Good Behavior is about the Year Nathan L. Henry spent in jail and the events that led up to his incarceration. It is a story that doesn’t pull any punches, and is told in the voice of an angry, defiant teenager, so lots of cursing, swearing, drugs and sex. It is more than Nathan’s crimes, it is the story of his slipping, his fall into a life of crime and drugs. It is definitely a story of a teen’s life gone off the rails, but the chapters alternate between rough childhood and adolescence and his time in jail. The chapters about being jail are really a meditation on his life, and the hope that things can be different. Recommended for older teens, those who like nonfiction memoir or realistic fiction.

Raw, gritty, honest memoir of a delinquent who serves a year in jail for armed robbery. The author chronicles events in his life that lead up to his arrest and imprisonment. Grim and revealing. ( )

Nathan Henry was the boy from everyone’s nightmares. Growing up in the poor area of Indiana as a child, his father exposed him to every violent or horror movie you can imagine. This and the friends he hung out with, inspired him to not only be a Satan worshipper, but a boy obsesses with sex, violence, guns, drugs, and alcohol. When his friend, Phillip, and he decided to commit armed robbery and run from the police, Nathan found himself facing trial as an adult. As he awaited trial in the County Jail, he found himself changing. Some for the worse, some for the better. This is his story.

GOOD BEHAVIOR is a hard-hitting story that really opens the reader’s eyes to the at-risk individual mentality and background. Although the swearing and sexual content is a little overwhelming at times, it fits well into the story and helps readers to see what was going through Nathan’s head as an adolescent. The narrative is well-written and easy-to-follow. The transitions between the past and the book’s present flow smoothly and do a good job of keeping the reader’s interest and painting the whole picture for the reader. High school-age individuals or older who are at-risk or like reading books about true-crime, urban fiction, or books by Walter Dean Myers will enjoy reading this book. ( )