Book Title: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
Topic: Social class, gangs, love
Carlos, a Latino Blood gang member, and Brittany, head of the pom pom squad, are forced to be lab partners in chemistry class. Weren't Edward and Bella also in a science class around lab tables? I guess having students sit at lab tables makes it where they HAVE to pay attention to each other and begin hating each other. Sitting at desks and being forced to be partners doesn't mean that students will place their desk close together. I have seen partners who don't want to be partners have desk five feet from each other. How can you bounce ideas or learn from each other that far apart?
Brittany seems to live the perfect life, with the perfect boyfriend, rich parents, designer clothes, and BMW, but we find out all the stress she has to deal with at home that no one knows about. Brittany effectively hides the truth from her classmates. How many of my students seem to live the perfect life, but what happens behind closed doors at home is far from perfect?
When Carlos searches for the truth about his father's death, I figured out who killed him before he did, so this was not a suspenseful part for me.
Elkeles has Carlos narrate one chapter and Brittany narrate the next without losing flow in the story line. I do suggest that if you have not had Spanish that you might want a Spanish dictionary with you or ask your Spanish speaker friends what some of the phrases mean. Sometimes Elkeles provides an interpretation of what the word or phrase means and other times she doesn't.
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