SuitabookGrief and school community
A classmate’s boyfriend dies by suicide, and the school responds with intense collective mourning while Skim faces her own emotional confusion.
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Book details
Mariko Tamaki - Author
Jillian Tamaki - Author
This is a teenage coming-of-age story shaped by mourning, secrecy, attraction and social pressure. Its focus is Skim’s emotional confusion as school events and personal relationships unsettle her.
"Skim" is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school in the early '90s. When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself — possibly because he's (maybe) gay — the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. It's a weird time to fall in love, but that's what happens to Skim when she starts meeting secretly with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. But then Ms. Archer abruptly leaves the school, and Skim has to cope with her confusion and isolation while her best friend, Lisa, tries to pull her into "real" life by setting up a hilarious double-date for the school's semi formal. Suicide, depression, love, homosexuality, crushes, cliques of popular, manipulative peers — the whole gamut of teen life is explored in this poignant glimpse into the heartache of being 16.
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Sign in for personalised guidanceThis is a teenage coming-of-age story shaped by mourning, secrecy, attraction and social pressure. Its focus is Skim’s emotional confusion as school events and personal relationships unsettle her.
A classmate’s boyfriend dies by suicide, and the school responds with intense collective mourning while Skim faces her own emotional confusion.
Skim begins meeting secretly with her English teacher, Ms Archer, during a period already described as emotionally difficult.
Skim feels isolated while her best friend Lisa tries to draw her into ordinary social life through a double-date.
Be ready for emotionally heavy material involving suicide, depression, grief, homosexuality, romantic feelings, secrecy, social cliques and a relationship between a pupil and her teacher.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; another book-specific source is still needed.
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