The light-hearted title Trash Can Days and its accompanying cover belie the dark and oft oppressive content between the novel’s covers.  Written from multiple points of view (main characters, minor characters, adults, etc.) and in multiple formats (diary format, online chats, blogs, school announcements, newspaper articles, etc.) it is an eclectic mix that never quite works; the jumps in perspective and format make it difficult to deeply engage in the story.  Compound this with four main characters who in many ways are hyperboles and the reader is left floundering for a character to connect with and cheer for.  Although the author probably sought to provide a variety of characters in an effort to appeal to the diverse group of readers in middle school, the extreme characters were not appealing because they ranged from unlikeable to pathetic to unrealistically strange.  (It isn’t necessary for characters to be likeable to be successful, but it is difficult to pull off.)  Furthermore, the transformations of the characters’ social statuses and attitudes were not sufficiently supported in the book to be believable at the conclusion.  The one exception was the character Danny.  Danny’s story and the pull of gang life were well-written; he often disappointed the reader with his choices, but they felt genuine.

While aspects of Trash Can Days may represent realities of middle school for some students, it dwelt on the fringes and the “hopeful” ending didn’t feel congruent with the preceding character storylines.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Hyperion Books for Children (A Disney Imprint)

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  10 religious exclamations; 15 mild obscenities; 1 religious profanity; 37 derogatory names; 17 scatological words; 32 anatomical terms.

Violence/Gore:  Character put in a trash can; extended scene (~1 page) in which a character is beat, kicked, etc. as part of a gang initiation (detailed); report of a death; extended scene (~2 pages) description of a gang fight with kicking, punching, threats; confrontation in which a character is stabbed and another is punched until unconscious, mention of blood (some description)

Sex/Nudity:  References, including but not limited to–pimp, making out, sex, a girl being slutty, calling girls sluts/whores, general reference to dirty jokes, “man boobs”, girl called a “ho”, guys/girls referred to as “hot”, “big boobs”, a few references to menstrual periods, boys talk about their male anatomy, crude online name; report of kissing and “tongue kiss”, “mouth-freak”, half-joking comment that observed dancing possibly impregnated some girls, freak dancing, sperm, making out; character wonders if someone is a lesbian; report of freak dancing; character comes upon couple making-out; brief scene where teenagers make out on a bed with boy groping and starting to undo a belt; boy thinks about kissing a girl; hand-holding; general reference to a teenage couple using a room; description of teenagers making out on a bed (~1 page); extended passage from a sexual education class with detailed descriptions in answer to student questions, some crude and some factual; paragraph talking about guitar riff from a porn movie; a character is said to be gay.

Mature Subject Matter:

Gangs and gang violence

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Weed found in a student’s locker.  Teenagers and adults drink champagne at a party.  Teenagers and 6th graders drink beer.