How It's Done

I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for Christine Kole MacLean's How It's Done. Not only is it a terrific novel, but it's the first novel I acquired for Flux. I'm always excited to hear what readers have to say about it.

Recently, Christine got a request from Jillian Miller, a high school home economics teacher in Montana, for some classroom copies of the book. The teacher wanted to use them as part of her curriculum. We happily sent her a box of books. Unfortunately, the powers that be at the school apparently wouldn't approve the book for required classroom reading. According to Jillian, they found it "a bit racy and [thought it could] could put some parents on edge." The Bible verses were apparently a problem, too. So Jillian made it optional reading. I asked Jillian to forward me any reviews or reactions she got from her students. Here's the first one:

Andrew,

My name is Courtney and I go to Billings West High School. My sewing teacher, Mrs. Miller, generously let me borrow the novel How It's Done. I absolutely loved the book. I loved how it relates so much to my life as well as other teenage girls' lives. I loved the character, Grace. I loved how she finally stood up to her father. I thought the relationship between her and Michael was great at first until he made a mistake with Liv and just the fact that Grace and Michael did not connect as well as they did at the beginning of their relationship. Throughout the novel, Grace changed and grew and understood life more. She became more mature and just wanted to be free and she thought she was accomplishing that by being with Michael until she felt brought down by him. She realized who she was and she could not get married being so young and experiencing so little. She wanted to live life more and not be tied down and commit to just one person for the rest of her life. I love how she grew and became strong and started standing up for herself. And that is why I loved the novel.

Thanks,
Courtney