Book Thoughts: The Glass Castle

This past year, one of my AP students read this book for a non-fiction independent reading assignment. After she presented on it--and after claiming it was one of the best books she had ever read--I really wanted to read it.

It's the childhood/early adulthood memoir of author/news contributor Jeannette Walls. Her parents, though intelligent, were basically delusional, broke, and negligent, yet Walls and her siblings somehow persevered among the chaos and nomadic lifestyle they were forced to endure.

Although I really liked it and found it inspiring (I don't use that word lightly), I found it really disturbing at times. (One night I actually had bad dreams based on a scene from this book.)

This book has actually been assigned as a summer reading book choice for 9th grade (I think?), and I hope that if any kids read it, they see how they can still rise above their circumstances and become "something."