House Arrest

KA Holt

Publication Date: October 6, 2015

Started Reading: September 17, 2017 Finished Reading: September 19, 2017

Timothy is on probation. It’s a strange word—something that happens to other kids, to delinquents, not to kids like him. And yet, he is under house arrest for the next year. He must check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist, and keep a journal for an entire year. And mostly, he has to stay out of trouble. But when he must take drastic measures to help his struggling family, staying out of trouble proves more difficult than Timothy ever thought it would be. By turns touching and funny, and always original, House Arrest is a middlegrade novel in verse about one boy’s path to redemption as he navigates life with a sick brother, a grieving mother, and one tough probation officer. –Goodreads

Genre

House Arrest is a realistic fiction novel written in verse. Everything in this book could happen, although you would not want some of it to happen. Timothy is a realistic teenage boy living in the present day.

Overall Review

I gave this book five stars. I enjoyed the verse style of this book. I loved Timothy’s voice, his brutal honesty and his colorful language. I loved how you could see his change throughout the story. The ending is hard for me to determine if I liked it or not…I don’t mind cliff hangers because it lets the reader figure it out and the author did not go on and on too long with the story. However, I have a lot of unanswered questions. Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend.

Theme

I learned that you must persevere and fight for what you believe is right. Sometimes you have to be aggressive with what you want and you have to stick with what your gut is saying.

Recommended Reading Age

I would recommend this book to readers ages 11 and up. There is some mature language and the verse style is a little more difficult to follow at times. However, this book has a strong message of family and fighting for what is right and is a valuable book to read.

Cliffhanger Questions (SPOILERS!)

• What will Timothy do with his relationship with his father?
• Will his brother end up being okay, developmentally?
• How much trouble did he get into?

Comparison to other books

House Arrest and Solo are both realistic fiction books written in verse style. Timothy and Blade are both strong male characters that tell it like it is. They do not sugar coat what they are trying to say and I love this. We all need to be more brave and speak our feelings more clearly sometimes in order to get something done.