Alison Reads

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.