Is It Available?
Title
I Swear
Lane Davis
Review
Lane Davis’s first novel “I Swear” certainly hits the mark with this timely story about bullying. On the High School Sequoyah masterlist for grades 9 –12, I personally think it should be required reading with a follow-up essay written by the reader telling how they have joined in or went along with or just ignored someone they knew who was being bullied, especially in their core group of friends. Hopefully, many teachers will consider it for a read aloud.
The reader learns from the beginning of the book that Leslie Gatlin commits suicide. We also learn why. What the rest of the book fills in is the extent of the bullying Leslie faced and how her circle of friends allowed it to happen by being so caught up in their own race for high school survival. With his cast of high school characters, each given their own voice in their own chapters, Lane Davis makes bullying as real as we know it to be. I certainly did not see coming the ultimate twist and act of betrayal near the end of the story. ~ Anita Hill
Review Date
Reviewed November 2014
