What About Will

By: Ellen Hopkins

Narrated by: Michael Wetherbee

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins comes a new heartbreakingly tender middle grade novel in verse about the bonds between two brothers and the love they share.

Twelve-year-old Trace Reynolds has always looked up to his brother, mostly because Will, who's five years older, has never looked down on him. It was Will who taught Trace to ride a bike, would watch sports on TV with him, and cheer him on at Little League. But when Will was knocked out cold during a football game, resulting in a brain injury--everything changed. Now, seventeen months later, their family is still living under the weight of "the incident," that left Will with a facial tic, depression, and an anger he cannot always control, culminating in their parents' divorce. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover for Will who, struggling with addiction to pain medication, becomes someone Trace doesn’t recognize. But when the brother he loves so much becomes more and more withdrawn, and escalates to stealing money and ditching school, Trace realizes some secrets cannot be kept if we ever hope to heal.

Relatable story from a friendly voice

I found the story to be a good young adult novel with a very relatable plot for anyone who has had to deal with mental health issues and drug use in their family. (In this day and age who doesn’t have some brush with that?) Wetherbee’s narration is clear, his voice is pleasant and he brings the main character to life with a steady and relaxing pace which I found easy to listen to.

The narrator didn’t get it

I love Ellen Hopkins, so I was bummed I didn’t love this book. But the more I think about it, the more I think it’s because the narrator was “off” for me. I dont think he conveyed proper tone throughout the entirety of the book, and that caused it to not be nearly as good as it could have been.