The Trouble with Liberty

by Kristin Butcher

Liberty Hayes has just moved to Sutter's Crossing and is the talk of the town. She has plenty of money and everyone wants to be her friend. When Liberty accuses a male teacher of sexually assaulting her, the rumors start. Val, her new best friend, is torn between believing Liberty and trusting her old friend Ryan when it comes to the truth. What is the trouble with Liberty?

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Alexis Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever been torn between 2 friends and can't figure out what's the truth? Well the book "The Trouble With Liberty" is about a young girl named Liberty Hayes and she just moved to Sutter's Crossing and she makes friends with Val MacQueen. It all started off as what seems to be best friends, but once Liberty meets Val's brother everything seems to be going down hill. One day after their band class Liberty stays after to get help with her instrument. But what seems to be just getting help on her instrument turns out to be the band teacher getting in trouble for " almost raping" Liberty. But what nobody knows is, that Liberty made everything up. Every little bit of it, because she didn't get what she wanted. Ryan Val's best friend tells her about what he saw and what Liberty says has happened. Val believes Liberty, up until she breaks up with up with Val's brother and avoids Val for reasons that are unknown for the world. Then thats when everything started making sense Liberty was a liar. Then one day Val goes to Liberty's house and confronts her, and the next day there's a letter to the people in the school and the one that she said raped her, saying that she lied and she's sorry and that she's switching schools. When all said and done the only trouble with Liberty was Liberty.

[Bill Littell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most ORCA books, this one's plot moves at light speed. As you can imagine with an 88 page book, there is very little character development. Overall, the book achieves what it sets out to achieve.

[Lisbeth]

Dear Charan

I'm reading a book entitled The Trouble with Liberty by Kristin Butcher non-fiction.
Liberty is a new student and she met Valerie in a competition and they go to the same school. Liberty is the type of person that she wants attention and she is trying her best to get the attention , she made up that her math teacher Mr. Henderson was trying to rape her (36). Valerie's mother was assimilating information about what happened to Liberty(39). One conflict on this book is that when Liberty said that Mr. Henderson was about to rape her a lot of people tirade against his innocence and got suspended. Why Liberty lied that Mr. Henderson was trying to rape her even though people are going to find out sooner or later that that bogus lie wasn't even true? Will Mr. Henderson ever go back to school? This book makes me think that many people believe others without having evidence or something that states that what they said ts true and they start spreading rumors or getting against each other.

This book made me realize that many people do anything to get people attention just because they want fame or people to feel sorry for them. One important lesson that i learned was that we shouldn't judge people without knowing them because we don't know what they're capable to do. I learned while reading that some people are bogus no matter how important they make you feel because when Liberty and Valerie's brother broke up Liberty stopped hanging out with Liberty. I thought the author wrote this book because he wants us to see that not everybody that smiles at us is our friend and some people just use us to get to what they want to but once they get what they want they forget about you.

[Izzy Bluml · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILERS:::::::Liberty is new at her school and doesn't know a lot of people. She meets a friend and her friend introduces her to everyone so she knows more people. She becomes the center of attention and everyone likes her. Then one day she didn't show up to some of her classes. Her friend gets very worried. So she goes and looks around the school fer her and she notices a large crowd at the main office. SHe runs into the office and sees liberty in tears. She had to ask a liberty multipul times what happened to get and answer. Liberty finially answered. She told her best friend that their band teacher tried to rape her. I really liked this book and I recomend this to people who like realistic books.

[Krisly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good book its one of my favorite book from the Orca soundings this book is about this girl name Liberty Hayeswhich just moved to Sutter's Crossing. She has plenty of money and everyone wants to be her friend. When Liberty accuses a male teacher of sexually assaulting her, the rumors start. Val, her new best friend, is between believing Liberty and trusting her old friend Ryan when it comes to the truth

[Hannah23 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked it because it was never really boring. There was alot of stuff happening and I liked the main character val because she's a little bit like me.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok

I really enjoy this series, but this one missed the mark for me. The issue was with the maturity level, none of the characters had any. I know they are YA, but the main character, particular, was extremely immature.

[Ashleigh Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is quick. Would have liked to see more explanation at the end

[Willow ꩜꩜ · Rating 2 out of 5]

wut da fwip did i just wead. ;-;

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dynamic between Liberty and her dad gave me the ick.

[Sandra Guzman]

fast read.. good young adult book

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is also an interesting addition to the Orca Soundings collection.  It, of course, escalates quickly, but it was fairly well written.  Again, it deals with heavy content (as most of the Orca Soundings books do) so don't go into it lightly, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're at all interested in the premise.  Again, I enjoy the pacing of the story.

[Paige Osweiler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subjective- A new girls moves into town. Very pretty and wealthy girl. Her name is Liberty Hayes. She becomes friends with Valerie. Valerie's brother Cody instantly loved Liberty. Lucky for him Liberty and Valerie Grew very close, she began to spend lots of time at their house. This made Valerie's other best friend, Ryan, very upset. Ryan never really liked Liberty, but Valerie never knew the reason for that until later. Everyone at school loved Liberty, not just the boys, but the girls too. One day there was a lot of commotion in the hallway, because Liberty had ran into the office telling the principal that their band teacher raped. Of course the band teacher was taken down the the police station right away. Cody runs right to the office to see whats going on. Then Ryan ran out of the school. Later on we all figure out that Liberty is a lier, and just really wanted attention. Ryan had been in the band room and saw that Liberty was saying about the band teacher was not correct. She threw herself at him, and he told her to leave which made her mad. That is why she made up false things about him.
Objective- I enjoyed reading this story. Just thought it ended short, and should have kept going. The story was kind of crazy. It was kinda weird reading about a girl who just really wanted attention. Liberty just wanted everyone to love her, and she would do whatever it took for that to happen. Whenever the band teacher told her to leave she was mad that he had turned her down, so her way to get back at him was to say he raped her. Lucky for the band teacher Ryan saw the whole thing, and knew what Liberty was saying was not true. Liberty still ruined the teachers life, because some of those thoughts people had about him won't just go away. It is a good little book.

[Daquane Brown]

The book "The Trouble with Liberty" is about a girl named Liberty who moves Sutters Crossing. What she brings to Sutters crossing she has a lot more of such as: money, style, and a huge attitude. Before the first day of high school is over, Liberty is surrounded by new friends and, a lot of the guys in the school really thinks she's pretty, except for Ryan, who makes the new girl in town feel comfortable, you can say. Liberty so called "takes control of the high school" by being the main person being talked about in high school and her actions begin to get out of hand. Liberty is one to be flashy and likes to have the guys drooling over her, and Val believes that her New York style is too much for Sutters Crossing. She does what she wants, when she wants, which makes me believe her parents have no control over her. During the story Liberty talks about the music teacher as being a good looking guy and she hangs out with him after school for a couple of days. Liberty then accuses the music teacher at her school of raping her, Val does not believe it, but still does not know what to think because of her actions from the beginning of the book.
I would recommend this book to many readers because it tells a story about a girl who feels like she is better than others and shows off a lot. This book tells a message that people should just ignore individuals such as Liberty and know how to act when someone like this comes across you, Overall the book was great and I will read it again.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Val McQueen meets a girl named Liberty Hayes at a rodeo. They become the best of friends and Liberty even ends up dating Cody, Val's brother. When school starts up and Val tries to introduce her old friend Ryan to Liberty both of them act quite standoffish. A few days later Liberty stays after in band to get an instrument fixed. She ends up accusing their teacher of trying to rape her. Val has to decide whose side she's on when Ryan tells her something startling about Liberty. Did Liberty make it all up to win her fathers affection? Is Liberty even who she says she is?

This was a very quick read, with necessarily developed characters. I'm sure we all know people like Liberty who just want to make sure they are the center of whatever universe they inhabit. I recommend picking this up if your library has it. It may not be quite good enough to buy however, especially since it's so short. It was a good read, with good writing and a good quick storyline. That's all I have to say on the matter.

First Line:
"Forget the grizzly bear."

Favorite Line:
"But - except for some strategically placed embroidered flowers - it was totally sheer."

[Jadyn A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Trouble with Liberty is about a blonde haired, very popular girl girl who moves to Sutters Crossing and meets and girl named Val at a rodeo and they become instantly friends. Liberty liked Cody, Val's older brother, and Cody liked her back so they dated. Liberty caused so much trouble in Sutters Crossing and by the end of the book she had to be taken out of town because of the trouble she caused. I rated this book a 4/5 because I thought it was interesting the whole time and I always wanted to see what happened next.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liberty Hayes has just moved into town, and taken it by storm. Before the first day of school is over, she's the most popular girl at school, and Val, her best friend feels really popular, too. But things start to unravel when Liberty accuses the band teacher of attempting to rape her.

This book is part of the Orca Soundings series - - High interest, low level reads. This quick novel treats a touchy subject fairly. No undue descriptions and only one swear.

[Keyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read this book and it actually gets you into it, i actually liked it because of liberty, which thats one the the girl's name from the main characters. she lies about getting raped by a teacher and everybody believes her, but there's someone who knows everything but his afraid of saying the truth because he thinks no one is going to believe him.

[Katrina Knittle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I am torn between it being either okay or liking it. It is a very fast paced book and very quick read. It deals with a few different subjects and is something that would be good for the younger crowd to read. Decent book and may check out more from the author.

[dp · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh liberty, you're so pretty. of course the music teacher would try to touch your boobs.

[SeToya]

Never come on to a teacher and then when they reject you, you get upset...

[Brandy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was ok ther was some things going on. there were roomer being past i just felt like the book was being draged but other then that the book was good.

[mackenzie ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

these book/series whatever you want to call them are kind of... weird... and i don't know. they are just plain weird. but good... in a very weird way. haha :)

[Abby Cardinal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just started reading this book and it's so confusing!

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A girl accuses a teacher of sexually assault and her new friend can't decide if she's telling the truth or not.

[Stephanie zaragoza]

Read thirty pages into it and i didnt finish it. It was realllyboring and i didnt find interest in it.

[Griselda Ortiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm just surprised it took them so long to figure out Liberty was a lying attention whore!

[Maheja · Rating 4 out of 5]

short and sweet

[Natalia_c1]

The Trouble with Liberty is a mystery book. It's about a girl that claims she was sexually assaulted by her music teacher. This book has some mystery and realistic fiction in it. This isn't a very long book but if you want to understand the impact of sexual assault then this book is right for you.