Lush By: Natasha Friend

Lush is about a young teenage girl named Samantha. Her dad is an alcoholic and has struggled with his drinking problems quite some time now. A lot of young people could relate to this book because Samantha goes through a lot of the same things as other kids do. Her dad has a drinking problem, which causes family problems, a lot of them, a boy in her grade is constantly picking on her, her friends find out the truth about her family and they wonder if they can still trust her, those mean girls at school that seem to be out to get her. Samantha gets a pen pal that she writes often, that has almost the same issues she has. Samantha goes to the library, where she rides her letter in a book and where she writes her pen pal back. This could also be relatable to to kids because that's how people get help and advice, not neccessarily just by writing letters, but talking to their friends seems to be the way all kids/teens get help with their issues. I would deffinitaly reccomend Lush to my friends.

Did certain parts of the book make you feel uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?
- The part of the book where Samantha was talking about her dad constantly being drunk and it ruining her family life and how her dad was so drunk one time he hit her little brother over the head with a beer bottle and all the life changing events that happened after that incident. This part of the book doesn't relate to my life in any way, it just made me release that some kids go through this exact same thing.


What specific themes do you think the author emphasized throughout the novel? What do you think he or she is trying to get across to the reader?
- Well since Natasha, the author, talked about how crazy her dad and his drinking problems were and how it greatly affected Samantha's family, I think she was trying to get a point across that this is reality and a lot of kids go through this same thing on a daily basis. And maybe the same thing happened to her or a friend too as she was growing up.