This Girl Is Different - J.J. Johnson

This was a well written YA novel and I enjoyed some of the details: the East Indian characters, the sustainable house, the liking of snakes, etc. I also liked the main character as a person, but I have to say the hippy-dippy Baby Boomer ideals got on my nerves. I was not a popular high school student or anything, so I don't come at so-called "non-conformity" from that angle, but sometimes it seems like that 1960s/hippie/Baby Boomer mindset is always trying to find something, anything, to fight against, even if they are really stretching. It's one thing to fight actual oppression or wrongdoing and another to create a battle over simple school rules under the rubric of "constitutional rights" and equalizing all of society's wrongs. There are many ideas that are wonderful in theory, but because we human beings are what we are, the ideas don't work in reality, because "some animals are [always] more equal than others." So I enjoyed the book overall and it got me thinking, which I am sure was one of the goals of the author, even if I do not wholeheartedly agree with the points of view of the main character.