Keeping Score, by Linda Sue Park; Clarion Books: New York, 2008; $16 Before I read Keeping Score, when I thought of baseball, I thought of boys. I thought the only way people got to know the game of baseball was by playing it. After I read it, I was inspired to learn more about the baseball teams in my area (the Cubs and the White Sox). Before I knew it, I was watching games on TV, and even getting to be a pretty good hitter! Now, baseball doesn’t seem so much like a boy thing anymore! During the Korean War, which is when Keeping Score takes place, playing baseball almost always was for boys. But Maggie, the main character, knows the game of baseball like the back of her hand, and she got to know it the hard way: by listening to every single Brooklyn Dodgers game on the radio. She never misses a pitch. In fact, it is while she’s listening to a game at the nearby firehouse where her dad used to work that she meets Jim. He’s another intense fan, but for the New York Giants. The two talk baseball, compare favorite players, and laugh about most everything. And perhaps most importantly, it’s Jim who teaches Maggie to keep score. And keeping score of a baseball game isn’t the same as scoring a soccer game, or a football game. Keeping score of a baseball game requires concentration, and a really huge knowledge of baseball. Everything changes when Jim is drafted into the Korean War. But at least sending letters back and forth from Korea to America is sort of fun for Maggie. And while letters are going back from Korea to America, the Dodgers are winning game after game. It means a lot to every Dodgers fan, especially Maggie! You see, the Dodgers had never won the World Series. Not even once. But now, even the Yankees (their main rivals) are being crushed by the Dodgers! There are so many wins that the losses hardly matter. And then, something horrible happens. After hours of carrying bodies in from the battlefield, Jim stops walking, talking, and moving altogether. He’s suffering from what your parents might call post-traumatic stress syndrome. And right after the Dodgers’ huge winning streak, they lose the pennant game! To the Yankees! Both baseball and life are a cycle of hope and disappointment, and with the Dodgers out of the World Series and Jim sick from the war, it seems like disappointment is all there is. But I think that Maggie’s love of baseball really helps her get through all these setbacks. After all, even after Willie Mays strikes out five times, he still has the determination to come up to bat and hit a solo home run. And it really helps me to think about this idea too. Little disappointments happen to me every day, solo auditions I didn’t get, the White Sox losing a game, a test I didn’t ace. It’s important to just keep trying. So Maggie comes up with a plan. She decides that when Jim comes home she will take him to see a Giants game at Ebbets Field. She spends months saving up for it. And that’s not all. To help Jim get better she decides to do the hardest thing she has ever had to do in her life: pray for the Giants to win the World Series. I will not tell you how this all works itself out—you’ll just have to read it for yourself! But what I really admire about Maggie is how she had the strength to sacrifice all of this just to help a friend. Eliza Edwards-Levin, 10 Chicago, Illinois
Book Reviews
In Mozart’s Shadow: His Sister’s Story
In Mozart’s Shadow: His Sister’s Story, by Carolyn Meyer; Harcourt Children’s Books: New York, 2008; $17 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was gifted in music beyond imagination. He was a genius, a prodigy. He is remembered and respected by thousands of people all over the world as one of the greatest composers. But no one remembers his sister, Nannerl Mozart. She was almost as talented as Wolfgang, but she was a girl. Possibly the best harpsichordist of her time, Nannerl was pushed away from her musical dreams to make room for her brother’s brilliance. As children, Wolfgang and Nannerl sat for hours, side by side, at the harpsichord, making music together. At one point in Carolyn Meyer’s book, In Mozart’s Shadow, Nannerl says, “My brother might tease me about almost anything but he never said a critical word about my keyboard technique. I adored him for that.” I found In Mozart’s Shadow to be a rather sad, yet compelling story, not because of death or tragedy, but because Nannerl had more disappointments than joys. Her one solace was her music. I have had three very disappointing piano teachers, causing me to lose joy in my music. But reading Nannerl’s story and how she loved making music has inspired me to love playing again. I live in a pretty, small town, not as ancient and refined as Salzburg, Austria, where the Mozarts lived, yet like it in some ways. Sometimes when I am at home, I feel caged and isolated, and when I am away from home, I miss it and realize how wonderful it is. In the story, Nannerl Mozart can never achieve her full potential living in Salzburg, but she yearns for it when she leaves it. The character I could not make up my mind about was Nannerl’s father, Leopold Mozart. He was a devoted teacher to his children and he took them all over Europe. They traveled to the courts of the greatest powers of the time, to entertain the nobility with their extraordinary playing. But soon Leopold gave all his attention to Wolfgang and forgot his daughter until the end of his life when he needed her. I have conflicting feelings about Leopold; I can see why he would give up his talented daughter for his brilliant son. However, to leave Nannerl behind when he took Wolfgang to Italy, and not give her her chance, was awful. Leopold loved his daughter, but she was a girl, and her only respectable future in his eyes was marriage. The father and son traveled to Italy numerous times, where Wolfgang studied music. Yet Wolfgang resented the never-ending control of his father and he longed to break away. Probably all of us have known someone who grew up too closely tied by their parents and when they broke free they became distant or moved away, fearing to be fettered again. So it was with Wolfgang. My brother and I often play with dolls. We can spend hours making up stories for the dolls to act out. Nannerl and Wolfgang did a similar thing with chess pieces. As they played the game of chess, they would make up stories for the pieces to live out. Nannerl often felt that she and Wolfgang were two halves of one person, and when they played together they became whole. I thought Carolyn Meyer wrote a beautiful story about people who really lived. Through the eyes of Nannerl Mozart, the characters struggle and achieve, living out their lives with both sorrow and joy. Gertrude S. Suokko, 13 Woodstock, Vermont
Summer Ball
Summer Ball, by Mike Lupica; Philomel Books: New York, 2007; $17.99 Have you ever read the sequel to a book that you loved and felt utterly disappointed or, even worse, robbed? If you read Travel Team, by Mike Lupica, which was reviewed by Zach Hoffman in the May/June 2007 edition of Stone Soup, and decide to read Summer Ball, you will feel anything but robbed. Summer Ball is an amazing book written by the best sportswriter in the business. In the book, Danny Walker is coming off leading his team, the Middletown Warriors, to a travel team championship. His dad, a former NBA player, Richie Walker, decides that Danny will go to a famous basketball camp in Maine, the Right Way Basketball Camp. Even though Danny’s two best friends, Ty Ross and Will Stoddard, are going, Danny is worried about attending camp because he fears not being good enough or tall enough to compete well against some of the other campers, the best players his age in the country. When he arrives, his fears are realized. A player that played against Danny in the travel team championship game, Rasheed Hill, hates him and is attending camp. He is put on the same team as Danny, and their coach wants Rasheed to be the star of the team. When Danny visits the coach, the coach suggests that Danny try soccer. Danny is able to fight through all of these hardships and make it to the championship game, while standing up for his new friend, Zach Fox, in a fight with one of the best players in camp, Lamar Parrish. When Danny first arrives at camp, he realizes that he isn’t one of the best players there. One time, when I was eight, I went to a basketball camp. The camp was divided into two divisions. According to my age, I belonged in the top division. But after a few minutes of practice, I was demoted to the lower division, even though I felt like I was doing fine. But, just like Danny, I continued trying and I was promoted. My favorite part of the book is when Rasheed stood up for Danny during the championship game. Throughout the book, Rasheed and Danny slowly gain respect for each other and become friends. Because Coach Powers wouldn’t play Danny, Rasheed told Coach Powers that if Danny didn’t play, he wouldn’t play. When Coach put Danny back in, he led a huge comeback. Another one of my favorite parts was when the ref called a technical foul on Lamar. In my basketball league, there was one team that was very dirty. They were never called for a technical foul. In the book, the campers could cheer for whatever team they wanted. We got revenge on the dirty team by attending the league play-off game they were in and cheering loudly for the other team. One thing the author does extremely well is dialogue. Even though the camp is in Maine, it attracts players from all over the country. One of the friends Danny meets, Tarik, is from New York City, so he has a different vocabulary than the kids from Long Island. This is kind of funny because he uses terms that Danny (and I) don’t know. I definitely recommend this book about basketball, friendship, and teamwork. Once you pick it up, it is hard to put down. Aidan Quigley, 12 Trumbull, Connecticut
Schooled
By Leah Wolfe Schooled, by Gordon Korman; Hyperion Books for Children: New York, 2007; $15.99 Have you ever been the target of teasing? Or have you even been the one doing the teasing? Most of us have, as I’m ashamed to admit. But the story of Schooled, written by Gordon Korman, will teach you the true meaning and importance of peace. I’ve witnessed certain people in my own school and neighborhood being bullied and harassed, heartlessly and thoughtlessly. I’ve heard biting remarks like “You’re an idiot,” and I’ve even seen violence. Just the other day, two boys at my school decided unreasonably that fighting was the best way to resolve a disagreement. That decision fought back with them, though, and I know for sure that at least one of them was sent to the principal’s office. We are the ones who are causing this, and we have total control to stop it. Sometimes, though, we simply choose not to. I recommend Schooled for anyone, really, of either gender and any personality, no matter what age, because it teaches a wonderful lesson that is crucial for everyone to learn. If you truly commit yourself to making a difference in your and your neighbors’ everyday life, this story can give you the boost you need. It will help you realize how much better everything would be if we only tried to feel compassion for others and to judge them on their heart and soul, instead of on their appearance and social status. In fact, today’s system of being “nerdy” or “popular” wouldn’t even exist if friendship were blind, and if we could all patiently get along. Schooled will not allow you to tune these things out. Capricorn Anderson has no sense of reality at all while he lives on a hippie commune called Garland Farm, with his hippie grandmother, Rain. He is homeschooled, and he rarely leaves his deserted community. (Well, it’s deserted except for Cap and Rain.) He learns to drive at the age of eight. He doesn’t remember who his parents were. They were killed volunteering for the Peace Corps when he was younger, but he had known them at some point. Still, they had blurred in with everyone else at Garland Farm because, there, everyone belonged to everyone. How many people do you know well? You could have too many friends to count! At least I know that I have loads of people to value in my life. Unlike me, Capricorn only has one. The only human being that he knows well is Rain! Even with this being true, he isn’t lonesome. He doesn’t even know what it’s like to have several friends. So he’s perfectly satisfied. But the tables are turned (and shaken wildly about) when Rain is thrust into the hospital, and Cap is thrust into public middle school. This thirteen-year-old is now the target of all of the teasing, but he never—not once—loses his temper. And when an awful prank is played, Cap is put in charge… and in trouble. How does this peaceful character deal with his job as eighth-grade president? Well, I won’t give that away now. But you can find out for yourself by reading Schooled, by Gordon Korman! Leah Wolfe, 10 Florham Park, New Jersey
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, by Lloyd Alexander; Henry Holt and Company: New York, 2007; $18.95 Treasure hunts have long captivated the minds of children and adults alike. And treasure hunters, such as pirates or explorers, intrigue us just as much. But in Lloyd Alexander’s book, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, the “fearless hero” is a young, cowardly, inexperienced “chooch” (fool), living in the fictional port city of Magenta with his merchant uncle. In fact, his only reasons for trekking across the desert with a motley crew of misfits are a dream and a map found in a book of tales! This unlikely protagonist lies at the center of a unique adventure, a character we can’t help but love. Although there is one overlying plot, the author makes each event its own little vignette. Many of Carlo’s escapades (including being attacked by bandits twice, being robbed of everything but his undergarments by his right-hand man, meeting a possibly psychic artist and hermit, buying used dreams from a street merchant, and going through countless identity crises) come across as episodes in a grander story. Each small story is another step in Carlo’s journey. While Carlo is the most relatable character, my favorite is definitely Baksheesh, described as “the world’s worst camel-puller.” His personality is hilarious. He exalts anyone who is willing to pay him, and is fiercely loyal, though most of the time it is only to save his own skin. I think we all know people like this, who befriend people just long enough to get what they want. I once knew a girl who acted as though she genuinely wanted to get to know me. But it turned out she was just using me to get closer to one of my friends because she liked him. But Baksheesh truly has a good nature. Salamon puts it best: “You are sometimes a thief, frequently a liar. The list goes on and on. But you have a tender heart… whether you like it or not.” Another aspect I love about Baksheesh is how he constantly tries to help others out of a sticky situation, but usually gets them much farther into it. I have a friend like this who, although his intentions are good, just makes things worse. He unwittingly gives me horrible advice, tries to include me in jokes that make me cringe, and just makes all-around bad social decisions that cause other people to think less of me. The only problem I had with the book was the ending. While it wasn’t necessarily predictable, Alexander used a plot device involving maps, which I felt like I had seen in books before. After a story with such an original story line, the ending was somewhat disappointing, especially for such a legendary author as Lloyd Alexander. But it says a lot about The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio that this was the only flaw in the book. This was the late Lloyd Alexander’s last work, and I am glad to say that he went out on a good note. His story, characters, and description are impeccable, and he really inspires you to persevere for something you believe in. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure with a fair bit of humor mixed in. Julian Axelrod, 12 Los Angeles, California
Every Soul a Star
Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: New York, 2008; $15.99 “…the sun will get erased from the sky, the planets will come out to greet us, the birds will stop singing, and a glowing halo of light will flutter like angels’ wings above our heads. Except, of course, if it rains.” I recommend this book to anyone who likes a book with a good plot, feeling and humor; this book has it all, and great characters. Three very different people tell this story of an eclipse, friendship, and the difficulty of change. Ally has lived her whole life at Moonshadow campground. Her family has been living for one day for almost a decade. When the day comes, the moon’s shadow will cross in front of the sun, creating a solar eclipse that will last a few mere minutes. Hundreds of people, eclipse chasers and tourists alike, will come together to witness the natural phenomenon. But when A-clique and fashionable Bree is dragged along with her family to take over the campground, both girls resist. Ally wants nothing to do with the city, where smog and light pollution make only the brightest constellations visible, and Bree only wants to go back home to her pool, best friend, and life with the “popular girls” at her school. So together Ally and Bree try to get their parents to reconsider and stay where they were before the eclipse comes, and Ally has to leave and Bree has to stay. Through it all, Jack is invited by his seventh-grade science teacher to see the eclipse with a tour bus full of people. He also has to help Mr. Silver with a project involving finding an exoplanet on a faraway star. Jack only came with to get out of going to summer school and would much rather spend time flying in his dreams than looking at stars. But Jack, Ally and Bree are going to like looking at our very own star, the sun, when the moon’s shadow crosses over it. My aunt gave me this book when I was visiting her by myself for the first time. I was a little uneasy at the thought of being alone for five days, not to mention miles and miles away from home. This book was very nice to read late at night and early in the morning when everyone was sleeping or doing something else. I connected with the feeling of not knowing what I was supposed to do or what I wanted to do. And being homeschooled I knew exactly how Ally felt when fashionable Bree came and ridiculed her for her unbrushed hair and baggy clothes. I live out in the country and I always had time to go outside and play in the woods or look at the stars instead of doing homework or talking on the phone. I didn’t know much about civilization till later in life, like Ally, and I still really don’t care if my shirt matches my shorts. But now I also know how Bree feels, trying to fit in all the time with my friends or finding a new identity or what I am supposed to do in this world. And Jack is totally out of his element when he goes to Moonshadow, and I often feel out of it too. Also, I am kinda shy, and I know the feeling of not being able to find the right words to say something. I think anyone can relate to at least one character in this book, and it’s definitely worth reading. As Mr. Silver says, soon you’ll be ending every conversation wishing good star viewing. Wishing everyone clear skies! Danica Lee, 13 Sanford, North Carolina
Iron Jaw and Hummingbird
Iron Jaw and Hummingbird, by Chris Roberson; Viking Children’s Books: New York, 2008; $19.99 What if the Chinese had taken over the whole eastern hemisphere when Christopher Columbus left Spain in 1492? And what if this military and cultural expansion eventually led to the Chinese colonization of Mars? This alternate history sets the scene in Chris Roberson’s Iron Jaw and Hummingbird. This book is a unique blend of science fiction and history. Chris Roberson bases the main conflict on the actual Chinese Boxer Rebellion from the late 1800s. For instance, the name of the religious uprising on Mars is the Society of Righteous Harmony; during the Boxer Rebellion a similar group called itself the Righteous Harmony Society Movement. Chris Roberson’s dramatic story features adventure with a dash of romance. The main characters are a thirteen-year-old girl, Gamine (Iron Jaw), and a sixteen-year-old boy, Huang (Hummingbird). Huang, a failed scholar, is force by his influential parents to join the Army of the Green Standard as an officer. But before he reaches his post, bandits attack his caravan and capture him as a slave or, as the bandits say, their pet. Despite his slavery, he empathizes with the bandits against the Governor- General. Gamine’s life changes from that of a pampered scholar to a wandering con artist on the whim of her aristocratic mistress, Madame Chauviteau-Zong. After three years of cons she joins a religious movement for food and shelter. After a while she becomes the leader by posing as a holy person through whom the “powers” speak. This gives her a chance to get back at the society that cast her out. Interestingly, the characters’ stories don’t converge until over halfway through the book. Both Huang and Gamine live lives on the run. When they finally meet, they decide to quit running. United by a common goal, they plan a coup against the corrupt Governor-General. Another distinct element of the book is the realistic characterization. Almost all of the other characters have a history, which makes them feel more genuine. For example, the bandits seem like classic bad guys, but when you learn they used to be miners with dangerous working conditions, they seem more like people, not bloodthirsty criminals. I can relate to Huang because he likes to think things through and not rely on impulse, and he eventually becomes the bandits’ chief tactician. Also, he and I share a hobby: chess. While Huang plays a different version called “elephant chess,” it’s the same concept. We’ve all felt guilt before, so I think we can all relate to Gamine. She never stops feeling guilty about the victims she scams. She tries to make amends by leading her people to better lives. Despite the plot and character strengths, the end was disappointing. I won’t tell you what it is, but if the audience sees a large meat cleaver on a table during a play, they expect somebody to use the meat cleaver. Don’t just sum it up with a butchered pig on the table in the next scene. I would recommend this book because, even though it takes place on Mars, it seems like the story could happen anywhere. With a strong plot and realistic characters, I really cared about what happened to everyone. Ryan McManaman, 12 Lincoln, Nebraska
Little Audrey
Little Audrey, by Ruth White; Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 2008; $16 I never imagined that people could live in a coal mining camp until I read Little Audrey. Author Ruth White brings this unimaginable existence to life in her latest work. Audrey White is a sickly eleven-year-old girl growing up with her mother, three sisters and father in a Virginia camp during 1948. The cover’s photograph of a young girl in glasses and worn dress lets readers know right away that this is a tale of poverty and limitation. The story is not one imagined by the author. Ms. White was herself a little girl living in the coal mining town of Jewell Valley, Virginia, during the late 1940s. It was there that she began creating her first stories of hardship that can be later found in works such as Sweet Creek Holler or Way Down Deep. Each novel featured a plucky young girl who would not let personal circumstances get her down. For Audrey, her only wish is “for us to live a better life than we do.” I had the unique opportunity to ask the author about the main character. Ms. White indicated that Audrey was, in reality, her older sister. “I got into her head as best as I could and told our story from her point of view,” she explained. “Laura Ingalls Wilder was my first inspiration and most important influence so, like her, I have tried to tell my life story through a series of fiction books.” After meeting Audrey, the reader discovers the camp’s schoolhouse and other barefoot children who live in similar desperation. But Audrey’s problems are much less the mining camp surroundings than her family and their troubled lives. Audrey’s mother cannot overcome the death of a sibling after childbirth, and her father is one of the town’s well-known drunks who works just enough to support the family and his drinking. Life does go on in other normal ways as well: cakes are baked, Shirley Temple movies are all the rage at the camp theater, there are walks along country roads with school friends, and paper cups of Coca-Cola are handed out at the company store. This day-to-day pace carries on through most of the short novel until the sudden, tragic death of Audrey’s father in a car accident. His death is bittersweet for Audrey, her mother and sisters as it creates a new life for the family outside the camp. Audrey’s wish to live a better life has come true, but at a cost that was unimaginable early in the novel. This is where the story abruptly ends and the reader is left waiting to learn of the opportunities that will greet Audrey in the larger world. Perhaps Ms. White has left this for a future novel on her family. Little Audrey is a touching story and there are many lessons to be learned, mainly that good things can happen during bad times. I liked this book because of Ms. White’s decision to write a personal story about her own life, regardless of its circumstances, instead of choosing to write fiction or other more popular genres. The voice that Ms. White creates for Audrey is both believable and sad, and I recommend this book to anyone who has experienced hardship, as well as those who have not. Alaina Stout, 9 New Albany, Ohio
The Dragonfly Pool
The Dragonfly Pool, by Eva Ibbotson; Dutton Children’s Books: New York, 2008; $17.99 I’m not a big fan of fantasy books. So when I flipped through The Dragonfly Pool and found mentions of dukes, kings, and princes I groaned, thinking this book would be about royalty, kingdoms, and other things irrelevant to my life. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Dragonfly Pool is about real-life situations and feelings. Tally is a girl living in London as World War II is approaching. Her father, believing she won’t be safe in London when the war comes, reluctantly sends her away to a boarding school called Delderton. Tally doesn’t want to go, worrying that it’ll be like her cousins’ strict boarding school. But when she arrives at Delderton, she is instantly comfortable and makes friends with a girl whose mother is a movie star, a boy who tries to flush his tie down the toilet, a girl who lisps and is allergic to many things, and other eccentric characters. Classes range from drama, where children “give birth” to themselves and act like forks, to biology, which starts at four am. The school is invited to perform at a folk-dancing festival in a country called Bergania. There they meet Karil, the crown prince of Bergania, who wants more than anything to be an “ordinary” kid. After his father’s assassination Karil is in danger, so the students go to great lengths to rescue him and bring him to Delderton. There were many themes in this book, such as friendship, trust, and reaching out to children from all over the world, but the most intriguing to me was the one Karil thinks about: the definition of ordinary. I have also wondered about this because sometimes I feel that I don’t have an ordinary family and I’m not an ordinary kid. I’m homeschooled; I can’t tolerate certain foods a lot of kids enjoy, like chocolate and ice cream; I have some challenges; and I’ve always felt kind of different, with the things that interest me, from other kids. So I could relate to Karil, who longs to be an ordinary person and join the Delderton kids at their school. The ironic element is that, compared to most other schools, Delderton is not ordinary. I liked the school with its quirks and would probably enjoy the classes. Another thing I liked was that the kids really learned stuff at Delderton, even though some of the classes might have seemed silly. Sometimes I worry that people might think I’m not getting a proper education because I don’t go to school, but I believe kids learn in places that work for them. Also, the descriptions were vivid and I felt like I was there. So reading about the school was fun. Some elements of the book were overplayed. Even though it was necessary to the plot, the scenes where the kids had to escape from Nazis became a little rote. Also, the “relatives pushing a kid to be something he doesn’t want to be” seemed kind of cliche. These scenes were boring because I felt I’d read them all somewhere else. Overall, however, I liked The Dragonfly Pool. The plot was intriguing, the themes were interesting and inspiring, and the location was fun. While reading it, I almost forgot about what was going on around me! Lena Greenberg, 11 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Year the Swallows Came Early
The Year the Swallows Came Early, by Kathryn Fitzmaurice; HarperCollins: New York, 2009; $16.99 What happens when someone you love betrays you? Well, in this book, The Year the Swallows Came Early, you can learn that understanding and forgiving someone you love is the key for your own peace of mind. The main character of this book, Eleanor (Groovy) Robinson, deals with disappointment and anger, but later she finds out that you can’t hate someone forever and that, sooner or later, you’ll have to forgive them. When this story starts off, taking place in the historic town of San Juan Capistrano, Groovy witnesses her dad being arrested and has no clue why. That night her mom reveals to Groovy that her great-grandmother had left her a lot of money. Upon hearing this, Groovy starts to eagerly make plans for using this large sum to go to cooking school. But she only gets a few seconds to be excited because her mother shatters Groovy’s dreams by informing her that her father had lost all that money on a single bet, and that was why she had called the police. When I read this part, I was automatically hooked because I so desperately wanted to know how Groovy would react to this news. Groovy was disappointed about losing that money, but she also started to doubt that her father cared about her. Meanwhile, Groovy’s best friend, Frankie, doesn’t even want to think about his mother or read her letters. He is mad because his mother went on a voyage with his stepfather and left him with his stepbrother, Luis. She promised to be back in three days but didn’t come back for three years. That whole time, Frankie believed that she had betrayed him, and so he never chose to read or hear the explanations from her, and he doesn’t even want to know the real reason she didn’t come back. Even when she appears at Luis’s shop, Frankie still chooses not to listen to her, and so she leaves with a broken heart. But there are wise and helpful people in Frankie and Groovy’s neighborhood. Mr. Tom really wanted to help Frankie. He once said to him, “All that anger will turn you to stone.” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what ends up happening to Frankie, and then to Groovy as well. From just being sad and discouraged, Groovy becomes very angry and starts to hate her father. When mid-spring came, so did the scout swallow, and this time early. The rest of the swallows followed, bringing many changes. Groovy finally talked to her father on the phone, and she decided to forgive him and give him another chance. After a while, Luis explained to Frankie what really happened with his mother. Frankie understood and sincerely forgave her. It was a year of much disappointment and loss, but it would be a year to remember, the year the swallows came early. I learned from this book that “people are just who they are.” That means you need to be able to accept and trust the people you love before jumping to conclusions or thinking negatively about them. I also learned that you can’t carry so much anger and hatred inside yourself because it will slowly destroy you and make many people around you miserable and unhappy. You should try to do as many good things as you can, and stay positive, because it will not only make you feel good, but it’ll also brighten up the world around you. Nicole Timofeevski, 11 Carlsbad, California
Candyfloss
Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson; Square Fish: New York, 2008; $6.99 What would you do if your mom moved to Australia? This is just one question Flora Barnes, also known as Floss, has to answer in Jacqueline Wilson’s excellent novel, Candyfloss. Floss is a girl in her preteens living in England. She lives with her mother, her mother’s husband, Steve, and their toddler, Tiger, and spends the weekends staying with her dad in the house behind his rundown cafe. Floss is in the middle of a family split. She loves her mom and cherishes the girl-time that they spend together, yet at the same time she has more in common with her honest, easygoing father, who will do anything for her. When Steve gets a new job in Sydney, Australia, Floss makes a tough decision. She defies her mother’s insistence that she must accompany them to Australia and declares that she will stay with her father. This is hard for Floss because she is choosing one parent over the other, but she decides that her father needs her the most. Her mother has Steve and Tiger to look after her, but Floss’s dad has no one. He lives for the short weekends that he and Floss spend together, and Floss realizes that he needs her more that her mother does. I have a friend in a similar situation to Floss. Her family spent a year in California, and while they were there her mother fell in love with another man. When they got back, her parents divorced. This was only in third grade, but she is still scarred. She now switches between her parents’ houses every week. Both Floss and my friend have dealt with the sadness of divorce. Not only does Floss have problems at home, but school is becoming a concern as well. Floss is best friends with the pretty and popular Rhiannon. Unfortunately, just because Rhiannon is popular doesn’t mean she is nice. When Susan Potts, a nice, nerdy girl, comes to Floss’s school, Rhiannon and her friends start to tease her. Floss wants to stand up for Susan, but it seems impossible with Rhiannon always teasing her. How can Floss possibly remain friends with both of them? Floss is torn between wanting to be popular and fit in, and wishing that Susan was her friend. I am a nerd, no doubt about it. I expect other people who write for and read Stone Soup are. But most kids don’t like nerds. For some reason, we always find ourselves on the fringes, occasionally being included, but for the most part off in our own little world. Another reason that I can really relate to Susan is the feeling of being the new kid. I spent half a year living in Cambridge, England, when I was in fourth grade. Overall, the kids welcomed me with open arms. Unfortunately, there are always some characters, like Rhiannon, who feel insecure enough that they need to pick on a new kid to fit in with their group. Sometimes I was called names, sometimes I was picked on, and lots of kids enjoyed making fun of my American accent. Eventually, like Susan, I learned that if people tease you the best thing to do is to hold your head high and rise above unkind bullies. Over the course of the book Floss finds herself motherless, homeless, and friendless, but she also has her good times. She makes a friend, discovers a circus, finds a pet cat, and befriends her teacher. Candyfloss is an excellent book—as Floss would say, “Simply brilliant!” Sarah Gavis-Hughson, 12 Princeton, New Jersey
After the Train
After the Train, by Gloria Whelan; HarperCollins: New York, 2009; $15.99 Picture this: you are thirteen years old and living in Rolfen, West Germany, ten years after WWII has ended. All your history teacher talks about is the war and how big an impact it had on history, along with how horrible it was for the Jewish people. You know all this already and you think everyone should move on and live in the moment. Of course you have sympathy for all the people who suffered and died, but right now your biggest concerns are playing summer soccer with your two best friends and helping your father rebuild the town’s church in your spare time. This is Peter Liebig’s life in a nutshell, until he discovers a treasure trove of letters that had been exchanged between his mother and father during the war. While their country fought, Mr. Liebig, an architect by trade, built barracks in the prison camps. At home Mrs. Liebig, eager to play her part in the war, worked as a nurse at the Red Cross organization, treating mild wounds and making care packages for the soldiers. She saw the trains shipping off thousands of Jews to concentration camps but chose to ignore it all. The couple was happy helping the cause and blissfully unaware of the terrors going on around them. That all changed when a desperate woman held a baby out the window of a train and begged Mrs. Liebig to take him. The small child, later named Peter, had changed the Liebigs’ lives forever. Peter, now grown up, had always assumed that he was the son of his parents, just as anyone would. But when he discovers his Jewish heritage, his world is flipped upside down and he scrambles for anything to hold onto while he gets his head around this newly discovered information. When Peter talks to one of his father’s Jewish friends and starts attending some of their religious services and dinners with him, he finds it easier and easier to come to terms with his past. I thought I knew everything about my family and my past, but two years ago, when my father told me how my great-grandfather and great-uncles survived Auschwitz, I was astounded! They had lived in Poland and were helping Jews escape persecution. But the Nazis caught onto them, and they were sent to one of the worst prison camps created. Luckily, they all survived, but not without injuries. I was most certainly not in the same predicament as Peter, but I could relate to him and his sense of astonishment. Peter is a good role model, and easy to relate to. He has the mind of an adolescent, making his thoughts about soccer and friends easy for the young reader to understand, but he is also a very kind boy with a logical mind and a generous heart. He is curious and works hard, as evidenced by the sections of bricks he carefully and dutifully laid while learning the trade with his father. He helps his friends with their crazy ideas and is respectful and polite to his parents and other adults, making him my favorite character in the book. Because it is short in length, I found this book to be slightly predictable and some parts repetitive and slow moving. Overall, however, I enjoyed it. The book is a wonderful example of how learning about your past is not always a bad thing, and can be a grounding experience. Siena Teare, 12 Essex Junction, Vermont
