Author L T Kodzo

L T Kodzo is a great writer whose books written for and about young people, focus on issues that teens face, and deal with them in effective and powerful ways. 



Her book, which I read with my journalism class, titled Dead Things, deals with abuse. The main character, Jimmy, is a sixteen year old young man who is half-Ute, and who has a lot of difficulty trusting people because of the abuse he suffered when he was younger. His favorite things are dead things; dinosaurs, and dead men who can't hurt him any more because they're gone. His issue now, is learning how to trust the right people who are still alive. Can he learn which people he can trust, and which people he can't, before he gets hurt again?


Aother book, Locker 572 deals with the issue of bullying, and the very real pain that comes with it. Sheridan Alexander, who has moved from one foster home to another, finds the abandoned journal of someone named Ribbon Barber. In the journal, she reads about the girl's pain from being bullied. Sheridan wants to find the author of the journal and help her before it's too late.

We don't have control over other people, nor do we have control over what they've done to us in the past; but what we do have control over, is ourselves.  We can choose to move in a positive direction regardless of how other people have treated us. We can choose to be kind, empathetic people who make the world a better place. I think L T Kodzo's books are fantastic because of how they show how even after bullying and abuse, it is possible to be positive and move in a positive direction.