Book Review on the Book Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) by Sarah Mlynoski

Book Review on the Book Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) by Sarah Mlynoski

Introduction

Young people get to learn from the events which occurred in this exciting book, which is written specifically for teens. The title of the book is Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have). It was written by Sarah Mlynoksi, a writer of teen novels in the United States, New York City. The primary characters of the novel are April Vi, Jake, Suzanne, and Noah. The book is a fiction that shows how young people can misuse freedom whenever they get it. The theme which manifests itself in this book is the dangers of absent parenting.

April lived without her biological mother after they moved to Paris with her stepfather and her brother. April’s mother, who had an affair, left to Paris, leaving her with the father who got married to a new wife. Mothers play a more significant role in the life of a child; April was always careful when her mother was still living with them. She never arrives home past ten at night because her mother could not allow her. After the departure of her mother, April started to develop unpleasant behavior, she started to spend much time with her boyfriend up to late at night, started taking alcohol without the knowledge of her father. This was the beginning of a journey to a very unpleasant destination. Similarly, her father was also reluctant to supervising her daughter.

April’s father and her stepmother move to Ohio, leaving April in Suzanne’s house. April discovers that her dad and his new spouse needed her to leave her Connecticut home and her boyfriend to move to Cleveland the second semester of her junior year. April is not ready to move to Cleveland, and so they devise a way of lying to her father to stay, and they succeeded. Her father left April, and she had a chance of doing all that she wished as a young lady. April lost her virginity at the age of sixteen and even got infected with, she could miss school, and had an unauthorized pet. All these were because of the failure of her father to convince her to go with them to Ohio. In the same way, Vi’s mother leaves her daughter at home for six months with her friend April..

Suzanne leaves her daughter Vi and goes for a job a traveling production for six months, leaving her daughter at home. Vi remains at home with her friend April without any supervision from an adult. Vi engaged in activities which she could not have done in the presence of her mother. She drinks alcohol and smokes with friends, sleeps with her boyfriend whenever she wanted, and misses classes. Her mother was careless to think that her daughter will be responsible when she is away; she never thought of the consequences of freedom of the young people.Vi and her friend made a lot of mistakes, but they are attributed to their parents, who were not keen on taking care of their children.

The theme which manifests itself in this book is the dangers of absent parenting. Parents have a role to play in the lives of their children. April lives without the love and guidance of her biological mother since she moved to Paris, leaving her with her stepmother. The result was the change in behavior since the mother was not there to give her directions. Her father also leaves her with a friend and goes to Ohio, a place far away from her daughter. Freedom made April lose her virginity, get into drugs, and even harbored a fugitive. Vi was also left by her mother, which made her engage in activities which almost ruined her life.It is, therefore, clear that parents should always ensure that they are with their children so that they can guide them; a family can never be substituted by anything else.