vs 
The Blackthorn Key
vs All the Bright Places
This really feels like an apples to steak comparison; both
nourishing but so very different!
When I pulled out The
Blackthorn Key, one of my students was very excited; he had enjoyed it
greatly – bonus of doing this is that teens see us reading ‘their’ books – and
he really wants to loan me the rest of the series! It was, in places, laugh out
loud funny. Set in an alternate history, we follow Christopher, an orphaned apothecary
apprentice in his first adventure (this is part of a trilogy, of course).
The language, initially, is difficult for kids to get into;
slightly antiquated vocabulary that doesn’t last throughout the novel, and it
has a structure that demands attention. The story centres around discovery,
friendship, sacrifice. It is really his unending intellectual curiosity that I
enjoyed; both as a reader and as a teacher. Seeing his friendship with the
Baker’s son develop gave an awesome example of two boys being friends and
supportive without any bro culture or toxicity.
This was, very simply, an enjoyable novel. The protagonist
struggles and while smart isn’t so amazing that he’s unbelievable. The
supporting characters have enough back story to be more than filler. The plot
keeps moving at a good pace and there are unfair and awkward things that
happen. Christopher has to deal with people who don’t like him.
And now I’m really torn; both novels are great but for
vastly different reasons. All the Bright
Places is literature while The
Blackthorn Key is what I would use to get students reading. I’m going to
very begrudgingly put All the Bright
Places forward, even though I enjoyed Blackthorn
more, because of how well it could be adapted to a classroom and how well both
genders are represented. But if you have anyone struggling; help them with the
first two chapters of Blackthorn and
they will be hooked!
