My Side

by Norah McClintock

When quiet, shy Addie is lured into the woods, she is convinced she is going to die. She quickly finds out that there are worse things than terror―things like betrayal at the hands of her best friend and public humiliation in front of the entire school.

Neely, Addie's ex-best friend, is tired of the same old life and the same old friends. She is ready to take some chances to re-invent herself. Is she also ready to win new friends at the expense of old ones?

There are two sides to every story, and it's impossible to know the truth until you've heard them both. But sometimes you don't ever learn the other side of the story. What drives these two friends apart? Who is right and who is wrong? You'll only know if you read both sides.

Genres: Fiction, Teen

128 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Norah McClintock’s fascinating mysteries are hard to put down. Her Chloe & Levesque series, Mike & Riel series, and Robyn Hunter series, all published by Scholastic Canada, have been popular with readers in many countries. Norah has also written several crime novels for reluctant readers in the Orca Soundings series from Orca Book Publishers,

Norah is a five-time winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. Read Mistaken Identity, The Body in the Basement, Sins of the Father, Scared to Death, and Break and Enter to find out why! Norah's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she has won numerous awards.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award - Juvenile
o 1996 – Mistaken Identity – Winner
o 1998 – The Body in the Basement – Winner
o 1999 – Sins of the Father – Winner
o 2002 – Scared to Death – Winner
o 2003 – Break and Enter – Winner

Red Maple Award
o 2004 – Hit and Run – Winner

Reviews

[Abby Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

My side by Norah McClintock was a novel about a girl trying to connect with people. A group of girls pull a prank on Addie, she thinks she is going to die. The next day the whole school finds out and her former best friend Neely was behind this cruel joke. I could connect to Neely because everyone wants to be liked everyone was a group of friends to have. Everyone wants to know their important. She would do anything to get attention from people and I use to be like that in middle school but I have sense learned it's not important to Be "popular." Addie is shy and doesn't want to be noticed. I enjoyed this book because you really could feel for both characters. Neely was set up to do this prank, she did not know she was going to be participating in this. I feel bad for Neely that she felt like she needed to be popular she would do anything. Addie has no friends, I really wish that there was more people around Addie. I learned by the end of this book that everyone needs someone, Addie needed someone to cry to after she was targeted. Neely needed someone that will like her for her. Someone where she felt comfortable with where she didn't need to change.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is telling about an incident that happened and is told from two different perspectives. The first half is from Addie's, the person most obviously hurt by what happened. I thought her side was touching and so heartbreaking. It was just horrible reading about how mean the kids were towards her. The second half of the story is told from a different person's perspective and I have to say I was surprised by it. I thought, when I saw who's it was, that I wasn't going to like it at all- but I actually did. It was surprising to learn what that person knew and didn't know and how they weren't as to blame as I had thought. I do wish the ending had just a bit more to it, but all in all this was a pretty good story.

3.5 stars

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this author's books, but this one was just too frustrating. A retelling of Mean Girls with POV from Addie and Neely.

Initially, I felt bad for the situation they found themselves in, and there are no excuses for cyberbullying. Unfortunately, both victims chose to remain silent about the incident instead of defending themselves and instead of having a heart to heart between the former best friends.

A plot turn author's use way too frequently consists of victims having entire conversations in their heads and then just cry and just hide....while they should be spilling their guts out defending themselves. There were way too many. "I want to say something, but what's the point" moments? Instead I will just cry and cry. It's just really frustrating

[Jaliya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was good. I like everything about it. Its a lesson in this book. The girl was hanging with the wrong crowd at the wrong time. And then she got locked up and her life started to get ruined.

[Courtenay · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I like that this story is told from two POV, and shows the duality of bullier and bully in the larger context of trying to fit in. My biggest complaint is that the ending felt very incomplete.

[*Weebles* · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was twisted, but really good.

[Brayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Side by Norah McClintock is a quick and easy read. It has a decent plot and I like that the author tells the story from two different perspectives.

[Liwen Zhang]

SSDD

[Corrinne Briggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointed in this book. I thought writing from the two main characters perspectives of the story was neat but there is no resolve. I really dislike that fact.

[Victoria Waddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Addie is trying to pull her life back together after being lured into the woods and then having a sack thrown over her head by a knife-wielding, masked person. When she is locked in a basement in pitch darkness, she is sure she is going to die. She suddenly remembers girls at school talking about a strange man hanging out in the woods.

And then Addie is able to pull the sack over her head. When a flashlight clicks on, she sees the unbelievable.

High school housekeeping: My Side is one of the Orca Soundings series for teens who are working on improving their reading skills. The Lexile level is 660 (about grade 5). It’s a great, quick read about fear and cyberbullying. It’s also an interesting look at two sides of a story that—it would seem—should allow only one interpretation. Things are not what they seem to be in this little farm town. The author, Norah McClintock, does her usual good job of bringing a lot of story to a very short book. I highly recommend this one for struggling readers.

NOTE: This review is also posted on my blog School Library Lady.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a sophomore in high school, this is only Addie’s second year away from being homeschooled and she’s still not used to all the pressures and cliques. Other students look down on this quiet, shy teen who does not quite fit in, including her pre-high school best friend Neely who has somehow managed to be friends with the popular girls.

One day Addie’s peaceful world is turned upside when she is horribly pranked and recorded with the movie link sent to her entire high school. Addie’s embarrassment only deepens when she realizes that her former BFF Neely is responsible.

As this book title implies, what I’ve told you is only Addie’s side of the story. The last half of the book presents Neely’s version of events which will keep you rapidly turning pages until the end. Teens will sympathize with Addie, yet be curious to read Neely’s side of the prank.

Like most Orca novels, this one will appeal most to reluctant readers, especially teens who enjoy some good ol’ high school drama. This book’s reading level is 4.1.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

A super quick, superficial kind of read.

Addie has always been very shy, very reluctant to put herself out there so the switch to a bigger high school even one that includes her best friend Neely is a stressful proposition. But when Neely decides to make a new start, open up and meet people, Addie is left behind.

Which makes Addie the weakest of the herd and you all know what happens to the weakest.

I feel like this could have been a very good book if it just delved a little more into the characters. On the plus side, I literally read it in less than 2 hours so it's not like I was missing out on other book time.

[Misha Atai · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book my side is a quick easy read, so I did get a little bored. The Book had a good plot overall and my favorite past is how the author shows 2 points of views, its more intresting that way. The main character Addie gets kidnapped by her best friend or ex-best friend and totally humilates her in front of the whole school by scaring her. If that isnt intense enough, the author also puts the actual bullys point of view on what happened. What I didnt like is why the book never explained why she bullied her best friend so It was confusing. I wouldnt recomend this book because of the confusion and how it doesnt really explain that happens.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading level 4.1, exciting, relevant to middle-school girls (and probably high school). Issues include betrayal, not knowing the truth, bullying, teenage girl manipulation, classism, etc. It's a must-have for a middle school library and it meets the needs of the girls whose reading level excludes them from all of the popular books.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like where the author was trying to go with this, but there was so much wrong with it. For starters it was a boring read. Second the characters were not well developed at all. th plot, to me seem to be all over the place. I just could not get myself to enjoy it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very short story and a very quick read about bullying. Therefore, I don't believe it was quite as developed as it could be. With that being said I did enjoy the book

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the rest of the Orca sounds/currents/sports books, I only read it to help catch up.

[Allison Imdorf Burrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick read that I think my middle and high school girls will enjoy. I would have liked more character development.

[Bernice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Transitions are hard to follow - maybe because the story is told in such a short amount of pages. I could see it being a challenge for struggling readers (which Orca books are often targeted to)