Find Layla

Find Layla
by Meg Elison

From the publisher:
"A neglected girl’s chaotic coming-of-age becomes a trending new hashtag in a novel about growing up and getting away by an award-winning author.

Underprivileged and keenly self-aware, SoCal fourteen-year-old Layla Bailey isn’t used to being noticed. Except by mean girls who tweet about her ragged appearance. All she wants to do is indulge in her love of science, protect her vulnerable younger brother, and steer clear of her unstable mother.

Then a school competition calls for a biome. Layla chooses her own home, a hostile ecosystem of indoor fungi and secret shame. With a borrowed video camera, she captures it all. The mushrooms growing in her brother’s dresser. The black mold blooming up the apartment walls. The unmentionable things living in the dead fridge. All the inevitable exotic toxins that are Layla’s life. Then the video goes viral.

When Child Protective Services comes to call, Layla loses her family and her home. Defiant, she must face her bullies and friends alike, on her own. Unafraid at last of being seen, Layla accepts the mortifying reality of visibility. Now she has to figure out how to stay whole and stand behind the truth she has shown the world."

 In the musical Wicked, when Elphaba and her sister get to Shiz University, the headmistress comes out personally to greet them because they are daughters of the governor.  When she sees Nessarose, who is in a wheelchair,  she says, "What a tragically beautiful face!" and then Elphaba introduces herself by saying, "I'm the other daughter, Elphaba.  I'm beautifully tragic.".   This book reminds me of Elphaba, it is beautifully tragic.  It is also vulgarly tragic and appallingly tragic.  There are children in our country, and many more than we care to recognize, that are in Layla's situation.  Living in horrible conditions, being brutally bullied on a daily basis, lacking adequate nourishment, shelter and security.  It is tragic.  I wish I had answers and ideas to overcome this tragedy but I do not.  Hopefully, reading books like this will help us recognize and get help for children in Layla and Andy's situation.   Do I recommend this book to all middle schoolers?  Let me just say that I wouldn't have let my daughters read it at a very young age because it is so disturbing and has so much bad language in it.   However, the bad language wasn't gratuitous in any way - as Layla would say, "That's life".  Fortunately that isn't MY life, but it IS her life so that is the kind of language she hears and uses.  I would recommend it to 8th grade and up as long as they are prepared for the content.  It is heartbreaking and sad, but you will want so badly for Layla to find safety and happiness.  It is gripping and you won't want to put it down.  That being said, I didn't love the ending, because while some things seemed rushed, other questions remained unanswered.  A big shout-out to caring, compassionate social workers who are overworked and underpaid.... pretty much like teachers.  

Areas of concern:

*A lot of bad language, including the *f* word over 15 times.
*Intense bullying with very few consequences.
*A hideously bad mother who takes neglect to an extreme.
*Middle school kids being very vulgar.
*Horrible living conditions for 2 children.

Suggested ages:

Kirkus Reviews - Ages 14-18
School Library Journal - Grades 7-10