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Noelle's life isn't like the rest of her peers at school. She lives in a town where most people are well off, Noelle's mother works retail and uses food stamps. They live in a small apartment and her mother has stopped doing anything for her years ago. There's never any food in the house, forcing Noelle to make Mayo and Mustard sandwiches. Because of this she is teased and bullied relentlessly. Her life basically revolves around going to school and hoping not to be noticed. It takes something tragic to happen before she realizes that she has more control over her life than she thought... and that maybe she is good enough for that boy who likes her.

I loved this book!!! For the entire first half of it I was on the brink of tears... I felt so bad for Noelle that I just wanted to adopt her! Even though it was pretty short in length, I think this is an incredibly powerful book. Definitely a must read for all types of high school kids.

I wasn't bullied in high school, but growing up I had my moments. I could definitely relate to some of what Noelle was going through (I think most people that survived HS can). In some ways though Noelle was really lucky. She had Sherae, who was like a rock for her, and Simon, and Julian, and even a teacher and a social worker. Not everyone has all that support. I know the one person she really needed (her mother) wasn't there for her, but at least she wasn't alone. Most people who are bullied and outcasted don't get the man of their dreams to ask them out... it just doesn't happen like that. In the end I was glad that Noelle got a promising ending. I was happy that read this book and I hope it gets into the hands of the people who are going through the stuff Noelle did(and the people like Warner and Carly). ( )

Fell in love with Noelle and with this book. ( )

A heartbreaking and moving read, Keep Holding On deals with the all-too-current topic of bullying. Though at times it seemed to go just a bit over the top, overall it was a book that can definitely give hope to all those teens out there who feel that they just don't fit in (and really, isn't that just about every teen, at one time or another?). For adults, it's a disturbing and eye-opening look at what really goes on in the world today--just in case they've forgotten junior high and high school, or somehow went through them both with complete blinders on. Although most of what Noelle faces daily is "real world" bullying, technologically-enhanced bullying is touched on briefly in the book as well, and Colasanti provides readers with a wealth of resources at the end of the novel where they can go to get help or at least feel like someone else out there understands what they're going through too.

Susane ends the book with a personal message--that she too was bullied, and that there is a point in one's life where most of us really do come to find that we really don't want to be just like everyone else and that our differences are to be celebrated, not hidden. Unfortunately, it usually doesn't happen until after high school--all those adults who try to tell you that high school years are the best of your life are for the most part dead wrong. I think this book can do a great job of reaching its target audience, and am definitely planning on adding it to my classroom library for next September.
( )

After reading blurbs of Keep Holding On, I was expecting an issue book about bullying. Now that I've read the book, I'd say that's not exactly accurate. Keep Holding On is more a book that advocates having the courage to be yourself, to change the things about your life that are in your power to change, and to tough it out through bad times.

Other YA books like Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson or Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers definitely pack a stronger emotional punch in their portrayal of the life of high school outcasts. Keep Holding On seems to take more of an inspirational approach, reminding teens that while high school might sometimes seem like endless torture, there's a whole wide world waiting on the other side.

For complete review: Review of Keep Holding On!

Good use of teen lingo. May help some troubled teens but needed more real world circumstances. Took offense at the idea that bullying and troubled teens were mainly in small towns. Also there was no aspect of responsibility for the teens themselves in their situations. ( )