Book Review: Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
Should the sun beat
summer too fiercely
through your afternoon
window, you can
slant
the blinds to temper
heat and scatter light,
sifting shadows this way
and that with a
lean
of slats. And if candor
strikes too forecully,
step back, draw careful
breath and consider the
angle
your words must take
before you open
your mouth, let them leak
out. Because once you
tilt the truth,
it becomes a lie.
- Mikayla, almost 18, completely in that soul devouring love with her boyfriend, who is seemingly as in love with her- until she turns up pregnant. Mikayla has to figure out what to do about the baby, her family, her boyfriend, and her life, without loosing herself in the process.
- Shane, who is turning 16, falls for his first boyfriend, Alex, who confesses that he is HIV positive. Having lived with his sister’s chronic and ultimately fatal illness, Shane has to figure out whether to accept Alex knowing that their love will be shortened, as well as the death of his sister midway through the book, which brings his facade of well-being crashing down.
- Harley is 14, an innocent good girl looking for love, and finding it unrequited in older boys. She changes her appearance to find that love, then starts moving unawares towards self-destructive and dangerous extremes in order to get that love, from drinking and drugs to sexting and date rape.
Filed under: Book Reviews, Ellen Hopkins, Tilt, YA Fiction
About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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Well, I have to say Crank. The first. The best. The most “stolen” book from my library — I think that says it all.
annettesspot (at) gmail DOT com
I think my favorite would have to be Impulse. I love reading how 3 people that are so different can end up with some of the same problems and how they have to find similar ways to get things back how they need to be.
ame1184 at gmail dot com
It's shameful, but I have yet to read a book by Hopkins. It's something I need to fix soon.
tahleen dot ovian at gmail dot com
I think right now, my favorites have to be how Impulse and Perfect fit together, with Identical a close third. Impulse talks about one twin, Connor, and then Perfect picks up with the other, Cara, so you see more of the same family. Yet Identical has a wonderful twist and turn within it that I didn't see coming until the end. I can't keep ANY of them on my shelves for long, and I doubt Tilt will stay either. They either are checked out constantly, or they find new homes.
And Ellen is as wonderful as speaker as a writer. I had the enormous opportunity to be on the arrangement end of the Rainbow Project breakfast when she spoke, and she was an inspiration.
😀
My favorite is crank