Michael is an atheist. He's thrown for a loop when his parents announces the family is moving, again, and he'll be attending a Catholic school. He meets a group of outliers and together they form, Heretics Anonymous, developing acts of disobedience to challenge some of the schools practices. like the misinformation in the sex ed presentation and challenging the dress code. He falls for Lucy. But when his parents announce that they'll be moving again, Michael kind of flips out and makes some bad decisions that make him really challenged to figure out how to mend relationships and define what he really believes. ( )

This book is somewhat balanced between the light-airiness of a YA novel while tackling one of life's huge questions - that of religion with forgiveness, tolerance, and acceptance. Some of the dialog is a bit too sophisticated for high school age people and yet there are statements that could be attributable to sixth graders all mixed together. These parts of the story grated on my nerves. All this was leading me to a rating of a strong 3. Then with the ending as it was with the conversations between Michael and his father leading to a reconciliation, I kind of lost it.
You see, I went to three different high schools in four years, moving between my freshman and sophomore years and again at the end of my junior year. I had to leave where I spent my sophomore and junior years and move to a new school, in a new town, in a different state. The last move was because my father wanted to be home more for his family (us, me). He changed jobs, took an immense cut in pay, and changed our family dynamics with the hope of making everything better for all of us. I was miserable but he did not appreciate the effect that all this would have on me, the eldest of four children and likely considered the most resilient (and not without justification). My youngest sibling is only four and a half years younger than me so we are all very close in age. So when I started my senior year in this new school, my two brothers were there as a sophomore and freshman and that was sort of nice - especially since we were all new to the school, and we had each other.
My family was very close but the effect of this move on me was never discussed between my father and I. I understood why it happened and what it meant for my family, but I didn't think my father knew of my heartache, crushing physical illnesses, and my loneliness. My mother did. Then four years after I graduated from that high school, my family is taking in a boy from two houses away so that he could finish his senior year at the high school where he had started. I was gob-smacked. This meant that one of the most popular boys in that senior class was living with my sister (the only one remaining at home) who was also a senior and secretary of her class, among other things. I did hear about their arguments over the bathroom mirror and how rumors flew at the high school about these two "living together." My father went to every one of this boy's school events, including basketball practices and away track meets. My father was set up as this boy's legal guardian for the year.

Fast forward several decades: my father died years before; my sister and this boy remain close even though she remains in Ohio and he now lives in California; at my father's eulogy, this boy is listed as the fifth child and he returned for the funeral service - he drove 10 hours to attend (he said there was no way he would miss it since my father never missed anything of his during that senior year). My sister finally told me the story of how all this came to be. She explained that she told my father how the boy's family was moving prior to the beginning of their senior year. My father made contact with the boy's parents and had to convince them that the boy should be allowed to remain for his senior year and what my father would do to make that happen (evidently, it took some convincing, because they were understandably uncomfortable in leaving their son behind - much as my parents would never have been convinced to leave me behind). My sister also told me that my father felt very strongly about making this case for the boy to stay based on all that happened to me when I relocated for my senior year. My father used me as an example of how hard it was during my senior year to be uprooted. The convincing worked and the boy stayed for his senior year.
So decades later I learned that my father knew the misery I went through that senior year (likely following that year). He then did what he could to atone for what happened to me and made sure that it didn't happen to another high school senior. Because of this history, I cried reading the final few chapters of this book because it hit so close to home, and because I could appreciate how much Michael's father loved him - almost as much as my father loved me. ( )

Absolutely adored this, and as a kid who briefly went to Catholic school and was converted to complete agnosticism, was absolutely delighted at how accurate many of these scenes felt. I of course related the most to poor Michael being dragged around by his parents moving, and those sentiments were what hit home most for me. ( )

So, So Good!

*4.5

I really enjoyed how this discussed religion, I feel like not enough books, especially YA books, do that and it is very important for young readers to question things in their churches and in their lives ( )

This book was different, in a very good way! It is about students at a Catholic high school who may not be the "standard" issue student: gay, Jewish, questioning all religion, Pagan, and a girl who wants to be a priest. It was written very well, I thought, and I would forego other activities to continue reading this book. Katie Henry seems to know teenagers very well and I could really hear their voices all throughout the book. Very nice look at how family's are different and how they operate, are all dysfunctionally okay. ( )