Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson is a young adult realistic fiction book that follows the senior year of Tyler Miller, a slightly depressed seventeen year old boy who just finished a summer of community service after graffiting the school. Now tall, buff, and mysterious, Tyler’s life long crush Bethany Milbury, his father’s boss’s daughter and enemy Chip Milbury’s sister, has taken an interest in him. After going to a party, against his probation, nude pictures of Bethany are posted online, the police assume it was Tyler even though it was not. Weeks of fighting with his father, who is planning to send him to military school, and school days spent in ISS goes by, but the police figure out the Tyler did not post the pictures. In the end, Tyler…show more content… The book explored how bullying can affect students socially in high school. While trying to fade back into the background and not break his probation, Tyler’s tormentors continually harass him and his friends. These sections of the book help the reader to understand how truly devastating the effects of bullying can be on students. Another issue the book addresses is teen suicide. Tyler being slightly depressed has many suicidal thoughts and acts. This part of the book gives the reader a more inside look on how depressed teens feel, and just how difficult it can be to navigate high school when students are depressed.
Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of Twisted, seems to have a biased against teen bullying and suicide since that is the main topic of this book. The father in this book also lends a lot to the bullying, making it feel like Anderson is also against child abuse. Twisted was published by the young adult publishing agency Viking. Anderson has 43 books published, many of which have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. She graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S.L.L. in Languages and Linguistics. These things and more, give her a slight expertise on writing realistic fiction novels for young
