Making Waves by Barbara Williams; Dial Books for Young Readers: New York, 2000; $17.99 In making waves, author Barbara Williams returns to her two main characters who survived the sinking of the Titanic in her last book, Titanic Crossing. These two young people, Albert Trask and Emily Brewer, continue the friendship they forged on that fateful voyage in 1912. Like many young people, Emily and Albert share a bond, which was formed by a shared experience. All of us form friendships by positive and negative experiences we share with others: a particularly successful science fair project or maybe a crushing defeat on the soccer field. Certainly Emily and Albert witnessed the horror of the loss of 11,517 souls and must now manage to go on with their lives. The book begins less than a week after the disaster at sea, when Emily writes to Albert, looking for someone to talk to who “understands about the Titanic.” Emily’s new life is clouded with fears and nightmares about the disaster, and she can’t put it in the past the way Mama suggests. This determined twelve-year-old is seeking an empathetic ear, the way many adolescent girls commiserate with their friends about being a wallflower at a school dance. Through their correspondence, Emily and Albert find that they share the feeling of wonder about why they survived and so many others didn’t. Both of them attempt to get on with their lives, making friends, learning lessons, and fitting into family life. However, just like many real-life people who survive a disaster, they both find themselves fighting to right wrongs. Barbara Williams has created believable characters. Emily’s strong will, which often gets her into trouble, is her strongest asset. In a time when women were still in the background, she breaks the mold by joining her friend Maggie in a fight for change. Albert provides a sensitive and understanding ear to Emily, as he tries to insure that his survival makes a difference. Most readers and moviegoers already know the story of the Titanic. Ms. Williams carries the story to the next level by reminding us that the Titanic disaster did not end the lives of all on board. Many who survived achieved great things that were shaped by their experiences on April 15, 1912. Sarah Marcus, 12 Watchung, New Jersey
Book Reviews
Elegy on the Death of Cesar Chavez
Elegy on the Death of César Chavez by Rudolfo Anaya; Cinco Puntos Press: El Paso, Texas, 2000; $16.95 I remember that my mother cried on the day César Chavez died. I was four years old but I remember that my whole family was sad. When I read Elegy on the Death of César Chavez last month, I understood why my mother cried. The book is a poem expressing the grieving of people when César Chavez died. It is twenty-six pages with collage illustrations by Gaspar Enriquez. The collages mix black and white and color pictures that make the reader remember the faces of the campesinos (farmworkers) and César Chavez. It’s short but it’s like a sad song that gets stuck in your head. I am a sixth-grader at DePortola Middle School. I had to write a biography so I read about the life of César Chavez and did a biographical report on him. I read books on him, but those books were only about facts and chronologies. My history book just had a paragraph about him in it. I learned about the important things he did for farmworkers, but this book, Elegy on the Death of César Chavez, helped me understand how people felt about him—that “he lives in the hearts of those who loved him.” I learned about the labor leader from my grandparents and my mother. My family worked in the fields and that is why he was important to my family. My grandfather showed me the short hoe he used to use when he worked in the fields. César Chavez made it against the law for workers to use the short hoes because it hurt their backs. The author described how César Chavez was the “guide across the fields of toil” and it made me remember how tired my grandfather looked when he came back from the fields because it was very hard work. In this book the author weaves some Spanish words into the poem like el lucero (bright star) and “across the land we heard las camparias doblando” (the bells tolling). It makes the poem stronger for people like me who are bilingual. It would have been good if the author had included the definitions for the Spanish words for readers who only understand English in the back of the book, like explaining that huelga means strike and the word campesino means farmworker. Younger readers will have to look up some of the English vocabulary in this book, but you can understand the words by the way they are used. After reading this book about Chavez I felt how people felt about him and how they felt about the world around them. Even if someone never heard of him before, this elegy would make him sad and feel that César Chavez was a hero. Thomas Arguilez Smith, 12 San Diego, California
Tides
Tides by V. M. Caldwell; Milkweed Editions: Minneapolis, 2001; $16.95 People of all ages will love V. M. Caldwell’s Tides, a touching, well-written story. The author includes characters of different ages and personalities, making it enjoyable for a vast expanse of readers. Children who have lost a parent or are experiencing a difficult childhood will especially like the book because it gives hope that things can work out. Tides is about an orphan, Elizabeth, who has recently been adopted by the Sheridan family. Every year the Sheridans go to the ocean to visit their grandmother and cousins. Elizabeth has always wanted to see the ocean, and she looks forward to the trip all year. But when she arrives, she discovers that she is terrified of the water. At the same time, the oldest Sheridan cousin, Adam, is angry and disturbed. Earlier in the year his two best friends were killed while driving home, drunk, from a party. He has never really recovered from the shock of the tragic accident. He treats his grandmother and parents disrespectfully and is cruel to his siblings. The Sheridans’ struggles with these two central problems result in their growth as a family. I have had an experience very similar to Elizabeth’s: ever since I was little, I wanted to learn to swim. Most of my friends could swim, and I envied them very much. I always imagined myself diving into crystal-clear, cool water, swimming with dolphins, and finding mermaid cities. But when I finally went to Lake Michigan, I hated it. The water was freezing and I got cramps. The pebbles hurt my feet, and I couldn’t stand the smell of fish. When I felt seaweed swirl around my leg, I thought it was a fish, coming to eat me. I was so scared that I ran all the way back to the beach and wouldn’t go back into the water for a long time. Most terrifying of all were the waves. I was afraid they would knock me over and that I wouldn’t be able to get back up again. Elizabeth, too, was frightened of the waves, and the seaweed-fish smells made her nauseous. Throughout the entire story, the author helps you relate to all the characters by revealing their feelings and emotions. She writes wonderful dialogue that gives no doubt as to what they are feeling. For example, when Adam comes home because he has learned that his cousin was injured, his sister Molly is openly hostile to him. The description of Molly’s face and tone as well as the dialogue make it obvious that Molly thinks Adam deserted the family and doesn’t deserve to be called a Sheridan any longer. One thing I especially liked about Tides was that the situations in the story were very believable. Often the events in a story are possible, but not probable. In Tides, the characters handle their problems in ways that people might handle their problems in reality. For example, Adam decides to “solve” his problems with the family by leaving home. This is something that happens to many disturbed teens. Adam gets a job close by home for a while but in the fall decides to sign up for conservation work in a national park, instead of going to college as he had originally planned. Despite all the conflicts the author weaves into her plot, everyone’s problems are resolved in a heart-warming, believable way. My favorite message from Tides is that a truly loving family can never be separated. The Sheridans live through many heart-wrenching situations that few families would live through without being permanently damaged. My own family has lived through an extremely difficult situation, but we are still here. Now that everything is over, I can see how we were there for each other the entire time, giving hope and support—just like the Sheridans. Nell Elliott, 12 Evanston, Illinois
One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss
One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss by Barry Denenberg; Scholastic, Inc.: New York, 2000; $12.95 When someone says the word “Jewish” do you feel a sudden rush of hate, a thrill of fear, or does it even stand out enough that it makes you feel anything at all? For Julie Weiss, a Jewish girl who is about twelve years of age, that word means fear and confusion. One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping is a book about the Holocaust. A book about the astounding measures the Nazis took while trying to banish the Jewish culture. Julie experiences the horrors of the Nazis, firsthand. This author does an amazing job of creating a young girl that is just like the children today. Julie worries about growing up, making friends and going to school. But then one day her world is shattered. The Nazis take over Vienna and suddenly there is more to her life than just fun and games. Now, she has to worry about whether or not her life and her family’s lives are in danger. Friends turn into enemies and respect turns to hatred. The Nazis chant in the street, “Kill the Jews, kill the Jews!” Is it possible that they could kill Julie? Julie is immensely confused. Why is it that suddenly Jews are thought to be terrible monsters instead of just human beings? Before Hitler had entered Julie’s life she hadn’t thought anything of her religion. Her family never went to the synagogue, never prayed and never thought very much about God at all. So, why is it that suddenly she is thought to be this disgusting thing that everyone hates? Could it be that the only reason that she is considered Jewish is because Hitler says she is? This book is portrayed to you in fascinating diary entries. One night Julie writes about when the Nazis barge into her home. As the Nazis go through her family’s house, throwing things out of windows and destroying everything in sight, Julie sits silently in fear. Then, suddenly her brother and father are yanked out of the house. Outside, they are forced to scrub the sidewalk to rid it of anti-Hitler signs. Eventually, the men and boys realize that the liquid they are scrubbing the sidewalk with is not water, but a kind of paint stripper that burns their hands. If they stop scrubbing they are punished severely. Many other events like that one are referred to in the book. One man who refused to do as the Nazis ordered had gasoline poured over him. Then, they lit a match and as the man protested and screamed that he would do anything the Nazis wanted, he was burned to death. The author, Barry Denenberg, tells the truth, plain and simple. Although I cried at many times throughout this book I am glad that I have finally found a children’s book that tells the unvarnished truth. One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping will tell you what really happened in those years so long ago. It will not hide the story behind curtains of lies. I have read many books about the Holocaust, but none were quite as moving as this one. Thankfully, I have never experienced the constant fear that Julie must have lived with every day, but when three buildings were attacked by terrorists in the United States I experienced as much fear as I have ever felt in my entire life. Though no one I knew was hurt or killed there, the thought of all those who were chills me to this very day. The fear that most American citizens felt on September 11, 2001 was a small taste of what so many people who lived during the Holocaust had to survive with day in and day out. As Barry Denenberg weaves history and the life of an ordinary girl together, this story comes alive. Suddenly, you’re reading much more than the diary of an ordinary, young girl. You’re reading a book about human cruelty and human kindness. You’re reading a book about something real that may have happened to your ancestors. Read this book to find out what will win in Julie’s story, evilness or goodness? Cassy Charyn, 11 Bainbridge Island, Washington
The Land
The Land by Mildred D. Taylor; Phyllis Fogelman Books: New York, 2001; $17.99 “Can’t figure how you can be so crazy ’bout them white brothers of yours neither, when once y’all grown, they’ll be the boss and you’ll be jus’ another nigger.” One of the factors that made The Land so interesting was a unique conflict. Paul-Edward grew up with a black mother and a white father during the post—Civil War era. There was still a good deal of hate between the two races in the South. Though slavery was illegal, blacks were still treated like dirt. As Paul-Edward was growing up, he was the proverbial “man without a country.” Blacks didn’t like him because he had white skin and whites didn’t like him because they just knew that down deep he was a black. As I said earlier, this presented a very unique conflict. Another reason that The Land was so good was that it played my emotions better than Yo-Yo Ma can play the cello. When Paul was trying to win the horse race, my blood pressure rose higher. When Paul was missing his dad because of running away on the train, the next time I saw my dad I hugged him tighter. When Paul was running from the whites, I pulled my bed covers a little closer. The two main characters are Mitchell, a black who starts out hating Paul-Edward, but eventually—through a deal with him—becomes his best friend. Mitchell isn’t afraid of anything, and has a great sense of humor. The other main character, of course, is Paul himself. He is very intellectual, has a healthy amount of worries, and doesn’t understand why whites hate blacks. These characters’ clashing personalities give the book pizzazz and bring two, usually opposite, views of each situation into the mix, making it a lot more fun to read. Most people would say this book is simply preaching against racism, but the moral goes deeper than color. The Land is not just simply about blacks vs. whites, but it tells a story of how through friendship, love, and determination a man beat the odds and made his dream a reality. It doesn’t matter if it’s a black who wants to own land in a white man’s country, or a boy who wants to become president when he grows up, the moral is that nice guys don’t necessarily finish last. The Land is fast-paced, a quick read, and very well written. I normally do not even enjoy historical fiction, but this was one of the best books I have read in a while. Sam Gates, 13 Louisville, Kentucky
Esperanza Rising
Esperanza Rising by Pam Murioz Ryan; Scholastic Press: New York, 2000; $15.95 Did you know that esperanza means hope in Spanish? That word, and that word alone, is the perfect way to describe the young heroine of this novel, Esperanza Ortega. Esperanza Ortega is a pampered little rich girl in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1930, who has all the food, clothes, and toys that any twelve-year-old child could want. She has many servants and she has her love for her mother, father, and grandmother. The novel starts by showing the theme of the book: when Esperanza was six years old, her father took her for a walk in El Rancho de Rosas, their home, and told her to lie down in the field, and she could feel the heart of the valley. When Esperanza did as he said, it turned out to be true, and she and her father shared this little secret. The day before Esperanza’s thirteenth birthday, however, a horrible thing happens: her father is attacked and killed by bandits, who believe that they killed righteously, because Papa is rich and most likely scorns the poor, like them. When this dreadful news is delivered to Esperanza and her mother, they go into mourning, and Papa’s older stepbrothers, Tio Marco and Tio Luis, come to supposedly help them through their time of need. The true purpose for their staying comes clear, though, when Tio Luis announces that he wishes to marry Mama. However, Mama turns his proposal down. But after the uncles burn their house to the ground, the family realizes that they must leave Mexico. Esperanza, Mama, and their former servants—Miguel, Alfonso, and Hortensia—take the train to California and begin to work as farm laborers. Esperanza is enraged, however, because she is not used to “being treated like horses” or living among poor people. Even after she befriends Miguel’s younger cousin Isabel, she still scorns and fears the labor camp because there are the strikers in it who are trying to get better working conditions and will stop at nothing and no one to get what they want. I liked Esperanza Rising, but there was one big thing that I didn’t like: Esperanza was so real a character that I felt a little bit queasy. I’m not very comfortable around realistic fiction books. I’m more the fantasy-novel type. I still don’t like books that don’t end “happily ever after.” There were some things that Esperanza experienced that I have as well. When Esperanza was asked to sweep the porch and she didn’t know how to even use a broom, I knew just how she felt, because I’ve had that feeling more than once. When I was little, I begged my mom to let me have a bike, so I could be “just like the big kids,” and I never rode it, so I’ve never learned how to ride a bike. When my friends ask me to ride my bike with them, I always have to lie and say that it’s “much closer to walk,” and “oh, couldn’t you walk, too?” It’s very difficult when you can’t do something that most other people can. But Esperanza learned how to use a broom, while I still have yet to learn how to ride a bike! Esperanza Rising is written so you could definitely feel what the characters were feeling. I very nearly almost laughed out loud at the part when Esperanza had to wash the babies’ diapers and she didn’t know how, so she was just dipping them into the washing basin with two fingers. Esperanza Rising is a vivid, well-written book. The author takes her time, and describes every scene and every character as though the whole novel revolved around them. And she shows how Esperanza changes: from a pampered, stuck-up girl, to an understanding young woman. And the whole story contains hope. Hope that the strikers will understand why Esperanza and her family and the other workers need their jobs and will not join them. Hope that Esperanza will one day become rich again. And hope that Abuelita, Esperanza’s grandmother, will one day come and join Esperanza and Mama in the labor camp, because she was left behind at El Rancho de Rosas. Luisa V. Lopez, I I New York, New York Luisa was 10 when she wrote her review.
A Face First
A Face First by Priscilla Cummings; Dutton Children’s Books: New York, 2001; $16.99 When Kelley got in the accident it made me realize how precious life really is. The poor girl is only in sixth grade and she is scarred for life. I cried as I read about all the things that happened to Kelley, and the way she felt about life; she wanted to die if she had to look the way she did. I can’t imagine how life could be so bad that you would want to die. This book showed me how quickly your life can change, from being healthy and great to being at the hospital with a broken leg and having third-degree burns on your face and body. Thinking of how quickly things can change reminded me of September 11. How the day before the nation was bright and on September 11 the nation was torn and shattered; that one day has scarred the nation forever. Kelley is scarred forever in what happened to her, for the thought that she will never look the way she used to. Priscilla Cummings, the author, described everything so well. I felt like I was there watching the whole accident, and being there at the hospital with Kelley it is unbelievable how she describes everything. One part that I think was just unbelievably moving is when Kelley’s sister Leah was in Paris for college, and she wanted to come home because of Kelley’s accident. Kelley knows that going to college in Paris is her sister’s dream so she begs her not to come; her sister says she won’t come. Then when Kelley comes home from the hospital, Leah comes without telling Kelley. Kelley is so happy to see her. The thought that Kelley was thinking of her sister and her dream of going to college in Paris, before thinking of herself and how much she needed her sister at the time, was really moving. This book is so truthful because the story it tells is so true. I don’t think people want to realize it though—the fact that there is a chance you can die tomorrow, or that you will be diagnosed with cancer, or get in an accident. This book does not hide the truth, it tells it, and that is something I really like about this book. This book changed my outlook on life, and it will change yours too. Tahani Al-Salem, 11 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Girl in Blue
Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi; Scholastic Press: New York, 2001; $15.95 Girl in Blue was one of the most fascinating and suspenseful books I have ever read. I could hardly put it down! Girl in Blue is a story about a sixteen-year-old girl, named Sarah Louisa Wheelock, who disguises herself as a teenage boy and runs away to serve in the Union army during the American Civil War. Ann Rinaldi captivates you with her story and her characters. Although there are no illustrations in the book, I feel there really is no need for them. She paints a vivid picture of each of the characters, in appearance, actions, and personalities. For example, Sarah was described as a sweet, quiet girl, who was always there for anyone who needed her. But she was also described as the one in the family who always supplied them with fresh venison for dinner. She loved hunting in the woods, carrying her father’s rifle, which she had named Fanny. Throughout the book, her character traits were displayed through the different experiences and problems she had. When she served in the army, she was brave, and although it was very difficult to keep disguised who she was, she kept going and pretended to be Private Neddy Compton. She was very gifted in medicine and doctoring. She knew many remedies to cure diseases that even the so-called doctors in the army had not been taught. Rinaldi described Sarah’s experiences in this book so well, and realistically, I felt like I was truly a part of the story. For example, at one point in the book, Sarah crosses the borders, into the Rebel territory. She is stopped and searched, and the suspense in the book was captivating. Sarah was carrying some very important letters to deliver, and if they were discovered, it could mean death for her and many others. When Sarah received word that her father had died, and she was grieving, I felt like I had known him as well and was sad too. My great-grandmother died recently, and that was really sad. She had been a wonderful great-grandmother to me and my three brothers. She would always send us a card with money in it for our birthdays and at Christmas. Whenever she was able, she would come visit us, or come to our plays or piano recitals. In a way, I can relate to Sarah, when she found out her father had died. There was one character in the book named Rose Greenhow. Sarah was assigned to work as a maid for her, after Sarah had been discovered to be a girl. Mrs. Greenhow was suspected of being a Rebel spy, and Sarah was given the job to find out whether or not that was true through her duties as her maid. Rose Greenhow was the most stuck-up person I have ever read about! She was always cranky and grumpy, even though her every want and need were catered to immediately. Sarah must have been in an awful position living with her! I know I would hate having to constantly be wondering if anyone knew who I was, or where I was from, like Sarah, and having to watch my back around every street corner. At one point in the book, Sarah went home to visit her family. She was still disguised as a boy, dressed in the Union Army’s uniform. Her mother did not recognize her, but her brother Ben did. She and Ben had always been close. Sarah really struggled with wanting to tell her mother that she wasn’t Private Neddy Compton, but that she was her daughter, Sarah Wheelock. I can’t imagine being away from my family for more than a year, and then going back home to all the familiar smells, sights, and places, and still not be able to reveal who I really was. Sarah must have felt awful. This was a wonderful and exciting book. I could read it several times. Girl in Blue revealed the hardships of the war in the times of slavery and showed what people had to endure. I came away feeling like I had made a new friend in Sarah Wheelock. I love the Civil War, and this book made it even more exciting. Sarah Bollenbach, 13 Coatesville, Pennsylvania
A Real American
A Real American by Richard Easton; Clarion Books: New York, 2002; $15 This is the heartfelt story of two young boys becoming friends under some very adverse conditions. Nathan McClelland is a Pennsylvania farm boy whose neighbors have moved out, sold out to the coal company. He is lonely, with all of his friends gone, and his wish of a friend comes true with Arturo Tozzi, a young miner boy in the first wave of immigrants, the only child of the lot. Arturo wishes to see Nathan’s animals, and have a friend in his new country. Nathan wishes to mold Arturo like his old and now gone friends Ben and Pete, and first tries to teach Arturo how to read. However, he acts too uppity, and Arturo shuns reading, wanting to be “a friend, not a student,” or inferior. When Nathan’s old friends, Ben and Pete, come back to visit, they accuse Arturo of being a foreigner, and Nathan tries to tell them that he is who he isn’t, a boy named Arthur who’s just like them. Arturo runs away, saying that he is who he is, Arturo Tozzi. Nathan, eating humble pie, decides to help Arturo, and assists in hindering troopers to convince Ernesto, Arturo’s firebrand brother, to give up the strike. In this act of faith, Nathan and Arturo’s friendship is restored, and they go on as friends. However, did Nathan and Arturo really resolve their friendship? If Arturo can’t read, he can’t communicate as well with Nathan as he could if he could read. The friendship is less powerful when Arturo and Nathan can’t communicate in ways other than a pidgin English. It’s like a Russian and an Egyptian trying to talk through Russian. The Egyptian can’t use a full mastery of Russian, so the two don’t know each other as well, and the bond is less potent. In the book, Nathan rebels against tradition to become friends with Arturo; his father expects him to stick only with the people and things he knows best. (Arturo’s father supports the friendship, for the good it could do his son.) In the book Rocket Boys, by Homer Hickam, Jr., a young boy defies his own West Virginia coal mining town’s tradition of becoming a high-school football star, and going on to work in the local mine. He decides to become a rocket scientist, under the heavy hindrance of his father, a head miner who doesn’t believe in rockets until the very end, when the boy wins the National Science Fair, like Nathan’s father who didn’t believe Arturo could be a good friend until he helped Nathan stop the strike. It was surprising that miners had to buy their own tools, blasting powder, and extra timber to hold up the mine. This may account for the destitution of conditions in the mine, with no protection from the poisonous gases inside, and not enough timber to support cave-ins, and the poverty of the miners themselves, living in company-built shacks, and with barely enough food bought with credit from the company store to feed a family. This penury is illustrated in Growing up in Coal Country, listed in the back of the book by the author as reference, which gives a detailed account of the day-to-day lives of Pennsylvania coal miners. But, if Nathan wasn’t lonely, if his friends Ben and Pete were still living right next door, and hadn’t sold, would there still have been a friendship? That’s doubtful, because the only reason Nathan agreed to be Arturo’s friend was because he was lonely for Ben and Pete. Likewise, if Arturo had been in the second wave of miners, when they brought their kids, and Nathan was lonely, then Arturo wouldn’t need Nathan, though Nathan would need him. It’s sad that the only beginning fuel for this friendship came through the needs of Nathan and Arturo for a friend. If one of their needs had been fulfilled, there wouldn’t have been a friendship. Trent Kim, 10 Athens, Georgia
Belle Teal
Belle Teal by Ann M. Martin; Scholastic Press: New York, 2001; $15.95 Do you ever act differently around African Americans than you do around white people? Belle Teal did not think anyone would ever do such a thing, until segregation was reduced and, once more, schools began to integrate at Coker Creek. Belle Teal tells of the cruelty to people just because of their skin color. Before I read this book I knew that people were often singled out, but I never realized that they would actually get hurt, or sent to jail, just because of their race. In Belle Teal many kids, and even parents, were extremely mean to the new kids at Coker Creek Elementary. When one of her friends started to taunt the new kids, Belle Teal got very upset. Her friend’s father became the real problem, though. He is racist and prejudiced toward the children. His extreme racism finally came to a head when he began spreading lies and rumors. When Belle Teal found out that the stories were untrue, she became especially angry and decided she needed to do something to help. This story was about the struggle between right and wrong. Belle Teal really made me think about how much it hurts people when you tease them or get them in trouble for something they didn’t do. I have always thought and wondered, why do people treat their peers differently because of their race or religion? They are humans too. In school you learn about the segregation laws and how life was in the 1950s, but Belle Teal truly makes you visualize how things were. I personally thought that this was a great book. In my opinion, it teaches you more about life in the 1950s than a teacher can explain to you. I would definitely read this book; it will make you see how African Americans really did feel in the past, and even, sometimes, in the present. Hannah Lentz, 11 Richmond, Virginia
Someday
Someday by Jackie French Koller; Orchard Books: New York, 2002; $16.95 Ever thought about your “someday”? You know, someday you’ll go off to college, someday you’ll get a job, someday the house, the family—someday, someday, someday. Someday the town you’ve loved and grown up in will be washed away to nothing more than a reservoir for a big city, is not your normal “someday.” It will no longer be on a map; only a sad distant memory for the people who once lived there. I’m almost positive that that thought hasn’t entered your mind. For Cecelia Wheeler, though, it was a fact, but one that was always off in the distant future. Yes, it would come true, but it was too far away to think about now. Unfortunately for Cecelia, someday, sadly, came too soon. In this creative and detailed story, fourteen-year-old Cecelia Wheeler (affectionately known as Celie) is falling apart as she watches her town collapse. Everything she knows (including her family) is changing. Worst of all, she might have to move to Chicago, a city too far away for words to describe from her precious town of Enfield, Massachusetts. More importantly, Chicago was too far away from her best friend, Chubby Miller. During the last few days of Enfield, a strange, handsome and wealthy young man waltzes into Celie and her mother’s lives. It seems as if nothing could go right. When there was a sliver of hope that things might go right, it just crumbles again. Someday is the story of the surprises, the misery, and the triumphs of the people during the last few days of Enfield—and all the towns in the Swift River Valley. While I was reading this book, I thought about my own somedays. I remembered that years ago, I loved to go to my grandpa’s house very much. He had so many stories, so many memories of the way things were. I was immersed in my family’s history. I had always known my grandpa was old, and I knew that someday he would die, but when it happened, it all seemed so sudden. It was as if we were just in the living room of his house, sitting at his feet and listening to his stories and all of a sudden the stories ended; I just wasn’t ready. Then, I remembered that last year, I had to make the decision about which middle school I would attend. As most of you know, middle school is a big step from elementary. For me, it was an even bigger step. I decided not to attend the school where all my friends were going, but a school where anyone who attended was immediately labeled a snob. I knew no one where I was going, and I had to basically start all over again. There were new teachers, new kids, new rules and a whole new environment. I knew that someday this would happen, but once again I just wasn’t ready. My someday came and now I enjoy my new school. I also enjoy my friends—old and new. One of the things I really loved about this book was how the story about the town wasn’t the only story going on. Celie and her family had to deal with everything from love to hate, joy to sorrow, laughter to tears. Read the book and think about your somedays. Maybe you’ll get the same message I did, or maybe it will be something totally different for you. I know this much is true: when your somedays become today, you can remember yesterday with the hope for a brighter tomorrow. Allena G. Berry, 12 Racine, Wisconsin
The School Story
The School Story by Andrew Clements; Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers: New York, 2001; $16 Have you ever wondered how children get their books published? I know I have. Well, this whole book is an example of how one girl, Natalie, gets the story she wrote made into a real book (and a bestseller). Natalie is twelve years old, but she is still an amazing author. Her best friend is Zoe, and it was all Zoe’s idea for the book to be published. Zoe is one of my favorite characters in this book. She is brave, smart, funny, and a great friend. She and Natalie are very different, but they help each other out. Without Zoe, Natalie would never have had the courage to try and publish her book, or have figured out how to. Zoe and Natalie’s relationship, as you will find out, is a big part of the book. One of the reasons I liked this book so much was that I could relate to how Natalie feels about her work. I really like to write, but I don’t like to let many other people see my creations. I’m sort of shy, and I would never have had the courage to send my work to a publisher. But the way Natalie gets her story published (with Zoe’s help) is something I never could have dreamed of doing. It’s all very clever and well thought out, and it involves a lot of courage. If it were me doing that, I would probably have chickened out in the first part of the process. I also think that it was very interesting how Zoe planned the whole thing out. It made this the kind of book you didn’t want to put down until you figured out what was going to happen to Natalie and Zoe next. Another reason I liked this book so much was that, through what was happening to Natalie, you learned a lot about the publishing process too. It helps that Natalie’s mom is a publisher, and so, as she explains things more clearly to Natalie, it’s like she’s explaining things more clearly to you. I think it was smart of Andrew Clements to make her mom do this, because it really helps young kids understand what happens after they send their work out. But the parts in this book that were the most touching to me were all the parts when Natalie thought about her dad. Natalie’s father died a few years before this book was set, so he only appears in memories. The way she thinks of him and remembers him is so sweet to me. My dad is still alive, but it makes me think about how I feel about him, and how much I love him. When I read the part in Natalie’s story about the dad it made me cry because I knew that Natalie was really writing her story for her father. It was amazing to me how Andrew Clements can make you laugh, cry, and learn about publishing in a 196-page book. One of the only things I didn’t like about this book was that it never gave a copy of The Cheater, Natalie’s book. It sounded very good and I really wanted to read it, even though it was made up. Other than that, I really liked this book, and it is even one of my favorites now. From the illustrations to the exciting style of writing, this book is a true inspiration to all young writers, and I would suggest it to anyone who loves to write. Jill Giornelli, 9 Atlanta, Georgia
