Mini-Me Reads - Zero Tolerance

TITLE  Zero Tolerance
AUTHOR Claudia Mills
PUBLICATION June 18th 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
READ June 07 to 08, 2013
SOURCE From Raincoast Books for review

Seventh-grader Sierra Shepard has always been the perfect student, so when she sees that she accidentally brought her mother's lunch bag to school, including a paring knife, she immediately turns in the knife at the school office. Much to her surprise, her beloved principal places her in in-school suspension and sets a hearing for her expulsion, citing the school's ironclad no weapons policy. While there, Sierra spends time with Luke, a boy who's known as a troublemaker, and discovers that he's not the person she assumed he would be--and that the lines between good and bad aren't as clear as she once thought. Claudia Mills brings another compelling school story to life with Zero Tolerance.

After reading a few mindless middle grade books that were purely for fun and to pass the time it was nice to pick up Zero Tolerance and delve into a story with strong characterizations and an important message for young readers. We are quickly thrown into Sierra Shepard’s life where being a leader at school and getting A’s are the most important things. We also get to meet a host of really great secondary characters and learn a little something along the way.

Right off the bat I was really happy with Sierra as our MC. She was a great role model for a younger audience in that good grades and being a leader at her school were very important to her. She strived to impress her teachers and parents and she also knew how to respect her elders. We do get to see her falter a bit in her path of righteousness which really brought her to life for me. She has a core group of friends in the beginning and we get to witness their ups and downs as well. As is with most MG titles there is also a pretty subtle romance in Zero Tolerance. Actually I would say that there is a bit more of a focus on the boys in Sierra’s life than in most other MG titles but it was still very much in the background. I liked the progression that her crush’s went on in the novel and how the shift really helped drive the moral of the story home with the reader.

While Sierra always ensures that she does the right thing she never guessed that it would get her into the trouble that it did. She opened her lunch kit one lunch break to find that she had brought her mothers matching kit by accident. What made this so bad is that her mom had packed an apple in her lunch, and along with that, a knife to cut it. Immediately Sierra turns it into the lunch lady who marches her straight to the office. Due to the schools “Zero Tolerance” policy when it comes to bringing weapons to school she faces immediate in school suspension and possibly expulsion. I liked how the plot really brought out that there are grey areas in what is right and wrong. Sierra did the right thing and got herself into so much trouble and I could really see both sides of the argument (though of course I think she should never have been penalized for such an innocent mistake.) We also get to meet the “bad kids” while she serves the full week of her suspension which also brought to light that people aren’t always who you think they are.

A very sweet, quick read with a great lesson to be learned, Zero Tolerance is a great read for any MG reader. Bringing to light a story of acceptance and not judging books by their covers this is not one to be missed.