The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

My Facebook feed is chock-full of exasperated moms and dads who have already run out of summer activities for their kids.  (Except YOU, FCPS...I know your last day was today. Pull this out in 2-3 weeks and you can thank me for it then).  By now you've seen Finding Dory, been to the pool 4-5 days a week, and allowed more daily screen time than you'd like to admit.

 Here is where I come in. Over on our sister-site http://www.thefamilyaddiction.blogspot.com I've been reviewing the 2016 Books to Movies for a fun little change of pace.  The Great Gilly Hopkins just so happens to be one of those books.  And it also just so happens to be a great, award-winning summer read, making it a win/win.

Originally written in 1978, The Great Gilly Hopkins tells the story of an 11-year-old seemingly rambunctious foster girl, Gilly.  Always holding out hope her birth mother will come "rescue" her, Gilly bounces from foster home to foster home. When she is placed with the Trotters, though, Gilly's tough demeanor is broken down through love. She befriends her foster brother, has a unique friendship with the elderly man next door and actually learns what having a real "home" feels like.

The movie was released in February and stars Kathy Bates as Ms. Trotter and Danny Glover as the next door neighbor.  So, there you go!  Your kids read the book for 2-3 days (your loss if your kids are fast readers) and movie for 1 day. I've just planned 1/2 a week for you.  You're welcome.

My library only had this super-old version circa 1980, but whatever.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

Wendy Mass is a favorite around my house.  In the past she was just a favorite of my 10-year-old daughter.  After reading Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life she is a favorite of mine now, too. 

Jeremy is one month from turning 13 when a mysterious wooden box arrives in the mail.  The box was sent from his now deceased father and the instructions are to open it on his 13th birthday.  The note with the box claims that the meaning of life can be found on the inside,  but there is one problem.  The box was made with 13 different key holes and the keys are missing!  Jeremy and Lizzy (his adventurous and slightly more social best friend) set out to find the keys.  They are so determined that they get caught breaking into Jeremy's family friends' office building.  As a result of their innocent-yet-law-breaking escapade, they are senteced to community service.  While completing their community service they are assigned to work for Mr. Oswald Oswald, a collector and decendant of a former pawn shop owner.  Jeremy and Lizzy tromp all over the city returning long-ago pawned items to their past owners.  With the  help of Oswald's limo driver James, Jeremy and Lizzy learn that the meaning of life may not be what they thought it was. 

I am a big fan of age appropriate boy/girl friendships like the one Jeremy and Lizzy have in this book.  And Mass does a perfect job of letting Lizzy be Lizzy  and Jeremy be Jeremy but keeps them true to themselves when they are together, too.  It's refreshing compared to the pre-teen drama that is so typical of most books written for this age group. 

Mass gives us a strong characters, too.  Everyone from Mr. Oswald, his driver, and Lizzy and Jeremy are developed just right.  The characters of Lizzy's dad and Jeremy's mom are not central to the book, which seemed lacking to me at first.  Lizzy and Jeremy are the main characters but it is evident that the reason they are so independent is because of their parents.  Their freedoms are a result of being raised by single parents that have set solid rules and boundaries for them. 

The book was a bit emotional (Jeremy reliving his dad's tragic car-accident death) but it's message is touching and heart-felt.  I recommend it for 4th grade through high school. 

Static #1 (Flight 29 Down) by DJ MacHale and Stan Rogow

My bags are there.  I just know it.

Bad news:  The airline "misplaced" two of our four bags today. 
Worse news:  I will be wearing contacts 24/7 until our bags are located.
Good news:  I don't have to do laundry tonight.
Better news:  I have time to write and post this review on schedule.

Now that all of that is out of the way, let me get straight to the review.  And I hope that I am not causing too much of a problem by reviewing this book/series of books (yes, we are recommending another one in a series, but really it's not our fault.  You should blame the authors for writing so many good series, not us the innocent readers and reviewers).  You see, this series is out of print.  Yikes!  But, you can still check them out at your local library.  Or you can be like a certain Aunt Sissy and hunt down some used copies on Amazon.  Either way, I think your tweenager would like this series.

Based on the hit Discovery Kids channel series, Static #1 (Flight 29 Down) starts off with a bang.  Flight 29 crash landed and it's seven survivors, all teenagers and one pilot, bound for their school-sponsored eco-trip, have no idea where they are.  The pilot quickly organizes a search party in order to explore the unfamiliar surroundings. Not knowing when or if they will return, the remaining classmates, Nathan, Daley, Melissa, Taylor, Eric, Lex and Jackson must now work together in order to survive.  Their resources are scarce and besides the wreckage of their airplane, shelter is almost nil.  Ranging in age from 10 to 16, the survivors navigate their personalities, hunger, and fear to try and make it through each day. Unlikely friendships are formed and some pretty impressive feats are accomplished.  If it sounds like the TV show Lost, it is... almost.   It's more like Lost and Saved by the Bell had a love child.  How's that for a mental picture?

My daughter gobbled this entire series up as fast as she could get her hands on them.  Are they winning any Pulitzer Prizes?  No.  But they are highlighting common issues (peer pressure, stereotypes, boy/girl relationships) in a nice little paperback package.  Add to that the element of suspense and the underlying theme of adventure and teamwork and they make for fun reads.  Since this is the first in a series you can safely assume the survivors are not rescued by the end of the book. What fun would that be?  There are six more books in the series.  And yes, we have all of them.  Now, if we only had our luggage...

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

Ugh.  This game sucks you in.

Ahhhh, spring break.  I specifically remember one spring break where all I did was read and do latch hook in my room.  Alone.  For hours.  It was heavenly (and yes, a bit dorky).  Twenty-five years later, spring break looks a WHOLE LOT different.  This week I've been sewing (I don't think my husband would appreciate a latch hook flag for his presentation for school).  Both of my kids have been sick all week so taking care of them means I have been the opposite of alone.  And because of all of the sick germs and general lethargy around here, I've played about 1 billion hours of Plants vs. Zombies on the Kinect with my son.  Good times.  However, I have carved out a chunk of time each day to read and I'm glad I did.  If not, I would not have read The Wednesday Wars and might have to had to read and review another book from my daughter's bookshelf.  Simply put, if you haven't read this book, do it now.  It will forever hold a place on my Top 5 list of favorite books of all time.  I think it will on yours, too.  Here's why:

Written in 2007, The Wednesday Wars is about an 11-year-old  boy growing up in Long Island.  The year is 1967 and because Holling Hoodhood is neither Catholic nor Jewish and does not have a Hebrew or Catechism class to attend on Wednesdays, he finds himself the only student in 7th grade.  Just Holling the Presbyterian, and his teacher, Mrs. Baker every Wednesday for the entire school year.  At first, Mrs. Baker has him keep himself busy by cleaning the classroom, the coat room and even worse, the desks.  But as time passes, she has him start reading Shakespeare and writing essays.  Clearly annoyed and starting to hate her even more, Holling has no choice but to comply.   His compliance leads to an eventual appreciation of Shakespeare which in a round-about way gets him the starring role in a local play.  Although he must wear tights as the star of the play, the rest of his year is filled with normal 7th-grade-boy things.  A girl crush.  Sneaking away from school to watch Yankee baseball games.  A love/hate relationship with his older sister.  But what is not normal and the most wonderful part of the book is the warm and inspiring bond he forms with Mrs. Baker.  They navigate the year together one Wednesday at a time and find that more often than not they are all each other has.  They are exactly what the other one needs during some of the most difficult moments in their lives.  It is a beautiful relationship and a very well-written book.

One major highlight for me was Holling and his love of baseball. I couldn't help but think of my dad as a young Holling. I was reminded of the baseball stories my dad would tell me when he was growing up around the same time.  Being a baseball-aholic myself (opening day is tomorrow!), I loved that Holling and his teacher shared their love of the game.

As I mentioned before, the book is set in 1967.  That means the Vietnam War was center stage as were air raid drills and telegraphs from the front.  Mrs. Baker's grown son is serving his first tour, air raid sirens go off almost daily and telegraph deliveries arrive at the school way too often.  Again, the war part of this book touched home to me, but it was also extremely relevant to the time period.

I can't say enough good things about this book. A good friend recommended it almost a year ago and I am sad that I waited this long to read it.  It's touching and sweet and appropriate in so many ways.  My 4th-grader did read it last summer without me knowing and absolutely loved it. However, I wish she would have waited a year or two.  She is an advanced reader, so that was not the problem.  The problem is that a lot of book went right over her head.  She had no clue what Vietnam was (sadly, she just figured it was another war like the ones we are in now), thought the air raid drills were something they made up, and didn't see what all the fuss about the main character meeting Mickey Mantle was all about.  Basically, the historical parts of the book were wasted on her.  I think for that reason it is more appropriately suited for 12-18 year-olds.

If you do nothing else during spring break week, put this book on your list.  Better yet, put down your latch hook and go buy or check-out a copy. And then come back and tell us what you thought.  Hopefully my kids will be better by then.

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

My daughter's glasses would be much cooler.

 

 

This might just be the easiest review I will ever write.  Not only did I read this book, it is my soon-to-be 10-year-old daughter's most favorite series in the world.  (Aside from Harry Potter, that is).  When I told her in the car today I was going to review this particular book, her face immediately lit up and she said, "That book is full of magic and it makes me laugh.  It really is perfect, you know?" High praise from my future librarian (or pastry chef, she can't decide).                

So what is it SPECIFICALLY about The Name of This Book is Secret that appeals to my daughter and the majority of her friends (and me)?  It is the perfect escape for a 9-13 year old reader and yet realistic enough for any parent to enjoy also.   The book is silly yet relateable.  Max-Earnest (the boy with two first names because his parents could not agree what to name him) and Cassandra (his new friend with somewhat pointy ears who wears a backpack wherever she goes) begrudgingly collaborate when they find a notebook written in code leading them to the discovery of a box called "The Symphony of Smells."  The narrator leads us through their adventures of decoding and investigating but at the same time adds a just a hint of mystery.  Things like blank pages in the text and a character named Gloria who is a real estate agent for the dead only add to the intrigue.  Cass and Max-Ernest, although unlikely friends, unite to save another boy from what is sure to be tragic peril, race to decode The Symphony of Smells and find the magician it belongs to and eventually return home to their unsuspecting families. 

Did it remind me of Lemony Snicket and The Series of Unfortunate Events?  Yes.  But what this book had that Lemony's series did not was the awkwardness of 11-year-olds of a different sex working together for a common goal.  The fact that the goal was actually to try and save someone that they thought was in danger was an added bonus.  I think it is SO important for kids to have appropriate friendships during their pre-teen years and was happy to have such a relationship highlighted in this book.  Yes, they had the initial "you're gross because you are a boy/girl" feelings, but as they worked together and the book progressed Max-Earnest and Cass became friends.  Not boyfriend and girlfriend...just friends.  It was refreshing. 

The other refreshing part was the silliness.  So many books for young readers right now are about middle school cattiness or teen/tween drama I was happy to read something that was mostly make-believe.  The full-on belly laughs coming from the backseat and the reading nook in her room were a nice change.  I haven't heard those since our days of Ramona Quimby and they made me smile. 

This is the first in a series, of course.  And like a good mother, I have passed on the "you must read all books in order" gene.  My daughter has torn through them like no other series (again, except for Harry Potter).   And if this is any indication of how good they are, she does not want to read the last one because she does not, "want them to be over."  I think we can all smile about that.