Shattered

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

In this contemporary novel for young adults, Walters effectively plumbs
two seemingly contradictory qualities of adolescents—self-centredness
and an emerging social conscience.

For Ian Blackburn’s upcoming 16th birthday, his affluent but
emotionally absent parents have promised him a car, likely a BMW.
However, the gift dependent on Ian passing Grade 10, and his Civics mark
is at risk. So Ian “elects” to complete 40 hours of community
service at The Club, an inner-city soup kitchen. Having never
encountered anyone homeless, Ian initially experiences a range of
negative emotions before he begins to perceive these people as
individuals. When Ian’s teacher offers bonus marks for interviewing an
Armed Forces member, Ian picks “Sarge” as his subject, one of The
Club’s “members.” Now a homeless alcoholic, a guilt-filled Sarge
explains how his life was shattered by the horrors he witnessed while
part of the 1994 UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda. Despite the
soldiers’ efforts, some 800,000 people were massacred in just 100
days.

Berta, Ian’s childhood nanny but now his principal caregiver, was a
survivor of the Guatemalan death squads that killed some 100,000 people.
Through Berta’s experiences, Walters reinforces how the developed
world’s continued inability to recognize and then act on such
atrocities allows the injustices to go on. Correctly understanding that
adolescents could feel overwhelmed by the enormous numbers of deaths in
such situations and, therefore, might believe themselves powerless to
make a difference, Walters has Ian begin with an individual, Sarge, whom
Ian undertakes to get into rehab. Recommended.