Alison Reads

Ben discovers in his senior year of high school that he has a terminal illness. He chooses to tell nobody and goes out for football for the first time. A wonderful book about a smart kid who learns to take risks and reach out to people, including a homeless drunk. Excellent; recommended for high school and up.

Set at the Endinburgh International Festival and Fringe Festival which are held for three weeks each August, this book starts out slowly and it’s hard to keep all the characters in one’s head, but gradually the characters become real and by the end all the separate threads are tied together. I enjoyed learning about pyrotechnics (for the big end-of-festival fireworks display) and about the rigors of being a world-class concert musician and about film camerawork. There is love and hate and fear and suspense in this enjoyable book. It would be a good summer read for those who can’t manage to get to Edinburgh in person.

Middle schooler Amedeo Kaplan moves from New York City to Florida, where he gets to know his eccentric neighbor, an elderly former opera star, and makes his first friend, a boy named William. We learn a fair amount about modern art, especially art that was stolen by the Nazis during Hitler’s regime. This book’s OK, but didn’t grab me and hold on. Konigsburg’s books win all sorts of awards, and I’ve dutifully read most of them, but I haven’t really liked any since From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. For grades 6-8.

Greg Heffley is an undersized sixth grader who keeps a journal (not a diary!) of his first year in middle school. Greg’s questionable choices get him into trouble with bullies at school and with his parents and brothers at home. “Hand printed” on lined paper and filled with drawings, this book is a quick read and well done. I especially liked the illustrations. For grades 4-6.

Eleven-year-old Mags schemes to help her talented new friend Gillian convince her father to pay for her to study violin at a conservatory in England. Very Irish, and some of the phrases may be problematic for Americans, but delightful. For grades 4-6.

Catherine is 12 and is tired of having to deal with her 8-year-old brother’s autism. She loves him, but she doesn’t like being embarrassed by his behavior. She takes it upon herself to make him a list of rules to live by, because he won’t learn them any other way. At the speech therapist’s office Catherine meets Jason, a 15-year-old with cerebral palsy, and they become friends. Catherine hopes to make friends with the new girl her age next door, but she is disappointed. A sensitive lesson in looking beyond superficial appearances. Recommended for grades 5-8.

Thirteen-year-old Miles O’Malley knows more about the ecology of the tidal mudflat near his home in Olympia than anyone. That summer he finds a giant squid and a rare deep-sea fish that was thought to be extinct. He becomes a minor celebrity and members of a religious cult seek him out. Miles is passionate about marine ecology and his hero is Rachel Carson. This is an adult book and there is frank talk about sex from a thirteen-year-old’s point of view and also from the troubled 20-year-old girl Miles has a crush on. I think it’s fine for mature teens as well.

Fifteen-year-old Meline and 16-year-old Jocelyn are cousins who go to live with their eccentric uncle after their parents are killed. Their uncle lives on an uninhabited island near Vancouver, B.C. The story is told from alternating points of view of Meline, Jocelyn, Uncle Marten, the housekeeper, and the butler. Strange and quirky as Horvath’s books always are.

Parallel stories of two boys abandoned by their fathers told in spare blank verse. One story is the biblical one of Ishmael and the other is about modernday Sam, whose father has a new wife and son. Both boys rely on their faith in God to help them adjust to their new status. A quick read, somewhat confusing since it jumps back and forth in time. A YRCA 2008 nominee for grades 10-12, it is also suitable for middle schoolers. (Those who were upset by the appearance of the word “scrotum” in The Higher Power of Lucky should be aware that this book contains the word “foreskin“.)

Jerry Oltion is a Eugene science fiction writer. I tried two other books of his and didn’t much like them, but I did like this one. When a friend of theirs develops a drive that enables interstellar travel in a converted pickup truck, Trent and his wife Donna decide to leave an increasingly dictatorial America and visit some other planets with an eye toward possibly settling on one. Their computer malfunctions and they are stranded several thousand light years from Earth. Light entertainment with a satisfying ending.