Being One: No One is Like No Other, High School the Next Frontier, Vol. 1

Isabis Inside
Lulu Publishers (2007)
ASIN B000KDS0XQ
Reviewed by Shannon Bailes for Reader Views (1/07)

This is a wonderful story about teenagers and the complicated lives they live in these times.  It covers, not just being a teenager, but all that life has to throw at them, including differences in race and ethnic backgrounds,

The author does a great job intertwining the home life and the school life of each of the students.  All the students are beginning high school.  Slowly, but surely, these students begin to learn about each other and the things that set them apart from each other—they learn that this is not necessarily a bad thing, just that everyone is different in their own way, differences that are dictated in part by their ethnic heritage. 

I had some difficulty getting into this book.  There are many characters intertwined throughout this story, all interesting, to say the least, but a bit overwhelming at times to bring all together.  Each character is explored and fleshed out very well to enable the reader can understand and “get inside” the mind of the character.

Throughout this book, I found punctuation errors that I find hard to believe got past the proofreaders.  At times, again, making reading with ease more difficult.

While “Being One” was not a book I would choose from the shelf to read for leisure, I do believe that there are teenagers that would find this a very interesting read.  As I am older, the book did allow me to think more about what life is like for students in our high schools today, something that I never knew as a teenager.  Life is so different, in many ways, for students today.  This book helped me to identify better with that community of our society, no matter what race or ethnic background they come from.

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