Drawing a Blank - Daniel Ehrenhaft

Genres: Mystery, Humor
Grades 6 and up

I guess I've read enough books now to know what it is that I like in a story. First, the book has to hook me within the first fifty pages - I'll probably still finish a book that doesn't hook me but reading it becomes more of a chore than a pleasure. Second, the story should be original and unpredictable - I can tolerate a probable story to a certain extent, but if I've read the same story in another book I'm probably not going to enjoy it the second time through. Thirdly, and this is the part I'm most ashamed of, I like a story with a happy ending - I know, this kind of goes against the "predictable" thing I just talked about but it is true, I am a sucker for a good, ol' fashioned happy ending. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the book must have good characters.

Drawing a Blank by Daniel Ehrenhaft has three of the four qualities listed above. This story has a great main character in Carlton Dunne IV, a junior at a private high school in Connecticut. Carlton is a loner with a number of strange quirks. A few examples:

• his thoughts often come out in "rapid bullet-point succession"
• when confronted with a stressful situation he will stop what he is doing and begin sketching out stories for his comic strip Signy the Superbad.
• is a self-described misanthrope¹

Much of the beginning of the book is spent fleshing Carlton out as a character. While often humorous I found the story started off a bit slow - this book did not have a great hook but it was worth sticking with it because the story eventually picks up. Carlton's dad, an architect obsessed with a centuries old family feud, is kidnapped by a member of the rival clan and taken to Scotland. At the demand of the kidnappers Carlton flies to Scotland to save his dad. Carlton must find and deliver a long lost artifact that will settle the family feud. This task is made difficult because the kidnappers don't exactly tell Carlton what this artifact is, not that he could understand their thick Scottish brogue anyway. Fortunately Carlton meets Aileen, a cute Scottish girl that becomes Carlton's sidekick on his trek to save his dad. The story has a happy ending, something that I found so predictable yet so satisfactory.

All-in-all I liked Drawing a Blank - it started off slow but finished strong and stayed funny throughout. The story is tame enough for middle school kids but I would say it is better suited for older kids that will pick up on the subtle humor and romance Ehrenhaft works into the narrative. If you liked my personal fave, King Dork by Frank Portman, you will probably enjoy this book as well.

¹ misanthrope n. 1. A person who hates mankind 2. A person who avoids human society

A Small White Scar - K.A. Nuzum

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grades 5 & up

As I have mentioned before I am the oldest of five kids. I feel like my siblings and I get along pretty well right now, but it wasn't always that way. Growing up I often resented the fact that I was left to take care of my little brothers and sister. We fought a lot. It wasn't until the past few years that I realized what an influence I had on my siblings - unfortunately I think that too often I was a bad influence but they learned a few good things from me as well. It is tough to be a role model when you are just a kid - this is what A Small White Scar is about.

Will and Denny Bennon are fifteen year old twin brothers living on a cattle ranch in Colorado during the 1940s. Denny has Down's Syndrome, and since the death of their mother much of the responsibility of taking care of Denny has fallen to Will. Will is tired of taking care of Denny - he wants to be able to live his own life. The only way Will can make this happen is to leave his dad's ranch and find work elsewhere. Will is determined to head to the La Junta rodeo, win the prize for best overall cowboy, get a job with another ranch and leave Denny and his dad behind. Unfortunately for Will his plan doesn't go as smoothly as he would have hoped - when he leaves his dad's ranch Will is followed by Denny. Will tries to send Denny home, but poisonous snakes, flash floods and a variety of desert calamities keep the two together.

This book was slow moving at first, but once the main characters are introduced the pace quickens. I think this book would be enjoyed by middle school kids, particularly boys, that enjoy westerns and adventure stories or those that have siblings with special needs.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing - M.T. Anderson

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grades 9 & up

Before I get into talking about this book I'm going to give myself a little pat on the back - this week is the one-year anniversary of this blog. In the past year I have read and reviewed 37 young adult books - not a ton but a pretty good start. My goal for 2007 is to read 40 books - 6 weeks in I have read 6 books, so I am ahead of schedule.

One of my favorite books is Feed by M.T. Anderson, so it was with pleasure that I began reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Anderson's latest novel. Octavian is a black teen growing up in Boston on the eve of the American Revolution. Octavian lives at the Novanglian College of Lucidity. He receives the finest education and is treated like a prince - in fact he is a prince, his mother being African royalty. Octavian lives a very privileged life, but all of this begins to change when he comes to the realization that he is in fact a slave and is the subject of a science experiment to measure the learning capacity of Homo afris. Things get worse when, due to the blockade of Boston imposed by the British, the school runs out of money and comes under new leadership. It is under this new leadership that Octavian begins to really understand what freedom means.

About a third into this book I thought there would be no way that I could finish it - I thought it was terrible, mainly due to the overly wordy and extremely difficult to understand language the characters use. This language is supposed to be representative of how an educated person would speak during the 1770s. All I know is that I needed to keep a dictionary next to me just to get through each page. I really felt that the language used got in the way of the story. Fortunately I was able to overcome this (I think it was a combination of me starting to get the writing style along with the language becoming a little easier), the story came to the forefront and I was able to begin to enjoy the story.

Apparently this is the first book in a two-part story. The book has an ending that definitely leaves you waiting for a resolution. I would recommend this to high school-aged kids that are strong readers, particularly those that enjoy historical fiction and war stories.

Gossamer - Lois Lowry

Genre: Fantasy
Grades 4 & up

Every once in awhile you come across a story that really touches you - Gossamer by Lois Lowry is one of these stories. Littlest One and Thin Elderly are Dream-givers, creatures that come to us while we are sleeping, create dreams based on fragments of memories they pick up from our belongings then bestow those dreams into our heads. Littlest One and Thin Elderly work at the home of an old lady that has taken in a foster child named John. John has lived a tough life, a life where he and his mother have been abused by John's alcoholic father. John's mother is trying to get her act together so that she can get John back, but it is a tough road. When John first gets to the old lady's house he is very angry and not capable of trusting others. This leaves him very vulnerable to attacks by Sinisteeds, evil horse-like entities that are responsible for nightmares. It is the job of Little One and Thin Elderly to strengthen him with good dreams, the only way to protect John from the Sinisteeds.

I found this to be a really engaging story, sometimes sad but in the end uplifting. The story of John's mom was particularly moving - it made me think about my mom who had to work so hard and sacrifice so much to keep our family together. This book is easily accessible to a wide age range. The writing is simple enough for a fourth grader to get but the story can be enjoyed by older teens as well.