Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt

Henry Smith’s family has been living in the picturesque town of Blythbury-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts since 1678. His father has always told him: “If you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.” It is a motto that seems to have served the Smith family well, until the night a pickup truck runs down Henry’s older brother, Franklin, and puts him into a coma.

The driver of the pickup truck—a schoolmate of Franklin’s—is a young Cambodian refugee, and the tragedy quickly ignites racial tensions that have been slowly brewing beneath the pretty veneer of Blythbury-by-the-Sea. Amidst the fury of the town, the volatile relations between Blythbury-by-the-Sea and nearby Merton (known as Little Cambodia), as well as his family’s private grief, Henry sets out to find answers at the only place he thinks can yield him something—anything: Mt. Katahdin. The mountain he and Franklin had planned to climb before the accident.

With his best friend and his newly adopted dog, Black Dog, Henry sets off for Katahdin and runs immediately into the only person willing to give hitchhikers with a dog a ride: Chay Chouan, the driver in the pickup truck that fateful night. As they make their way to Katahdin together, Henry begins to realize that perhaps his father was wrong, that perhaps the more you run from Trouble, the closer Trouble exists, that perhaps his brother might not have been the perfect American Hero that Henry had thought him to be.

Gary D. Schmidt has written a lyrical novel dealing with grief, family, and the unpleasant truths that might lie within the people we love and admire. In Trouble, readers see how racism still runs rampant in the hearts of men and women. While I commend Gary D. Schmidt for tackling this subject, I could not find myself completely enjoying the book. It was slow in places and oddly paced. I found Henry’s (and his best friend’s) characters believable, but for the rest of the cast (including Henry’s family and Chay Chouan) I was disappointed. The secondary characters felt as if they had stepped straight out of a character template and into the novel. That said, Gary D. Schmidt is an accomplished writer with a beautiful sense of language.

I would recommend this book to patient readers and readers interested in books with rich description. Readers who are looking for multicultural perspectives will also be interested in this book. As much as I would like to recommend Trouble heartily, I can only give a lukewarm nod of approval for Trouble.

Schmidt, Gary D.. Trouble. 1 ed. New York: Clarion Books, 2008. Print.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

What do you do when your best friend of twelve years starts ignoring you for no apparent reason?

What do you do when your emergency house key gets stolen (and no one else knows the location but you and your mother) and nothing is taken from the apartment?

What do you do when you start receiving urgent and mysterious notes from an anonymous sender who can predict the future?

What do you do when the notes tell you that your friend’s life is in danger?

Ask Miranda, because that’s the situation in which she finds herself. Set in 1979 in New York City, When You Reach Me is about the mysteries of friendship, family, and time—about unveiling the world for a little bit and seeing the magic thread that connects everything.

Rebecca Stead has created a wonderfully convincing narrator in Miranda who, in turn, tells quite an intricate puzzle of a story. Readers will enjoy piecing together clues and hints while living through the eyes of Miranda as she begins to see the world as larger than she knew it to be.

Winner of the 2010 Newbery Medal, When You Reach Me is a delightful book that pays homage to the classic A Wrinkle in Time while remaining distinctly its own story. I would recommend When Your Reach Me to readers who like a tinge of science-fiction or magic realism in their daily dose of Young Adult literature.

Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York: Wendy Lamb, 2009.

Rebecca Stead's Website

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Imagine your boyfriend brought a gun to school. Imagined he killed six people and wounded many others. Imagine he hunted them down from a list of people you helped create. Imagine he shot you. Imagine he shot and killed himself in front of you.

That’s what happened to Valerie Leftman during the end of her junior year in high school. Now, after a whole summer of recovery and isolation, Valerie returns to her high school where she must face her guilt and the school’s anger. Although uninvolved with her boyfriend’s gun rampage, Valerie, the rest of her school, and her family can’t help wondering about her role in the tragedy. Before she can bury the ghosts of her memory and the ghosts of the victims, Valerie must finish mourning the boyfriend she loved dearly, must come to terms with her involvement in the massacre, and must begin to see what’s really there.

Hate List is Jennifer Brown’s debut novel and what an extraordinary debut it is. Valerie’s first person narrative is convincing and her emotional turmoil heart-wrenching (I stayed up all night crying as I read the end of the novel). Brown’s treatment of Valerie’s boyfriend is also remarkable—giving us a complex view of him as more than just an enraged, suicidal shooter.

I cannot recommend Hate List highly enough. Although the middle section drags a little, the novel is really astonishingly touching and moving. Valerie’s voice will remain with you for a long time. Readers of realistic fiction will particularly love Hate List, but all readers will find something to like in it. I will be looking out for more of Jennifer Brown’s works in the future.

Brown, Jennifer. Hate List. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Jennifer Brown's Blog

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

In the land of the seven kingdoms, there are rare humans Graced with special skills. Gracelings, as they are called, are both feared and exploited for their abilities. But perhaps there is none more feared than Katsa who is Graced with the special ability to kill.

Forced by her uncle, the King Randa, to torture and execute his enemies, Katsa struggles to retain her humanity while reconciling herself to her deadly Grace. When she runs into a mysterious Graced fighter from the kingdom across the sea, she finally meets her match. For the first time in her life, Katsa has found someone who can challenge her in a fight. For the first time in her life, Katsa has found someone who can challenge her perception of herself.

As their friendship develops, the two Gracelings stumble upon a terrible and unknown danger that threatens the seven kingdoms. It is a danger that knows no bounds, and as the two risk their lives to eliminate it, they will also have to come to grips with the surprising truths they have learnt about each other.

Kristin Cashore’s debut novel, Graceling, is an action-packed book that kept me up at night trying to finish the story. Full of interesting twists and turns, Graceling made it impossible for me to put the book down. The developing relationship between Katsa and Po, the Graceling fighter, is believable and well-developed, and their characters complex and interesting.

Readers of fantasy will particularly like Graceling and it is a nice addition to genre. With its strong female protagonist, Graceling reminds me of some of Tamora Pierce’s better books. I recommend this highly entertaining book.

Cashore, Kristin. Graceling. United States: Graphia, 2009. Print.

Kristin Cashore's Blog