Last Night I Sang to the Monster

Saenz, B. A. (2009). Last Night I Sang to the Monster. El Paso, TX, USA: Cinco Puntos Press. Zach is an intelligent teenager that drinks, does drugs and vandalizes just to escape from his crappy home life. Dad is a drunk, mom is crazy and his brother abuses him. He does not think he deserves any of the praises he receives in life. The one sentence that stuck with me the entire book was "God writes on our hearts when we are born. I wish I didn't have a heart that God wrote sad on." This novel had me crying off and on through the last half of it. This is a great book for high school age students because they can see the struggles someone their age is having and see how he fought back and beat them all. This was a very powerful book. The theme of this book is how to overcome insurmountable obstacles. The character development of Zach is one of the best I've ever read. We know that Zach is a smart boy, but, man, his decisions are anything but smart. He has no self-confidence because his family has never said anything positive to him. We see him struggle with the kindness of a teacher. He thinks it's weird for a teacher to have interest in a student. The author does an excellent job in making Zach into a richly developed character. We see, and feel, his struggles at home, school and at rehab. We see his character grow and learn to accept the love of those around him.