The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong

Ben was supposed to get a car when he turned 15. Instead, he finds himself on a sailboat in the Bahamas with his two younger brothers and his father. For a year, their father promises, they will sail from island to island, enjoying the high seas. What Ben’s father doesn’t say is that he is running away from the memory of their mother—recently deceased.

Ben doesn’t want to be on the boat where he, his brothers and his father are crammed tightly together. Ben doesn’t want to take orders from his father-captain who has uprooted the whole family, selling Ben’s childhood home and family sailboat, to live on the ocean. Ben is angry, furious, and sad—understandably so. But life goes on, and for a while it seems everything is going as well as it can go.

Until Ben’s father disappears. There’s no way to tell if he jumped or fell, and there’s no time to think about it because Ben and his brothers must survive a massive storm without their father, without a radio, and without a GPS.

As Ben slips into his father’s role, struggling to keep himself and his brothers alive, he learns something about love, family, devotion, and courage.

M. H. Herlong’s debut novel is at turns a thrilling, contemplative, and sad adventure story about a family dealing with the wounds of loss. Ben is a compelling and sympathetic narrator with a clear voice, while the rest of the characters are well-developed. Ben is never preachy and his love for his brothers palpable. The final scene might even bring some readers to tears.

The Great Wide Sea will especially appeal to fans of survival stories as well as readers who enjoy sailing. However, I think anyone who reads this book will be drawn into the well-written adventure and quiet family drama.

Although the sailing and nautical terms can get somewhat technical, M. H. Herlong has a wonderful companion site that provides lots of information about sailing, navigation, and the boys’ adventure. Teachers who wish to teach this book will find it an excellent resource.

Herlong, M.H.. The Great Wide Sea. New York: Viking Juvenile, 2008. Print.

Companion 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.

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Why I Fight by J Adam Oaks

Meet Wyatt Shreaves. He’s been out of school since he turned twelve and a half—and he hasn’t seen his parents (ma and Fever) since then either. Together with his itinerant uncle Spade, a traveling salesman with questionable morals, Wyatt crisscrosses the country, weaving in and out of cities, towns, trailer parks and suburbs.

One day, uncle Spade spots Wyatt throw a powerful punch and the dollar signs in his eyes light up. Thus begins Wyatt’s life as an underground fighter. As the wins, money, and injuries roll in, Wyatt begins to feel more and more estranged from his once-admired uncle. Without anyone to talk to and without anyone who truly cares for him, Wyatt withdraws deep into himself.

Wyatt’s voice is so authentic and gritty, his story so dark and heartbreaking, it’s near impossible to put the book down. The end is despairing—yet contains hope and optimism—and the reader is left with the question: What is Wyatt going to do now?

I highly recommend this book to everyone, but be warned that it will grip you tightly and wrench your heart. Filled with complex characters and ambiguities, the book will keep readers thinking of Wyatt and his fate long after the story is finished.

Oaks, J. Adams. Why I Fight. New York: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2009. Print.

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You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith

Emma Healy has never really felt like she fit in with the rest of her quirky but brilliant family of academics and professors. All her life, she’s never felt quite whole, as if something was out of place in her life. Perhaps, she sometimes thought, it was because she was out of place. It’s hard to think otherwise when your parents throw birthday parties for you at poetry readings in New York City, or the invited guests are world-renowned professors of archeology, sociology, and anthropology (all of whom are your parents’ close friends).

One day, Emma comes across a birth certificate and a death certificate, both of which changes the way she sees herself, her family, and their shared familial history. Spurred by her discovery, she decides to go on a road trip to North Carolina—the place where she might find the grave of her recently discovered twin brother. Together with her neighbor Peter Finnegan—an unlikely car thief and civil war aficionado—and a three legged dog, Emma learns that there is a lot more to a journey than a destination, that there is a lot more to a family than meets the eye, and also, that the people who love you will always there for you.

As much Peter’s story as it is Emma’s, You Are Here is a well-written tale of two teenagers searching for answers to illuminate the unknown in their lives. Despite being well-developed characters, I occasionally felt that Emma and Peter’s lines were strangely adult, making them seem somewhat like talking mannequins. I also found the slow romance between the two teens unfortunately inauthentic, but Jennifer E. Smith manages to make it work towards the end of the novel, pushing towards a moving finish.

You Are Here is an accomplished book about family, grief, and love, and there is lots to like in the book. Yet despite its eloquence, I’m not sure it is quite authentic enough to find a place in my heart. I cannot bring myself to heartily recommend the book. Readers who enjoy slower-paced novels might be better able to connect with the story, but I could not find myself completely engaged.

Smith, Jennifer. You Are Here. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2009.

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