Restart by Gordon Korman

Restart by Gordon Korman was published in 2017. I like the books he writes because kids can relate to them. This book is for middle grade and middle school age students - or old people like me because I enjoy a story that makes me think no matter whom it was written for.

The book begins with Chase waking up in the hospital after falling off a roof. The worst or best part is that he can't remember anything. As he reenters his life, he discovers that he has changed a lot - for the better.

The story is told in changing points of view, but each chapter tells you whose point of view is being shared, so I was never confused.

This would be a fun book to read as a book group with the intended age group as there are many talking points. This book made me think of the true story of Phineas Gage who suffered a brain injury and had his personality change, only his change was for the worse. I also thought about Chase's friends and how they didn't change, but how his father changed.

My favorite lines: "When a bunch of jerks see you as a victim, that's on them. But when it goes on so long that it's how you see yourself, it's very hard to climb out of that hole" (140).

"I know bricks and concrete are incapable of evil intent, but I can't shake the feeling that the building itself is out to get me" (140).

"This is not who I am, I tell myself. It's just something that happened to me" (212).

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.