Anything But Okay Paperback – September 3, 2019

Stella Walker wants to help her brother, a vet who's returned from Afghanistan with PTSD. She wants to protect her best friend, a Muslim threatened by racism. So she runs for office at her high school, hoping to turn back her opponent -- the son of the politician inciting these hatreds. But when her brother loses control, Stella's best intentions lead to trouble for everyone. Now she must decide whether to run for president or for cover. And if she stays in the race, she must ask herself: How far will she go in order to win?The author, Sarah Darer Littman, has made a career of exploring the toughest issues faced by young people today. In recent novels, she's taken on cyber-stalking, sexual assault, and digital privacy. In "Anything But Okay," she lays bare the wounds of war and the politics of hatred. The result is powerful and important.

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Anything But Okay by Sarah Darer Littman is about a girl named Stella, and the struggles her family faces when her older brother, Rob, returns from his second tour in Afghanistan as almost a complete stranger. No one will talk to Stella about why Rob is this way, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. In an attempt to help Rob open up and start acting more like his old self, Stella takes her brother out to a movie. But instead of a fun outing, the night out ends with her brother in handcuffs and a viral video showing Rob’s brutal assault of one of Stella’s classmates. As the story gains popularity on the internet and everyone chooses a side, Stella is torn between letting her brother’s secrets stay hidden, or digging deeper to find out what is really wrong with Rob.This book was a solid four-star read for me. There were things that I liked about it, and there were things that I didn’t like about it.While I have minimal personal experience with vets (my best friend came home from Afghanistan a different person, we don’t talk about it, the end), I feel that Sarah Darer Littman did a wonderful job portraying not only the PTSD and the hardships veterans face when they try to reintegrate into civilian life, but also the struggles their family and friends encounter when they are forced to make adjustments as well.In our country, there is a clear disconnect between how we portray patriotism versus how we treat our veterans, and this book goes into some of the important conversations that need to be had more often in order to understand how we can help - and how our help sometimes does more harm than good.One big focus in Anything But Okay is that you can’t believe everything you see on the internet. We live in a world of “click, share, repeat”, where everyone is searching for new ways to go viral, and everyone has an opinion about everything. But what comes from the viral video of Rob assaulting Stella’s classmate is a conversation about how there are always multiple sides to every story. You can’t always believe everything you see on the internet, and this is a hugely important topic that I think more YA authors should touch on.Another thing that this book did well was bring up points about racism and oppression, especially when it comes to how people who are in a place of privilege might not even realize that these things are happening right in front of their faces. An example that Farida, Stella’s best friend, brings up is the movie “Aladdin”, and all of the negative perceptions of Middle Eastern culture that are thrown in and shown to children at a young age.On the subject of Farida, she was one of the few things about this book that I didn’t enjoy. I understand the importance of educating about racism, and I understand the struggles and prejudices that people of color and people of non-Christian background face - and why it’s important to bring this all up in a natural setting like a Young Adult book. However, Farida almost always came off as pushy and downright condescending, which is sometimes the worst way to go about educating someone on something as important as racism.All in all, this was a great read. It was extremely emotional, and I caught myself getting choked up a few times. It raises all sorts of important topics - from mental health, to racism, to not believing everything you see on the internet. I would recommend this book to fans of Laurie Halse Anderson’s The Impossible Knife of Memory.

When Mayor Abbot’s son frames Stella’s brother Rob by editing a security video, it’s up to her and her family to find a way to bring forth the truth behind the trending post in Anything But Okay. Every day, many of us bend the truth as we form our opinions and statements, and whether intentionally or otherwise it usually has little ill effect. But when unleashed on social media it doesn’t take long for an opinion to become known as the truth Anything But Okay explores this issue.Anything But Okay is seen through the eyes of Stella, a junior in high school living alongside her brother Rob who recently returned from his second tour in Afghanistan. Along with the usual stresses of high school, her best friend Farida convinced her to run for the junior class president elections. With her best friends Farida and Ken, Stella prepares to face off in the junior election in hopes of defeating Chris Abbott, son of the mayor, in the election. One day Stella decides to bring Rob to see a movie hoping to ease his recent stress and paranoia. She never expected Rob to leave clad in handcuffs after assaulting one of her classmates and breaking their nose. Although the truth was clear to Stella that it was provoked, the video of the assault is released on social media showing only the attack. This event splits Stella’s world in two. Everyone from the media, to her school, to her own friends and family seem to have taken sides from the post, with some proclaiming Rob as a symbol of violence in veterans, and others defending it as lies by the media. What will happen of Rob? Will Stella be able to convince others of the truth? Who will win the junior election? Learn the truth and more as the story unfolds in Anything But Okay!When I read this book, I found myself conflicted. On the one hand, it addresses serious real-life issues ranging from racial discrimination, to mistreatment and care for veterans. On the other hand, it ties in a large quantity of humor from the sarcastic quips of Ken to the practice of how to properly have a sulking session. Although I commend Litterman’s attempt to bring brevity to serious issues, I found it challenging to focus on the morals and problems while reading an awkward but hilarious high school late night kiss scene.Overall, each individual topic of the story is addressed in a fair and honest manner. But I can’t help but feel that the book attempted to tackle too many issues at once, detracting from the power and emotion of the others. There were so many backstories in this book I wanted to read more about like Rob’s experiences in Afghanistan, Chris Abbott’s perspective, Farida’s experiences while helping, and many more. For having the courage to provide a view into the crucial yet hard to accept topics of manipulation of truth on social media and PTSD in veterans from a relatable high school point of view, I give Anything But Okay 4 trending stars.Reviewed by Alexander H., age 16, Gulf Coast Mensa