The Summer of Letting Go - Gae Polisner

Polisner, Gae. The Summer of Letting Go. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin, 2014.

Frankie Schnell’s burdens can seem overwhelming for a 15 almost 16 year old.  She blames herself for the death of her brother Simon 4 years ago.  She is certain that her mother blames her as well.  At 11, she wasn’t watching him closely enough at the beach where he drowned.  Her dad, who seems to hold the family together, might be having an affair with the neighbor.  And she is oddly and awkwardly attracted to her best friend Lisette’s boyfriend Bradley. Enter Frankie Skye. He is 4 and seems inexplicably attached to Frankie though he barely knows her.  His hurting mother hires Frankie to be a mother’s helper and a unique relationship is formed.

In spite of the burdens she bears, Frankie will be infinitely relatable to my readers as she experiences so much of what the typical teenager experiences.  She longs for a boyfriend and a first kiss.  She feels some distance from her best friends who is often occupied with her new boyfriend. Her parents don’t seem to get her.  She is at many levels just like my readers.

Frankie sure takes some wrong turns.  Easy answers don’t populate this book’s honest look at the struggles she faces. I appreciated very much the honest look at broken people. Some of my readers will also be fascinated with the look at reincarnation...is Frankie Skye drawn to her because he has Simon’s soul?  I can’t decide if I am frustrated with the lack of a definitive answer here or impressed with the author’s willingness to even entertain such an issue.  If you are looking for some solid consideration of reincarnation, though, you won’t find it here.

As much of the book centers around the pool and the beach, I could book talk it with other summer beachy reads - Sarah Dessen and the like.  I have lately been thinking about young protagonists who are dealing with broken parents in their lives, and at a more serious level, this book fits here as well.  It could work well with Linda Vigen Phillips’ Crazy and Laurie Halse Anderson’s The Impossible Knife of Memory. One certainty is that I will be talking about this title with my students very soon.

Con Academy - Joe Schreiber

Schreiber, Joe. Con Academy. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2015.
I don’t necessarily want to like Will Shea.  He is after all a con man - of the traditional kind, from a great big family of cons.  He has lied his way into the Connaughton Academy - a very elite private boarding school as a scholarship student.  His con doesn’t hold up for long, though.  Enter Andrea, a con artist herself, who recognizes the tell tale signs and, quite frankly, doesn’t welcome the competition. Who goes a who stays? They craft a bet to see who can con the most money out of the very self serving, very wealthy Brandt Rush. And so the games begin.  Along the way, Will has to deal with his rather unsavory father, figure out how to relate to the mysterious and attractive Gatsby, and of course, work his way into the Sigils...the necessary secret society.  What he finds out about himself, win or lose, makes his ride worth it.
I sure do love me a boarding school book.  This title has a nice spin or two.  I appreciate a male protagonist, my boarding school  canon is mostly populated by females.  I will enjoy having a boarding school boy to offer in my book talk. The con artist twist will be engaging for the students.  I’m not sure they have a true appreciation for the art of the con. Maybe some have seen the Oceans movies. A certain level of suspense exists, and students may be rooting for Will or for Andrea.  Engagement will certainly be encouraged because of these. Finally, I love a book that sends the message to our kids that it is never too late to reinvent themselves.  Crazy as it seems to we, the older and wiser, kids often feel trapped in the lives they’ve created or those that were created for them, at such young ages.  The ending here gently suggests that a way out certainly can still exist. I love that suggestion, unexpected and lovely, subtle yet impactful.

Death Coming Up The Hill - Chris Crowe

Crowe, Chris. Death Coming Up the Hill. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2014.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to get this book into my library or what led me to it just now, but I’m so very glad it is here! A novel written entirely in haiku.  I think that statement bears repeating - a novel written entirely in haiku-976 of them to be exact.  And exactness is crucial. 16, 592 syllables - one for each of the casualties in Vietnam in 1968, the year in which the novel is set.  Just. Wow.

 

Ashe’s story is one uncertainty and tragedy, but ultimately grace and sacrifice.  He is just trying to survive 1968.  He knows his parents’ marriage is on the verge of ending, and his mom’s unexpected pregnancy to another man is surely the catalyst.  His dad is angry and demanding.  He is determined to take care of his mom.  He falls in love with a “hippie.” And together they try to process the chaos of the Vietnam war and the chaos in their own lives.  Sometimes it feels like altogether too much. This glimpse into this volatile time in American history is a priceless one. One might think that much might be lost in the strictness of form, but the setting is fully fleshed out, the characters developed in lovely detail. In many respects students will be drawn to this books, because while the setting and the war are crucial, Ashe in many ways transcends time. Current students will relate well to his concerns and his triumphs - another strength to this story.

I love that after the story ends, the Crowe writes about the struggle he had in writing this book. Students who are aspiring writers can learn from his persistence.  Students often believe that the first thing they write is the best thing they can write.  He also talks about the process of revision with the complications of the form - such a lovely illustration!

I look forward to book talking this title, and will soon.  I am grateful, I have a couple of more opportunities this year to do so.  I can pair it with titles set in the sixties or titles about war or books in verse.  I love the versatility of this title.

 

Finding Hope - Colleen Nelson

Nelson, Colleen. Finding Hope. Canada: Dundern, 2016.

 

Sometimes a book will just break my heart, perhaps mend it, and break it again.  Finding Hope is one such title.  Nelson tells, in alternating voices, the stories of Hope and her brother Eric.  These stories are difficult ones. Hope is off to boarding school. Such a move is not her choice, but her mother is driven to get her out of the small town in which they live, so that she does not suffer the same fate as her brother.  Eric is addicted to meth; because of tough love, he is homeless and helpless, were it not for the money and supplies that Hope sneaks to him when her father is not around.  Boarding school does not work out so well for Hope.  She becomes the victim of mean girls and bullying.  Eric’s life becomes uglier and uglier as secret causes for his behavior are revealed. Together, will they have the strength to overcome the horror of the worlds around them.

This book is not an easy one to read.  The gritty reality took my breath away.  And what seemed too difficult for me to believe is sadly the likely reality for too many young people in our schools and our neighborhoods.  I’d like to say the events are unbelievable.  I’d like to say Nelson tackles too many big issues in one book. I’d like to say our kids should be protected from the story of Hope and Eric.  What I must say is that Nelson creates genuine characters, fully realized, flaws, strengths and all. The conflicts are powerful and fully fleshed out. When I wanted to say, “Too much,” I said, “of course; oh no!”

My older students need to read this book.  They need to understand the paths down which they can walk, ones nearly impossible to reverse. This title is instructive without being didactic and contains the kind of honesty to which many of my kids are drawn.  Honestly, though, I still would not be comfortable with my tweens taking this one on.  Certainly some of their lives can also be reflected in these pages. Others are still largely innocent, and I feel duty bound to protect that innocence even for just a bit longer. While this novel will not likely be in my library, it will certainly be in my arsenal, for the kids who need to see the other side of the dark, to see that they can, in fact, find hope.

Bone Gap - Laura Ruby

Ruby, Laura. Bone Gap. New York: Balzer+Bray, 2015.

What a lovely book, a bit magical and fantastical with lovely characters who are nothing but real. I have no recollection why I added this book to my order; it is SUCH a long journey from choosing to ordering to arriving, but I am truly glad that I did. This story of the missing Roza and Finn who witnessed her departure - of his brother Sean who loved her will sneak into your heart and demand your attention.  The suspense builds slowly. We meet bullies, and Priscilla who prefers to be called Petey. We get to know the friends and neighbors who populate the small, rural town of Bone Gap. And we get short, bone chilling glimpses the the man who’s stolen Roza away. A difficult book for me to summarize simply, but well worth the read.

I love Finn. He surely struggles with a community who thinks he is just not all quite there. He is bullied and initially seems to even invite the physical pain to distract him from his emotional pain. He is drawn to Petey, a young, complex keeper of bees. He wishes his brother would forgive him for letting Roza go, but doesn’t fully understand why Sean doesn’t search for her.  He embraces the magical horse that appears in his barn, and his fully absorbed in the magical rides the horse gives him. I felt a quiet joy in watching him grow and change throughout the course of his story.  The love story between Finn and Petey is a slow burn, but beautifully rendered.

This novel is a lovely choice for talented readers and aspiring writers.  The language here is phenomenal. I could just as easily turn this into a learning activity for my AP students: imagery, figurative language, diction. I have already had the privilege of talking about it with one of my best readers. She agrees with my assessment that the read is an excellent one. She, too, enjoyed the relationships in the novel. She was a bit more frustrated than I with the blurring between fantasy and reality.   She just wanted a few more answers.  But I like that she was passionate and intrigued enough to want them. I believe she will help me share this out with some more readers. The kids are my best took in talking books.

As an aside, I think a great deal about how we classify and label books.  This title has been reviewed as a YA one, and certainly I'll be using it in my 7-12 library. But, when I talk to my adult friends who love to read, I will surely be recommending this one.