Tender, True, Touching

LIVING WITH JACKIE CHAN by Jo Knowles. Candlewick Press, September 2013.

The waiting list for my copy of the ARC is growing by the minute. Here is a companion book to JUMPING OFF SWINGS, but it is a book that will stand on its own two feet very well. This is the story of Josh who leaves his old school before senior year to go live with his Uncle Larry (may we all be fortunate to have an Uncle Larry in our lives). Josh needs a break from his family and friends and from the haunting memory at the hospital. Maybe time and distance will help him recover some sort of balance. Larry insists Josh join him in the evening karate class. There Josh gets to know his neighbor and fellow senior, Stella. But things are tense between them from time to time due to the secrets both of them are hiding. Knowles manages to let readers see the edges of the secrets, enough that they (if they are anything like me) will fret over the future of these two teens and the other folks involved in their lives. The book examines issues with care (tender) but honesty (true) and at an emotional depth (touching) that will keep readers turning the pages to see if all will be well.

is there a down side?

OK, I am going to drop all pretense of propriety here because THE DOWNSIDE OF BEING UP by Alan Sitomer (Putnam 2011) is about erections, boners, you know. Seriously, the story focuses on a 13 year old named Bobby who ends up having to see a therapist because of an unfortune incident in math class. Warning: do not drink liquids when reading this scene (or much of the book for that matter) as it will be cause for spewing said liquid painfully through nose and mouth, I suspect. Bobby ends up facing expulsion because of his "behavior" and opts for therapy sessions with one of the most whacked out therapists ever to enter the profession. However, Bobby manages to survive, even maybe to find a girl who is not repulsed by his, ahem, history in class. Sitomer has written a frank and funny look at what it is like to be a normal boy. Along the way he adds some eccentric characters (Gramps in particular) and unusual situations to add to the merriment. while I am far removed from being a 13 year old boy, it does not take super Spidey sense to know this book will be wildly popular with its target audience. <542>

into the dust and heat

Zulaikhu, an Afghan teen, was born with a cleft palate. She has been the butt of cruel jokes from the enighborhood boys and pitying glances from the shopkeepers and even family members. In WORDS IN THE DUST by Trent Reedy (Scholastic, AAL 2011), readers meet Zulaikhu and her family. Her sister is promised to someone in marriage; her younger brothers are pretty much pains to keep track of, and her stepmother sometimes treats her as a servant. But Zulaikhu somehow manages to sustain herself. One day, her life changes when she meets a woman who offers to teach her to read and write. And then the best news of all: the Americans have offered to repair her cleft palate. Could Zulaikhu's life be about to change? <535>

Reedy offers some insight into the day to day life for Afghans living somewhat uncomfortably with the Americans who are occupying their country. He allows the characters to voice the sentiments, varied as they are, about the Taliban, the new government, and the odd customs of the American soldiers. Zulaikhu and her family are not archetypes or stereotypes; they are salt of the earth Afghans who are trying their best to live a good life. There are precious few books, especially for teens, set in this country. Reedy's offering is one that needs to be shared.