Tag: Relationships

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When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Last month I reviewed a Newbery winner which fascinated me with its intricate puzzle mystery. When You Reach Me is based on another complicated mystery, which, if I tell you the type of puzzle it is at its core, I would ruin the ending for you. So let’s just use the broad genre of science fiction to label it.

Synopsis

Written in 2009 but set in the 1970s, When You Reach Me reads like a vintage novel. Miranda is in sixth grade, lives in New York City, and Sal has been her best friend since before they learned how to talk. But when Sal gets punched by a kid for no apparent reason, he refuses to have anything more to do with Miranda. She’s hurt, but gradually finds some new friends.

Life would be okay, but mysterious things begin to happen. Her hidden emergency key is stolen. A shoe goes missing. And she receives cryptic notes from someone who knows an awful lot about her. The notes leave her thinking that tragedy could be heading her way. By the time she solves the puzzle from the notes, she might be too late to save a friend’s life.

Pros

1. Rebecca Stead had my brain whirring with possibilities from page two through the rest of the book until the satisfying final reveal. Does Miranda’s mother get hurt? Why does Miranda never want to remember the last six months of her life?
2. The chapters are titled as if they are topics on The $20,000 Pyramid TV game show, which is a fabulous detail to integrate into the setting, and highly entertaining for me.
3. Through Miranda’s new friendships, the author touches on current issues of the era, and does so in such a manner that young readers learn a great deal of the culture while they are immersed in story.

Cons

1. The average reader might get lost with so many clues to follow when none of them make sense. Rebecca Stead gives nothing away until the “veil” is lifted from Miranda’s eyes. And then it ALL makes sense.
2. Some parents may be uncomfortable with Miranda’s living situation. Her mom is single, and Mom’s boyfriend is in their home a lot. The author doesn’t specifically say he spends the night, but he does keep clothes in the apartment. They do plan to marry at the end of the book.

Discussion Questions

1. Marcus had punched Miranda’s best friend for no apparent reason. Why did she end up being Marcus’s friend?
2. If you had a friend with Annemarie’s health problems, what would you do to be helpful?
3. Miranda didn’t like Julia for a long time. What changed?
4. Is there someone in your class that you don’t like? Do you think you could change the situation for the better?
5. Who is the homeless old man?

Conclusion

Discussion question #5 will inform you if your child understood the story or not. And the answer will give him or her plenty to reflect upon regarding how people treat one another.

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The Westing Game By Ellen Raskin

The Westing Game is a mystery, or more accurately, a puzzle-mystery as described in the author’s own words. With sixteen characters, each with their own point-of-view, the challenge of solving the mystery ranks on par with the difficulty level of a 3000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

As an avid reader, I hate to waste my time rereading any story. There are so many books, and I have so little time! But The Westing Game has joined the exclusive club of Second Reads in Linda’s Library. In fact, because of the complicated puzzle, as soon as I read the last page, I turned to the front of the book and started over. I wanted to discover all the clues I had missed in the first reading. I’ve never done that before.

Synopsis

Sam Westing, the reclusive multi-millionaire, has been murdered. Sixteen heirs are invited to a reading of the will, which, in reality, is a contest. Whoever can solve the puzzle of Westing’s death inherits his estate. His lawyer provides the clues, a few at a time. Without mentioning every possible heir, the characters include perky and angry preteen Turtle to the morose, sixty-something Crow, from an African-American judge to the doorman of the apartment where most of the sixteen live. How one of them is able to solve the puzzle becomes an exercise in fascination. And how all sixteen characters grow in kindness and love toward one another warms the heart.

Pros

1. An excellent mystery is a pro in itself. If I can’t predict the outcome until the last page or two, the author has succeeded with flying colors. I was able to solve the major clues early on, yet couldn’t solve the entire puzzle-mystery.

2. The story is full of surprises along the way. I love surprises!

Cons

1. The head-hopping with sixteen POVs was disconcerting. But I got used to it and started to enjoy it.

2. The puzzle is awfully complex for a middle-grader to follow. I kept returning to previous pages and checked specific clues to keep track of the story. During an earlier era of my life (before my motto of “relentlessly eliminate hurry”), I had started this book and set it down because I didn’t have the leisure of mulling over the possibilities. I’m so glad I took the time to enjoy it now.

Discussion Questions

While there are dozens of questions one could ask regarding each clue, let’s skip to the end and see if your child knows the answers.

1. Who was Sam Westing?
2. When did Sam Westing die?
3. Who received the inheritance?
4. Why did Sam Westing create this crazy puzzle-mystery in the first place? (Hint: several possible answers would be acceptable which involve the man’s character as well as the integrity of the sixteen heirs.)

Conclusion

Just to whet your inquisitive appetite, I’ll leave you with some of the questions I came up with as I read.

1. Plain, grain, skies, brother?
2. Is Grace a Wexler, a Windkloppel, or a Westing?
3. Who else plays chess?
4. Will Angela die like Violet died?
5. Is Otis Amber a nut or a genius?

Happy reading!

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Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

When Antony John’s wife challenged him to write a book about rock music and its personalities from a deaf person’s point of view, Five Flavors of Dumb was the result.


Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old Piper Vaughn lost her hearing in fifth grade, so her speech is pretty clear, and she’s mastered the skill of reading lips. Communicating to others is so much easier for her if she uses sign language, but only her brother and mom have learned it. Dad is ashamed of his imperfect daughter. However, Piper’s baby sister, Grace, who is also deaf, has just received expensive cochlear implants—paid for with Piper’s college fund. It doesn’t take much imagination to know how she feels.

The chip on her shoulder gets her into the sticky situation of managing, and getting a paying gig for, a high school rock band, Dumb. (That’s the name of the band, not my opinion of Piper!) The five personalities in the band range from arrogant to oppositional to placating, and Piper has her hands full getting them to listen to each other, both on instruments and in life. How can she do that when she can’t even hear the music properly? She depends on her feet to feel the rhythms through the floor, but her hearing aids only give her vague clues on the harmonies.

With the help of an aging ex-rock singer, Piper fumbles her way through the maze of rehearsals, public relations, and contracts. She gains a better understanding of her family while on the journey, learns to accept the hand of friendship as well as extend it, and is stunned by the discovery of romance.

Pros

1. I love a complicated story! With one main character and eight supporting roles, the opportunities for complex relationships abound. Antony John does a masterful job of building the relationships between Piper and her family and Piper and the band. He keeps those relationships true to life, too. She doesn’t succeed with everyone.

2. While the novel is set in the twenty-first century, the author adds wonderful nuggets of rock and roll trivia of the Eighties.

3. Piper gives the reader a good sense of Deaf Culture and what it’s like to be deaf in a hearing world.

Cons

Since Five Flavors of Dumb is not a Christian YA novel, the language can get pretty salty, so I don’t recommend the book for younger readers.
Discussion Questions
1. Why does Piper think her father is ashamed of her? Is she right or wrong? What makes you think so?
2. How does Piper’s opinion of her brother change over the course of the story?
3. How does Piper judge each of the band members at first? List what she thought about each of them. When was she right and when was she wrong? What does she learn about them as individuals?

Conclusion

Directly after the first chapter and directly before the last chapter, Piper creates a list which reveals how she looks at the world. When I compare both lists, I can see how much she’s grown in maturity and in loving others, a great lesson for all readers!

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Rocky Road by Rose Kent

My local library had the foresight to carry several novels with deaf characters for children and teens.  Rocky Road is one of them. In the coming months, I will be including additional reviews as part of a “Deaf Series.”

Synopsis

Tess Dobson has always rolled with the punches that make up her life. Her dad left years ago,  her little brother, Jordan, is deaf, and her mom is a bit wild and crazy. Take, for instance, their sudden move from San Antonio, Texas, to Schenectady, New York.  Mom thinks the schools up north can help Jordan. The family has no money, but Tess’s mother plans to start up an ice cream shop in the middle of the winter. And they’re living in a run-down, old people’s community.

Tess manages to start some new friendships in the middle of seventh grade, keep up with her ASL practice for her brother, get to know some of her elderly neighbors, and help her mom with the preparations for the ice cream parlor. As Mom’s bipolar behavior intensifies, Tess learns that the family’s survival doesn’t depend on Tess.

Pros

  1. All the characters, no matter how quirky, are lovable and to be admired.
  2. With the main character’s southern personality, the down-home, Texas sayings that come out of her mouth make for a fun read.

Cons

While I think of this story as realistic fiction, it’s really not. The characters are almost caricatures. I have never met real people like Tess, her mom, and her friends. That said, there’s nothing wrong with making characters larger than life when the author wants to point out specific traits or actions that readers are encouraged to emulate. In Rocky Road’s case: be a friend and accept individual differences in the people around you.

Discussion questions

  1. Tess knows she can’t talk her mom out of moving, so she decides to make the best of a bad situation. How would you have reacted in the same circumstances?
  2. Why did Mom want to move?
  3. At what point in the story could you tell Mom probably needed medical help?
  4. If you had a brother or sister who was deaf, would you learn sign language?

Conclusion

The book jacket’s final line encapsulates the novel: “This moving story of family, community, and ice cream proves that with a little help from the people around us, life really can be sweet—and a little nutty—just like Rocky Road.” Which is why I loved this book.

 

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M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton

Synopsis

Set in Appalachia of northern Kentucky along the Ohio River,  M.C. Higgins is the oldest son in an African American family, proud of his great grandmother’s mountain and proud of his skills as a swimmer, a hunter-tracker, and how he can shimmy up his forty-foot steel pole to view the hills. Then two strangers enter his domain. The first might be able to make M.C.’s mother a famous singer. The second is a girl who lives the kind of freedom M.C. never considered aiming for.

Over all of them, hover the age-old superstitions handed down through the generations and the brewing storm of strip miners laying bare Sarah’s Mountain. M.C. will soon need to make a choice: stay on his mountain as the coal industry destroys it, or move off the mountain and join the modern world.

Pros

  1. The setting may be more of a main character than M.C. Higgins. Virginia Hamilton’s descriptive imagery is superb.
  2. Readers will gain a solid sense of the culture that has inhabited Appalachia for centuries.
  3. While this is a coming-of-age story during a specific era in a specific setting, it goes beyond race bias and evil coal mine owners. This is M.C.’s story and what happens between him and his parents, between him and his siblings, and between him and the strangers who visit his mountain.

Cons

  1. The setting may be more of a main character than M.C. Higgins. Hamilton’s descriptive imagery and literary style will cause the average juvenile reader to close the book by page 10. I was a voracious reader as a child, but this book would not have held my interest. I would have skipped all the amazing prose to get to the action.
  2. The relationship between M.C. and his father bothered me. They loved each other, respected one another, but the way each challenged the other bordered on generating feelings of hate and disrespect.

Conclusion

M.C. Higgins the Great was a novel I appreciated for its literary excellence. It painted a portrait of one specific area of the United States with a brush that allowed me to become immersed in the setting using every one of my senses. However, I believe it’s a novel geared toward adults, not youth. It takes an especially thoughtful young reader to enjoy what M.C. Higgins has to offer.

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Onion John by Joseph Krumgold

Twelve-year-old Andy Rusch walks to school and walks home for lunch. He’s    free to roam the countryside surrounding his small town of Serenity the whole day long, and his parents have no trouble with him befriending the village’s odd-man character, Onion John.

Today’s generation of children will read Onion John and consider it a fairytale, yet when the novel was written in 1959, it was contemporary realistic fiction. It’s a sweet story of contrasts—growing up and meeting the future versus looking back and accepting the past. Andy and his father both learn wisdom as they try to help Onion John. For Andy, that means being Onion John’s best friend, and since he’s the only person in his community who can understand John’s garbled speech, he also becomes John’s interpreter. For Mr. Rusch, it means turning Onion John  into a good-deed project and organizing the town to help build the “homeless” man a proper house. Except Onion John doesn’t want a new house, and he doesn’t need an interpreter to thrive in the world he has established for himself.

I grew up in communities like Serenity. Why didn’t I read this book as a child? It has such a beautiful ending. My only excuse: the main character is a boy. I only liked girl stories.

Pros

  1. Krumgold weaves life lessons in so subtly, the reader never feels preached at.
  2. The characters often disagree with one another, yet they always keep loving each other. Something our society needs to learn in the 21st century.
  3. Everyone in town is nice. No villains, other than misguided good intentions. You may be thinking, “Why did she say this is not a fairytale?” Because while the people are nice, they’re not perfect. And isn’t that reality? Not many of us rub shoulders with evil people all the time. Friction happens because two decent people have different opinions.
  4. Andy has both a mother and a father, and they enjoy a happy marriage. They love their son. Almost everything I read these days has a main character who is orphaned, half-orphaned, or is a child of divorce . Onion John portrays a refreshing setting.

Cons

  1. I felt the plot still had a slight sagging middle before the town got on board to build Onion John a new house. Then again, maybe it was the boy-style plot details that didn’t hold this old girl’s interest.
  2. Today’s parents might be horrified at the freedoms allowed to Andy, afraid their children would make the mistake of straying too far from home and into an unsafe neighborhood. Unless you live near a crime-ridden area, please don’t overreact. And if you do live in a dangerous area, you could address this as a safety issue via Discussion Question one.

Discussion Questions

  1. What kinds of activities do you think you would have participated in if you were allowed to range from one end of town to the other and out into the country? Would it be safe to have that kind of freedom where you live today?
  2. How did Andy and his buddies show friendship to Onion John? How did Onion John show friendship to them?
  3. What was wrong with Mr. Rusch’s plan to help Onion John?
  4. Did you like Onion John’s decision near the end of the book? Why or why not?
  5. Who do you think was the wisest character in this book and why?

 

Conclusion

If you want a taste of mid-twentieth century Americana combined with a wise attitude toward life, read this book. As a Newbery Medal winner, many libraries still carry it, and you can find it on Amazon.

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The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Synopsis

Ivan is a silverback gorilla, captured as a baby and living his entire life in captivity—a featured attraction in the third-rate Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. With his artistic talents (drawings by Ivan sell for twenty bucks apiece), life is bearable. Plus, he has two good friends, Stella the elephant and Bob, a stray dog who enjoys leftover scraps from Ivan’s domain.

The arrival of a baby elephant changes everything. Ruby’s grief in captivity stirs Ivan’s memory, and when tragedy strikes this little circus family, Ivan is determined to find a better home for Ruby.

Pros

  1. Ivan’s predicament and how he solves it teaches children to think outside the box.
  2. The book unashamedly promotes animal rights. While there are no evil villains, the owner of the arcade struggles to maintain his business, and as a result, the animals are not well cared for. Applegate rightly shows how horrible it is for animals to live in such conditions.
  3. The second half of the book had me cheering Ivan on as he attempts to execute his plan to save Ruby. Your kids will do the same.
  4. The novel is written in charming, simple prose as if a gorilla really could write his story in book form.

Cons

While I admire the author’s passion for animals’ well-being, I found the first half of the book totally depressing. So much so that I almost stopped reading. Ivan philosophically accepts his crummy life and has no hope for freedom, fully expecting to stay in his domain all his days. He refuses to use the word “cage.”

Discussion Questions

You may have a sad, thoughtful child on your hands when you read this book together. I don’t recommend it as silent reading for anyone under ten. A  current of despair runs under the setting. Natural questions will generate discussion. Possibles:

  1. “Why is Stella’s leg injured?”
  2. “Why doesn’t Bob have a home?”
  3. “How did Ivan end up in the arcade?”
  4. “Who is the nicest human in the story?”

Conclusion

Once the reader accepts Ivan’s depressing conditions, they gain the satisfaction of a happy ending. All the characters—human and animal—end up in happier circumstances. The reader will close the book with a smile.

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Flora and Ulysses The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

Scriblerians.com

As a fan of Kate DiCamillo, I’m delighted to report that Flora and Ulysses The Illuminated Adventures does not disappoint. In fact, it may have just become my favorite book of hers. This 2014 Newbery Medal winner is mostly a standard text, but it’s sprinkled with scenes like a graphic novel thanks to illustrator K.G. Campbell. While Flora and Ulysses is perfect for readers eight to ten years old, the story appeals to every age.

Synopsis

Listen. Do not hope. Instead, observe. Ten-year-old Flora is a natural born cynic. She depends on her comic book, The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto!, to help her survive if terrible things should happen to her. (It has a handy-dandy bonus section titled, TERRIBLE THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU!).  Flora is hanging in there after her parents’ divorce, but Mom pays more attention to her writing career than to her daughter. And Dad only gets to visit.

Flora rescues a squirrel that was accidentally vacuumed up by her neighbor. Once she has resuscitated him, she names him Ulysses and discovers he has acquired extraordinary powers as a result of his near-death experience. He can read, he can type, he is super-strong. And he can fly.

As you can see, Flora and Ulysses pops the reader into a rollicking story from the get-go. But as the novel develops, sadness underlies many characters’ lives. While Flora holds fiercely to her cynical persona, she gains compassion for Ulysses, her dad, William Spiver from next door, and finally, for her mom. Flora learns to love and be loved.

Pros

  1. Every chapter entertains. It even has chapters from the squirrel’s point of view!
  2. This book could be very helpful to children whose parents are divorced. While there is hope for reconciliation between Flora’s mom and dad, Andrew Spiver doesn’t have that hope, but he does have friends to help him cope.

Cons

  1. …
  2. I can’t think of any negatives.

Discussion Questions

  1. How did Ulysses get his superpowers?
  2. Why was Flora jealous of a lamp?
  3. Why does Ulysses love Flora?
  4. Who was your favorite character and why?

Conclusion

Read it.

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The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

Synopsis

The Saturdays, first book in The Melendy Quartet, is a delightful trot into yesteryear’s childhood. Elizabeth Enright created a family of four siblings who live an “ordinary” life in New York City, yet their minor escapades become “special” adventures. Set in 1941 before America entered World War II, the Melendy children are a little bored. They decide to pool their allowances so each can afford a solo adventure in the City on Saturday afternoons.

What are the adventures? A visit to an art museum, attending the opera, an afternoon at a beauty salon, and going to the circus. Those excursions might sound dull to this generation, but not in the eyes of these characters. Randy’s visit to the art museum initiates an important friendship. On the way home from the opera, Rush acquires a beloved pet—who later saves their lives. The new hairstyle and manicure is a fleeting thrill teaching Mona the meaning of “someday.” And the trek to the circus proves to Oliver that Father’s training pays off in an emergency. Other simple incidents in their lives bring either catastrophes or blessings.

Pros

  1. Kids won’t read about trips to the mall or the latest Xbox game. Instead, they’re drawn into the world of imagination, discovering there are ways to entertain yourself by interacting with people face to face, and without breaking the bank. For people like me this is a good thing. It breaks my heart to watch kids sit with a small device in their hands, ignoring the world around them.
  2. Each of the Saturday adventures teaches the Melendy child (and the reader) a lesson without being preachy.

Cons

Kids won’t read about trips to the mall or the latest Xbox game. For people who are sold on the society of today, they would wilt in boredom if forced to read a chapter about a ten-year-old who discovers an elderly acquaintance had been captured by gypsies in her youth.

Conclusion

If we sense our children are becoming jaded by our texting-social media-video game society, force them to imagine themselves in the Melendy’s moments. As proof that many kids will like what they read, my own experiences in sharing with my students serves as an example.

My growing-up years were well past the Melendy clan, but my brothers and I enjoyed simple adventures of our own. We walked along a highway to reach the ice cream store. We spent entire afternoons in the woods. We biked to the pool and to the movies. We played kickball in the street.

My students were jealous! “You could just go off and not come home for hours?” “They let you walk on roads with no sidewalks? Alone?” “Weren’t they afraid you’d get lost?” “Wouldn’t you get run over?” “How old were you when they let you do that?”

My answers: “Our parents taught us to walk on the left shoulder facing traffic. We packed a lunch and came home in time for dinner. We never got lost. When a car approached during the game, we ran to the side until it passed. I was nine. My brothers were younger.”

If those students thought adventures on their own would be fantastic, your kids will enjoy The Saturdays.

 

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Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver is the first in a YA urban fantasy trilogy. 

Synopsis

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Pros

  • A fresh take on a werewolf story: the idea that temperature causes them to shift and that newly made wolves are less stable in either form creates.
  • Sam and Grace are both likeable characters.
  • The author is an incredible writer.

Cons

  • Shiver, the first in the trilogy, does not have as complicated, and therefore as interesting, a plot as the rest of the series. It focuses mostly on Sam and Grace’s romance. So romance readers will really enjoy it, but those of us who prefer romance on the side will feel it reads slowly.
  • Grace has absentee parents who don’t pay much attention to what she does. Because of this, she’s able to have Sam spend the night in her room for the entirety of the novel. While their relationship is chaste at the beginning, it does eventually in sex eventually (not explicit). Sex does not become the focus of their romance, although Sam and Grace have trouble being separated from one another. If you didn’t like Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, you probably will not like Shiver.

Final Word

I enjoyed the series, but not enough to rant and rave about it.
 

Discussion Questions

 
  1. On a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very), how strict are your parents?
  2. Grace almost died when she was young. Do her parents act the way you would expect in light of this event?
  3. Would you want Isabel as a friend? Why or why not?
  4. Is it okay to have your boyfriend/girlfriend sleep in your room at night if “nothing happens”? Explain your opinion.