Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Overview

A fifteen-year-old uses a class journal to contain a risky secret in this classic from New York Times bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix, now with a new trim size and a new line look.

Things are so bad, I feel like I’m going to explode if I don’t do something...

Everyone has to keep a journal in Mrs. Dunphrey’s English class, but the teacher has promised she won’t read any entry marked “Do not read this.” It’s the kind of assignment Tish Bonner, one of the girls with big hair who sit in the back row, usually wouldn’t take very seriously. But right now, Tish desperately needs someone to talk to, even if it’s only a notebook she doesn’t dare let anyone read.

As Tish’s life spins out of control, the entries in her journal become more and more private...and dangerous. Is she risking everything that matters to her by putting the truth on paper? And is she risking more by keeping silent?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442443150
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	04/03/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	115
Sales rank:	515,055
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	890L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Margaret Peterson Haddix is the author of many critically and popularly acclaimed YA and middle grade novels, including the Children of Exile series, The Missing series, the Under Their Skin series, and the Shadow Children series. A graduate of Miami University (of Ohio), she worked for several years as a reporter for The Indianapolis News. She also taught at the Danville (Illinois) Area Community College. She lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio. Visit her at HaddixBooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

An abused and neglected teenager pours her heart into a journal for English class. PW found it "tough-edged... Mrs. Dunphrey comes through in the best sensitive-English-teacher tradition." Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 7 UpSixteen-year-old Tish Bonner is a nonachieving, back-row student in Mrs. Dunphrey's English class as well as in all of her other classes. Her personal life reveals the same bleakness. Her parents' relationship is combative and unstable. Her father splits every time things get difficult. Her mother can't get her act together and takes off to look for her husband, leaving her two children alone with no money. Tish describes her plight in a journal that Mrs. Dunphrey has all of the class do as a writing assignment, with the promise that she will not read the entries if the students ask her not to. Most of what Tish writes is off-limits to her teacher until her situation becomes so desperate that her journal entries become a cry for help. This contemporary story realistically depicts the sad home life of a dysfunctional family and the burden put on young people to cope with adult problems. Tish's journal entries have an authentic ring in phrasing and tone and will keep readers involved. Although the teacher's solution of having Tish and her younger brother to stay with her temporarily may be a stretch, the resolution provides this teen with a well-deserved break since she has struggled so hard to help herself and her brother. A brief, serious look at a young person who is isolated and faced with some seemingly overwhelming problems.Carol Schene, Taunton Public Schools, MA

School Library Journal

"The peeking-into-a-life appeal of the journal format combined with the realism of Tish's plight will satisfy readers looking for high drama with a gritty edge."—BCCB

From the Publisher

Tish’s assignment in her sophomore English class is to write in a journal at least twice each week. Any entry can be marked “do not read,” and Tish’s entries are mostly forbidden to the teacher as she writes about the disintegration of her family. She begins with her often absent and abusive father leaving for good, her mother leaving to find her husband, and her own desperate attempts to support herself and take care of her 8-year-old brother. Finally, Tish’s last entry begs Mrs. Dunphrey to read the entire journal and help her. Bresnahan’s performance is outstanding; not only is she persuasive as a teenage girl, with a light, young voice, but she manages to strike just the right note as she reads the entries. With books that are written in diary or journal form, which tend to be more introspective than action-packed, it’s always a challenge to inject the narration with enough drama to keep the listener’s interest. This interpretation is especially effective and succeeds better in audio format than in print. S.S.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FEB 98 - AudioFile