Friday, April 19, 2024
Poetry Friday- Deep Water
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Sunny Parker is Here to Stay
April 23, 2024 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Strengths: Neighborhoods are often so isolated and fragmented that young readers enjoy seeing apartment houses or neighborhoods were there is a sense of community. I'm fortunate to live on a circle of about 25 houses where I know every family and am in charge of printing up a map with everyone's contact information every year, and even I like to read about even closer communities! Sunny's world is nicely diverse, and has a wide variety of characters with whom to interact. I also enjoyed that it was safe enough for her to wander around and have adventures. The neighbors at Del Mar Gardens are all supportive, even Mrs. Scanlon at the end, and Sunny manages to convince at least one of the rich people to support Del Mar Gardens. A note at the end discusses the author's own upbringing in a similar community that lends a nice nice of authenticity to the book.
Weaknesses: Like this author's Susie B. Won't Back Down and New Kids and Underdogs, this is best suited to slightly younger readers. The "Scanlon Curse", as well as the cover, will appeal more to them.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed other books about communities affected by gentrification, like Nelson's The Umbrella House, Vivat's Meet Me on Mercer Street, McDunn's Trouble at the Tangerine, or LaCoer and Albert's The Apartment House on Poppy Hill.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
A Variety of Realistic Fiction
Miller, Kalena. South of Somewhere
April 4, 2024 by Albert Whitman & Company
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Mavis has a very nice life. Her family, included retired French professor Mike, wealth manager Julie, and older siblings Camille and Andre, live in a very nice Chicago neighborhood. When they return from a fancy vacation on Maui, they find police officers swarming around their home. It turns out that there mother, who took another car home from the airport, is wanted for embezzlement. With no money and no options, the family take off to a small town where Mike's sister Melissa lives. The two are estranged over an incident concerning Julie, but Melissa takes them in to live in her basement while they sort things out. Mavis watches Lily, her young cousin, and does a good job at it. Melissa even pays her, which leads Maivs to contact neighbor Emma to set up a babysitting business to earn money. The two not only start a successful business, but investigate the mysterious postcards from Mavis' mother that seem to have coded messages. The family struggles to find employment, and Mavis tries to locate her mother. But even if she does, will she get the closure she needs.
This is a good choice for readers who liked the details of dealing with a parent who has committed a white collar crime like Sheinmel's 2011 All The Things You Are and Morrison's 2022 Coming Up Short, mixed with some of the excitement of Galante's 2017 Stealing Our Way Home.
April 2, 2024 by Pixel+Ink
E ARC Provided by Netgalley
Santana has a problem with her sister Victoria; all of the family's attention is directed to the older girls' ballet career. Casey also has a problem with hers; young Sage and her father are two peas in a pod, and Casey feels excluded ever since her mother abandoned the family. The girls meet at school and bond over their sibling woes. The decide to create a Second Favorite Daughters club and even have meetings in a treehouse, since neither have a cell phone. When Cai, a cute boy in Santana's class, asks her to set him up with Victoria, Santana declares an all out war. Both girls put plans into place to make their sisters look bad, and make them look like model children. This includes wreaking havoc with Victoria's schedule by reprogramming phones and blaming Sage when Casey purposefully kills all of her father's plants. When Santana tells Cai about this plan, which she promised she would keep secret, Casey is angry. Of course, Victoria eventually finds out. After Casey's mother visits for a while but then leaves because she just can't handle being with them, Casey is angry and done with her mother, but this leads her to be more understanding of her father. Santana, on the other hand, runs away to New York City. Will the girls ever be able to figure out their place in their families?
This is a good choice for readers who like to investigate family dynamics with books like Willis' Smaller Sister, Howland's Forget-Me-Not Summer, or Palmer's Love You Like a Sister or who really like the mean spiritedness of Andelfinger's graphic novel adaptations of Pascal's Sweet Valley Twins books or Harrison's The Clique.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
This Again?
Weaknesses: In almost 25 years of teaching, I have never seen a school election, much less one with speeches in an auditorium. Back in 1982, I had a slogan very similar to Noah's "Know-A Good Thing" in my riff on the Hallmark classic: "Yingling, when you Karenough to Choose the Very Best". I don't remember there being speeches, because then I would certainly have delivered a memorable performance. I wouldn't have won, but it would have been memorable. Hope you're doing well, President Chuck Smith.
What I really think: I liked this even better than Borba's goofy The Midnight Brigade or Outside Nowhere, and it's a great addition to humorous speculative fiction titles like Thayer's The Double Life of Danny Day, Lubar's The Emperor of the Universe series, or Thompson's The Day I Was Erased.
Monday, April 15, 2024
MMGM- Bradford's Virtual Kombat
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Weaknesses: If this had just been published, I would have thought "Too soon!" about the pandemic killing everyone, but since Bradford had this idea in 2012... I guess we're lucky? It's not as well written as his Bodyguard series, but I'm sure there were strictures on vocabulary and text complexity that he had to consider. The cover will make this an instant success with middle school students.
What I really think: Students who want the virtual gaming adventure of Dao's Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena, Zhao's Last Gamer Standing, or Ross' Game Over but are not quite ready for longer books will appreciate the fast-paced dystopian gaming adventure that is Virtual Kombat.
Scott, who lost his friend Kate to the virtual reality game Virtual Kombat run by the evil developer Vince Powers, is back on the streets trying to survive after escaping Powers' orphanage, which was a cover for killing children in order to feed interest in the popular game. Now, he is being chased by robotic wasps as he is trying to get the word out about the dangers of the game. He runs into his nemesis Stick who is about to destroy him when a girl appears with an electromagnetic pulse weapon to disarm him. Java is working with Pentium Powers, Vince's brother, who is trying to close down his brother's horrible game. Pentium, who is in a wheelchair due to injuries, developed the game, but didn't realize that Vince would use the PlayPods for children, whose brains are not strong enough to withstand the equipment. The kids, including Pac-Man and Spam, hack into Virtual Kombat to try to take it down. They need to take a computer virus and release it in the Crown in the last level of the game. With so many players, they hope to go undetected, but can only reach the Crown by playing the game. Scott's skills are useful. He manages to defeat the Reaper using Trigger Time techniques, and the group runs across Ginger Ninja as they defeat riddles, tigers and sharks. Scott even thinks he sees the dead Kate, aka Kat-Ana, but is this just a residue of her personality that was left in the game. Probably not, and at the end an incident occurs that could mean the end of Virtual Kombat... or does it? Considering there is one more book in the series, we can assume it's not over yet!
Strengths: Bradford is very good about having lots of exciting scenes in his books, and he paces his stories very well, moving from adventure to adventure in a very smooth fashion. We get a decent amount about Scott's motivations, but because this is a short, high interest, low reading level book, there is not the level of character development we find in this author's Bodyguard series. For the intended audience, this is perfect, because they would rather have this type of nonstop, video game action. The villain is clear, the children work together, and there is a satisfying conclusion with the promise of further adventures.
Weaknesses: This may only be available in paperback. Parts of this were hard for me to envision because I don't play video games, and there were occurrences in the scenes that didn't make as much sense because of this. I've read enough Minecraft novels to know that the life levels have something to do with progress in the game, but I don't quite grasp the full impact. Kids who play games won't have this problem!
What I really think: This is a great book to help emerging readers who enjoyed graphic novels like Hansen's My Video Game Ate My Homework , Ali's Game On!, and Nisson, Johnson and Darnell's Power Up! build their reading skills before moving on to Brady's Trapped in a Video Game and Ross's Game Over.
**Some spoilers in "Weaknesses"**
A major character who was thought to perish in VIRUS is, in fact, trying to get revenge in the real world, and Scott and his friends must help destroy him. They are training with martial arts instructor Sifu, and since they are no longer in the PlayPods, the pain is real. One of Sifu's most important moves is Bruce Lee's one-inch punch, which he practices thousands and thousands of times, since true martial arts practice is a life long journey and not an instant download. Since VR leads to memory loss, Pentium, who is helping the kids, has them limit their exposure to it. While the PlayPods seemed to have been empty with Virtual Kombat went offline, there seems to be a lack of elite players roaming the streets of the city, which is a concern. Stick, Scott's nemesis, is still around, and quite angry that the PlayPods are no longer around to afford children a way off the streets, and Java has to once again save Scott with her electromagnetic pulse weapon. Pentium develops an exosuit to help him walk again, and tells Scott that the only reason he thinks he sees Vince is the "Tetris Effect" where he's so used to seeing him that his brain still causes him to appear. When it's clear that Virtual Kombat is back but has taken to the streets and identified Scott as a bounty worth many points, he starts to be attacked from all sides by people trying to kill him for advancement in the game! Vince is back as a cyborg, and commits horrible atrocities. Scott finds out that an "ad blocker" that was installed in him with a chip is really a tracking device, and painfully has it removed. This helps a bit with eluding detection, but when a cyborg army and elite gamers are added to the mix, will anyone be safe? Since this is the last book in the series, we can assume so!
Strengths: This ends with a nice message about getting away from games and connecting with other people in order to make the world a better place. I loved this line: "Life is not a game. It's your one chance to live." I frequently tell children in the cafeteria who spend the whole time on their phones "No one ever died wishing they had spent more time playing Angry Birds"! This is a pell mell conclusion to an engaging series that will definitely help turn many kids into readers, which is the purpose of the original publisher, Barrington Stokes, which produces dyslexia friendly books.
Weaknesses: This may only be available in paperback. This is not for squeamish readers; Pentium meets his end in a rather gory way that was a bit much to me. There is a fantasy element to the violence; I'm usually okay if monsters, ghosts, or space aliens kill people, but dislike giving my students books with a lot of human-on-human violence.
What I really think: We need more books like this, with perhaps a slightly lower level of gore. It's difficult to find adventure books that are not hugely long, and science fiction books tend to be too lengthy for my struggling readers. I think this would go over so well with my students that I might buy it in paperback if that is the only format I can find.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Kids in the Kitchen and Blather
Perez, Rossini. Kids in the Kitchen: 70+ Fun Recipes for Young Chefs to Stir Up!
April 2, 2024 by Rock Point
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Absolute Zeros: Camp Launchpad
Absolute Zeros: Camp Launchpad
Strengths: This had a lot of good details about what might go on at a space camp, and it was interesting to see the children having to identify reasons why their rockets don't launch well and work through problems with coding. I'm sure many summer camps have fallen on hard times, so that was a completely realistic plot arc. The three main characters are different enough that they each add another layer to the story. The competition is interesting, and there is a twist at the end that was not something I expected. In the last year or so, there have been a lot more different kids of graphic novels, and this will appeal to readers who want something a bit different.
Weaknesses: There's never any reason stated why the other campers at Camp Launchpad are mean to the pod A-Zero campers, nor do Mark's friends from school have any reason to be so nasty to the vice president's son.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who can't get enough novels about space camps, like Lackey's Further Than the Moon, Giles' Epic Ellisons: Cosmos Camp, and Gardner's graphic novel Long Distance. This also reminded me a bit of Miller's Out There, a graphic novel which deals more with a road trip and hunting space aliens.
Friday, April 12, 2024
The Other Side of Perfect
April 2, 2024 by Scholastic Press
Autumn Bird is a popular seventh grade girl in her Toronto area school, but it's hard work to keep up her status. She has to dress a certain way, spend a lot of time on hair and make up, and put up with a lot of negative energy from her friend Mia and others, who want to dictate what she does. One of these things is her relationship with Connor. He's popular and cute, but Autumn doesn' really like him. She certainly doesn't want to kiss him, or do even more, as the girls hint. Connor thinks that Autumn did more with someone at summer camp, although that is not true, and this is one of the reasons he wants to date her. Cody has a very different life. His mother is not in the picture, and his father often becomes abusive when he drinks. The two live in a run down apartment which Cody's father doesn't keep clean. He even is unhappy when Cody cleans it, since that's something "girls do", so Cody tries to clean when his father isn't home. When Cody's father thinks Cody is laughing at him, he beats the boy so badly that he passes out. When he comes to, Cody decides to runaway to escape further abuse. He packs a small bag and leaves, but is so badly injures that he passes out in a clump of bushes while looking for a place to sleep. Amber is on her way to an important party to see Connor when she happens upon Cody. At first she thinks he is dead, but when she realizes he is injured, she helps him to her home. Autumn's mother is a doctor, so she immediately wants to bring her in to help, but Cody makes her promise to keep adults out of it. The father has an art studio in a building on the property and is done with work for the day, so Autumn settles him there. Her parents, who are both Indigenous, have taught her to help out whenever she sees someone in trouble. She manages to get Cody food and lets him clean up a little. At school the next day, Mia and her cronies ask about why Autumn wasn't at the party and give her a hard time, and also are not friendly to Cody, who does have some hygiene issues because of his father's neglect. After school, Autumn arranges to meet Cody, and once again tries to help him out. She's not able to hide him from her parents for too long, and is greatly relieved when her father discovers Cody. The father is understanding, but does want his wife to know and check Cody out for injuries. He also insists on telling Cody's father, bringing along the family's large but loveable dog Boomer as protection. Cody's father isn't at the apartment, however, and there is an eviction notice on the board. Mr. Bird also takes Cody to the prison where his mother is serving time for robbery, so that he covers all of the bases. The mother has some mental health challenges, but does give permission for Cody to have other caretakers. In the meantime, Autumn is tired of Mia's group, and reverts to her old self, in comfy clothes. She used to help at a community group that serves Indigenous people in need of some help, and brings Cody to that. The two end up doing a school project on the center her mother helps with. Cody is more comfortable at the center than at Autumn's fancy and expensive house, but is glad to not have to worry about his father. When the center has an anniversary celebration and Cody's father reshow up drunk, will it destabilize Cody's new situation?
Strengths: This has all the elements of the kind of "sad" book that my students like. While many adults seem to like books about children struggling with grief, my students seem to prefer stories about children in neglectful or abusive situations who work to survive, both in the situations and when escaping them. Autumn is a great character, who struggles with wanting to help, as she has been taught, and wanting to be popular because it makes school an easier place to be. Cody's struggles are depicted realistically, and he is glad to be in a better situation, but has trouble believing it will last. I appreciate that the Birds take the legally required steps to alert the parents and authorities. The father's artwork also played an interesting role in the book, and I was glad to see Cody given the opportunity to pursue some drawings of his own. The Indigenous representation (this is the Canadian term) is very balanced. This book really caught my interest and kept me turning the pages.
Weaknesses: The writing felt a little like the authors were working from publisher's notes that told them what to include. In some ways, this is good, because it shows really helpful ways to deal with difficult situations. One example is how Autumn deals with very racist comments that Cody makes about Indigenous people; she's very angry, but her father tells her that Cody is just parroting what he has heard. This is reinforced when the father shows up at the center's anniversary party. Young readers won't mind the deliberate feel, but one more round of editing might have smoothed the edges of the social message's inclusion in the text.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
It Watches in the Dark and Seven Ghosts
Strand, Jeff. It Watches in the Dark
April 2, 2024 by Sourcebooks Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Oliver and Trisha are very excited to be canoeing in Missouri with their father, and glad to have an outdoor adventure. As we start the book, however, they are in dangerous rapids, and their father is instructing them on how to paddle so that they can stay afloat. When they hit a rock, the three are tipped out, and their father is injured. The kids manage to get their father to the shore, but he is unconscious. They are out out in the middle of nowhere, but do happen across a town, Escrow, population 999. While the people they meet act a bit oddly, a doctor, Belinda, helps them get their father into the hospital. She doesn't want the children to stay, although they would prefer to. Mayor Clancy directs them to the local diner, where they get a really good hamburger, but are reprimanded when they can't finish the enormous ice cream sundaes they are given. The people in the diner talk about the Scarecrow, a huge figure in the town square, and how they should be grateful. The mayor isn't happy that the children demand to see their father, either, and makes them sit in the square and look at the scarecrow. This freaks the children out, since they both hear the scarecrow's voice in their head. When they have to spend the night with the oldest woman in town, Edith, she has weird rules that definitely involve not going outside in the night because of the scarecrow, but of course the children sneak out. This is a bad idea, since they not only find their father trussed up in the medical center full of wires, but the scarecrow chases them. They break a window and get into a house, but the people inside tell them to leave and scream apologies to the scarecrow. The next day, Oliver and Trisha find out alarming things about the community and what exactly is being done to their father. The two try to fight the scarecrow, but if they manage to defeat it, who would keep the town safe... from the crows?
Strengths: Oh, my goodness! This was an excellent middle grade horror book: gorey, scary, and the violence was all perpetrated by an evil straw scarecrow. It starts off very quickly but gives just enough background. The children are by themselves, really, because the father is incapacitated. Really, if you are a middle schooler, isn't that about the scariest thing of all, having to save an injured parent? The townspeople are freakishly odd, which adds another layer of discomfort. Even the scene with the ice cream sundaes; how scary would it be for strangers to force you to keep eating ice cream when you were sick and your father was in the hospital, unconscious, and you couldn't call your mother? There's plenty of scarecrow guts and bloody tubes, as well as a touch of human sacrifice for the young folk, but this was particularly brilliant because the cinematic, button-eyed, killer scarecrow is all part of a scenario that would be scary enough in real life.
Weaknesses: I would have liked more backstory about the scarecrow and Escrow in general, delivered by one trustworthy person in town who could have been eaten by the scarecrow once the father was freed, but that would certainly slow things done for middle grade readers.
What I really think: I loved this author's How You Ruined My Life, which is very popular with my 8th grade boys. Hand this to readers who enjoy road trips that go horrifically wrong, like Cohen's The Shadow Grave, Preller's Exit 13, or Krovatin's Red Rover. (N.B. Rover's not a dog, it's a DEMON.)
April 2, 2024 by Union Square Kids
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Jake has won a writing contest at school and gets to go on a field trip to Grimstone Hall with other winners. After a tour, they will all write a ghost story. Mrs. Fox, the children's guide, shows them a creepy cracked mirror belonging to the odd Dr. Syrus, and Jake is oddly drawn to it. The history of the Hall starts in 1872 with a servant, Maisie, who has to attend Lady Agnes in her illness but finds that as she becomes weaker and weaker the more she is summoned with a china bell, the healthier Lady Agnes becomes. In 1893, young Rupert hates the local children, and closes the ice house door on a young boy who later dies, and is never the same after he is haunted. The house then passes to an American, whose son is told the legend of the folly of an ancient ruin, purportedly haunter by an "eye-catcher", a demon that only attacks those who don't believe in him. The son does believe, but when the tutor starts to doubt, bad things occur. In the 1920s, Lady Violet's daughter Margaret doesn't play the piano very well and is angry when her orphaned cousin comes to live with them and upstages her. When the two also must compete for the attention of the attractive piano teacher, what might Margaret be driven to do? In the 1970s, the estate is bought by a rock guitarist whose son Kingfisher is bullied about his unusual name. Kingfisher is told not to go into the library, but he does, and burns pages of the books. He starts to notice that the books show him tragedies before they happen; will they retaliate against his violence? Oddly enough, Jake sees all of the ghosts, but none of the others do. Mrs. Fox stops her tour when she only mentions six ghosts. Who might the seventh be?
Strengths: This reminded me a bit of Preller's Scary Tales, which I have in my "quick picks" section for students who want a book that is shorter and at a lower reading level than most of my books. Published originally in 2019 by Barrington Stokes, which takes a lot of effort to make their titles dyslexia-friendly and, get this, says "Our books are tested for children and young people by children and young people." Yes! Focus groups! I've been saying for years that publishers should do this. I love that these books are written by well regarded authors who write longer books as well; others in this series are by the fantastic Chris Bradford, who wrote the Bodyguard series. The illustrations have an almost Edward Gorey feel to them and add a lot. I'll definitely purchase a copy if I can find a prebind of the paperback.
Weaknesses: This was very English, with a lot of lords and ladies and servants; just not something we have on this side of the pond. Of course, I LOVED that about it! This author's Dead of Winter circulates on the strength of its spooky cover even though it has a similar feel, and I think this one will do likewise.
What I really think: This is perfect for emerging readers who was a horror book that isn't too long and difficult. The story within a story is similar to Nance's Daemon Hall, Poblocki's Tales to Keep You Up at Night, and Szpirglas' Book of Screams.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
The Wrong Way Home
Weaknesses: Like this author's Lasagna Means I Love You, this is very long. I loved that one, but it's hard to get students to check it out due to the length. This books is 336 pages. I would have cut out all of the Spirit of the Sea portion; while it does play a role in the book, it could easily have been excised. I'm just never a fan of parents grieving so much over a lost child that they don't serve the needs of remaining children. I wanted to know more about The Ranch, and the hair raising part could have been drawn out more, because students will LOVE that!
What I really think: This is a great title for readers who like stories about found families. I'll buy it for the cult extraction process, and will be able to find enough readers to justify its purchase. A really good book; just on the long side for my students.
Tuesday, April 09, 2024
Lightningborn and Sleeping Spells
Weaknesses: Kagawa certainly writes a compelling dragon fantasy, but this book embraces standard fantasy conventions rather than breaking any new ground. There are already lots of street urchins, kingdoms running out of magic, and endangered dragons in quasi-Dickensian settings, but for a reason; readers who like this type of book can't get enough of them.
What I really think: While this wasn't my personal favorite, I do need a fair number of dragon books for my readers. It's a perennially popular topic, and while I haven't had as many fantasy readers this year, dragon books are like horse books; I always need a couple new ones every year for those readers who are obsessed. The cover is very appealing, so I'll purchase a copy.
Strengths: This had a lot of good information about diabetes; I understand the mother's reluctance to send Alaina on a school trip, since I have had diabetic students in my care on the cross country team and Washington, D.C. trips and am always hypervigilant with them! My best friend in middle school suffered from undiagnosed narcolepsy for years; I was in charge of sitting behind her in class and waking her up if I saw her drift off, but it never occurred to anyone to take her to the doctor for this! The scenes at the school concerning the fairy tale project arae absolutely spot on; we used to have an almost identical project for out sixth grade lanaguage arts classes. The D&D representation is appreciated, and the fantasy and realistic elements blend well together.
Weaknesses: While this is a clever pairing of health issues and fantasy, I would rather see a realistic story about students with these health challenges, akin to Davis' Food Fight.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like books such as Malinenko's This Appearing House or Reynold's Izzy at the End of the World that discuss health matters in an allegorical fashion or this author's The Wish and the Peacock or A Monster Like Me.
Monday, April 08, 2024
MMGM- Things That Shimmer and Keeping Pace
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Weaknesses: This is set in an indeterminate middle American town with a university, but it must have been one hip and happening place to allow girls to wear not only PANTS to school, but worn out JEANS. That, along with a mention of yogurt in a school lunch when the author CLEARLY meant to say "Delmonte Pudding Cup", is a slight anomaly that I would be remiss in not mentioning.
What I really think: This is a must purchase for any middle school to bolster the historical fiction section and will be great displayed along with other 1970s historical fiction like Collard's Double Eagle, Shang's The Way Home Looks Now, Dumas' It Aint' So Awful, Falafel, Bithell's Brave Bird at Wounded Knee, Kalmar's Stealing Mount Rushmore, Parson's Clouds Over California, Farmer's Malcolm and Me, Woodson's Remember Us, Budhos' The Long Ride, Frank's Armstrong and Charlie, Hitchcock's One True Way, Amos' Cookies and Milk, Alikhan's Marika Marches for Equality, Nokowitz's The Prince of Steel Pier, Supplee's The Sweetness All Around, Jones' Finding My Place, Toalsen's Colors of the Rain, graphic novels Harper's Bad Sister, Martin's MexiKid, Russo's Why is Everybody Yelling, Copeland's Cub, Holm's Sunny Side Up, and Tavares' Hoops,and Kuzki's Soul Lanterns and Smith's Dawn Raid (for an international perspective!).
Weaknesses: Grace is very obsessed with grades, and it's good to see her trying to balance her emotions about that, but the comment is made several times that we are not our accomplishments. Boy, did that make me think all day! I even posed this question to many staff members. This seems to fall along generational lines. People my age and older agree with me that we are most certainly our accomplishments. Younger people don't. I will have to agree to disagree on this topic philosophically. Even though my GPA in high school was lousy (3.2? I managed to get a scholarship to study Latin, the money being available because few others were foolish enough to agree to a major that would not lead to permanent employment!), my entire self identity is tied to what I can accomplish. Is Morrison's message a better one for young people? Only time will tell.
What I really think: Like Morrison's Coming Up Short, Up For Air, and Every Shiny Thing, which she cowrote with Celia Jensen (who gets a shout out in this book), this is a thought provoking novel of friendship and life lessons that will appeal to a wide range of readers. I'm glad to add this to my list of cross country running books that includes Vicker's Half Moon Summer.