary. Family conflicts arise but are believably resolved. Faith is important (Michael, I want you to go to church. Learn about Jesus. Read the Bible, so that you have your own understanding of the Lord, of right and wrong, not just what someone tells you to think)—even though Dad’s experience in Afghanistan leads him to conflate God with Allah. Some parents may not be comfortable with the physical progress of Michael and Isma’s relationship because they recognize that Dad’s advice to “make your move with a girl” could easily be taken as license for going too far. Fair enough, but there’s a lot of good here, and great poignancy in a man’s honorable attempt to be a father even beyond the grave. “Death is swallowed up in victory”? In a way.

Also by this author: Divided We Fall

Cautions: Language (some mildly crude language, such as “crap”), Sensuality (detailed description of kissing)

Overall Value: 4 (out of 5)

• Moral/worldview value: 3.75
• Artistic value: 4

Categories: Discussion Starter*, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, War, Character Values

*Discussion Questions:

• Literary element: We get to know Michael’s dad first through letters, then video. How does your perception of him change when he switches to video—or does it?
• Thematic element: Dad offers eight specific challenges to Michael (see pp. 18, 66, 111, 121, 153, 218, and 267—the last one is to forgive). How would you rank these in order of importance?
• What do you think of Dad’s description of Christmas Eve on pp. 228-29? (Some of their ideas are different…but we just set all that aside and worshipped God. The same God.)