Daisy's brother Steven is severely autistic. Most of her life she's had to help take care of him. Her family's entire routine is centered around Steven and what he enjoys/tolerates. Now that he is thirteen, though, they wonder if home is the best place for him. And there is a lot of guilt around the idea that sending him away might be the best thing for them.
My general opinion of verse novels is that there needs to be a very clear reason why they are, in fact, verse novels. You can't just toss in some short lines and call it poetic. This book has a real sense of careful word choice giving it a contemplative feel.
Chained is the story of Hastin, a ten-year-old boy who goes to work for an elephant show in the jungle to pay off his family's medical debts. Hastin forms a bond with the elephant in his care as well as Ne Min, the show's cook. If you've read Eliot Schrefer's Threatened, the tone of this book will be familiar to you. There's a real sense of connectivity to nature in general and to elephants in specific. This is a good one for discussion with young readers.
I've read James Patterson's books before (mostly the Maximum Ride series) and I've never been a big fan. I did enjoy this one though. It's very light-hearted, encourages us to laugh at ourselves. The final scene, were Jamie does a short routine at the rehab facility, was a little cheesy but a nice ending to the story. While I prefer a book with more character development this was a nice, light read. It might be a good beach read.
Paperboy is the story of an eleven year old boy with a severe stutter in the summer of 1959. When he takes over his friend's paper route for four weeks, the boy (whose name we don't learn until the final pages of the novel) meets several new people who alter his view of the world. He also tangles with a local trouble-maker. While Paperboy doesn't lead us to any major conclusions, apart from the value of each person, it does ask us to continue to learn and to think. To be discerning. And that's a very valuable lesson in and of itself.
Broken Memory is the story of a young survivor of the Rwandan genocide. Emma was only four when her mother was killed. Ever since, she's lived with an elderly Hutu woman. It is under this woman's guidance that Emma, now a teenager, seeks help to heal emotional from what she witnessed. This book ties us more closely emotionally to a tragedy that we've only ever read about.
Borderline is the story of a teenager who's whole world has been rocked. Sami suspects his father has been lying to him about a trip to Toronto. When his father is arrested on suspicion of terrorism, Sami is desperate to know what is really going on. On one level, it's a story of family and friends. On another, it's about the subjective nature of news, official reports, and even investigations. A tense book that we should all read and consider when we watch the news.
A delightful, "thinky" kind of book. That's what I love most about this one. Ari is trapped in this pattern of over-thinking everything. He is so prone to over-thinking that he tries not to think about anything uncomfortable. At the same time, he considers all these big ideas. As the title says, the secrets of the universe. And it's only when he makes connections with people that he begins to find any answers. It's almost uncomfortable to read at times, the awkwardness of his interactions with other people almost physical, but uncomfortable in a good way. It stretches you.
