My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier

My Sister Rosa is a YA fiction novel by Justine Larbalestier. It was a Publishers Weekly Best YA Book of 2016. Che spends his life watching his younger sister Rosa, making sure she doesn't hurt anyone. But when their family moves to a new city, there's only so much Che can do to keep Rosa under control.

Sex: My biggest concern with this book is the sex. There was a pretty graphic sex scene between two teenagers and the main character, Che, who is the narrator, talks about it a lot. I would give this book a pretty explicit rating.

Language: Very strong.

Drug/Alcohol Use: Che experiments with both drugs and alcohol. He's only 17.

Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: This book is a psychological thriller. Che's sister Rosa promises to never hurt anyone, but she's successful in manipulating others to either hurt themselves or hurt others. The book is very frightening.

Final Note: The idea for this book is a good one - for a thriller. But, it must be noted that the content is extremely disturbing. I had a very hard time finishing it.

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What is The Rapid Reader?

Hello fellow parents and friends! My name is Danielle. I had the idea for this blog a couple of years ago when I was working in my son's school library. It was a known fact that I was an avid reader of middle school and young adult literature and several parents would ask me about books before checking them out for their kids. (Or buying them at the book fair!) Because I read so much, I've never worried too much about what my kids might be reading. My oldest is only eight years old and anything he's read, I've read already! But what about parents who don't necessarily enjoy reading or have the time? I wanted to offer a resource that gave these parents the chance to make educated decisions about books their kids are reading. That's how this blog was born! Before we go any further, I want to point out that I am strongly opposed to book banning. I believe in freedom of speech and expression of art through literature. But I also feel strongly that kids should ...

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