House Arrest

House Arrest by K.A. Holt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Timothy Davidson is on house arrest because of one bad decision. He took a credit card that a man had set down and charged a whole month of his brother’s medication on it. $1,445.32. His baby brother, Levi, was born with subglottic stenosis which is a narrowing of the windpipe and requires him to have a trach tube. His Dad couldn’t handle his brother’s illness and left their Mom to struggle to raise the family on her own. Timothy does all he can to help her, but now he is on house arrest and his mobility is limited. Things became harder still when his Mom lost her job, but family, friends and workers that were assigned to Timothy’s case came together to help the little family get through. Timothy did some research on his own and found a doctor in Cincinnati that could help Levi, but that would require money. A local fundraiser at his school could help with those funds, but his mom would have to accept that she needs help. Right when things started looking up for the family, Levi stopped breathing while Timothy was watching him and in the madness of the afternoon, Timothy ended up in juvenile detention. Sometimes you end up in the wrong place for all the right reasons.

House Arrest by K. A. Holt was written in journal form which made for an easy and quick read. The idea of making a teen boy keep a journal for a year is quite a concept. Many times Timothy wrote what he thought about his case workers which could be comical. Other times Timothy really opened up his heart showing his love for his little brother and that, despite all of his medical problems and that life and the world had to revolve around this little one, Timothy understood and felt very protective. Although the story didn’t quite end up well for Timothy, as in the beginning of the story, he made a bad decision for the right reason and had to pay the price. I get the feeling he doesn’t mind considering the outcome. I got the feeling, at the end of this story, that the family was going to be alright which made it a really good book for me. I recommend House Arrest to preteen and tween readers.

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