From 2011 to 2012, 130,000 students were expelled in American schools. According to this source, black and disabled students were expelled and suspended at a much higher rate than their white peers. I'm not here to talk about racial politics in American school disciplinary actions, though. Just some food for thought.
Expulsion is a pretty big deal, though. Depending on the action done to get expelled, it means carrying around the stigma of an expellee for the rest of your high school, and possibly college career. Students can get expelled for fighting, stealing, sexual assault, vandalism, threats of terrorism, and many others. These days, kids are getting expelled and suspended for stupid reasons though, like the one boy who bit his food in the shape of a gun and was suspended, and one honors student faced expulsion because her natural hair didn't fit school regulations. It's because of zero tolerance policies that have been enacted in American public schools.
"Expelled" is all about those policies, and what they do to kids. This novel by James Patterson and co-written by Emily Raymond. It tells about Theo Foster, a junior at Arlington High School, is expelled after a compromising photo of another student is posted onto his secret Twitter account. It's a photo of Parker, the school quarterback, drunk and unruly. He is also expelled, along with Theo's friend Jude, who was accused of urinating on a school jersey in the background of the photo, and Sasha Ellis, the cool-eyed, cool-hearted school beauty, who is accused of a different crime: stealing quarters from the storage lockers near the vending machines. Theo, thinking that his future has been stolen from him, decides to make a video interviewing people from the school in the hopes that he can gather enough evidence to set him, and the others, free. He recruits Jude, Sasha, Parker, a reluctant nerd named Jeremy, and a budding YouTube star named Felix to help him.
I frankly enjoyed this book quite a bit, and I knew that I would after I finished the first hundred pages in a bit more than an hour. Not because I'm a fast reader, but because it was so smooth and easy to read that I found myself deep in the setting that Patterson made. The backdrops for this novel are some of the character's houses, but also the school and what is known as the "Property," a lake house that Theo's family owns and where the characters frequently meet. That's why the cover photo I chose for the header of this review is what it is.
This story is much more character driven, though. Theo is a sharp young man with an even sharper wit, and better yet, he's the only character with a sense of justice...for the most part. My favorite characters were definitely Jude and Sasha though, as the former is hilarious and a well-written best friend character, and Sasha, while archetypal in her characterization, is a tragic and deep character. The book is also meta in some places, with Jude referring to Sasha as a "Manic Pixie Dream Girl." If you like your books somewhat self-aware, then you'll like "Expelled"
Finally, Patterson does a great job balancing the idea of being a teenager, especially one that has just been expelled, but at the same time, he makes the different characters have different reactions. While Theo is horrified, Jude is happy because he can work on his art, and Sasha is merely indifferent. Parker is also indifferent, but you'll come to discover that there's more than meets the eye with him. Also, Patterson explores some very dark themes, like drugs and sexual assault, in good detail in this book. My only complaint is that the book suddenly slams you with some very dark stuff late in the book when you least expect it, and it wraps up a little too nicely.
In conclusion, "Expelled" is a great novel if you're looking for a quick, YA read. While not as deep as John Green or whimsical as J.K. Rowling, James Patterson knows what he's doing, and he seems to understand and have researched millennial culture enough to make a book like this.
Overall Rating: 4/5
