Monday, December 11, 2017

Odd Child Out by Gilly MacMillan



Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad are best friends. Noah has terminal cancer and comes from a privileged white family.  Abdi is a black Muslim Somalian refugee. Both are fifteen years of age, smart as they come, and at the same time they are very different. But that didn't matter to them.

One night, an unexpected incident brought the police in. Noah is in the hospital, unconscious, and Abdi is shocked to silence. So how will they ever find out what really happened that night  when neither of them are talking? It is difficult to imagine these boys doing anything out of the ordinary.

This is my first book by Gilly MacMillan, and I was impressed.  This novel speaks to us of social and political issues. The descriptions and the characters are very good; you can easily visualize the scenes and detect the emotions of each character, which were mostly fear, loss, and questioning. I must admit that I did shed a few tears at the end of the book. 

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