The Trial Reviewed by Rebekah, Age 14

This book is about a group of teenagers who crash land on a desert island, whilst flying home from a basketball tournament, and their way of surviving. Surviving not just the hunger and thirst they experience and the lack of shelter, but the secrets of the night before at the basketball tour party!

The author of this book is a gender-equality activist, and this is evident particularly through the way she writes about the girl’s experiences of life that are discussed within the story.

I found The Trial a difficult book to get into at first, as I found the characters hard to relate to, being American Jocks and Cheerleaders, but once I had it was a page-turner with twists and turns throughout the storyline. It was the two ‘outsider’ characters, Elliot and Hayley, who were interesting to me as they were easier to like as they didn’t have everything handed to them on a golden plate. If I were to choose a favourite, it would be Hayley as she never particularly wanted to be on the cheer team, and wasn’t really accepted by the group, but it was her who fought to get to the bottom of the secrets that were tearing the group apart.

Who would I recommend this book too?

The things that the teenagers talk about in this story are definitely for young adults, rather than younger teens, as the issues of rape, sex and consent discussed and described in the book. Apart from suggesting that it suitable for teens who are probably a bit older than me I think people who like adventure/mystery stories would enjoy reading this book.

[It provoked some interesting conversations with my family about rape, though they were a bit surprised I was reading a book that included a reference oral sex!]