Nina Vigil

Before I read this book, I had never read a book that was set in Canada…in the 1970s…that was not even published yet. This book was the first. The book in question? Dodger Boy by Sarah Ellis, and it was a serious page-turner. I read it twice! We think of the 1970s as a time of worldwide cultural change, but this book also illustrated how meeting just one new person can cause your life to take a different course. The main characters are Charlotte and Dawn, best friends who have a pact; to be Unteens. This means that they try not to act like every other teenager; obsessed with boyfriends, gossipy, moody, dramatic. They just want to enjoy life and have fun together until they’re adults. Then one day, Charlotte and Dawn see a poster for a “human be-in”, a gathering of people to hang out, enjoy themselves, and listen to speakers and live music. Out of curiosity as to what happens there, they decide to go. While undercover as hippies at the be-in, Charlotte and Dawn meet a draft dodger from Texas named Tom Ed. Tom Ed goes to stay at Charlotte’s house, and suddenly her life starts to get even messier. Not only is there a huge censorship drama involving Catcher in the Rye going on at school and the possibility of her favorite English teacher being fired, but now Dawn is acting alarmingly un-Unteen and not like herself. And on top of all that, a love triangle-or rather, a confusing love square-begins to form. How is Charlotte supposed to handle it all? The importance of integrity and sticking to your ideals is a strong theme throughout the book. While Dawn gives up on being Unteen in order to fit in, Charlotte stays true to herself and what she believes in, even though that leads to fights and disputes between the two. Tom Ed stays true to himself too, escaping the draft by running away to Canada in refusal to fight for a war he doesn’t believe in. One of the ideas the book explores is if it is ever okay to break rules – even laws – to keep from having to do something that seems wrong. As Tom Ed says “There’s no real good choice here. Only bad and worse. I chose bad.” The discussions between Charlotte and Tom Ed made me curious about a lot of things. Thanks to this book, I’m probably going to be doing a lot of researching about the Vietnam War. One thing I really liked about the book was that it talked about the ‘70s, draft dodging and the Vietnam War from a Canadian point of view. A lot of the time when we as Americans think about the Vietnam War, we think of it from an American standpoint. But since Canada was the main destination for draft evaders, it played a fundamental role in that part of history. I thought it was really interesting to learn about that from a different point of view. I absolutely loved Dodger Boy. It made me laugh in places, gave me some new ideas about a lot of things, and taught me quite a bit. It made me think about how much the world has changed (in many ways for the better!) in a relatively short amount of time. Whoever you are-kid, adult, teen, Unteen-you are sure to adore this book. Dodger Boy by Sarah Ellis. Groundwood Books, 2018. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!

During the summer, I’m sure you are all looking for new summer reads. May I suggest The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss, a unique book that will keep you reading for hours straight. It sure did for me! The book is about a girl (as you may have guessed) named Bicycle. She has lived at the Mostly Silent Monastery for most of her life, a place where near silence is the norm. Bicycle has no friends because she isn’t used to how loud other kids are. Sister Wanda, Bicycle’s official guardian, decides to send her to The Friendship Factory, a camp in Nevada that guarantees she’ll make three friends. But Bicycle has other ideas. On her bike, Clunk, she sets out across the country to cover the 4,000 miles from Washington D.C. to California in order to meet her idol, a famous bicyclist she’s hoping will become her friend. Along the way, Bicycle will encounter a bike burglar, a Civil War ghost, a French restaurateur, a ghost town, a bike-crazy horse and 838 pigs. A central theme of The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle is perseverance. Even when she’s faced with difficulties and problems and exhausting miles, Bicycle keeps working towards her goal. In Virginia, she rides up hill after hill after enormous hill. She bikes through the Rocky Mountains. She even treks for hours and hours through a sunflower field. Bicycle stays on a strict 50-mile-a-day schedule for weeks on end, for thousands of miles. You have to work hard to in order to reach your goals, and this book is an excellent reminder of that. Another theme is the importance of friendship. Bicycle sets out on her epic quest in the hopes of making one single friend, but along the way, she makes a lot more friends than she expected, like Griffin, Estrella, Jeremiah, Chef Marie, the Cookie Lady…. I could go on and on. Bicycle’s life is made so much better because of the friendships she develops. Another point the book makes is that friendship can’t be forced. You can make friends unexpectedly and in the unlikeliest of places. I loved all the zany adventures Bicycle has on her trip across the U.S. Few of us have been run over by a parade of pigs, or biked over the Rockies, or won a missile-launching bike at an auction, or accidentally wandered into the Kentucky Derby. Reading this book made me want to take a road trip, and any book that makes you want to go have an adventure is a good book! You will definitely love The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, so ride your bike to the library immediately! The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss. Margaret Ferguson Books, 2018. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!