R Is for Rebel

by J. Anderson Coats

A novel about a girl who won’t let anything tame her spirit—not the government that conquered her people, and definitely not reform school!

Malley has led the constables on a merry chase across her once-peaceful country. With her parents in prison for their part in a failed resistance movement, the government wants to send her to a national school—but they’ll have to capture her first.

And capture her they do. Malley is carted off to be reformed as a proper subject of the conquering empire, reeducated, and made suitable for domestic service. That’s the government’s plan, anyway.

But Malley will not go down without a fight. She’s determined to rally her fellow students to form a rebellion of their own. The government can lock these girls up in reform school. Whether it can break them is another matter entirely…

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Childrens, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Feminism, School

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 20, 2018

About the author

J. Anderson Coats has received five Junior Library Guild selections, two Washington State Book Awards, and earned starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, the Horn Book Review, and Shelf Awareness. Her newest book is The Loss of the Burying Ground, a YA action-adventure about two warring nations, one fragile peace treaty, a ruinous storm, and two girls who are just starting to realize who the enemy really is. Her next middle grade historical, The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls, is forthcoming from Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2025.

Reviews

[C. L. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, no. Ohhhh, nooooooo.

I was so excited about this book. I loved the previous book by this author. I was excited enough that I was willing to look past the fact that the cover had a white girl giving the black power salute -- a cover in poor taste doesn't mean the book's going to be bad, right?

Ohhhhhhhh, nooooooooooo.

The story is direct appropriation of the historical trauma of the American theft of Native children and the forced boarding schools (cultural genocide masquerading as public service) that resulted. It's Direct. Appropriation. Dressed up in a fantasy setting. Starring a spunky white girl.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh. Nooooooooooooooo.

My heart sank about four pages in. By two chapters, I was nauseous. By five chapters, I had to quit. Whoever greenlit this plot is no friend of the author's, because it should have been shut down at the outline with a firm explanation of WHY YOU DO NOT DO THIS. You do not steal the painful histories of minorities and white-wash them into palatable allegory.

I very rarely bail on a book and rate it anyway. But noooooooooooooo.

[Randi Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hesitant with this book at first. Malley started off incredibly immature, but as she grew in maturity I began to enjoy her. The first thing I noticed about this book was that it had direct references to the absolutely disgusting time that was the Boarding School Era in American history. I have seen a review on here discussing how terrible this book was because it white washed Native American history and unspeakable acts committed against them. However, as an individual who studies Native American history, I don’t believe this to be the case. This book could serve as a starting point. It is sometimes challenging for white students to understand history when they don’t feel they can relate. It is problematic to say the least, but nevertheless it is a reality. This book offers them a mirror, and once they have seen things through the mirror, it is often easier to witness things through the window. Paired with a book like My Name is Sepeetza, this could create a great atmosphere to introduce kids to the TRUE history of their country, and not the whitewashed version offered by history textbooks.

[Brandy Painter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is tough because I usually really like Coats's books. I had such a hard time with this one though on so many levels. It's difficult to get into because the world-building is being explained via plot. Due it being a MG book, that comes off a little stilted and cobbled together. I didn't feel the characters were very well developed, and other than the main character, I honestly didn't know which girl was which most of the time. Then there are the thematic elements. I feel like Coats was trying to say some deep and much needed things about Imperialism. The forced schooling and cultural changes the girls were forced to endure is highly reminiscent of what went on here in America with the indigenous population. As a result, the book left me highly uncomfortable. Is it straight up trauma appropriation? I hesitate to call it that as she definitely set the book outside our own historical experience. However, it skirts close enough to the line for me to endorse it.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

R is For Rebel tells the story of Malley, a Millean girl whose parents have been imprisoned for rebelling against the ruling Wealdean Empire. The Empire is determined to subjugate the Mileans, outlawing their styles of dress, their language, their religions, and their history. After losing her parents, Malley is sent to a school that will ‘reform’ her along with other Millean girls. But despite the efforts of the nuns who run the school, these girls will not conform or forget who they are. Malley will rebel, with help or without it.

Storywise, R is for Rebel was excellent, another great female protagonist for middle grade and YA readers, a coming-of-age story featuring a cast of determined girls. I truly enjoyed it from start to finish.

The trouble is, the book itself reads like a tale of Native American oppression. There are a lot of moments throughout the book that appear to reference actual American history; Columbus, scalpings, boarding school persecutions, cutting off the hair of the natives, forcing them to speak a foreign language, relocation, etc. And yet the Milleans are white.

So is R is for Rebel an example of racial whitewashing then? It can’t be. The longer I think about it, the less sense it makes. J. Anderson Coats wouldn’t whitewash and appropriate Native history in a book that is literally about cultural erasure…would she? I’ve read all of her other stuff, and she seems like an intelligent woman. I can’t –do not – believe she could be so oblivious. The struggle of the Milleans must be inspired by the oppressions of the Welsh (which she wrote about in The Wicked and the Just), or the Slavs, or the Irish, or one of the other European-on-European oppressions throughout history.

And yet…It feels odd that there was no afterword or author’s note explaining as much. Coats lives in the US, as I do, and she must have known how the book would be perceived by Americans as being about our own history. So if she didn’t mean it that way, why not make that clearer?

I just don’t know what to think about this book. I love J. Anderson Coats, I think she is an excellent writer who tells good stories, stories girls need to hear. For the moment, I don’t believe that she’s appropriating Native American history because I don’t think she’s that stupid. So, there’s that.

Stars: 8 out of 10
Age rating: Any. This is probably more middle-grade, but anybody could read it.
Would I recommend it? Maybe?
Would I read more from the same author? Yes, I will, albeit somewhat warily. Wicked and the Just is still one of my favorite books.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the Wealdan Empire conquered Milea, the emperor and his men began breaking down every Milean tradition. No songs. No hedge schools. No families. All children must attend a national school, in accordance with the Education Act. After Malley's parents are shipped to a penal colony, she is captured and sent to a national school, where she must wear her hair unbound, take a Wealdan name and suffer being treated like a slave. But Malley is songworthy, and she will resist these tyrants. She will be ungovernable.

All those YA novels about resistance and heroines and freedom? Throw them out, and pick up this book instead. Right from the start I was greeted with a fully realized world, complete with traditions, history, folklore and more. There are many pieces that feel familiar and picked here and there from various cultures, but all are woven seamlessly to present something new and fresh.

While there is a strong message of friendship, girl power and stronger together throughout the story, Malley is faced with the very real consequences of her actions.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

[EJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one /hurts/. If it were just a dystopia it would be easier to read instead of it being so clearly a parallel of colonization and imperialism that really happened and still does.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malliane Pirine Vinnio Aurelia Hesperus is one of the toughest girl characters slaving away in an imaginary totalitarian regime that you’ll ever meet. The author has researched such governments well. All the familiar aspects are here: the intelligentsia being targeted first; the native language being outlawed; names being changed; clothing, hair and other aspects of the conquered natives being forcibly changed; falsification of history; crushing debt; etc.

Malley comes off as intelligent if occasionally impulsive. She is determined to defy the Wealdan’s attempts to destroy her Milean heritage and wants to rope the other girls into her cause. At first, it’s mainly because she believes an ancestor is beaming or turning her back on Malley, depending on whether she resists or knuckles under to the governmental rules being set by a superfluity of autocratic nuns. But she comes to realize that others don’t have her considerations or agenda at heart.

It’s a tough row to hoe and the author is adept at showing the routine, punishment and reward systems that initially keep Malley separated from the other girls. But gradually she draws others to her side and learns what it really means to lead a group of rebels.

Whether the girls win or lose the battle against the nuns is irrelevant. What matters are the individual characters, their responses to Malley’s defiant acts, their own initiative as they leave secret messages, sing forbidden songs and give their real names, et al. Even the nuns come across as personages in their own right instead of a collective mass of faceless monsters.

Ms. Coats has given us a splendid book of female agency as well as a primer for the little rebel in all of us. Read this book and pass it on to your little girl.

[Bunnyk1d · Rating 1 out of 5]

ugh i literally made an account to talk abt this book. i read it the year it came out, and its. a lot to say the least.,,,,.

j anderson coats is a good author. i liked her writing style and i had no problem with the worldbuilding or charecters for the most part!
the issue with this book is the subject matter. its literally just the trauma of indigenous people who were sent to reform schools and wiped out but like??? fictional?? i think theyre poc coded but im like 90% sure theyre all white ppl. i mean it is fantasy but still. its really fucking weird bc this is stuff that Actually Happened and was deeply traumatizing and harmful to indigenous people all over america, not to mention that the mileans become slaves which is a whole other point of discussion . also theres like no ending. they revolt, and get hauled off to die in a factory and boom the book ends. like huh??? what kind of ending is that????? overall the whole plot is,, in really poor taste. i am a poc myself, but im not indigenous or black so its not my place to say, but i can totally see why this is offensive. yeah like her writing is good i think but this book does not do the subject matter justice.

[grosbeak · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5: conceit was interesting: a young girl sent to reform school in a country several generations out under an imperial colonial government has to negotiate different ways of resistance and figure out what in her culture and heritage she and her classmates can preserve.

Execution was shaky: setting is a resolutely dehistoricized fictional world, at roughly pre-WWI technology levels. Neither the colonizers or the colonized are direct expys of real-world cultures or nations; there are aspects of just about every tactic used by one government or another (or many) to wipe out indigenous cultures and control subjugated populations; American readers will probably think of Indian Residential Schools, the Enclosure and Land Acts in Ireland (and England), Apartheid Laws, and Nazi concentration campsbut the examples could multiply. This made it hard to see the stakes involved and sometimes gave the impression that Mallie and her comrades were just facing an arbitrarily author-made horrific world. Coats' first book, The Wicked and the Just, was a brilliant and subtle and wrenching exploration of imperialism because grounded in a specific historical setting that shaped her characters. And I missed that here.

It wasn't quite perfectly put together. The rivalries and hierarchies among the girls, and the power of certain narratives of resistance over others, were hinted at in interesting ways, but never quite came into focus as one would wish. But the final quarter really pulled through, and the novel ends on a rich (although quite dark) chord.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story can be read as an inspiring tale of rebellion and unquenchable spirit, although both my daughter and I saw shadows of far darker periods of history in the text: Indian Residential Schools, in which Native American children in the US were shipped off to boarding schools to be striped of their language and culture and indoctrinated; Maoist re-education centers; Stalin's gulags; and Nazi concentration camps, just to name a few.

The story is about a girl, Malley, who leads a rebellion of other girls in her "re-education" class. Her kingdom / country, a fictional Milea, has been conquered by the Wealdans, and the girls are resisting being stripped of all the hallmarks of their culture -- their names , they way they plait their hair, their language, their history (they are being forced to act in a play portraying a general, who butchered their people, that portrays him as a hero). They live in a boarding school, separated from their parents and communities, with strict hierarchies that encourage them to turn on one another, further dividing them.

My daughter finished it and handed it to me with an uncharacteristic dark frown, warning me: "The ending is grim."

It is, for all the author meant it to be triumphant. There is no happy ending here. While the story highlights, above all, the optimism of youth, of resistance to being conquered and fighting back, students of history will surmise the girls are headed to their deaths in the final scene. It was disquieting, and rightly so.

A thought-provoking read, and one of the only fiction children's stories like it I've ever seen, that wasn't directly based on historical fact.

Visit my blog for more book reviews, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/

[Laura Mossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special thanks to J. Anderson Coats for providing our #bookexcursion group with an ARC of R is for Rebel. Look for its release in February 2018.

Three generations before Malley was born, the country of Milea was conquered by the New Wealds. After her parents were imprisoned for being resisters to the new government, Malley was sent to a national school. The school’s mission is to reform Malley and other young girls to be loyal Wealdan subjects and train them for domestic service. From the very first chapter, it is very clear that Malley is her parents’ daughter and is not willing to be reeducated. She wants to do something song worthy, like her Milean ancestors. At first, she thinks she is alone in her fight, but as the story unfolds, Malley notices that other girls quietly subscribe to the same beliefs as her. She soon realizes that resistance is all around her in many different forms.

R is for Rebel is a novel that left me thinking and questioning. As Malley stated, “It’s one thing to lose something; another thing to entirely give it up.” When I first began reading, I wasn’t quite sure if R is for Rebel was a historical fiction or a fantasy. In the end, it doesn’t matter because like other dystopian novels, Malley’s story teaches us an important lesson-to always personally fight for what you most value.

[rachel ~ trans rights are human rights · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm not entirely sure how i feel about this one. it had a strong plot, but it didn't feel like the writing was able to accomplish all that was set up. i like the idea: ungovernable girls rising against their oppressors, but something about it was off. it could be because it's written for a younger audienence; the book has glaring moments of cruelty and darkness and evil, but it still feels just outside of reality. which, you know, isn't a problem considering that this book IS fiction. but nonetheless.

it was a good read, definitely one i would strongly suggest for fans of historical fiction or fans of post-apoc stories, as i originally thought it was some distant future au.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If your country is invaded and your culture outlawed, how do you resist? What is the most important part of your culture to hang onto? This children's chapter book is like the fantasy genre in that it builds an amazing and complex world and has the main character go through a fast-moving plot - but doesn't use magic. This has some very harsh situations (the heroine's arms are burned almost to the bone by chemicals), but descendants of colonized peoples will definitely relate. And if you resisted, how would you make sure your efforts were remembered to inspire others?

[RIMりむら · Rating 2 out of 5]

No hard feelings, but I was so annoyed by Malley, our main character. Though, as I dived deeper into the story, my annoyance sort of ceased a bit (still annoyed lol). As for the plot, it was okay. The ending, by the way, was just not for me. Maybe it was my fault that I was expecting the conclusion to be something else.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing pull-you-right-into-the-book storytelling. I love a good tale of ungovernable girls, and this one made me want to rise up, bind my hair in braids, and run off to Free Milea. As I got closer and closer to the end, completely spellbound to see what would happen next to Malliane and her compatriots, and to the nuns, and to the viceroy. It calls for a sequel, IMHO.

[Bayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colonialism, rebellion, leadership, honor

[TJL · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, reading this was difficult for a bit; Malley was a difficult character to read for a while because of how agonizingly self-righteous she was about the nature of rebellion and resistance, and how she was the only one doing any resistance worth a damn; those other girls were just being little "knuckleunders" who comply without thinking.

It was very, very satisfying to see her change that way of thinking, and for the book to critique the sensational aspects of heroism: Putting it into a song and making the people who did it out to be fearless heroes who did their good deeds without a second thought, when in reality things were a lot darker and less glorious.

The only thing I would have liked to see was maybe a little more complexity on the Wealdans' side; they (the nuns, the Graycoats, etc) came off as almost cartoony in their villainy sometimes, really easy targets for attack. It would have been interesting to see a little more gray area in there, where maybe some Wealdans protest the treatment of the Mileans; or, maybe, more examination of Nim's family and their Wealdan ancestor.

Great book, with a very good message about not lording your identity and way of thinking over someone else- regardless of who you are and what it is you're pushing.

[b · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok, I guess. But there are more than a few things that I need to rant about in this book.

So it starts off with Malley, a girl whose parents are rebellious against the government, yadda yadda yadda. And while I think the author had good intentions, the book just doesn't quite come out right. The characters seem to fall flat and often come off as a bit dry, almost cartoonish. The ending was just... I don't know, just... not there. The overall plot was good enough, but how it was executed was not satisfactory. I mean, come on, please? Give us something good, not this sloppily written story about a girl that is completely self-centered and rubs everyone the other way because 'it's my way or the high way' at the start. In the end, she started to get a tiny little itty-bitty eensy-weensy bit more complex, but then, of course, the author decides it's about time to go back to crap and make the ending nonexistent, so we have to sit and wonder if that's really how it's supposed to end. Also, why is she so obsessed with these songs? The author went overboard for sure there.

But of course, even though I have to admit that I almost hate how many flaws are in the book, I'm forced to give it a decent enough rating because there's something I like about Malley.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I felt like it could have been a really great story, but so much of the setup was blatantly taken from the boarding school system imposed on Native Americans, and the author didn’t once acknowledge that. She took the time and space in print to thank someone who helped her in writing a deaf character, but didn’t once mention the actual historical families torn apart by the boarding school system (and then later by the foster care system, let’s be honest here).
There were parts of the book where I got really pulled into the story, and then parts where the characters just felt flat. And then the ending, to me, didn’t feel like enough. It was disappointing.

[Heybara · Rating 4 out of 5]

S T A R S - 4.0 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


This book is just okay for me. The idea and the background of the story is intriguing, but not really executed really well? Maybe because this is supposed to be a middle-age read.

I was very annoyed with Malley for being self-centric that it cost the doom of the others, but gradually liking her when she began to realise that not everything could go in ‘her way’, and that everyone has their own way in fighting and protesting.

I love the messages deliver. I think the way to enjoy this book more thoroughly is by focusing on the messages and values, rather than the plot and writings.

The ending, well not for me. My excitement was cut off abruptly by the ending and that totally ruined the journey of reading it.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, it's a lot harder to read about kids getting hurt now than when I was a kid. Back then it was all fun. Now watching the systematic oppression and torture of children feels grueling. Malley is dealing with a fantasy world's version of what in our world would have been the forced boarding schools where Native American kids were stripped of their language, culture, and family while being forced to work for the white conquerors as slaves, or if they were very lucky, as servants. The kids try to fight back in various ways, but the adults have all the power. It's pretty grim, but Malley manages to learn about herself and her capabilities.

[Kate Atkinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really struggled to get into this one, and it eventually become a skim read finish.

I was thoroughly confused for the first couple of chapters as the world building set the scene for fantasy locations, cultures and alternate histories. Keeping track of the unfamiliar place names, the traditions, and sudden recap of the recent past that the characters had experiences... this almost felt like a Book 2 in a series. The concept was interesting, and the main character packed a punch, however my imagination just wasn't captured by this particular story of societal oppression of a people group leading to eventual rebellion.

[Munaya Al salhee]

DNF’d at page 84.

Honestly I was expecting something but it was not this!
I really felt when I started the book that it has a feeling of Natives American and what happened with them with I think it’s called “Reformary school” and honestly I’m not the right person to say if the “feeling or the trauma” u can say that’s in the book is valid!

It’s start with a young girl who’s name is changed to fit the “standard” and New Wealdans wants.
I feel like the idea was there it’s just the way it was written and how the writing style is soo boring and bland. Yes it a middle grade book u can say but usually there is character to it not this!!

[Kerrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Set in a fictional country, Malley has been sent to a reform school to become compliant and prepared for servitude for the nobility of the nation that has conquered her homeland. Inspired by her parents and the other adults who spent years rebelling against the invasion, Malley decides not to go quietly and looks for ways to be defiant at all costs. She must learn that resistance looks different for each person and leadership doesn't mean forcing everyone to do things your way.

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

After misplacing my copy, I found it again a few days ago. The nice thing is, the book is pretty easy to catch up with. The theme of colonialism, ethnic cleansing and forcing a people to comply with their enslavement, is an old one. Yet, it is done in an age appropriate manner for the 10 to 14 crowd. Malley is a spunky character, the writing good and it is something I would have enjoyed as the targeted age. No spoiler, but will say the ending was not what I expected.

[Sandy Sopko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dystopian, perhaps inspired by Native Americans forced into boarding schools? I did not finish; I could not take anymore of it. So much of it was awkward: character development and motivation, the fantasy cultural history, the plot... I skimmed to "the end" and found that there was no true resolution or conclusion.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding depiction of a country overtaken by a ruling government that is suppressive, abusive and aiming to strip the cultural identity off of the people. Very realistic, hard to read in parts but accurate in its depiction of a young girl trying to hold true to her culture despite the oppression around her.

[Nicole Lintemuth · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's brutal in the same way as Handmaid's Tale. You spend the whole book desparately hoping for a happy ending and as the end gets closer and closer you know that there will be no happy resolution. Only the brutal reality of standing up for what's right no matter the cost. One small girl will not topple an entire empire. But she will keep the spark alive and that is important too.

[Torry]

I liked how this book was written. You could tell that Malley and the other children in the "school" are still younger teens trying to figure out who they are, with only a few Ideas on how to get out of the situation they are in. Even though this book does not have a happy end and many people said they didn't like it for cultural reasons, I enjoyed reading it.

[nel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and fierce book about a school of girls who are ready to change the world. Malley is the perfect protagonist for this novel and I liked seeing the world and the storyline from her point of view. It offered unique insight and emotions that would have been different if the perspective was from Jey or Loe or Nim. Overall a really awesome book that is full of action and fun plot twists!