My son selected this book to read with his school instructional support as a means to mimic a high cap program. My son likes to read books on this topic, which I find a little depressing and a little dark...but listening to the thought provoking conversations that tutor and student had over ZOOM....this is highly recommended. I did not read the book, but both tutor and student enjoyed reading it. They were a little sad to move to another book. The conversations that I overhead did a wonderful job of providing historical references (which I find lacking in his schooling so far), portraying how the characters FELT, what motivated them, and in general connecting my son to a world far bigger than greater than within our Covid quarantined city. Not sure how much of this wonderful learning experience was based on the talent and experience of the tutor, but ALLIES provided content that was educational, emotional and allowed the tutor to delve deeper, connect ideas, draw inferences and start predicting outcomes. She was trying to teach him to immerse himself in the reading....not just reading for a reading log.This was a very successful 'book club' for my son.