Mind’s Eye by Paul Fleischman; Henry Holt and Company: New York, 1999; $15.95 D0 you know what your mind’s eye is? It’s your imagination. In this book a sixteen-year-old girl, Courtney, meets an eighty-eight-year-old lady, Elva, nursing home in which both of them are living. Courtney is paralyzed from the waist down and Elva has a disease called Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a disease that makes you forget everything. If your closest friends and family come to visit you, you may have no recollection of who they are. In the book Elva sometimes thinks Courtney is her sister because of her Alzheimer’s. This book is about the two main characters, Courtney and Elva, taking an imaginary journey to Italy, with an old guidebook for a guide. Elva wants to take a trip to Italy because before her husband died he asked her to go for him. Now she can’t go because she is too old and sick, so she wants to go on the journey through her mind’s eye. She got an old guidebook on Italy, only to find that she can’t read the tiny print. I felt sorry for Elva at this point, because she loves to read, and to find that your eyes are getting bad when you really need them is sad. Elva has to rely on someone else’s eyes to read for her. She chooses Courtney’s eyes. She invites her on the journey through the mind’s eye. Courtney is reluctant, but she is so bored that she goes along. The book shows how unpleasant and boring a nursing home can be. First of all, the nurses are untrustworthy. They steal from the patients. The patients have no way to entertain themselves since the TV doesn’t work and they can’t even go out to breathe some fresh air. I would hate to live in a nursing home because in the book it gives you the impression that nursing homes are awful places. Elva talks to Courtney a lot in the beginning of the book and Courtney doesn’t listen to a word Elva says. I know what this feels like because it has happened to me many times before! Courtney seemed to be like any other teenager. She likes sleeping in till eleven o’clock! Courtney and Elva were complete strangers in the beginning of the book. They became friends only because Courtney was bored and Elva had nobody to talk to. At first I thought of Courtney as an unattractive teenager, but as the book went on Courtney became much nicer because she learned a lot from Elva. The most important thing she learned was that to survive in a nursing home she had to use her mind’s eye. This book sends a good message because it shows you can use your imagination for anything. One thing that I didn’t like about the book was the style in which it was written. It was written completely in dialogue like a play, which I felt made it more difficult to read. You have to concentrate harder since there are no paragraphs explaining what’s going on. Also, it seemed to jump around a lot. However, I thought the author’s descriptions gave you a very good idea of what the characters were experiencing and I could picture myself there. The topic was sometimes depressing but sometimes I felt really good for the characters. I felt good when they seemed to be enjoying themselves on their imaginary journey, but not when Courtney was being mean to Elva by ruining it. I felt sad when Elva died, but in a way I also felt good for her, because she lived a good life and with Alzheimer’s and bad eyes I feel she wanted to die. This book deals with subjects like illness and old age, and being alone in the world, that are rather depressing. Even so, after finishing the book, I didn’t feel sad. Instead I realized how your imagination can turn even awful things into something pleasant. That is what makes this book worth reading. Meenakshi Dalai, 9 Naperville, Illinois
Book Reviews
Frightful’s Mountain
Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead George; Dutton Children’s Books: New York, 1999; $15.99 Jean Craighead George wrote the book Frightful’s Mountain. It is about a peregrine falcon named Frightful and a boy named Sam who loves peregrine falcons. Sam lives in a tree house on a mountain where he likes to watch Frightful and many other creatures. When I was in fourth grade our class raised salmon so we could learn about them because they were endangered here in the state of Washington. When I read Frightful’s Mountain it reminded me of raising the salmon because both the book and the raising of the salmon taught me that we need to protect our endangered species and all of the other animals from becoming extinct. Both from raising the salmon and from reading this book I learned about how people harm the animals. For instance, in the book people used insecticide called DDT in South America that insects were eating and dying from, and then some birds were eating those DDT-sprayed bugs, and then peregrine falcons would eat the birds that had eaten the insects. Then the peregrine falcons would die from the DDT. In the salmons’ case that I studied people were dumping pollutants in the water and the fish would die in the polluted water. Frightful’s Mountain is an all-around great book because of the way that the book can make you think you are there with the characters. You can almost hear people talking and hear the animals. It’s as if you can reach out and touch everything. Therefore, I suggest this book to anyone who likes to read books that are hard to put down. Corben Wolford, 10 Seattle,Washington
Promises to the Dead
Promises to the Dead by Mary Downing Hahn; Clarion Books: New York, 2000; $15 Promises to the dead is a very interesting book. On the surface it seems simple, but scratch beneath the surface and you will find a unique story that obviously took some work. In Promises to the Dead, a young boy named Jesse happens upon a pregnant slave woman and her son. As the woman goes into labor, she sends Jesse to fetch an abolitionist midwife who lives nearby. As her condition quickly deteriorates after delivering a dead child, she makes Jesse promise to bring her little boy, Perry, to her dead master’s sister in Baltimore. Then she dies, leaving Jesse stuck with his promise, since you can’t break promises made to the dead. For the rest of the book, Jesse and Perry have to evade a slave-catcher, as well as Perry’s master’s widow. Because Perry was his master’s illegitimate son, his mistress would like to get rid of him as fast as possible. Finally the two boys manage to find freedom, despite the hardships along the way. I thought the plot was unique, because it dealt with normal people having to help runaway slaves. The only people that one usually hears about are the names that are now famous, like Harriet Tubman. Mary Downing Hahn shows the reality of the normal abolitionist. That was my favorite part of the plot. I really enjoyed how many ideas she was able to rope into one plot and be able to make it work. However, I didn’t think the plot was very plausible. It seems like there are many things that are hard for Jesse and Perry, and yet somehow there are many things that miraculously happen so that they are able to keep going. I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if Mary Downing Hahn had kept things agreeing with what she had said earlier in the story (i.e., what would happen if Perry’s owner got him back). I also thought the book was a little too easy to read, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone aged twelve and above, or with an above average reading level. However, all in all, the originality of the plot made it a light read that made up for unlikable details in the plot. There are many things in this book that are phenomenally well done. Not only does the plot have certain intricacies that keep the pages turning, but also the characters are extremely well drawn. Mary Downing Hahn knows how to make the reader like the good characters and hate the bad. She has successfully mastered the art of character creation, which I, as a writer, often struggle with. Making characters with multi-dimensional personalities of their own is a hard task. I commend her for making it seem easy. I also appreciated the honesty in this book. It is very hard to write a book on slavery and abolition (trust me, I’ve tried) and make it seem real. Mary Downing Hahn showed that it was the common people and not just those known as conductors on the Underground Railroad that made the real difference in eliminating slavery. I think that it produces good lessons to all of us out there today: keeping promises is important, and no matter what you do, it’s important not to give up along the way, because you are somehow making a difference. Jesse remembered that when he was taking Perry to safety, and he fought to keep going. I try to remember that whenever things seem pointless, that no matter what, I need to keep going until I succeed. Reed Gochberg, 13 St. Paul, Minnesota
Promises to the Dead
Promises to the Dead by Mary Downing Hahn; Clarion Books: New York, 2000; $15 Promises to the dead is a very interesting book. On the surface it seems simple, but scratch beneath the surface and you will find a unique story that obviously took some work. In Promises to the Dead, a young boy named Jesse happens upon a pregnant slave woman and her son. As the woman goes into labor, she sends Jesse to fetch an abolitionist midwife who lives nearby. As her condition quickly deteriorates after delivering a dead child, she makes Jesse promise to bring her little boy, Perry, to her dead master’s sister in Baltimore. Then she dies, leaving Jesse stuck with his promise, since you can’t break promises made to the dead. For the rest of the book, Jesse and Perry have to evade a slave-catcher, as well as Perry’s master’s widow. Because Perry was his master’s illegitimate son, his mistress would like to get rid of him as fast as possible. Finally the two boys manage to find freedom, despite the hardships along the way. I thought the plot was unique, because it dealt with normal people having to help runaway slaves. The only people that one usually hears about are the names that are now famous, like Harriet Tubman. Mary Downing Hahn shows the reality of the normal abolitionist. That was my favorite part of the plot. I really enjoyed how many ideas she was able to rope into one plot and be able to make it work. However, I didn’t think the plot was very plausible. It seems like there are many things that are hard for Jesse and Perry, and yet somehow there are many things that miraculously happen so that they are able to keep going. I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if Mary Downing Hahn had kept things agreeing with what she had said earlier in the story (i.e., what would happen if Perry’s owner got him back). I also thought the book was a little too easy to read, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone aged twelve and above, or with an above average reading level. However, all in all, the originality of the plot made it a light read that made up for unlikable details in the plot. There are many things in this book that are phenomenally well done. Not only does the plot have certain intricacies that keep the pages turning, but also the characters are extremely well drawn. Mary Downing Hahn knows how to make the reader like the good characters and hate the bad. She has successfully mastered the art of character creation, which I, as a writer, often struggle with. Making characters with multi-dimensional personalities of their own is a hard task. I commend her for making it seem easy. I also appreciated the honesty in this book. It is very hard to write a book on slavery and abolition (trust me, I’ve tried) and make it seem real. Mary Downing Hahn showed that it was the common people and not just those known as conductors on the Underground Railroad that made the real difference in eliminating slavery. I think that it produces good lessons to all of us out there today: keeping promises is important, and no matter what you do, it’s important not to give up along the way, because you are somehow making a difference. Jesse remembered that when he was taking Perry to safety, and he fought to keep going. I try to remember that whenever things seem pointless, that no matter what, I need to keep going until I succeed. Reed Gochberg, 13 St. Paul, Minnesota
Queen’s Own Fool
Queen’s Own Fool by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris; Philomel Books: New York, 2000; $19.99 My dictionary tells me that “history” is a record of significant events in the past. It is a perfectly valid explanation of the word, but it leaves some things out. While poring over our history books in school, we often do not fully grasp that these people were real. They loved and feared and grieved, as we in the twenty-first century do. It takes a truly gifted author to take a piece of history and make it a fascinating tale. Jane Yolen and Robert Harris have won a place among these talented few with their novel, Queen’s Own Fool. They have taken the true story of a remarkable young girl who led a daring life when women were considered to be inferior to men in every way. And they have brought this tale, overlooked by the history books, to the present. This girl, Nicola, is an intelligent, talkative, friendly person, one that we can sympathize with through all her dangers and hardships. Through her own point of view, she tells the story of the famous Mary Queen of Scots. The supporting characters—not all of them likable—expand the reality of the tale. Madame Jacqueline, Nicola’s tutor, is one such character. She is a complete tyrant. Jacqueline demands that Nicola’s intelligence be harnessed to the restrictive standards of her society. She also stifles Nicola’s originality and innocent wit, trying to force her pupil into a conventional female role. However, the reason Madame Jacqueline is so interesting is that she can be viewed as the opposite of Queen Mary. For example, in the beginning of the book, Nicola and her uncle’s family are lodged in a bleak, gray room, symbolizing their lowly position in society. When the queen arrives, she brings comfort and warmth to the room. Later in the book, Nicola is in a similar position, but this time she is alone in the coldness, without Pierre, Annette, or any of her old friends to comfort her. And worse, it is not the kind, merry queen who enters the bleak room, but the stern, stiff, unsympathetic tutor. Instead of bringing joy and hope to her surroundings, Madame Jacqueline makes a bad situation terrible. Some likable characters hold interest for the reader as well. One is Davie Riccio, a dwarf who has risen above the place his society demands that he take. Rather than being a jester that everyone laughs at, he has become one of the most important politicians in the royal court. But the price for his defiance of his culture’s standards is great when his pride and audacity overcome his caution. My father owns a garden that I visit often. It is a place of renewal and rebirth, where plants spring up from the seemingly lifeless dirt. Nicola has similar experiences among gardens, but it is she who is renewed. It is at gardens that her life is changed—first, when she meets the queen, who takes Nicola out of her former impoverished life. Later, when she encounters La Renaudie, the Protestant outlaw, her idealized, happily-every-after view of the royal court is destroyed. The only major flaw I found in Queen’s Own Fool was that it presented a misleading image of Queen Mary. In the story, she is portrayed as a kind, courageous, freedom-loving woman. In all probability, this is not the truth. Some historians claim that she plotted against Queen Elizabeth and played an important part in the plan to murder her husband. In addition, I thought the queen was too perfect to be very believable. But this book is well worth reading. Through authors like Jane Yolen and Robert Harris, history rises from the grave to reenact itself before us! Julia Zelman, 12 Montville, New Jersey
Fiona’s Private Pages
Fiona’s Private Pages by Robin Cruise; Harcourt, Inc.: New York, 2000; $15 What do you think makes a True Friend? Is it someone who, as Fiona Claire Jardin thinks: 1) always says nice things about you, agrees with you 100 percent, and thinks you look perfect; 2) never gets mad or disappointed in you and never keeps you waiting; 3) keeps your secrets no matter what; 4) never gossips or passes notes about you; 5) is exactly like you? Or is a True Friend more like what her mother, Laurel Ryan, believes? A True Friend: 1) sees you with her heart; 2) listens to you with her heart; 3) knows and loves you in her heart; 4) carries you in her heart; 5) opens her heart to you. This is the question that Fiona explores in this book. Fiona’s Private Pages is a wonderful book based on the pleasures and trials of friendship. It seems like every one of her ideas about friendship had to be tested and maybe changed. I could definitely understand many of Fiona’s feelings. Fiona has a best friend named Blanca, and two “second-best friends” named Katie and Natalie. One of her struggles involves Natalie. Natalie has been having trouble in school, and her mother says that if she cannot bring her grades up, she will have to change schools. Fiona decides to help by asking Katie to tutor Natalie in math, but, unfortunately, her grades remain low and her parents transfer her to a Catholic girls’ school. Although the girls still live in the same town, Fiona is worried that this change will hurt their friendship. When I was five years old, my family and I moved from Connecticut to California. I tried to keep in touch with my best friend Sally, but we didn’t have the patience to write letters. Then, just last year, my best friend Madeleine moved to New York. Now that I am twelve, it is easier to keep up a friendship by writing and calling, but it is still a lot harder than when you see each other every day. A good friend is worth the effort. Fiona has another challenge with friends at school. A new girl, Mackenzie Swanson, has just started at Fiona’s school and is already very popular. Fiona did not like Mackenzie from the beginning because she embarrassed Fiona in front of the whole class. As if this weren’t enough, she also wrote and passed mean notes about her. Since Fiona assumes Mackenzie does not like her, she is surprised when Mackenzie invites her to spend the night. Fiona is confused because she is attracted to Mackenzie’s wealth and popularity, but she doubts Mackenzie cares about being a true friend. I used to have “friends” like Mackenzie. They were cool and popular, but I was not content. Half the time they were nice to me and half the time they were not. I stopped hanging out with that group, and, although I am not popular anymore, I am much happier with my real friends who I know I can trust. Then, as if all these troubles were not enough, Katie tells Fiona a secret and makes her promise not to tell anyone! This is a big problem for Fiona because she knows if she does not tell anyone, Katie will be in terrible danger. But of course, this is number three on her True Friend list. Although I have never been in a situation quite as bad as this, many kids have. Should a person risk losing a friend in order to help her, or should secrets be kept no matter what? I think it is worth it to risk the friendship, especially if the secret is potentially dangerous to someone. Chances are your friend will forgive you and most likely be grateful in the long run. One year later, after all these ups and downs with friendship, Fiona reviews her list and realizes that her ideas of a True Friend have greatly changed. She understands that people can get mad at each other and still be friends. She also realizes how boring life would be if all her friends were just like her. I think many people will love to read Fiona’s Private Pages and see that Fiona’s experiences are much like their own. This book reminds me of what a True Friend really is, and how to be one. Emily Rice, 12 San Anselmo, California
The Pet War
The Pet War, by Allan Woodrow; Scholastic Press: New York, 2015; $4.99 When I read books I always set my expectations low, and also, I reluctantly admit I literally sometimes judge a book by its cover. The cover of The Pet War is a cartoonish picture of a dog staring down a cat, and that’s how I was drawn in. The plot starts out when the protagonist, Otto, an eleven-year-old boy, is watching a family move away with their dog that he really loved. You get a touch of his personality—likeable but also frustrating. He bargains with his mother back and forth about responsibility, when Lexi, his cat-loving sister, pipes up about getting a cat. They argue fiercely, but finally his mom settles on an agreement that whoever raises five-hundred dollars first to pay for the pet will get theirs. And the war begins. When they go to their divorced dad’s house, they both kiss up to him to try to get him to agree to get either a dog or a cat, and after they do many chores, he does. One particularly sad symbol of how the “war” was affecting the family was when they traveled to their dad’s house again and didn’t do anything with him. He is pleading, desperate to spend some quality time with them because he misses them, but they are too busy trying to beat each other to do something with him. As the war gets more intense, their rivalry becomes hate, with too serious name-calling, stealing, insults, and even bullying each other through talking. Otto steals twenty dollars from his sister and rips apart one of her posters, feeling guilty but then justifying it through thinking that Lexi was an enemy of his “country” in the war. Their mom starts to notice, but it is too late, the competition has escalated too far and they have both turned ruthless against each other, ripping everyone and everything out of their lives other than the competition. Finally, he decides that it has gone too far and gives his sister all his money, confessing his crime. This reminds me of when my stepbrother and I were in an Easter egg hunt, and, after much taunting, I finally snapped and threw my brother’s candy, shouting insults. I think at that point it wasn’t about how many eggs we had retrieved; chocolate really didn’t matter to me then. What mattered to me was getting back at my brother. The real source of it all, the competition, had escalated into something personal. I finally realized this upon reading this book, and that has had a huge impact on me now. They do get a cat, but they realize the burden that has been lifted off their shoulders. Otto really does learn how to be responsible and gets along better with his sister. I really liked this book and thought it would be about whether cats are better, or dogs, which was the initial reason I got it, but it really is deeper than that. It is about learning lessons and how family is the most important thing. I recommend this book to pet lovers, but also to anybody who wants to have a sad but also happy, humorous but deep, relatable story. I really loved this book, and I enjoy telling all my friends. Dyllan Han, 11 Milpitas, California
We Will Not Be Silent
We Will Not Be Silent, by Russell Freedman; Clarion Books: New York, 2016; $17.99 “They could have chosen to throw bombs.” Not often in history are peaceful attempts to disrupt political regimes successful. However, Russell Freedman’s We Will Not Be Silent captures one of the past’s greatest peaceful movements, which proved that the pen—or, in Hans and Sophie Scholl’s case, the mimeograph—is mightier than the sword. During the 1930s, Germany was moving toward a dictatorship and world war. The Scholl siblings—Hans and younger sister Sophie—were typical young Germans. However, not long after joining the Hitler Youth movement, they grew extremely opposed to Hitler’s beliefs. Also, they were not afraid to take risks for their beliefs. Their participation in a banned youth group landed them in jail in 1937 as mere teenagers. After arriving to university, they took their opposition to a new level and created the White Rose leaflets—anonymous letters targeting Hitler and the Nazis. They were mimeographed in secret and called on Germans to act against the growing Nazi tyranny. Hans Scholl delivered the first set of leaflets in 1942 with a friend. As his sister Sophie and a few others joined the movement, the leaflets gained popularity, yet also drew the attention of the dreaded Gestapo secret police. From then on, they had a huge target on their backs. The book tells a powerful historical story but also speaks to children and young adults today. Here is an example we have probably all encountered—someone says something mean to you, or hits you, and your instinct is to do the equivalent in response. It is always tempting to fight fire with fire. The Nazis used violence to harm and it might have been appealing to use violence to fight back. However, the Scholls resisted that urge and used the power of their words to resist. They stayed true to their beliefs, which, as the leaflets summarized, promoted peace, instead of creating even more bloodshed. To this day, the Scholls set an example to young people around the world, demonstrating that peaceful activism can be effective. The Scholls’ bravery at a young age is also an important inspiration about not accepting limits. Have you ever felt as if you can never make a difference or cannot have certain opinions simply because of a certain trait you possess? Because you are young, or a certain gender, or from a certain background? We all do, at times. Despite the fact that they were only students, the Scholl siblings became some of Germany’s most effective Hitler opponents in an age where even educated adults were afraid to speak up. They created an extremely influential operation to express their political viewpoints. And they pursued their beliefs despite the limitations they encountered—Hans rebelled against the Hitler Youth and Sophie pursued her studies, even though girls were only a slim ten percent of the student body. They stood up for their opinions and rights, with a big risk to themselves, and inspire all of us to do the same. If you are looking for an amazing read, full of historical and inspiring information and intriguing pictures, We Will Not Be Silent is the perfect book for you! I highly recommend this fantastic story. It is truly an inspirational tale of courage and independence, and it speaks to all of us. Ariel Kirman, 12 New York, New York
Dream Freedom
Dream Freedom by Sonia Levitin; Harcourt, Inc.: New York, 2000; $17 Dream Freedom is a beautiful book. As early as the foreword you can feel the anguish, the hope, and the love in every sentence: This book was born from emotion. First came the shock that slavery still exists, in our own time, and that most people are oblivious to its existence. And those two opening sentences are true. They really are. Slavery does exist. It’s happening right now, in Africa. While you’re playing kickball at recess a child might be taken away from his mother, a brother might be killed while trying to keep his sister from being taken. While you are at a theme park with your parents somebody else’s mother might be made to become pregnant with her master’s child, when she is already married and has another little one at home. While you’re slurping up Pepsi and snacking on Cheetos someone’s brother, uncle, daughter, mother, might be lucky to get a taste of the food the hogs eat. What the pigs eat is probably better than what some people are thrown. One reason this book is so beautiful is that Sonia Levitin, the author, is not African herself. She is white. But she cares. Cares like it is her sister being torn away from her. Cares like we all should care. What happens to one person, or one family, or one country, affects us all. And Sonia Levitin is trying to get us all to see that, or at least want to see that. Besides the parts about the fact that slavery does exist, there are chapters of the book about Marcus, a boy just like some of the children you might know. Marcus lives in America and his teacher is teaching his class about the slavery that’s happening, and they are trying to help. You may not believe this, but some people in the book were strongly opposed to their children learning about slavery. A quote from one of the fathers in the book is “I know what Miss Hazel intends! She is using our children to become a national celebrity! Oh yes, you want your fifteen minutes of fame. Well, let me tell you, you’re not going to get it at the expense of my son!” Miss Hazel then tries to tell him she couldn’t care less about being on television. The father replies that he sends his son to school to learn the basics, not to get worked up about a bunch of primitives who have been fighting and killing each other since time began. If I were Miss Hazel, I think I would have about blown my top. But then in the book you learn that some people might reason with the angry father. They say buying slaves to free them promotes capturing them, but I think the most important thing is to keep all of the people of the world free. We all have that right, no matter what color skin or what name. Slaves aren’t even allowed to keep their names! They are given new Arab names! Think about how you would feel if someone stripped you of your home, your family, your way of living and even your name. That would be the most terrible fate on earth. I would never mean to say all Arabs are bad, because you can’t brand a race. Some of them are taking the Sudanese as slaves, but you can’t dislike all of them. Most of them are people just like you and me. Like Aziz, in this book. Aziz didn’t know what it was like for the slaves his father bought. But then one day he went with his father to buy slaves and he saw a girl being taken away from her sister, the only thing she had left of her own past. Also Aziz’s father struck a man because he would not obey him. Aziz can’t figure out how he is going to make it through the rest of his life, and sits in his bed thinking, It’s a lie. It’s a lie. They are exactly like us. At the end of the book you learn these facts: in the civil war going on in Sudan, 1.9 million people in Southern and Central Sudan have died, and 4 million Sudanese have had to flee from their homes, leaving their houses, jobs, farms, food and toys behind. Should anyone have to live like this? You decide. Kat Clark, 11 Racine,Wisconsin
Visiting Miss Caples
Visiting Miss Caples by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel; Dial Books: New York, 2000; $16.99 When I first saw the cover of the book Visiting Miss Caples I thought the story would be downright boring. I put off reading it for a while. When I did start reading the story, I was easily caught up in the book. Jenna’s character was easy to relate to—who doesn’t have a friend that they look up to and rely and depend upon for support? I cannot imagine having a friend for so long and then suddenly losing her over some stupid prank. Jenna has to choose between following her friend, the most popular girl in school, or to do the right thing and become a social outcast. There is not a teenager out there who doesn’t worry about being liked or having friends. What makes it harder is when someone vows to be your worst enemy. Even after years of torment from Liv and Jenna, Jane had never tried to get back at them. I think if we all tried that approach kids would feel a lot safer at school. There are always going to be kids who think that they are better than everyone else is. I don’t think we can get rid of the bullies either. They will always be there. What we can do is try to turn the other way and try non- violent solutions to our problems and accept others for their differences. Those differences that we see in each other are what make people unique. It would be really boring if everyone looked, acted and thought the same. I had an experience like Jenna’s a couple of years ago. I used to hang around a group of girls at school. I guess you could say it was the in-crowd. The leader of our group was always getting us into trouble. Finally, one day she thought of this horrible prank to play on this other girl. I told her I wasn’t going to go through with it. She became really upset and turned the others against me. I dreaded going to school and facing them or wondering what they were going to do to me that day. I tried to ignore them, found different friends, and eventually the whole thing was forgotten. I became friends with other girls who I can truly call my friends. Another situation I can relate to was the social studies project that Jenna had to do. Her assignment was to read to an elderly shut-in once a week. I know exactly how Jenna felt the first time she visited Miss Caples. I have volunteered for the past two summers at senior centers. It is really hard to try to get people to open up and talk to you. It is amazing though what you can learn from the stories they tell you. I became really close to a few of the people there. I look forward to it every summer. My favorite line from the story is “The past is like smoke in the wind.” Both Liv and Miss Caples say this. I never really thought about how true that is. We always worry about what happened last month, last week, or the day before. But the past, like smoke, will eventually become fuzzy or fade away and then completely vanish or become absorbed by something else. We need to think more about our present and future and leave the past where it is—behind us. I truly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading.
Lost in Time
Lost in Time by Hans Magnus Enzensberger; Henry Holt and Company: New York, 2000; $18 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel in time? And have you ever wondered what problems you might encounter and what the consequences might be? In Lost in Time Robert finds out all these things and more as he wades deeper and deeper into history and lands himself in more trouble than he could ever imagine in his wildest dreams. It all starts when Robert rubs his eyes while watching TV and opens them in 1956 Siberia. Accused of being a German spy, he has many adventures there before being transported to 1946 Australia through a movie screen. This happens seven times and by the time he is a painter’s apprentice in 1621 Holland, Robert is beginning to doubt he will ever get back to the present, his friends, family and life. That is, until he comes up with a miraculous and ingenious idea to get him back home. To find out what happens you’ll have to read the book. Every time Robert travels to a different time period the story changes a little and so does Robert. He begins to know what to expect and even learns new things about history and himself. The story is sometimes a mystery, like when Robert puzzles over what’s going on in Soviet Russia, sometimes adventure, like when Robert joins a band of thieves in 1638 Germany, sometimes romantic, like when Robert meets his first girlfriend Caroline in Australia, and sometimes it is historical, like when Robert pieces together his surroundings in a new time and the reader learns about what life was like back then. The saddest part is when Robert must leave his girlfriend Caroline in another time. The most exciting part is when Robert joins the army in 1638—a war he has only read about in history textbooks. Personally, I don’t have a favorite part—I enjoyed the entire thing! Time travel has always interested me and I found it entertaining when Robert had to explain things like calculators to people who lived in the eighteenth century! At times I was annoyed at the mistakes Robert made; like mentioning television to someone before it had even been invented, but when I thought hard about it, I realized I would make the same mistakes too! How would you manage being zapped in time with no idea of where you would be next or more importantly, when you would be next?! I would highly recommend this great book to anyone aged ten and up or for any strong reader. Cameron Mckeich, 11 Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
Angelfish
Angelfish by Laurence Yep; G. P. Putnam’s Sons: New York, 2001; $16.99 When I first read Angelfish, I had many reactions to it, but as I progressed through the book, many of the reactions shifted to reveal different ones. At first, when I first met Robin, the main character in this book, I pitied her because she had to work for a racist old grouch and she could not tell anyone, or else her dream role in her ballet class that she had worked so hard to win would be at stake. As I read through the book, I realized that my feelings changed from pity to a strange sort of jealousy and envy. By going to the fish store every day to work off her debt on the broken glass window, she was not only gaining knowledge of fish and being taught tai chi, but she was also learning many very important lessons of life. Like Robin, I am also Chinese American. Although both my parents are Chinese, I look more Korean than Chinese. Mr. Cao had called Robin a “half person” because she was only half Chinese. People have also often criticized me about my looks. One thing that was different, though, was that they claimed that I was a nobody, for I didn’t look a bit Chinese. That hurt me even more than what Robin experienced because I had been born and lived in China for half my life, and I had the heritage and knew about China even more than she did. I think the part where Robin compares the characteristics of the beast in the ballet Beauty and the Beast with Mr. Cao, a grouchy old man who possessed Beast’s temper, was especially wonderful, for in the process of comparing the two, she learned both how to help Mr. Cao overcome his fear and how to act as Beauty on the stage. When Robin found out that Mr. Cao was actually a ballet dancer who was also a victim of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, I finally began to understand why Mr. Cao was so gruff in his manner with Robin, and how he tried to cover up everything nice he did with an insult. Although Mr. Cao’s intentions were to try to teach and warn Robin of the dangers of an audience so that she would never have to go through what he had to go through, in the end both sides learned a lesson. Mr. Cao learned that no matter what happens, the dance never leaves the dancer, no matter if it is in the mind or the body, and Robin learned not to misjudge people by their appearances, for even a beast would appreciate beauty and magnificence if presented the right way. This part of the story affected me deeply, for my mother’s generation and my grandmother’s generation were affected immensely by the Cultural Revolution. Angelfish is a wonderful story for anyone or any age. It will captivate readers and guide them through China’s horrific past, from a period of time where even simple dreams seemed impossible, to the present, where a young, innocent girl teaches an old man that no matter when or where, beauty is always appreciated. Zhan Tao Yang, 13 Las Vegas, Nevada
