Dig by A.S. King

Hudson | Holmdel High School, Grade 12

Rating: *****

Dig by A.S. King is a contemporary YA novel that follows the stories of five teenagers: the Shoveler, the Freak, CanIHelpYou?, Loretta the Flea-Circus Ring Mistress, and First-Class Malcom. The Shoveler carries a snow shovel everywhere and wonders who his father was. CanIHelpYou? sells pot at an Arby's drive-thru and is fed up with her parents. Loretta is the ring mistress of a flea-circus whose mother died. Malcolm gets to fly to Jamaica in first class because his dad has cancer. And the Freak, well, she's trying to figure out why she's flickering. The novel is meant to make readers uncomfortable with the topics it brings to discussion. King includes topics of racism, poverty, and drug abuse just to name a few. The amazing thing is that King is able to bring these seemingly individual stories together in a cohesive way.

Novels like Dig are super important now. Young adult readers should read books that make them question their beliefs and society's beliefs. King does a phenomenal job writing about the lives of both teenagers and adults. She captures the essence of teenagers today who are exploring themselves and finding where they belong in the grand scheme of things. King's writing also complements the multi-generational aspect of the novel. What I mean is that the adults don't sound like teenagers and the teenagers don't sound like adults. Much like today, there are so many topics and issues that transcend generations that are still begging to be discussed. A.S. King does an amazing job at bringing these tough topics to light.