Middle-Grade Review: The Last Present

When I started Wendy Mass’s middle-grade novel The Last Present, I didn’t realize it was the last book in a series that I hadn’t completely read! But I did read the first book in the series, 11 Birthdays, a few years ago and enjoyed it. Despite missing out on some of what happened in the middle, I enjoyed this final novel in the popular middle-grade series set in the fictional town of Willow Falls.

Amanda and Leo, the main characters from 11 Birthdays, are now 13 years old, and their lives have continued to be affected by the magical events described in that book. At the start of the book, they are enjoying their friend David’s bar mitzvah when they need to rush to the hospital because the little sister of another friend, Connor, has suddenly become paralyzed. As Grace lies in her frozen state, her family and friends gather around her hospital bed. Amanda and Leo are certain that Angelina, the mysterious and ancient woman in town who caused their experiences two years ago, is somehow behind what’s happened to Grace…and they are right!

It turns out that only Amanda and Leo can save Grace, by going back in time to each of Grace’s birthdays, trying to make a small change there that will change her future for the better. They enlist the help of their friends, including Rory and Tara who were featured in books two and three. To say much more would ruin the considerable surprises in store for readers!

It seems that the two books I missed each feature a different character – Rory in one and Tara in the other – and revolve around other strange affairs involving Angelina. It would have been better if I’d read those two books, but I was still able to enjoy this fourth book (though I wouldn’t recommend reading this one without at least reading the first book). Although this sort of magical realism isn’t always my favorite kind of story, I enjoyed the two books I read in this series, possibly because time travel is a favorite plot device of mine! Mass is a talented writer, weaving together a realistic story of friendship (and young love as well!) with a magical plot.

246 pages, Scholastic

 

Teen/YA Review: Thin Space

In the midst of reading several very large adult novels for my book groups, I was looking for a quick and engaging read (a palate cleanser!), and I found it in Thin Space by Jody Casella. This compelling teen/YA novel mixes realistic teen portrayals with a touch of the supernatural, in a short thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Marshall is grieving the loss of his twin in a horrible car accident that happened several months ago. His family and old friends give him a wide berth, figuring he just needs space to mourn and recover, but there is more going on with Marshall than meets the eye. For starters, he goes everywhere barefoot, even as winter begins in western NY.  His parents and teachers think it has something to do with his grieving process, but Marsh has a secret: he is searching for a thin space, a barrier between this world and the next where people can move between the two worlds…and from what he’s read, you can only enter cross over a thin space in bare feet.

The entire novel is told from Marsh’s perspective, so the story of exactly what happened on the day of the accident emerges only gradually. Marsh thinks there could be a thin space in a house on his street, where an elderly neighbor recently died, and he sees his chance to get into the house again and explore when a new girl, Maddie, moves into the house with her mother and brother. Maddie joins Marsh in his supernatural search. Although she has her own reasons for wanting to find a thin space, it is clear that the two of them actually like each other as well. The question is, can any kind of relationship grow here, in the midst of so much pain and with Marsh’s all-encompassing obsession with the dead?

Thin Space has a unique premise and a convoluted plot that slowly becomes clearer as the story evolves. It was just as compelling as I’d hoped, and I finished the novel in a few short days. The characters all felt real, and although the novel has an underlying supernatural premise, most of the book takes place in the real world, reading like good realistic teen/YA fiction. This is one of those novels with so many twists and surprises that when I finished, I wanted to immediately go back and re-read it! Thin Space is Casella’s first novel, and I am definitely looking forward to reading more from her.

243 pages, Simon Pulse



Thin Space

 

Middle-Grade Review: Zane and the Hurricane

Today is Mardi Gras day, the end of a very special season of celebration in New Orleans, so it seemed like the perfect time to write a review of an amazing middle-grade novel I just finished, Zane and the Hurricane by award-winning author Rodman Philbrick. As you might have guessed, this is a novel about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and I was completely engrossed in its emotionally powerful story from beginning to end.

Twelve-year old Zane Dupree lives in New Hampshire with his mom and his dog Bandit (Bandy for short). Zane’s mom discovers a long-lost relative living in New Orleans, Zane’s great-grandmother, known as Miss Trissy, who raised his father when he was a boy. Zane’s dad died before he was born, so Zane never knew him, but his mom really wants him to know his great-grandmother.  Zane agrees to go visit Miss Trissy, if he can bring Bandy along. His timing is terrible, though, because just as he arrives in hot and humid New Orleans, a tropical depression that was supposed to die out turns into a huge storm named Katrina.

Zane meets Miss Trissy in the first few chapters, and the rest of the novel focuses on what happens during and after Katrina. Miss Trissy lives in the Ninth Ward, which took the worst brunt of the flooding and damage after the levees broke. If you saw any news at all about Katrina, you know that Zane’s story is a difficult one, filled with fear and tragedy. It’s not all horrible; the novel includes instances of courage, friendship, and generosity alongside the bad things.

We used to live in New Orleans, so we watched the news of Katrina with even more horror than most Americans as we saw parts of our beloved city destroyed. I found this novel to be very realistic and true to New Orleans’ true character and spirit, both the good and the bad. The author did a fabulous job of describing the city and its people and making you feel like you were really there. The bulk of the novel occurs during the storm and the flooding afterward so there is a lot of tension and suspense, as the reader goes along with Zane through the terror and uncertainty of those first days that forever changed New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Philbrick includes plenty of factual information about Katrina, including maps, a timeline, and real facts that were used as the basis for certain events in the story. All of it – the fiction and the facts – made me want to learn more. This is an emotional story that packs a powerful punch and stays with you long after you read the last page.

192 pages, The Blue Sky Press (an imprint of Scholastic)

Scholastic Audio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

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Teen/YA Review: Code Name Verity

I have been reading rave reviews of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ever since its release in 2012, and I finally had a chance to read it myself. It’s a unique teen/YA historical novel that focuses on the role of women in World War II.

As this unusual novel opens, it becomes clear that the text is being written by one of the characters. She explains in the first pages that she is a captive of the Nazis in occupied France and that she has agreed to write down everything she knows in exchange for small bits of comfort (like getting her clothes back) and staying alive. It is clear that she is a young British woman, but other details of her background and life come out slowly, in the course of her telling her story.

The narrative that she writes is not what the Nazi officer in charge of her expected. Rather than write dull lists of types of airplanes, British airfields, and other wartime details, she writes a story. The officer allows her to do this because he can see that she is a good storyteller, and he is somewhat amused by her unusual methods.

She starts at the beginning, several years ago, with much of her story focused on a young female pilot named Maddie. In fact, it isn’t immediately apparent to the reader exactly who the writer is at first. She describes her friendship with Maddie and how they both became part of the war effort. Along the way, she includes the kinds of details that the Nazis are looking for, but it is certainly a long and convoluted story.

The details of women’s role in World War II as pilots and spies are fascinating; it is an aspect of this much-written-about period of history that is typically overlooked. The story itself is also engaging, about two young women who become friends during this very difficult time in history and how one of them came to be captured by the Nazis (though those details come much later).

The novel is suspenseful and compelling, and the details of this little-known aspect of the War are intriguing. There are plenty of unexpected twists and surprises along the way (though I guessed at the major plot surprise fairly early on). This is a difficult book to read in some ways because it includes details of the narrator’s capture and torture by the Nazis. As my son reminded me when I cried while listening to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on audio: “Mom, it’s about the Holocaust. You have to expect it to be sad!” As a result, this novel is best for older, more mature teens and young adults.

332 pages, Hyperion

A companion novel by Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire, was just released in September. It also deals with women pilots in World War II, about a young woman pilot who is captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp.

 

Teen/YA Review: Rotters

Ever since I was about halfway through the audio book of Rotters by Daniel Kraus, I have been thinking about how I would review it because it is such a complex and contradictory novel. It is a wholly unique story – a coming-of-age tale wrapped up with grave robbing – that is dark and disturbing yet compelling.

Sixteen-year old Joey lives a fairly normal life in Chicago with his single mother: he plays the trumpet in the school band, works hard to be a good student, and has one good friend who helps him contend with the typical trials of high school. Joey’s life falls apart, however, when his mother is killed in an accident, and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with a father he didn’t even know he had. Ken, his father, isn’t any happier to see Joey than Joey is to be there.

Quickly, Joey’s ordinary life turns into something from a nightmare. He has lost his mother, and his only remaining family member clearly doesn’t want him there. He moved away from his only friend (who quickly moves on with his life) and has no friends at his new school, where he is bullied relentlessly, not only by fellow students but also by a sadistic teacher. To make matters worse, Joey discovers that his mysterious father makes his living robbing graves. Although the people in town don’t know the exact nature of his occupation, they all sense that it is something underhanded and illegal, and they ostracize Ken…and now Joey, too.

Things just keep getting worse for Joey, until it seems like you just can’t bear to hear (or read) about one more horrible thing. He is bullied, neglected, starved, and ridiculed. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Meanwhile, Joey very gradually learns more about his father’s life as a Digger, as they are known, and the history and details of grave robbing.

If all of this sounds depressing and macabre, well…it is. Rotters is a very dark and disturbing novel that only gets worse (and worse).  The ending does offer some hope, but it is a long road to get there. It took me 2 months to finish listening to Rotters on audio, in part because it is a long novel and in part because I couldn’t listen to it for long periods – I needed breaks from the sad, angry atmosphere of the book. As I said at the beginning of this review, it is compelling – I was certainly rooting for Joey and wanted to see how things turned out for him. I also felt, though, that it was a bit too long; that may have been partly due to my disjointed way of listening to it. Rotters won the 2012 ALA’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, and I agree that it was very well done – perhaps that is part of why it is so disturbing, because the characters felt real. Just be forewarned that it is a long and sinister journey.

Listening Library/Random House Audio

Paperback:    Audio:

Teen/YA Review: Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am

I have a large number of middle-grade, teen, and YA books on my TBR shelves, and I tried to do a bit of end-of-the-year catching up. One of the teen/YA novels I recently read was Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis. It is a unique story about a young man who comes back from Iraq with a brain injury that leaves him with no memory of who he is.

Ben Bright is the star of his senior class in high school – a good student, the lead role in his high school play, and a longtime girlfriend named Ariela whom he plans to marry. All of his friends are going away to college next year, but Ben has other plans. He enlists in the army, much to his family and friends’ dismay. His parents don’t understand, his best friend, Niko, is angry with him, and Ariela is afraid he won’t come back. Ben explains to them that he feels a deep need to give back and help support and protect his country, and he reassures them that he won’t be going overseas.

Those who care about him reluctantly support Ben, but things change and he is sent overseas, to Iraq. The phone call they have all been dreading finally comes: Ben has suffered a severe brain trauma in an explosion, and doctors are unsure what his prognosis might be.

The rest of the novel follows both Ben and his family and friends as they all try to support Ben with his new challenges, as he slowly recovers in the hospital. He doesn’t remember any of them nor his old life nor even who he is. Ben’s journey back to life is a slow and tedious one, and his friends and family members each react differently, as he struggles with his daily challenges.

This is a very brief novel – only 148 pages – about an important topic that is rarely covered in teen/YA fiction, young people in the military and the long road to recovery for those with brain injuries. I liked that this book showed all sides of a complicated issue: readers see Ben’s determination to do the right thing and support his country but also the crazy randomness of violence in war and the difficulties for soldiers returning home injured or incomplete.

Ironically, I chose to read this novel now because I was looking for something brief, but it felt a bit too brief to me. I wished there was a little more. I think that tells you something about the story. It was well told and compelling, with very realistic characters that I came to care about. I’m glad I read it, and I still think about it.

148 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

Middle-Grade Review: Flyaway by Lucy Christopher

Earlier this year, I enjoyed Lucy Christopher’s chilling teen/YA thriller, Stolen, about a young girl who’s been kidnapped. Her middle-grade novel, Flyaway, has been sitting on my shelf for over a year, and I finally found time to read it. Though a much gentler, warmer story perfect for middle-grade readers, Flyaway features the same excellent writing and in-depth characters that Christopher is known for.

Flyaway is the story of a young girl named Isla who has a close relationship with her father; both of them are fascinated by the whooper swans that return to their area each winter. Isla and her father get up early one morning each year to greet the returning swans on a nearby lake where they migrate to spend the winter, but this winter, everything changes. The swans aren’t in their usual spot, and as Isla and her father run to follow the swans flying overhead, Isla’s dad collapses on the ground. When her father is admitted to the hospital, Isla feels like her world is falling apart.

Besides being worried about her dad, Isla is lonely and in need of a friend. Her best friend recently moved away, her older brother has his own friends, and her Granddad has been cranky and withdrawn since the death of her Grandma six years earlier. One day in the hospital, Isla meets Harry, a cute boy with bright red hair and a warm smile who doesn’t laugh at her fascination with the swans the way other kids at school do. But why is he in the hospital?

As the situation with her father gets worse and her friendship with Harry grows closer, Isla finds it hard to focus on her normal life and what is happening at school. She feels that if she can somehow continue the mission she started with her dad and find where the swans are wintering, somehow that will help her father. As her mother, brother, and granddad each struggle in their own way with what is happening in their family, Isla becomes more determined to find the swans, no matter what.

This is a warm and tender story about family and friendship. I liked Isla almost immediately and was rooting for her and for her dad. The family relationships in this novel are very realistically portrayed, and there is enough tension to keep the novel moving at a brisk pace but not so much as to be overwhelming for young readers. The story is about the scary things that happen in life and how we get through them…but it is also about love and hope.

336 pages, Chicken House

 

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Tell Us We’re Home

 Tell Us We’re Home by Marina Budhos is a unique novel aimed at older middle-grade or teen readers about three girls who are daughters of maids and nannies in a wealthy town where most of their classmates are from the families for whom their mothers work. It’s an interesting perspective on immigrants that I’d never considered before, and I enjoyed the novel.

Jaya, Maria, and Lola were all born in different countries but now live in the same small town in New Jersey. Each of them felt alone and isolated until she met the other two, and the three of them became instant friends because they had so much in common in spite of their vastly different cultural backgrounds. Their mothers all work for local families as maids and nannies, which leaves the girls each feeling very different from most of her classmates. The three become fast friends, saving coins to buy a milkshake to share, walking back from school together, and confiding in each other about the difficulties of being poor in a wealthy town.

Finding each other was a turning point for each of the girls, but life proves to be even more challenging than they expected. Jaya’s mother is accused of theft and loses two of her jobs. Maria is worried about her cousin, who is embroiled in a battle over the local playing fields where he and his friends want to play soccer – a battle that threatens to involve the entire town. Lola worries about her father’s unending depression and his inability to find work as an engineer, as he had back in Slovakia, while the bills pile up and her mother’s health worsens. Although the three friends share a lot with each other, each of their own problems threatens to pull them apart and get in the way of their friendship.

I enjoyed this novel for several reasons. It deals with a topic that I’d never really thought about before – what life is like for recent immigrants in the U.S. today, especially kids who are dumped into an unfamiliar environment at a time in their lives when they are struggling with ordinary adolescent issues, like self-image, confidence, and identity. I also liked that it didn’t over-simplify the issues. There are no easy answers to the complex problems that plague these three friends and no tidy happily-ever-after at the end. Certainly, they do resolve some of their worst problems and come to realize they can rely on each other, but deeper cultural and community issues remain, just like in real life.

My only complaint about Tell Us We’re Home was some uneven editing throughout, and especially toward the end. There were minor inconsistencies, places where the action suddenly jumped somewhere else, and other petty annoyances. For instance, in one chapter, the girls are drinking hot chocolate and then a sentence later it says that one girl held her hot mug of tea. Like I said, these were minor problems, indicative of sloppy editing, that were easy for me to overlook since the story itself was so engaging.

All in all, this is a warm, tender, thought-provoking story about immigrants, cultural differences, community, and mostly, friendship.

247 pages, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)

 

Teen/YA Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

In celebration of Banned Books Week, I read a classic teen/YA novel that is always high on the list of banned books, The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I don’t know how I missed this wonderful novel for so long! I devoured it in just a few days and felt like I got to know the characters intimately and lived in their world.

The entire novel is written through a series of letters that the main character, Charlie, writes to an anonymous “friend.” This is someone Charlie doesn’t know personally but overhead a classmate talking about, and he starts writing to him to ease his anxiety over starting high school. Charlie has good reason to feel anxious. His only real friend from middle school committed suicide, leaving Charlie mourning, confused, and alone.

Charlie describes his days at high school in a way that is familiar to anyone who went to high school…the cliques, the social pressures, the desire to be liked, and the insecurities. He also talks about his family – his mom, dad, older brother who has just left for college, and his older sister who is a senior in high school. Charlie’s family seems very ordinary; he loves them and they love him, but they can drive him crazy at times. His descriptions of holiday dinners with extended family are especially amusing for anyone who has a dysfunctional family of their own!

One evening at a football game, Charlie recognizes a boy from his shop class, a boy known by his classmates as Nothing. Charlie sits down next to him and begins talking with him (finding out his real name is Patrick) and gets to know his stepsister, Sam, too. Although Charlie can be very quirky at times, Patrick and Sam have their own reasons for not quite fitting in, and they all become friends, eventually pulling Charlie into their own group of friends until he finally feels like he belongs.

Charlie himself admits that one of his problems is that he thinks too much, and that is part of what makes his narration so irresistible. He analyzes everything (who didn’t in high school?), wonders about everything, and questions everything. His English teacher, who gives him extra books to read all year long, tells him he needs to participate in life more, but Charlie feels there are some advantages to being a wallflower, always quietly observing the world around him.

This quintessential coming-of-age novel follows Charlie through his entire freshman year, as he experiences all those things familiar to many high schoolers: dances, first dates, the ups and downs of friendships, drugs and drinking, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Adding to the fun are ample references to music (mix tapes – it’s set in 1991!), movies, and literature. He writes to his anonymous friend with open candor about his hopes and fears, all that is happening around him, and all that confuses him. Along the way, he grows and learns more about himself and how to feel comfortable in the world. And the reader goes along for the ride, laughing, cringing, crying, and, ultimately, caring about Charlie on his wild ride through his first year of high school.

213 pages, Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)

Why has it been banned? Ah, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a censor’s dream! It has a bit of everything – sex, drugs, yup – rock ‘n roll, too! There is also homosexuality, swearing, and sexual abuse. All of it is dealt with in a very frank, almost innocent, way, as Charlie tries to figure things out for himself.

P.S. Now that I’ve read the book, I want to see the movie, though I am a bit leery after loving the book so much. I can see from the movie photo on the cover that the characters don’t look as described in the book which drives me crazy in a book adaptation…but I have heard that the movie is excellent (including from my son!), so I look forward to giving it a try.

 

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Hold Fast

For over a decade, I have been hearing great things about Blue Balliet’s mystery novels. My son read one of them when he was a middle-grader, but I never got around to it myself. I just finished her latest novel, Hold Fast, and absolutely loved it! What took me so long? This novel – appropriate for older middle-grade readers and teens (and adults!) – combines a mystery with a realistic story about a family who suddenly finds themselves homeless, all from the perspective of an eleven-year old girl. It is exciting and suspenseful but also brimming with emotional depth and insights into a world that many young readers know nothing about.

Eleven-year old Early loves her life. She is part of a close-knit family in Chicago, living in a tiny, one-room apartment with her parents and her four-year old brother, Jubilation (Jubie for short). She knows her family doesn’t have much money, but they have love and dreams and books. Early’s parents – and especially her father Dashiel – love to read and share books with their children. Dash also loves to play with words and works as a page at the Chicago Public Library. He dreams of one day getting a degree in library science, and the whole family dreams of one day having a house of their own.

This happy, loving family is shattered when Dash disappears suddenly one icy winter evening on his way home from work. The police aren’t much help – they seem to think Early’s dad left on his own – and before long, Early, her mom, and her little brother lose their apartment and are forced to move to a city shelter. Early’s life falls apart as she is torn from her school, her friends, and the only home she has ever known, all while worrying about her beloved father.

Dash taught his daughter well, though, and Early begins to look for patterns and rhythms in what has happened that might help her find her father. She unravels tiny clues left behind in a desperate search to bring her family back together. As the days turn into weeks and months, though, she is forced to take on more responsibility as her mother falls apart and gives into despair and hopelessness, and the three of them struggle to adjust to life in a shelter.

This incredible novel packs a lot into a few hundred pages. It is a heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about family and the meaning of home. It is a suspenseful and complex mystery, filled with surprising twists you will never see coming. It is a realistic portrayal of what life is like for the estimated 30,000 homeless children in Chicago (that’s just in one city!). And it is a love story that attests to the power of words and books. I loved Early’s family and never wanted their story to end.

274 words, Scholastic Press

NOTE: Although this book is marketed to a wide range of middle-grade readers as young as 8, it is most appropriate for those in middle-school or older. The mystery at the heart of the story is fairly complicated, as are the emotions evoked by the plight of the main characters. I also think this book will appeal to teen readers who like realistic fiction, even though the main character is only eleven. And, as an adult, I loved this book and never felt I was being talked down to. I can’t wait to share it with some of my young cousins and nieces. Highly recommended.

 

Middle-Grade Review: Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year

We are big fans of Grammy Award-winning Bill Harley in our family; he is a singer, storyteller, author, and all-around entertainer. Even though my sons are now in their mid to late teens, listening to a Bill Harley story can still make them laugh out loud – and he has the same effect on my husband and I!  I previously reviewed another Bill Harley middle-grade novel, Night of the Spadefoot Toads, and his Dear Santa picture book remains among our favorite holiday books. So, I was thrilled to hear he’d written a new middle-grade novel, Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year, which is also the start of new series. I loved this novel; reading it is like listening to Bill Harley tell his stories in my head!

Charlie Bumpers is a normal kid, getting ready to start fourth grade. As the novel opens, he is frantically trying to clean his room before his mom comes home (he ends up clearing the mess out from the closet and moving it under the bed). His big brother, Matt, is always on his back and loves to tease him. His little sister, Mabel, can be cute sometimes, but she’s also very loud and can not keep a secret! Charlie’s room-cleaning comes to an abrupt stop when his mom gets home and announces that she found out who Charlie’s teacher will be this year: Mrs. Burke.

Charlie’s mom is excited because Mrs. Burke was named Teacher of the Year last year, but Charlie knows he is doomed. What his mom doesn’t know is that there was an “incident” last year when Charlie ended up throwing a sneaker that hit Mrs. Burke in the head (it’s a long story). Now, he knows she hates him, and fourth grade is ruined. Even worse, his best friend, Tommy, is in a different class.

Charlie does his best to make a good impression on Mrs. Burke and start the year off right, but things never turn out the way he intended. Somehow, Charlie always ends up in trouble – with Mrs. Burke, with his classmates, and even with the new gym teacher, Mr. Shuler, aka General Shuler, Intergalatic Supreme Commander of Soccer Balls. How will Charlie ever survive the whole year when he can barely get through the first week?

The writing and story in this novel are pitch-perfect for younger middle-grade readers. Charlie and his friends feel like real kids, struggling with real problems. As always, Harley captures childhood perfectly, with a nice dose of his trademark humor and plenty of warmth. This series is sure to be a hit with kids who like reading about real-life kids like themselves and fans of the Horrible Harry series who are a little older now.

138 pages, Peachtree Publishers

Check out Bill Harley's Charlie Bumpers website, including a book trailer. 

If you have never heard Bill Harley perform before, listen to him tell one of his classic kid stories, Zanzibar:



 

Middle-Grade Review: Lucky for Good

I adored Susan Patron’s first two Hard Pan trilogy novels, The Higher Power of Lucky and Lucky Breaks. I recently read the final novel featuring endearing eleven-year old Lucky, Lucky for Good, and enjoyed the heart-warming story just as much as the first two novels.

 Lucky lives in tiny Hard Pan, nestled among mountains in a remote California desert, with her adoptive mother, Brigitte, who runs the Hard Pan Café. She is happy there, among the other quirky but lovable residents of her town. Lucky now feels confident in her place among them and with Brigitte, but new questions keep popping up in her life. She wonders about the father who abandoned her and about her friend Miles’ mother who’s been recently released from prison. She’s worried about the café’s recent visit from the health department and about a middle-school boy visiting town who is sullen and mean. And when Lucky is assigned a family tree for school, she wonders how on earth she will ever find any information at all about her biological family.

As in previous Hard Pan novels, the town’s residents come together to help solve some of these problems and Lucky leans on her friends and on Brigitte to help with others. Lucky does some growing up in this novel, learning some important lessons about both friends and family along the way and even discovering a new relative.

All of the Hard Pan novels featuring Lucky are warm, funny, and intelligent, and this one is no exception. There is nothing frightening or depressing here, but Patron doesn’t shy from serious issues. In this last novel, Lucky struggles with the definition of family, feeling abandoned by her father, and even the controversy between devote Christian Creationists and the concept of evolution. As always, Lucky’s story is told in a gentle and clever way. These novels have more intelligence and emotional depth than many middle-grade books but are always heart-warming and affirmative. I will miss reading about Lucky and the rest of the Hard Pan residents!

203 pages, Atheneum (Simon & Schuster)

       

Teen/YA Review: Stolen

 Stolen by Lucy Christopher won a Printz Honor award in 2011, and it’s easy to see why. This unique novel about the relationship between a kidnapper and his captive has great emotional depth and explores the gray areas of what is usually considered a straightforward issue.

Gemma, a teen traveling with her parents, is kidnapped from the airport by a young man named Ty. Before he drugs her and takes her away, Gemma is attracted to the handsome man with the blue eyes who buys her a coffee, but when she wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings, all she feels is fear.

The novel is told as a letter from Gemma to Ty about her experiences, starting from the moment she saw him in the airport. You would think that her story would be horrifying and terrifying, but it’s far more complicated than that. Ty treats her with kindness, and the two of them are alone, in the definitive “middle of nowhere,” with no one to rely on but each other. She must trust him to some degree, as she is relying on him for her survival in this dangerous and remote – yet beautiful – place.

I won’t say any more about the plot because part of this book’s attraction is its suspense and surprises. The novel is well written and wholly unique. I have read several other teen/YA novels about abductions, and while they were engrossing, this one takes a different approach and explores a far more complicated relationship than just captor and captive. In fact, there are times when you find yourself actually rooting for Ty, even though you know what he did was horribly wrong. I love thought-provoking books that explore the gray areas of life, and this one fits the bill. Stolen is both tender and terrifying, showing that there is almost always more to a situation than meets the eye.

299 pages, Scholastic

 

Middle-Grade Review: Crispin: The Cross of Lead

My husband and son have been telling me to read Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi for many years. The book collected dust on my TBR shelf for a very long time, but I finally got around to reading it this week. Guess what? They were right! Crispin is an exciting, fast-paced novel set in a fascinating time period.

It is the Middle Ages in England in 1377. A thirteen-year old boy who has only ever been known as Asta’s son is grieving over the loss of his mother, the only family he’s ever known. He lives in a small, rural village where everyone is very poor and works for the Lord of the local area. Though he thinks he has nothing left to lose, Asta’s son is soon accused of a crime he didn’t commit, with a price put on his head.

Confused, alone, and frightened, he flees his tiny village and goes past its boundaries for the first time in his life. He has nothing but his mother’s cross of lead and a newly revealed name, Crispin. With no sense of anything outside his village, Crispin embarks on an arduous journey through the English countryside with his enemies close behind him, though Crispin has no idea why they are after him. He meets up with a strange, large man named Bear who makes Crispin his personal servant, though Crispin comes to see Bear as more of a benefactor over time, as they flee from Crispin’s pursuers together.

My husband and son were right – this is an exciting, fast-paced adventure story with plenty of heart...oh, and by the way, it won the Newberry Medal. It is filled with surprises (some of which I guessed at, but it is meant for middle-grade readers). Any kids who enjoy historical settings or adventure in any form will come to care for Crispin and root him on, as the pages fly by.

262 pages, Hyperion Books

2013 Reading Challenges:

This book takes place in England for my Where Are You Reading Challenge and counts toward my TBR Pile Reading Challenge.

Teen/YA Review: Trapped

I thought that Trapped by Michael Northrup, with its snow-covered cover, would be a perfect mid-winter read, and I was right. I read this suspenseful teen/YA novel in just two days and could scarcely set it down.

Trapped is an apt name for this story about seven high school kids trapped inside their school for days during a blizzard. A winter storm of historic proportions, even for New England, covers the area with over 10 feet of snow, piling up faster than the plows can clear it, until it is so deep that even plows can’t get through. Oh, and did I mention the power went out?

This novel works on two levels: as a fast-paced adventure story and as a character study. The adventure comes in, of course, simply from trying to survive. The kids are left without adult supervision and must fend for themselves to provide food, water, and heat.  Their challenges grow and become more extreme as the storm worsens and continues far longer than any of them thought it could. The suspense builds as the snow piles up outside. Eventually, they realize if they are going to be saved, they need to save themselves. Their deteriorating situation provides ample suspense and makes this book a page-turner.

But this is also a fascinating story of seven very different people trying to get along with each other under extreme circumstances. The high school setting adds another layer of intrigue, since these seven kids are not ones who would normally hang out together (or even acknowledge each other) in the normal school atmosphere. There are three guys who are good friends (though very different people), a gorgeous and popular female athlete and her BFF, a chronic troublemaker, and a social outcast. At first, they stick to their own kind, but as their situation becomes more dire, they need to work together – and even rely on each other – in order to survive.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced novel. It was the kind of story that completely pulled me in, so I was thinking about it all the time. I felt like I was there, in that cold, dark school in the midst of a blizzard, with them. I love novels that so completely capture my imagination. Just writing about it makes me want to read it again!

232 pages, Scholastic

 

Teen/YA Review: The Fault in Our Stars

After hearing rave reviews  of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars all year, I finally got a chance to read it myself, just before the end of the year. A young friend of mine lent it to me after I squealed in delight seeing her reading it! It was just as wonderful as everyone said it was and surprisingly funny and warm for such a serious subject matter.

Seventeen-year old Hazel has had terminal cancer for much of her young life. A miracle drug has given her more time, but she and her doctors know that it is only a temporary reprieve.  Her life is pretty routine and depressing until the day that a new guy shows up at the kids’ cancer support group she attends. Augustus Waters is unlike anyone Hazel has ever met before. He is honest and funny and is a big believer in metaphor. Oh, and he’s gorgeous, with a crooked smile that Hazel loves.

Life with Augustus around is much more interesting, but there are still plenty of dark clouds on the horizon. Adding to their troubles, Hazel and Augustus’ friend Isaac needs another eye surgery for his cancer that will leave him blind. Despite these enormous challenges, the three friends keep each other laughing…and support each other when the tears and anger come. Hazel also finds support from a favorite novel that she relates to and has read dozens of times:

“My favorite book, by a wide margin, was An Imperial Affliction, but I didn’t like to tell people about it. Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together again unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.”

Hazel does end up sharing her favorite book with Augustus, but I don’t want to say much more about what happens because the plot includes some surprises. The relationship between the three friends – and especially between Hazel and Augustus – is at the heart of this novel.  John Green’s talent for realistic teen dialogue shines through, and the book is filled with warmth, depth, emotion, and surprising humor. I literally did laugh and cry while reading it. A book that can make me feel such a wide range of emotions is certainly a winner.

313 pages, Dutton Books

 

Middle-Grade Review: Greetings from Planet Earth

Barbara Kerley is the author of several award-winning picture books, but Greetings from Planet Earth is her first middle-grade novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this distinctive and engaging book and look forward to reading more from her in the future!

In 1977, Theo’s 12^th birthday is bittersweet. His mom, grandma, and older sister celebrate with him and give him nice gifts, but his father is still missing. His dad joined the Army and went to Vietnam, but he never returned; it was years before Theo heard the term MIA because his mother never talks about his dad. But even knowing his dad is MIA still leaves Theo with a lot of questions about him because he barely remembers the father that left when Theo was 5 years old. No one ever wants to talk about him, but finally, Theo’s grandma begins to tell him about his dad.

At the same time, Theo’s mind is also occupied by his class project. Voyager 2 will leave Earth in the summer carrying golden records to bring greetings from earth into space. Theo’s class is making their own golden record, and Theo needs to figure out what his contribution will be. What is the most important thing about Earth? And its people? Theo considers and discards many ideas for his photo and recording, as he gradually learns more and more about his missing father.

Greetings from Planet Earth seamlessly blends light-hearted fun, facts about the moon, and introspective drama into a single, agreeable story. It captures the excitement of the early space era, along with the thoughtfulness of a young boy’s search for both his identity and his father. The characters are all real and likable, and the story moves along at a fast-pace and even has some surprises hiding along the way. It’s an excellent novel for middle-grade readers of both genders who enjoy realistic stories with some depth and heart.

243 pages, Scholastic

 

Middle-Grade Fiction: The View From Saturday

E.L. Konigsburg is well known for her award-winning children’s literature, having won two Newberry Medals for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and this novel, The View from Saturday.  We listened to the audio of From the Mixed-Up Files… together as a family, as well as another Konigsburg novel, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World.  Unfortunately, my teenage sons don’t like listening to audio books together anymore (sniff, sniff), but I enjoyed listening to this one on my own.

The View from Saturday is about a sixth-grade Academic Bowl team, but to my surprise, very little of the story is actually about the competition itself.  This novel is more of a character study, examining the lives of each of the four team members and how they came to know each other and become friends.  Ethan, who is very smart but rarely talks, feels like he lives in the shadow of his high-achieving older brother.  Nadia, with a halo of bright red hair, meets Ethan for the first time when her grandfather marries his grandmother down in Florida, and they both visit during the summer and end up saving turtles together.  Noah, by a strange accident, ends up acting as best man at the wedding of Ethan’s grandmother and Nadia’s grandfather.  The fourth and final Academic Bowl team member is Julian, who is new to the area, with an unusual and exotic background that makes him fodder for the school bullies.

The four of them begin to become friends when Julian invites them all to a tea party.  Their teacher, Mrs. Olinski, who has returned to teaching for the first time since an accident that left her in a wheelchair, isn’t entirely sure why she has chosen these four for her team, except that each one just seems to be the right choice at the right time.  The team is very successful together, as the opening scene of the Academic Bowl shows, but more importantly, the four kids become friends and each becomes more comfortable with who she or he is, through their experiences both in school and out.

This is essentially the story of outcasts finding their place in the world.  Each of the four kids – and their teacher – is a bit of a geek and feels out of place at the beginning, until they find each other and begin to bond.  It’s a warm story of unlikely friendship, with touches of gentle humor throughout.  I have to admit that my 14-year old son was right – he wouldn’t have enjoyed this book much, despite having been on his own middle school’s Academic Bowl team.  He just prefers more action and suspense in his books (when he reads at all!).  But kids who enjoy real-life stories of real-life kids overcoming obstacles and finding friends will enjoy this novel as much as I did.

Simon & Schuster Audio

Teen/YA Review: The Chocolate War

I wanted to read a YA novel for Banned Book Week, so I perused the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books in the 90’s and chose The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.  I’ve heard of this book many times over the years (it was published in 1974) but never read it before so I grabbed one of the many copies off my local library’s shelves.  It is a violent but compelling novel about cruelty and conformity.

Jerry is a freshman at Trinity, a Catholic all-boys high school.  He is still struggling to deal with his mother’s recent death and lives a lonely existence, going to a new school without any friends and rarely seeing his taciturn father who works odd hours as a pharmacist.  The one bright spot in Jerry’s world is football.  In the opening scene of the novel, he is trying out as quarterback for the team, being brutally tackled again and again while the harsh coach yells at him. Yes, this is a highlight of Jerry’s life.

Though outwardly it would seem that the Brothers who teach the classes run Trinity, the truth is that a secret student group called the Vigils are controlling things behind the scenes.  Archie is the Vigils’ Assigner, and each week he chooses innocent students and assigns them various humiliations and pranks.  No one would ever think of defying Archie or the Vigils; the entire student body lives in fear of them, as does much of the teaching staff.

And that’s how things go at Trinity, the ways things have always gone at Trinity, until one day when something snaps in Jerry, and he defies both the cruel school head and the Vigils.  There’s a poster in Jerry’s locker that says, “Do I dare disturb the universe?” and that’s exactly what he does when he quietly but firmly refuses to go along with the status quo.

It’s easy to see why this book has been banned.  From the opening scene at football practice through several vicious fight scenes, violence is a central theme in the book, and it is quite graphic.  There are also several sexual references, though nothing explicit there, but book banners generally don’t like books that even mention masturbation.

All in all, Cormier’s famous YA novel presents a pretty dim view of mankind.  And I do mean mankind, not humankind, as the book is populated entirely by male characters; the only female characters are minor ones barely mentioned and only present as objects of the boys’ desire.  It is a very “Lord of the Flies” sort of situation, with most of the main characters, including the head teacher, acting with intense cruelty and completely lacking compassion.  True, there are some good guys here, including Jerry’s only friend, Goober, but the good guys are completely manipulated and controlled by the bad guys.  It's a dark view of human nature, though I don’t think the author means to say that all men are cruel but that a few bad apples have turned Trinity into an evil place.  All in all, though the novel was too violent for my taste, there is no doubt that it is a compelling and well-written story, and I can see that it would make for some excellent discussions about human nature in a high school English class.

191 pages, Bantam Doubleday Dell

 

Middle-Grade Review: Drama

I don’t normally read many graphic novels, but I really enjoyed Drama by Raina Telgemeier, a graphic novel with more depth than I expected about a middle-school drama production.

Callie is a 7^th grader who is in love with live theater.  She figured out a while ago that she doesn’t have the talent for singing or acting, but Callie has found her place in the world of theater on the stage crew, working on set design.  She and her friends are excited about helping to put on this year’s production of Moon Over Mississippi.  Adding to the fun are twin brothers Callie just met who share her enthusiasm for the stage.

Of course, there are the usual mishaps and challenges inherent in a school play, but this novel has several  features that make it different.  The first is the emphasis on the stage crew instead of on the lead actors.  My son had the lead role in his own middle-school’s musical last year, so I was fascinated to learn about what goes on behind the scenes and back stage.  Kids will like finding out that there are ways to be an important part of a school play even if singing in front of a crowded auditorium isn’t their thing.

The other feature that makes Drama stand out is its emotional depth.  Yes, there are the puppy love crushes and unrequited love you expect to find in any middle-grade novel, but this book deals with more complicated issues as well, including homosexuality and the difficulty of trying to figure out who you are as an adolescent.  But these serious issues are dealt with in a fairly light way, not overshadowing the fun and, well…drama of putting on the school play.  With romance, humor, and the fascinating world of the theater, this graphic novel is sure to be a big hit with tweens.

233 pages, Scholastic