Why Just Me?

Krystyna Higgins is the former book review editor for the Toronto-based
Catholic New Times.

Shannon MacKenzie thinks that “almost thirteen” is a terrible age to
be. Besides worrying about the various relationships in her life—with
her divorced parents, with her friends, with the opposite sex—she has
to face her worst fear, THE BIG P: puberty.

When Shannon’s Grade 7 teacher, Mr. Manning, sets aside a portion of
each day’s English period for personal journal-writing, she looks upon
it as just one more big pain to be endured. Before long, however, she
finds herself filling page after page with the events in her life and
her feelings about what is happening, both around her and within her.

Why Just Me? consists of Shannon’s journal entries from the beginning
of the school year until her 13th birthday in January, a period within
which she begins to confront her fears and to come to terms with the
changes in her life. Although the book may provide a useful incentive
for the “reluctant” pre- or early teen reader (Shannon’s concerns
are typical of her age group, and the first-person diary format makes
for easy reading), it is ultimately unsatisfying. The “voice” of the
young journal writer seems to fluctuate between the banal (“Another
twenty minutes to kill. What do I write about today? Talk about a dumb
assignment...”) and the unrealistically formal, including large chunks
of direct quotation from a textbook on adolescent development Shannon is
reading. Furthermore, because we are constantly told rather than shown,
the book does little to engage the reader’s imagination or sympathies.
Not a first-choice purchase.