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First a preface:
When I suggest that students read a book by Ellen Hopkins, their first reaction is often “No way! That book is huge!” And yes, many of her fiction novels are very thick, topping 300 or even 600 pages. But when I flip through the books and show students that they are written in free verse instead of long paragraphs, they perk up. There may be as few as 20 words on a page. That, they feel they can handle. And while I never want anyone to choose a book because it’s short, I sell Ellen Hopkins’ books this way because too many students would miss out on her great stories if they never cracked one open.

Now on to the review:
Impulse is the story of Tony, Vanessa and Connor, three teenagers who for different, devestating reasons try to end their lives. After their suicide attempts, they are sent to a treatment facility where they are supposed to work through their issues with therapists and family members. As you might imagine, the path to healing is not an easy one. The teens struggle to deal with their troubled past, less-than-ideal present and their uncertain future. The book alternates between the three teens’ voices, revealing in agonizing bits and pieces the heartache, abuse and fear that led them to this point. Despite their different journeys, the teens find a connection with each other that gives them hope that their lives will be better.

Unfortunately not everyone gets a happy ending. The book, like all others written by Hopkins, deals with very sensitive issues such as sexual abuse, mental illness, drug use, and depression. Tony, Vanessa and Connor felt like real people, and I quickly became invested in their stories: their triumphs, missteps and especially their falls. While I know they are made-up characters, I also know that Hopkins has worked with at-risk youth and struggled through her daughter’s heroin abuse (which she writes about in Crank). Meaning, I feel that the author knows what she’s talking about. By reading Impulse, I gained a glimpse into the pressures and dangers that can plague teenagers – even the ones who seem to have everything going for them. These kinds of books also remind me that, whatever I’m dealing with, someone else may have it worse and I need to be sensitive to whatever challenges they may be facing. Those challenges are not always obvious from the outside.

I recommend this book and others by Ellen Hopkins for anyone who likes gritty realistic fiction, especially stories of young people who face and overcome trauma or hardship. Since it’s told in three voices, I sometimes had to flip back a page or two to remind myself which character was doing the talking. But even with that, the book was riveting and hard to put down. You’ll be impressed by how quickly you get through the 600 pages.

Another of Hopkins’ books that I have read is Burned, the story of Pattyn, a teenage girl whose parents’ religious fanaticism leads to physical and emotional abuse. When she begins to rebel against their rigid beliefs, she is banished from the family. Luckily, the aunt she is sent to live with does not share her parents’ values. For the first time in her life, Pattyn has the freedom and confidence to explore her world, discovering her likes and dislikes and falling in love. She sees possibilities beyond the submissive marriage and motherhood that her parents believe in. Her escape is short-lived, however, when she is called to return home; efforts to hold onto the new life she has made end badly.

While this book feels less realistic to me, because religious fanaticism isn’t something I encounter regularly, I still found the story interesting and moving. I rooted for Pattyn, and of course raged over her father’s abusive and demeaning treatment of the women in his life.

Hopkins continued Pattyn’s story in a book called Smoke and wrote a sequel to Impulse, titled Perfect. If they are even half as captivating as the originals, then I expect more nights staying up reading until 2 am.

I’m ashamed to say that I have trouble keeping up with the news.  I try to get it online, but am too easily distracted by the endless procrastination possibilities that the Internet offers.  I may be deeply interested in an article about ebola, but soon I see an advertisement for an article on Jennifer Lawrence and I immediately switch off of the important article.  Then I may try to watch on television, but I become quickly frustrated with the newscasters’ squabbling and the frequent commercials.  But now, once a week, I am able to catch up on the world’s pressing news and have the opportunity to watch unique stories that examine serious problems in our country, all while laughing more than I would at any other late night program.  HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver never fails to both inform and entertain.

There have been other shows like this; the Colbert Report, or Late Night with Bill Maher.  However, John Oliver’s program approaches news differently than its competitors.  Unlike the Colbert Report, Last Week Tonight is on premium television.  This means that it gets its funding from its viewers, and not its sponsors.  This means that John Oliver has the ability to say whatever he wants about any company if it is relevant to the news.  Let’s just say that the CEO of CocaCola was involved in a major scandal.  A station sponsored by CocaCola would most likely release a biased statement about the incident in order to retain their funding.  This is not an issue for news broadcasted on premium channels.  Another HBO series, Late Night with Bill Maher, has been very successful for a number of years.  However, in HBO’s neighborhood, Bill Maher may have been the hot shot, but John Oliver is the new kid on the block getting more than his share of respect.  This is not just because he is the shiny new host, but because he is bringing something new to the table.  Instead of wasting time on biased rants and discussions with (non-relevant) celebrities, Oliver calls attention to stories that much of mainstream media does not cover, even though they could be detrimental to the well-being of others in our world.

Much like any news station, Oliver discusses subjects that can make one  go into a melancholic, pessimistic stupor.  However when I watch these episodes, I am not depressed but elated.  While providing us factual information on subjects like nuclear weaponry, the death penalty, ISIS, and human rights violations, Oliver does the impossible: he shows us something that we can laugh at.  This takes away the pessimism of the news because seeing the foolishness of a situation makes it become less of a monster and more of a relatable problem.  For example,  John Oliver did a piece on Syria’s tyrannical leader, Assad.  Here, he explained that Assad was never really into politics.  His true dream was to become an optometrist.  In fact, Oliver said, Assad went to a university in England to realize this dream.  As Assad was overseas studying his optometry textbooks, his brother (in line to rule) had passed away.  His mother, wanting one of her sons to rule, had nearly forced Assad out of school and back to Syria.  To the world’s dismay, he then took his brother’s place.  After learning all of this, I felt that Assad no longer appeared as an unconquerable threat, but as a nerd who is afraid of his mother.  Of course, this man’s rule and treatment of his people is still to be feared, but we are reminded that this is all he is: a man.

This is the way news should be done.  We need to be educated on a wide variety of topics.  We need to make sure that the interests of the sponsors are not warping the story.  But most of all we need to be able to laugh at the things troubling our world.  If not, we internalize more fear and inhibit our ability to rationally deal with these issues.  By laughing, we can remain hopeful.  Last Week Tonight embodies this.

Check Out Oliver’s Interview With Stephen Hawking: