We Could be Brothers

I received a copy of We Could be Brothers (Derrick Barnes) while at the ALAN workshop last November. I came home, filed it with the other 100 I need to read and it sat. Until this week. I really needed to read a "middle school" book because that is my weak area. (I never taught middle school and to be honest, that age kind of freaks me out).

I really liked this book! Of the realistic "middle school" books I have read over the years this one read most true to me. I thought Brooks did a good job of balancing, juxtaposing, and exposing the mutliple stereotypes often thrown around about urban kids and schools.

The book was endorsed by Coe Booth and Alfred Tatum--not too shabby.

There is also a book trailer on the author's website.

A Book to Hook Male Readers

Even the dead tell stories.

This is the first line in Marcus Sedgwick's Printz honor book Revolver. I was anxious to read this after reading the summary, and it didn't disappoint (I think I read it in less than two hours). Part history, part adventure, part mystery, the tale alternate between action in 1899, 1900, and 1910, and ultimately ends with a "closing" in 1967. Set in the Artic wilderness the novel tells the story of Sig and his family who, led by his father, settle in the cold north in search of gold. When the novel opens, Sig's father has just died having fallen through the ice on his way home.

Yet, how could the father, who knows the rules of traveling across the frozen lake make such a stupid mistake?

The reason for his blunder becomes evident less than a day after the father dies when a scary, mysterious stranger arrives calling for what he is owed by the father. And, he refuses to leave unless he gets what he wants. But, what is it?

The "it" is the purpose of the flashbacks to 1899-1900. The reader begins to trace the father and family's past and travels. Yet, Sedgwick is careful not to show his hand too much. We slowly begin to realize that Sig's father must have cheated his bosses during his job as an assay clerk (one who tests and measures the gold the prospectors find). But how? And how did Sig's father "cheat" the mystery man?

The answers to those questions are saved for the end of the book--and ending that boys will surely get to in order to find out!

Don't Ignore Vera Dietz!!

OMG is all I can say about A. S. King's Printz Honor book Please Ignore Vera Dietz. I bought it to read on a trip to Madison, WI, and had finished it by the time the plane landed. I could not put this book down!!!

The story--told from different perspectives, including a pagoda (yes, a pagoda)--is mainly about the complex relationship between teenagers Vera and Charlie who have been friends since childhood. It is one of those relationships where if everything was right, they would admit they loved each other, date, and then get married and be happy. But as we know in life, and YA fiction, things aren't so simple.

First, Vera's mom left when she was 12, running off with her podiatrist (and before all that she was a stripper). Vera's dad is trying, but he can't let go.

Charlie lives next door and the physical and emotional abuse his father dishes out to his mother can be heard by Vera and her father (and others) but no one does anything to intervene. Then, there's the creepy thing with Charlie's underwear (I am not going to spoil the book and tell all!).

Fast forward: Charlie finds a new crowd, turns against Vera, and dies under some "questionable" circumstances. Vera begins to see and hear thousands of Charlies at odd times.

There is, of course, much more!

I loved the change in perspectives and the wonderful balance of humor, playfulness, sadness, and seriousness. And, the flow charts provide a very interesting dicussion and instructional tool for teachers :)