Before the Ever After

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson. Grades 4-7. 176 pages. Nancy Paulsen Books, September 2020. Review copy provided by publisher. 

ZJ's dad has always been his hero. In fact, he's been a lot of people's hero. ZJ's dad is a pro football star, playing on TV every week and well known to everyone ZJ knows. But lately, ZJ's dad hasn't been himself. His head hurts, sometimes so badly that he can't do anything else. He forgets things, including his own son sometimes. And he hasn't been able to play football, his very favorite thing, for awhile. ZJ copes by making music - composing songs that help him express his feelings - and by leaning on his best buds, boys who remember how ZJ's dad was before. Before his injuries started taking their toll. ZJ has hope that things will be okay one day, that there will be a happily ever after. But what's he supposed to do in the meantime, before the ever after? 

This is a special book. And you know I say that having served on the Newbery Committee that awarded Jacqueline Woodson with a Newbery Honor for Brown Girl Dreaming. ZJ's story took me in and wouldn't let go. This is a poignant story, written in exquisite verse, about a family in flux, a family with plenty of questions and no answers. It's a story about the emotional lives of boys and about the relationships you build that are stronger than bad times. It's about the friends who will always be there no matter what and the way family comes together to help cope when disaster strikes. It's about memory and loss and hope and joy and grief, all wrapped up in one.

It's a story about all that, but it's also a story about football. Of course ZJ plays football, although now that his schoolmates are wanting to switch from touch to tackle, ZJ's not too sure about that. And it's a story about music and the power of music to soothe and express. There's a lot here, but never too much. A little something for everyone. 

I'd hand this to younger fans of The Crossover by Kwame Alexander or Ghost by Jason Reynolds, readers who like a powerful story wrapped up in sports (comparisons I don't take lightly, since those are both beloved books to me!). I'd also try it on fans of Nikki Grimes's Garvey's Choice or Coe Booth's Kinda Like Brothers for readers who like stories about the emotional lives of boys. 

The Line Tender

The Line Tender by Kate Allen. Grades 5-8. Dutton, 2019. 384 pages. Review copy provided by publisher.

So, you know I'm getting ready for Allen County Public Library's Mock Newbery discussion this weekend and The Line Tender was the last book on the list that I hadn't read yet. It's been getting major buzz all year, but I hadn't picked it up yet.

Well, friends. I'm here to beg you not to make the same mistake I did. Pick it up now, please.

What it's about: 

Sharks have started appearing in the waters outside Lucy's coastal Massachusetts town. And for Lucy this news hits closer to home than most. Because Lucy's late mother was a marine biologist. Lucy's mother swam with sharks.

Lucy is not a scientist, preferring to draw instead of learning facts or experimenting, but when she  catches a re-airing of an old TV interview with her mother on the news, she becomes fascinated by her mother's work. And when tragedy strikes Lucy again, she becomes determined to find out more about her mother's last unfinished research project and help see it completed.

To do so, she'll need to grab the line that connects some of the important people in her life - her father, a fisherman, and her elderly widower neighbor - each tied to the project in different ways.

My thoughts:

This is a book that takes a deep dive into grief and the multitudes of ways that people experience it and live with it. Lucy's mother's death is several years old, but it still takes Lucy under at unexpected times. And this is a book that acknowledges that the way to live with grief is to live with it and to keep on living one day at a time, even when you think you can't. And it manages to portray all of this without becoming maudlin or depressing. It's an incredibly moving story with some very poignant moments, but it never feels overwhelming.

This is a book that's essential for some kids. Lucy's story will speak to kids who have experienced loss. It's a book you must have on your library shelves. And I don't think its appeal stops there. Although living with grief is a huge theme in the book, it's also very much a story about the natural world and the work that scientists do. Young marine biologists who can handle a quiet, serious story will find much to appreciate here.

Readalikes:

This book reminded me most of Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, a great favorite of mine growing up. Jess and Leslie become fast friends and build a magical, imaginary world together called Terabithia where they hang out until tragedy strikes. Both books explore loss and grief in poetic, moving text.

Another book that explores loss and also includes research of marine animals is The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin (Little, Brown, 2017). After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy becomes convinced that the true cause of death was a rare jellyfish sting and she sets out to prove it. 

#MiddleGradeMay: Ghost Boys

You guys. This book. My heart. I just... This is one not to miss if you've got kids asking questions about social justice or things they've heard (or seen or experiences) about police violence. It's incredibly tough and beautiful, and it would make an excellent conversation starter.

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes is narrated by Jerome. Jerome wasn't doing anything.

He was playing.
In his neighborhood.
With a toy guy his friend had given him.

Until he wasn't.
Until he was shot.
Until he died.

Now Jerome's stuck as a ghost. He desperately wants to move on; he doesn't want to see his family in pain. He doesn't want to see them moving on and living their lives without him. But Jerome, and all the ghosts of boys killed due to racial injustice, can't move on.

The first ghost that Jerome gets to know a bit is the ghost of Emmett Till who was killed in 1955. That's a lot of years for ghost boys to be waiting for change, for the world to get better so that there stop being more ghost boys.

This book absolutely broke my heart. It's a hard read. And it says such important things. It starts a conversation essential to have with middle schoolers.

The only character in the book who can see Jerome as a ghost is Sarah, the 12-year-old daughter of the police officer who killed Jerome. Not only does this show essential similarities between the two children - they're the same age, they're the same height even though Officer Moore describes Jerome as being massive and threatening - but it humanizes Officer Moore. He's a person. He made a terrible decision. He has a family. His daughter cares what happens to him. As Sarah learns more about the trial and hears corrections from Jerome about what went down that day, she has to figure out how she feels about her father and what she's going to do with those feelings.

Middle school kids who aren't ready for books like The Hate U Give or How It Went Down need this book. This is an essential purchase for library shelves. It deserves to be read widely and taught and discussed.

Readalikes:

Readers looking for more moving stories of atrocities against people might try How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle, narrated by a Choctaw boy who does not survive the Trail of Tears.

#MiddleGradeMay Week 2: Heartbreaking Reads

How is your #MiddleGradeMay going? I have been reading some really great books and today I have some suggestions for you if you're looking for something great to read. Our Booktuber host Akoss has set themes for each week of #MiddleGradeMay this year. This week's theme is Heartbreaking Books and I've got booktalks of three of my favorites in this video:



Books mentioned in this video:

A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry (Laurel Leaf, 1977) - the first book that ever made me cry. I read it for the first time in fifth grade.

The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart (Scholastic, 2015).

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown, 2016).

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic, 2004). (There is also a sequel, which I forgot to mention but which is also awesome: After Ever After.)

I hope you'll join us in reading and celebrating middle grade books this month! What are YOUR favorite heartbreaking middle grade reads?

The Honest Truth

The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart. Grades 4-7. Scholastic Press, January 2015. 229 pages. Review copy provided by publisher.

Book talk: Mark has cancer. He was first diagnosed when he was a little kid.. and he got better, but now the bad headaches are back again and a call from the doctor confirms that the cancer is back. And this time might be for good. Having been through rounds of treatments and the dread of not-knowing before, Mark decides to do something different. He wants to make sure that he lives before he dies. And more than that, Mark needs to take control of something.

So, he decides to climb a mountain. It may sound crazy - Mark's sick, he's weak, he knows this could possibly be the last thing he ever does. But he needs to do one heroic thing on his own, with nobody's help, before whatever is going to happen to him happens.

He leaves a note for his parents and one for his best friend and he trickily buys a bus ticket headed the wrong way before taking the train to Seattle, towards Mount Ranier.

Half-chapters tell the story of the folks left behind - Mark's parents who are distraught and frantic with worry and Mark's best friend Jess. Jess knows where Mark is headed, she figures it out from the note he left her. But she also knows that Mark trusts her to keep his secret, that he would not want her to tell anyone. And as a freak storm approaches the mountain, Jess has to decide how much Mark's trust means to her. Should she keep his secret even if it puts him in danger?

My thoughts: I took this one to work, intending it to be my on-my-lunch-break read that I keep at work, but after I started it, it was so compelling that I had to take it home and finish it that night. I was drawn in to Mark's story from the beginning and I just had to know what happened to him. When I read this passage about Mark's dog defending him from some teen muggers, I sat up and took notice:

Beau came out of that duffel bag like hot burning justice. Like all the right kinds of anger. Like everything the world ever needed. He came out into the darkness and the blood of that cold city street fast and loud and hard, all teeth and bark and bravery. (page 44)

There is some really great writing here, and I always felt like it was true to Mark's character. Having been through an illness like Mark has experienced, it made sense that he would look at the world in this detailed, introspective way. And although there are definitely poignant moments, it never slid into sappiness. I found it a little over-dramatic in some parts, but it's all in the interest of creating a suspenseful and exciting story.

This is a story of a sick kid, of a brave kid who does not want to go gently into that dark night. But it's just as much a story of friendship - between a kid and his dog and between best friends who trust each other implicitly.

It's something of a tear-jerker (although the parts I personally found the most gut-wrenching were the half-chapters told from his parents' and Jess's perspective, which may resonate differently with child readers).

Readalikes: 

Press this into the hands of kids who are interested in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green but who are not yet ready for the young adult content of that book. I wonder if the cover design purposefully evokes TFIOS's cover for this reason.

This would also be a great one for kids who are intrigued by the story of a kid facing his own mortality, such as Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nichols.

I might also try this on kids who enjoy character-centered, introspective survival stories like My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. This story definitely features a main character who's interested in challenging himself and figuring out how to make it up the mountain.

48HBC: If I Stay

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. (Grades 8+)

It snowed in Oregon that winter morning. Mia celebrated the day off from school; it was a day off from everything, really. Her cello was at school, so she couldn't practice. Her parents stayed home from work and the family decided to visit some friends.

On the way there, a truck ran into their car. Mia's parents were killed instantly. Her brother, well, she wasn't sure what happened to her brother. And Mia found herself standing outside her broken body and facing a decision: should she stay or should she go?

As Mia's watching herself go through surgery, watching streams of friends and relatives come to be with her in the ICU, she remembers things about her life. She recalls things she did with her family, how she met her best friend, and when she went on her first date with her boyfriend Adam. And she has to figure out if she can face living without her parents or if maybe the best thing for all involved would be for her to let go.

This is a beautiful little book. The characters felt so real and multidimensional. There's a lot of music in the book. Mia's parents are punk rockers and she plays the classical cello so well that she auditioned for Julliard. I loved reading about Mia's relationship with Adam. It unfolded so organically that it felt really realistic. It wasn't boy meets girl, they kiss, and it's happily ever after. Things took awhile to develop. They had problems that they had to work out. It's one of the most realistic relationships I've seen in a book in a long time.

And ohhh, it's sad. Parts of this book are so touching, I won't tell you how many times I heared up (it was more than a handful). It's definitely character-based, touchy-feely, and kind of quiet in a way. I don't know that it will necessarily be everyone's cup of tea. But if you're looking for a touching book to curl up with for awhile, you can't go wrong here.

Total time spent reading/blogging: 9.5 hours
Books finished: 3
Pages read: 771

And now for something a little lighter, I think...

A Non-Review: The Underneath

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt with illustrations by David Small. (Grades... 4-7?)

I'm not going to review this one. Nope. Uh-uh. Pretty much everyone and their mother has already reviewed it, so I'm going to point you to their reviews and just tell you that I LOVED IT. It's sad and violent and lyrical and hopeful... Truly, I think it's the best book I've read in a long time.

If it's on your TBR list, bump it up.

Or if you'd like, y'know, more information than some random librarian in Illinois loved it, you could check out the following reviews:

A Fuse #8 Production
Sarah Miller: Reading, Writing, Musing
The Reading Zone
educating alice
A Year of Reading - Franki
AYear of Reading - Mary Lee
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Becky's Book Reviews
The Goddess of YA Literature

(Do you SEE why I cannot possibly review this book? What could I possibly say that is different from all these heavy-hitting reviewers?)

The Underneath is also in the running for the ACPL Mock Newbery (so if you've read it, feel free to add your comments).

Book Review: Greetings from Nowhere

Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor. (Grades 4-7.)

Book trailers work. At least, for me they work. Awhile back, Betsy posted the book trailer for Greetings from Nowhere over on A Fuse #8 Production. I didn't know anything about the book and I was immediately sucked in by the trailer. The music, the images... I wanted to read it.

Well. I read it. And I loved it.

Greetings from Nowhere is the story of four people. Aggie, Willow, Kirby, and Loretta are each missing something. Aggie is missing her husband Harold who has recently died and left the Sleepy Time Motel in her care. Without Harold, Aggie's not sure how she can take care of the place, even though she loves it so.

Enter Willow. Willow's mother has left the family and her parents are divorced. When Willow's dad Clyde sees a for-sale ad for the Sleepy Time Motel, he thinks he's found a way to start a completely new life. So he uproots Willow and takes her with him to buy a motel in the Smoky Mountains.

Enter Kirby and Loretta. Kirby and Loretta each come to stay at the Sleepy Time Motel for very different reasons. Kirby is on his way to a strict boarding school, a last-chance school since he caused so much trouble in his previous schools. He has anger bottled up inside of him because of a no-show father and an emotionally abusive mother and it makes him mean. Because no one's ever liked him, he sees no reason to be pleasant or to try and open up to people. They'll only disappoint him.

Loretta is pretty much the polar opposite of Kirby. She's upbeat, friendly, and talkative. She can see the silver lining to everything. She's at the Sleepy Time Motel because of a bracelet. Loretta was adopted as a baby and her birth mother has died. Loretta received a package with all her "other" mother's belongings, including a charm bracelet with charms from different places. Deciding to visit one of the places from the charm bracelet, Loretta's family ended up at the Smoky Mountains and Loretta begins searching for that nameless something she didn't know was missing in the first place.

All four of them come together at the Sleepy Time Motel and they'll all change each others' lives.

I found this book to be unspeakably sad, but also terrifically hopeful. Certain passages made me teary right from the beginning, like this one where Aggie has realized that she'll have to sell the motel:

"For Sale, she wrote, and felt a jab in her heart.

Sleepy Time Motel. Shawnee Gap, North Carolina.

Another jab.

Ten lovely rooms with mountain view. Swimming pool. Tomato garden.

Jab, jab.

For sale by owners, Harold and Agnes Duncan.

Then she felt a jab that nearly knocked her over. Her hand trembled so much she could hardly keep the pen on the paper as she scratched out Harold's name." (pg 8)

The book is totally focused on the characters and I loved each one of them. I only wish we could know more about the secondary characters, particularly Willow's dad and Kirby's mom who are both portrayed as kind of awful. I'd love to see the story from their points of view, too. I thought Ms. O'Connor did a great job of keeping each of their voices separate. Each chapter has an illustration of the mountains or motel with the character's name. I noticed that as the story moves along, Willow, Kirby, and Loretta all have the same picture throughout, but Aggie's changes. It's like she's such a part of this place, of the motel, of the mountains, that she embodies all of it. Every part of the setting is in her.

And the setting is another thing I loved about this book. I could see the mountains, the dried-up swimming pool, the weedy parking lot, the musty rooms, the tomato garden... it all really came alive for me.

I thought this book was excellent.

I poked around a bit and haven't come across much Newbery buzz, but I'd be happy to throw it out there for consideration. Becky gave it four stars, Karen read it out loud to her class (and posted about their reactions), Franki loved it, Megan loved it, and it's on the short list for the Anokaberry (so that's some Newbery buzz, at least!).