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BookLover1967  Rosoff, Meg. how I live now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2004. Because troubled teens, divorce, and fighting have been around awhile, it is at first difficult to determine the time of this story. When Daisy first leaves her father and Davina the Diabolical to live in England with her Aunt Penn and cousins, I guessed that the setting was modern; cell phones, airports, and emails were mentioned. Then, the London bombings happened, and I remembered the subway bombings not even twelve months ago in London. But, then Meg Rosoff cleverly projects you to a near future while remaining very vague about the details. The reader just knows that London – and its surrounding areas – has been occupied. There is a war. But, the real story is about the cousins who never met before Daisy’s trip. Upon meeting Edmund at the airport, daisy recognizes a special attraction to her cousin. As the novel, war, world goes on, the two act on their feelings and become lovers. But, then the cousins are divided up, and Piper and Daisy go to one farm, and the boys all to another. Daisy’s desperate search for answers, her new home, and Edmund keep Daisy and Piper going, sneaking through very dangerous parts of the occupation and stumbling upon horrific deaths. Current mood:  accomplished.
Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth. New York: Viking, 2005. Partridge does an excellent job chronicling John Lennon’s life, his Quarry Men band, the Beatles, and life after the Beatles when he became “JohnandYoko.” The reader probably already is aware of the extensive drug use of the band – and many other bands – but Partridge explains why. She doesn’t excuse the behavior – just explains it. There really was so much tragedy in his life – so many losses. And, sadly, his sons’ “loss held an uncanny echo from John’s childhood: At age five, Sean was the same age John was when he went from his mother to his aunt Mimi: Teenage Julian lost his father, just as John had irrevocably lost his mother” (204). Born in 1967, I was too young to understand what was going on during Beatle mania and post-Beatle mania; the politics; the drugs; etc. But, I did grow up appreciating the musical genius that was these four young men. It was quite interesting to go back and understand as an adult what was happening in the John Lennon’s world when I was just a young girl. I think this distance has enabled me to be a little more objective than those who were in the throws of the sixties. I still agree that the Beatles and John Lennon created musical magic. But they, themselves, were just humans. Current mood: accomplished.
Schmidt, Gary D.. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. New York: Clarion Books, 2004. Turner Buckminster had only lived in Phippsburg, Maine, for about 6 hours and already he wanted to “light out of the Territories.” An expression more commonly known to us these days would be “get the Hell out of Dodge!” He was the minister’s son, and everyone in the town expected him to act the part. Well, Turner didn’t want the part, so he seemed to do everything to be just the opposite. Set back in the early 1900’s, Turner, being a young white boy, was “forbidden” to venture out to Malaga Island, where what soon becomes his best friend Lizzy, a young black girl, lives. Lizzy is just about the only person in the town who will give Turner any positive attention. Turner doesn’t need any help getting the negative attention that seems to follow him around like a cloud hovering over his head. Turner, being punished, is to read and play the organ for old Mrs. Cobb every day in the summer, and soon he befriends her, as well. Turner soon invites Lizzy to listen to him play in Mrs. Cobb’s house. And to both of their surprise, Mrs. Cobb doesn’t seem to mind; she even quietly, without words, invites Lizzy back time and time again. Soon the three create quite a bond that was never to be expected. As Turner plays, Mrs. Cobb continuously reminds Turner that if her time comes, he must write down her last words. The time comes, and her last words are not what the town would expect…neither is her last will and testament. Because she has made such a bond with Turner and Lizzy, she leaves her house to Turner, who in turn wants to give it to Lizzy. The rest of the town’s people are up in a roar and will not hear of it. Time fades and the town ends up destroying Turner’s few loves. He and his mom go to live in Mrs. Cobb’s house and make it a home. Turner’s father leaves him with this, “The world turns and the world spins, the tide runs in and the tide runs out, and there is nothing in the world more beautiful and more wonderful in all its evolved form than two souls who look at each other straight on. And there is nothing more woeful and soul-saddening than when they are parted” (215-216). Current mood:  refreshed.
Green, John. looking for alaska. New York: Dutton Books, 2005. Miles Halter, interestingly enough, chooses to go away to a boarding school. He’s grown up in Florida and has a very blah, uneventful life. Only two “friends” even show up at his going away party which convinces him that he is right in wanting to go search out a Great Perhaps – coined by poet Francois Rabelais. He willingly heads to his father’s alma mater, Culver Creek in Alabama. On his second day there, he meets his roommate Chip Martin, AKA the Colonel, who dubs Miles “Pudge.” More importantly, the Colonel introduces Pudge to Alaska Young. Alaska is blunt, daring, annoying, funny, sultry, and she has a boyfriend Jake. But that doesn’t keep Alaska from flirting with Pudge or Pudge from falling head over heels in love with Alaska. Along with Takumi and Lara, the Colonel, Alaska, and Pudge work up schemes to out prank the Weekday Warriors, the rich kids. Pranks are a long-standing tradition at Culver Creek as long as the Eagle, Mr. Starnes the headmaster, doesn’t catch you and make you face the Jury. The Colonel, with his real hate for the money; Alaska, with her roller coaster of emotions; and Pudge, with his famous last liners survive the fall of their junior year. The spring semester, however, begins with pranks, continues with a death, and ends in the best prank of all. Current mood:  determined.
Walker, Sally M.. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2005. Walker has put together a wonderfully researched story of a bit of history. She begins telling about the purpose and research and creation of the H. L. Hunley, a Civil War submarine. The Union Naval ships hand blocked the important southern port in South Carolina, as well as several other southern ports. The Confederate Army desperately needed supplies – i.e. guns – that would be delivered via this port. Horace Lawson Hunley and James McClintock had the answer. Walker goes on to tell what made the Hunley different from the other torpedo-carrying vessles of the time; it was a submarine – it could go undetected by the enemy ships. Walker easily explains the science of positive versus negative buoyancy. The Confederate Army is up for the risky mission. However, after the first two crews lose their lives in trial runs – H. L. Hunley being the captain of the second crew - General Beauregard, commander of the Confederate troops in the Charleston area, does not want to risk another mission. George E. Dixon and William Alexander convince General Beauregard that they have learned and solved the problems of the previous two crews. So, a third crew trains and takes off, lead by Dixon, on February 17, 1864. They successfully sink the Housatonic, a Union ship in South Carolina’s bay. However, the Hunley and its crew never return. The H. L. Hunley remains missing for 136 years. Starting in the 1980s, Clive Cussler passionately searched for the never-found vessel and its crew. And, finally, in 1995, Harry Percorelli, an underwater archaeologist and diver, touched the smooth hull of the H. L. Hunley. Water continues the tale with the painstaking steps the team took to first excavate her, lift her, and transport her to land – which took five years. Recovery day was August 8, 2000. Then, the even harder task of investigating and conserving the Hunley and its crew began. Six years later, the story is not done. Several mysteries have been solved – the crew members’ identities - but many more remain. We still don’t exactly what happened that kept the crew from returning safely from their historical mission. Current mood:  exhausted.
Oppel, Kenneth. Airborn. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004. When the reader first meets Matt Cruse, cabin boy on the Aurora, she might be a little confused. Is he on a ship? What kind of ship? Wait, he’s not merely looking up at the constellations and clouds, Matt’s in them. He’s in the sky on an airship. Oppel then begins to weave this futuristic – no, it’s in the past – fantasy tale of Matt’s adventure on the Aurora, an airship for which he’s worked three years, ever since his fathered died. The reader meets a world that is full of like airships (like blimps), and today’s airplanes don’t even exist. Oppel’s able to tell the reader about this world very casually through the plot, and thus, he makes it all very believable. He completely explains the science of the airship without boring the reader. Even though he’s just a cabin boy, Matt is the crew member to swing out to the troubled vessel, the air balloon Endurance, and bring its gondola and passenger on board the Aurora because he’s “Lighter than air, that’s our Mr. Cruse” (18). Once again, Captain Walken is very pleased with Matt. However, the real adventure happens six months later when Matt meets Kate de Vries. She and her chaperone, Miss Simpkins, are late boarders, and Matt immediately notices that Kate is different from most girls his age, from most of the rich passengers. Slowly, Kate shares with Matt that her grandfather was the man on the Endurance that Matt had attempted to save. (He died in the ship’s infirmary.) Furthermore, Kate shares her grandfather’s flight journal with Matt, and this only begins the excitement of a yet undiscovered flying creature, pirates, and a shipwreck on a deserted island. Current mood: exhausted.
Myers, Walter Dean. Autobiography of My Dead Brother. New York: Amistad, 2005. Rise and Jesse are brothers – blood brothers. Rise’s mother had babysat Jesse when they were both toddlers, Rise being two years older. So, Jesse thinks he knows Rise. They’ve grown up together; the collected comic books together; they hung out on the stoop together. Rise asks Jesse to write Rise’s life story. Jesse is a superb artist and has been sketching Rise and other friends and scenes for years. However, this summer as he tries to draw Rise, Jesse can’t capture him on paper. Because, this summer, Rise has changed, is changing. Jesse and the other members of a local boys club called The Counts – C.J., Gun, Calvin, and Benny - are desperately trying to avoid being sucked into the stereotypical drug and gun existence that is the hood – Harlem. I kept wishing as I read that this was not going to be another Monster where the reader is learning about the narrator’s (Stephen’s – I think) court case and possible imprisonment because he caught sucked into bad things by bad people. I could feel Jesse – and even church piano/organ playing C.J. – being pulled in by Rise and his drug and drive-by dealings. I didn’t want to read about these good kids just giving up and allowing it to happen. Is that what happens to EVERY poor, hood-living young man? Rise talks about making it real, and that’s just what Myers has done again. Current mood:  calm.
Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks : A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2005. Batty (four), Jane (ten), Skye (eleven), and Rosalind (twelve) are the Penderwick sisters, and one can easily be reminded of Little Women. At the outset of the novel, it is summer vacation, and the Penderwicks are venturing to the Arundel Cottage. They should have already arrived, but Hound has eaten the map. However, thanks to Harry the tomato man, they find Arundel and much adventure. Upon arrival, the Penderwicks’ mouths fall open at the grandness of Arundel Hall. Cagney, the teenage gardener, greets them and explains that the cottage is over to the back and side of Arundel Hall. As they load back into the car to head for the cottage, Jane thinks she sees a boy in a window of the mansion. Because she is a creative, imaginative spirit, her sighting is dismissed by her sisters. Later, Skye, the athletic, math-minded sister, runs head on into Jeffrey Tifton, the boy from the window. And, from that point on the girls’ summer adventures begin with Jeffrey, Cagney, Harry, Churchie, Hound, and the bunnies, Carla and Yaz. Unfortunately, they keep running head on into mishaps and – even scarier – Mrs. Tifton, Jeffrey’s mother. Current mood: busy.
Crutcher, Chris. Sledding Hill. New York: Greenwillow, 2005. I really like the creative risk Crutcher took in this novel. First, I like the dead narrator – following Lovely Bones (Sebold) and The Afterlife (Soto). His dead narrator, Billy Bartholomew, even talks about writing a book, telling his friend’s, Eddie Proffit’s, story like Alice Sebold. Crutcher keeps Billy this side of the theological questions. Billy focuses on his friend, saying that he will eventually leave his side when it’s time. I, also, love how Crutcher weaves Crutcher into the tale! I was worried, at first, just how he was going to handle it. I couldn’t imagine this turning into a self-praising story. Warren Peece is the novel the very modern literature teacher assigns her class to read – which happens to be by Chris Crutcher. (I love the play on the title, by the way.) The novel is attacked by the Red Brick Church, and Reverend Tarter is behind it. The problem is that Eddie Proffit needs this book. In one month’s time, his father has died, and his best friend Billy Bartholomew has died; AND Eddie is the one who found them both. School starts, and Eddie is convinced that he’s gone mad because he keeps seeing Billy’s face. Then, when Billy talks to him … It’s a very lonely, scary time in Eddie’s life, but he relates to the characters in Warren Peece. He won’t let them be taken from him, too. Current mood: busy.
Mackler, Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2003. Virginia Shreves comes from the perfect family. Everyone is perfect except, of course, Virginia. Virginia battles with her weight, her mom, her brother, her best friend moving away, and anything else you can imagine a young high school girl might have to deal with. Mom is an Adolescent Psychologist; Dad travels and doesn't have a lot of time for family; sister is in the Peace Corp in Africa; and brother is the perfect athlete, college debater, and all around good looking guy. Virginia has a lot to compete with; at least she thinks so. Virginia lives by the "Fat Girls Code of Conduct" and hasn't had any sexual experiences, until this year. She finally gets to second base. Froggy has now come into her life and into her shirt. But Virginia would be mortified if Froggy ever saw what is underneath her shirt. With all the stresses of a high school teen, Virginia has become very distant from the rest of the world and doesn't associate herself with anything but food, her computer and the TV. She doesn't even talk with her parents. She would rather help Mrs. Crowley grade papers than have to deal with trying to find someone to sit with at lunch. Mrs. Crowley becomes her only confidant, at least in New York City. Shannon is her best friend but has moved to Walla Walla and can only be an ear to help Virginia. It isn't until Mrs. Crowley tells Virginia that she has to quit doubting herself so quickly that Virginia finally starts to stand up for herself and to everyone. She announces to her parents that she's going to Seattle to visit Shannon. They tell her she can't go, but Virginia doesn't take no for an answer. While in Seattle, Virginia "finds" herself. She pierces her eyebrow, and that is just the beginning of Virginia "coming to life." From this point on, Virginia starts to make a change in her life and decides to live. She starts a web page for the school, takes a stand with her weight and her mom, tells her brother how she feel, mends relations with her Dad, and really spreads her wings. Current mood: accomplished.
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