Three Things I Know Are True by Betty Culley
Published by HarperTeen on January 7, 2020
ISBN: 0062908022
Pages: 469
Genres: Fiction in Verse/Poetry, Realistic Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

This is a beautiful YA (for middle/high school age readers) novel-in-verse about loss and hope set in a former mill town on the Kennebec River in rural Maine. Soon to be 16-year-old Liv tells the story of caring for her brain-damaged brother Jonah after a shooting accident at his best friend’s house across the street. Liv’s mother is suing Clay’s father, a gun advocate who “always says What good is a gun if it isn’t loaded?” (pp. 266-267). Liv has trouble focusing in school and spends most of her time helping the home nurses care for Jonah and trying to connect with Jonah’s best friend and his mother.  Debut author Culley perfectly captures life in rural Maine and gives readers much fodder for discussion, from changing communities to gun ownership.

Recommended for Cream of the Crop.

Reviewed by Karen Sandlin Silverman, Mt. Ararat Middle School, Topsham