Goose Reads 2023! (Closed)

Week 37 - Isla Extraordinary

Week Thirty-Seven - September 10th - September 16th

Title: Isla Extraordinary 

Author: Monrosey

Genre: Teen Fiction

Number of Chapters: 13

Completed? Yes

Link (Added as an in-line comment):

Blurb:

A 16-year-old girl with Down syndrome takes on the popular class clown in an intense, but unforgettable, run for president of the eleventh grade.

Isla Parker is no stranger to adversity. As the middle child caught between an older brother with a genius IQ and a gymnastics prodigy for a younger sister, she's had plenty of practice trying to stand out in a crowd - for reasons other than being born with an extra chromosome. 

But Isla has goals, too. Like getting her driver's license - an obviously rigged system as she's on her third attempt - and striving to beat her personal record in JV cross country. 

After witnessing another round of ridiculous campaign stunts organized by Ezra Madden, who's won the title of class president for the past two years and counting, Isla knows something must change. There are issues within the high school that need to be addressed, like a lack of emergency medical equipment and overcrowded classrooms, not to mention the difficulties faced by students with disabilities. Who better to fight for justice than a class leader, right? And if no one is willing to take on Mr. Popular, Isla accepts the challenge, even if it complicates her budding friendship with Ezra's best friend and campaign manager, Fletcher Alo, the handsome boy with whom she shares an unexpected connection.

Now all she has to do is convince the junior class why she's the woman for the job.

Goose's Thoughts:

It's another week and we're moving away from the dark science fiction stories to a sweet Teen Fiction that has a bucket full of feels to dump on your heads.

The main character of this story, Isla, is an awesome, upbeat character who I think we could all take a few lessons from in our own lives. I loved how she refuses to say anything bad against her class president opponent Ezra, despite him resorting to underhanded tactics near the towards the end. She's determined, but unwilling to stoop to insults to get her way and she has such a fun attitude to life that makes her such a fun main character to follow throughout the story.

Not only is Isla an incredible character, but ever character that makes up the cast for this story is incredible. Darly does a great job at distinguishing individual voices through the dialogue and I loved each character and their relationship to each other. Cookie, Isla's best friend, is such a fun side character who knows just what to say to make Isla feel better and is the cheerleader I think we all need in our lives. Their relationship was my all time favourite thing.

There is such a simplicity to the storyline as well. Darly takes something that is quite mundane, but something that happens in most high schools and uses it to her advantage to craft this incredible story. The class president election works really well as a backdrop to these awesome characters and the budding love story between Isla and Fletcher. We also get so see some great development for Ezra come the end of the story.

Darly has such an incredible way with words. There are some lines in this story that just sneak up on you, but will leave you really thinking about them and what they mean. She delivers some harsh truths in just a few words but offers a lot of poignant thoughts to the story and to our own lives. The messages throughout this story and the wise words from the various characters throughout the story are just incredible.

If you're looking for a short, slice-of-life story with a determined character and a heck of lot of adorableness, then this is the story for you. There is something very special about the way this story was written and the words of wisdom Darly provides for us all, some that I wish more people would learn from.

Thank you for writing such an amazing story, Darly!

-Goose