review

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!

Are you craving an action packed, magic filled, fantasy novel, with a cliffhanger ending? Then Tochi Onyebuchi’s Beasts Made of Night is meant for you. The teenage main character, Taj, is an aki. All aki are required to ‘eat’ other people’s sins. To eat a sin beast, an aki must first battle it to death. This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening job, because the sin beasts are very difficult to defeat and can easily destroy an aki. Once the sin beast is killed, it dissolves into an inky, black substance. The aki are forced to swallow this revolting liquid. After that happens, a tattoo of the sin beast is branded into the aki’s skin. They will also feel the guilt of the bad deed that is not theirs. Once an aki eats too many sins, he or she will die. On top of feeling the burden of remorse, the aki are unjustly treated like second-class citizens. This reminds me of some of the commonly overlooked, but important jobs in today’s world, such as migrant farm workers, who work on plantations, for long hours and low pay. They work hard, but are taken advantage of, because of their need for a job. As the book progresses, Taj and the princess of the royal family (the Kayas) fall in love. Will they stay a couple? He and his best friend Bo are struggling to stay alive. To survive they must abide by the rules, and destroy sin beasts; but still not eat too many sins, to prevent themselves from dying. Will their friendship be torn apart by envy and different political views? I can relate to Taj and Bo’s problem about being friends with someone, but having different political perspectives, because I have some friends who don’t have the same opinions on what the United States government is doing wrong that I do. The difference is that I am not living in a place where my views on politics can affect whether I live or die. If my friends and I disagree on a political issue, we share our points of view, debate them, then move on, but in Taj’s world the political system is such dire situation that views affect whom he trusts, deeply. Throughout the book, Taj meets people who want to help him. Do they truly want to change the lives of aki in a positive way? Taj and a few supporters of aki rights meet in secret. Will they ever be discovered? While thinking about the secretive meeting that he attends, I was reminded of how in some countries in the world, such as Russia, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela, and North Korea, if people publicly criticize the government, he or she faces the consequence of being thrown in prison without a fair trial. In the last few chapters of the novel there is a huge fight scene involving the whole town of Kos (the village that Taj lives in). One of the other lead characters who Taj assumes to be on his side, unleashes a brutal plan to destroy Kos, to get want they want: Aki to be treated equally to non-Akis. Demolishing Kos would mean killing majority of the population, and only sparing a few lives, and wrecking the homes and shops of the townsfolk. Is Taj willing to do this, or does he want to change Kos a different way? If he doesn’t want to abide by the current plan, will he die? I would recommend this book to middle grade readers (ages 10 to 14). Beasts Made of Night  by Tochi Onyebuchi. Razorbill, 2017. 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!