VVMBookBlog

Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick

Alex’s parents are divorced, and Alex is “acting out.” Actually, he is attempting to go “storm” his father’s house. Alex doesn’t have a driver’s license, so he drinks some of his dad’s vodka and steals his mom’s car. Of course, this turns into a physical and legal disaster. After Alex gets out of the hospital, he not only has to listen to his parents, he also has to listen to the judge as she gives his sentence. The sentence is actually fairly kind since he was drinking underage and driving under the influence.

His sentence is to visit an old man in a nursing home and report to the judge on his experience. This man, Sol, continuously slams Alex and is very challenging to Alex. It gets worse when Sol realizes that Alex isn’t volunteering but serving his sentence. Did I mention Sol lost his wife in a drunk driving accident?
I read an advanced copy of this book. It will be published in October 2006.

(Update: 10/12/09 Now is on the 2009 Maud Hart Lovelace list!)

Sanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee

Sanford Wong has flunked English. Although he feels stupid, his coach reminds him that Sanford is smart especially in basketball. He has made the A team and been invited to a exclusive summer baskteball camp. Sanford, however, will not be going to basketball camp; he will be going to summer school. When he thinks things couldn’t get any worst, his father basically ignores him, and he is stuck with Millicent as a tutor. Lucky for Sanford Millicent has a pretty friend Emily.

Problems continue for Sanford as he tries to keep summer school from his basketball buddies. He also has to deal with the same teacher who gave him the ‘F.’ Sanford’s problems and how he deals with these problems add humor for the reader. Follow Sanford as he tries to keep summer school and his crush on Emily secret from his friends.

Mystery books and middle school readers is often a tricky combination. Students may come either as individuals interested in checking out a mystery book, or as a whole class where the next genre assignment is to read a mystery. And then the hunt begins.

“Where are your mysteries?” Well, they can be anywhere in the fiction section, depending on the author’s last name. In order to identify them on the shelves, we put a purple “mystery” sticker on the spines so they stand out better. There are the usual series–Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and many others, but the series don’t always reflect the highest quality we would like. Then we would like to meet the interest age of the reader–some books are just too juvenile and some too mature, depending on the reader. And some older readers are ready to try out an Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes mystery. So the field of possibilities is huge, but what will satisfy the reader is sometimes very small.

So, speaking of Sherlock Holmes, Ingrid in Down the Rabbit Hole is a HUGE fan of Sherlock Holmes! And through some chance happenings, Ingrid finds herself right in the middle of the mystery of who killed Katherine “Cracked-up Katie” Kovac, local one-time celebrity now turned hard luck story. Ingrid deduces that the murder has something to do with the local theater group, Prospect Players, where Ingrid currently has the lead role in the upcoming production of Alice in Wonderland. The more she does to find out who the murderer is, the more it looks like she herself is guilty!

Maybe it was because her character was pretty believable as a middle school girl, but all I could think when she set out to investigate something in the middle of the night or in the middle of the school day was, “What are you thinking, Ingrid!!” If it had been Nancy Drew, I think I would have accepted her actions a little more easily since that’s just how Nancy Drew is–independent and fearless.
Anyway, it’s a pretty good mystery, lots of action and suspense right up to the very end. I see that there is now a 2nd “Echo Falls Mystery” so maybe this will be the start of another series. There were a few problems raised in the first book that never were addressed, so guess we’ll have to stay tuned for the next one.

Sunny, real name Sunflower, is caught up in the aftermath following the death of her older sister Jazz, real name Jasmine, in a fire in her New York apartment. To cope with the loss of Jazz, Sunny’s father has turned big-time to alcohol, and her mother has retreated into a depressive stupor. And Sunny has to cope with all of them, all while deciding if she is REALLY sorry her manipulative, controlling sister is gone.

Then one day there’s a letter in the mailbox from Jazz saying she isn’t really dead, that it was all a misunderstanding, and that she’ll be home in a couple days. So who is this person saying she is Jazz and how does she know all this stuff about their family? So many plot surprises, twists and turns in this story that you begin to wonder who you CAN believe!

I first heard about this book from Bernie Ferrell, the youth services librarian from Oxboro Public Library. She often comes to our school to give booktalks on some of the newest books that she’s read. It’s always good to hear about books from a variety of people, because everyone picks up different insights from what they read. So, try Dead Girls and see what stands out for you!

The book I just finished is maybe one of the greatest stories about high school students I’ve read in a while. It’s about Simone, a 16-year-old girl, and it’s a little bit romance, a little bit problems with friends, and a lot about getting to know who she is in the world. And now I don’t know what else to say about it.

I just looked at the online descriptions/reviews of this book, and they make the whole story line look pretty overwhelming. In fact reading those almost discouraged me from ordering this book back last spring. From reading them you find out there are issues about a biological mother, religious differences, a possible terminal illness–it all seemed like too much to take in within one book–and I almost didn’t buy it. But I did, and this first-time author–Dana Reinhardt–has taken some overwhelming events in Simone’s life and written them into a very meaningful and touching story.

Just to get you started, Simone is adopted and she’s always known she was adopted. Her mom in a lawyer for the ACLU–American Civil Liberties Union–and her dad is a stay-at-home-dad and a great cook, and they are both one-time free spirits. (Hippies?) One day out of nowhere Simone’s mother tells her that “Rivka” would like Simone to call her; Rivka is Simone’s biological mother. That event combines with Zack, newspaper editor and male-of-interest for Simone, giving Simone the assignment of writing an article on Simone’s mother and the case she is currently working on. (What does she find out about her mother from that assignment?) Finally she meets Rivka and then all kinds of things start opening up for Simone!!

It’s always interesting to me when people–fictional or real–go through things that cause them to examine how they are living their lives. Many of Simone’s friends are faced with, and sometimes participate in, lots of the social activities that high school students get involved in. Simone appears to have thought out her response to how much she is willing to get involved in risky behaviors, and helps her friends when they need support. She takes on the challenges that arise for her in a loving and mature way, and then uses what she learns to become more confident in who she is and what she can do in her life. Great story!