Tenth grade. Just hearing the words is enough to send PTSD symptoms to a person.
For the uninitiated, “tenth grade,” at least for many teenage girls, is synonymous with peer pressure, class politics, cliques, and all that fun stuff. On top of an incredible and stressful amount of schoolwork, of course.
Not the most pleasurable year for many.
Unless, of course, you’ve got your priorities straight and have some semblance of self-knowledge. Then you’re on a whole different track, and you could even skip this whole blog post.
But if you’re like many frum fifteen-year-old girls, you’ll likely find lots of comfort and familiarity in Rachel Ahuva (Rara) Brick, the protagonist in beloved author Ariella Schiller’s newest novel, Bricks and Stones. Rara is talented, adorable, and much loved among her family and friends in Brownsfeld…until her parents spring the news that their family will be moving. To hotsy-totsy Stonesworth, with its glamour and glitz and focus on externals. Oh, and with a certain Tamara Fine among its residents.
What follows is lots of action and angst and heart-wrenching decisions, and lots of painful lessons learned.
But if you know Ariella Schiller’s writing, you know that even the deepest DMCs and most poignant epiphanies and experiences in her stories are tempered by her humor, so that while your heart is bleeding for Rara’s sense of loss and confusion, you’re also grinning goofily at the Brick gang’s off-the-cuff quips and their escapades.
If you’re looking for a beautifully written book, with incredibly relatable characters, a great plot, and lots of deep lessons for life, look no further than the book that’s got it all: Bricks and Stones.
Just saying.
Click here to purchase online.
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