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Janice Murray
Dr. McCracken
EDU 265
25 April 2016
Response to Hate List
At the beginning of Hate List, Valerie can barely face a day of school, let alone think
about anyone elses problems. By the end, she is visiting a suicidal classmate and speaking in
front of a large crowd. Though readers will probably not experience so drastic a change, the
extent to which Valerie is a dynamic character makes this book a perfect example of a book that
can accomplish transformative education. Her shift from inward to outward focus, her choice to
re-embrace a hobby she loves, and her movement towards taking responsibility for her own wellbeing all have the potential to push teenagers towards personal transformation.
The primary way in which Valerie is dynamic is her realization that she has been selfish
and her effort to be more aware of others. After she spends most of the book working to figure
out her own problems, Jessica challenges her by declaring that she is being selfish. This
assessment is accurate; Valerie is only willing to be friends with Jessica when she feels like it.
Though she does not accept Jessicas characterization initially, a conversation with Duce helps
her to realize that she has, indeed, been very self-centered. Her regret is genuine, and she makes
an intentional effort to change this focus throughout the rest of the story, visiting Ginny in the
hospital when she hears of her suicide attempt and working to preserve the memories of those
who lost their lives in the school shooting. Her transformation is especially likely to impact
students because her selfishness is subtle earlier in the book. Though the quality is present, she
has plenty of needs to focus on, and as she is the one telling the story, readers are likely to be so
caught up in her problems that they do not realize her lack of attention to others. When they do,
they are pushed to consider whether they have been acting in a similar way.
Valeries return to drawing is emphasized quietly; instead of hitting the reader with it in
one impactful moment, Brown draws attention to it through repetition. By returning to a hobby

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she used to love, she is able to see beauty in vulnerability and humor that she would otherwise
have missed. She is also better able to cope with her emotions and surroundings. Readers who
have given up hobbies in the quest for increasing productivity and resume-building in high
school will have the opportunity to vicariously experience the value of picking it back up again.
If they recognize this value in Valeries life, they will be likely to consider its value in their own
life, and thus the book will have helped them to change in their approach to self-care.
Valeries progression towards taking responsibility for her own well-being is likely to
resonate with teenagers who want to accomplish this themselves. She moves from such extreme
dependence on others that she needs to call her therapist to get herself to go to school to such
extreme independence that she is willing to go on the road alone. Along the way, she learns to
make her own decisionsshe chooses to have more of a social life, chooses to pursue art classes,
and chooses to go to the hospital to talk to Ginny. Because she offers a concrete example of the
process, teens who read this book will have an idea of how to accomplish it in their own lives.
Seeing these changes in Valerie does not just have the potential to change teenagers; it
has also pushed me towards change. Reading about Valeries realization of her own selfcenteredness reminded me of how important it is to be self-aware. Recently, by carefully
developing an awareness of my own choices in a relationship, I was able to change my
understanding of it in a way that will help me to maximize the experience for both myself and
my friend. Previously, after listening to another friend share about her life and struggles, then
evaluating my responses, I spent little time in reflection. However, after reading this book, I
reflected on the situation and considered how the combination of our personalities and my
tendency to be overly responsible could end badly. Now that I have this awareness, I am
determined to keep it in mind as the relationship moves forward. Hopefully, this will help me to

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avoid both of Valeries problems with self-awareness in the book: being self-centered and being
unaware of a close friend was suffering deeply.
The book has served as an important reminder to me in the other two areas. I have moved
towards regaining some old hobbies as a form of self-care, but recently I have let them slide
again. Similarly, I have made great strides in taking responsibilities for my well-being, but lately
I have focused so much on schoolwork and relationships that I have not given appropriate
attention to other responsibilities. I hope that with these reminders I will be able to adjust my
priorities appropriately.
To accomplish these changes, I plan to make time for regular self-reflection and to
request that a friend check in with me regularly about my progress. I hope that these steps will
help me to develop a strong enough self-awareness to be neither self-centered nor guilty about
self-care, neither without hobbies nor obsessed with them, neither irresponsible nor overly
focused on being responsible. To help ensure that transformational education happens when
students in my future classes have silent reading time and independent reading assignments, I
plan to ask them to journal regularly. I am not sure whether it would be most useful for them to
journal throughout the book or at the end; perhaps giving them the option will help them to
discover which is more helpful for them and thus accomplish the most effective transformative
education.