You Don't Know Me by David Klass

Testing students’ reading levels is one of the most boring things I have to do as a teacher.  It’s a necessary evil, of course, since I have to have an idea of where to begin teaching each kid, but some of the passages are absolutely painful.  There’s one about dragons that makes me want to shoot myself – but maybe it’s just because I’m not a dragon kind of gal.  There’s another one that focuses on a conversation that I’ve heard so many times that I have it memorized.  Happily, some of the passages are actually really good like The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare and Ann Martin’s A Corner of the Universe.

The one I’ve always liked best is from the book You Don’t Know Me by David Klass.  The passage the students read is about 300 words long and highlights the fourteen year old main character’s love of a classmate, Gloria, who, in his fantasies, he refers to as Glory Hallelujah.  Glory seems pretty sweet and accepts John’s invitation to a basketball game and I had great hopes that this really nice kid was about to begin a relationship with the girl of his dreams. 

Then I decided to Google the book while a student was reading the passage.  Let’s just say that, in spite having read thousands of books, I was totally wrong.

You Don’t Know Me is no sweet YA (early YA) novel.  Instead, it is the story of an abused boy dealing with his mother’s cruel and criminal boyfriend and a host of other people who treat him like crap.  “You don’t know me,” is the phrase John uses to protect himself.

Luckily for John, not everyone in his world is a giant jerk and there are people who value him, who care about him, and who actually do “know him.”

I don’t want to give away anything, so suffice it to say that You Don’t Know Me is a touching coming-of-age story with a very likeable main character who makes you want to beat up almost everyone else in his life.  It’s well worth reading – and so much better than that damn dragon story.

LAME FACTOR:  If it were lame, I would have stopped reading it.  0/5

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  I doubt it.

BRAIN POWER:  The story is well written and aimed at late middle school through early high school.  It’s nice to have a story with a male narrator.