In these uncertain times, everyone can use a feel-good story, and I have to share that my sixth grade son said Restart is one of his favorite books of all time. We read it together, but he definitely could have read it independently. Restart is also on the “Battle of the Books” list at our local library.
Restart is written with a rotation of first-person accounts of the events that unfold when star football player and middle school bully Chase Ambrose falls from his roof and gets a concussion so severe it results in amnesia. When we wakes from a coma, he can’t remember his family, his teachers, his best friends or anything from his 13 years of life. He’s shocked to observe that kids in the school hallways shudder when he walks by, and over the course of time he realizes that prior to his accident he was extremely cruel and aggressively tormented his classmates.
Chase is given the rare opportunity to start over – to reinvent himself as a new person. His challenges, his choices, and the perspectives of a few key fellow classmates come together in a story we had trouble putting down. We loved the unpredictability – there were several times when we thought a certain event tied up a loose end and then we encountered another twist.
I’d highly recommend this book for your middle schooler. This was our first experience reading a book by Gordon Korman, and I’m definitely going to be putting more of his books on our reading list.
Mom, which book is next? 
Sounds like a very interesting book. Not only because of the timely subject matter, but because it provides an opportunity to really teach your child some critical lessons on character. I would have loved to have seen how you would shared this story with Wesley!
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