Patron Saints of Nothing

By Randy Ribay 

     What an amazing and riveting book.  This book hits all of the high notes, it is sad and sweet and finally very uplifting.  Meet Jay (Jason) a young man that immigrated to the United States when he was an infant.  He is now a senior in Michigan and has been accepted to U of M, but he has no idea what he wants to do with his life.  As he marches down his last few days in high school, he is informed of the death of his cousin Jun.  Even though, Jun still lives in the Philippines, Jay still considers him to be his closest relative and best friend.   They have been exchanging letters for years, and Jay feels the guilt since he is a horrible pen pal.  He also finds out that Jun was killed due to the Philippines war on drugs and a secret instagram  message sends a picture confirming that Jun did nothing wrong.  As Jay questions the meaning of life and death and what he wants to do with his future, he comes up with a great idea.  

     Jay's plan is to spend his spring break in the Philippines visiting family and looking into the incidents surrounding Jun's untimely demise.  In order to do this he needs to make the trek on his own, without his parents.  His parents finally relent and he is allowed to go, but he has some rules. Namely, he is to stay with family and he must not mention Jun, especially to Tito Manning.  He quickly agrees hoping he can find a way to investigate, ask questions and find his secret informant.  What he discovers in the Philippines is that nothing is as it appears, even when he thinks he has discovered the truth he will be surprised.  Finally, the family is allowed to grieve and hopefully move forward.  

     In all of the investigation and sight seeing, Jun discovers a new respect for his forgotten culture and a romantic interest.  If nothing else, he learns that he is woefully ignorant of the history and tribulations of the Philippines.  He does not speak Tagalog or any of the languages of the country and he has no concept of the depth of poverty and crime that is prevalent in the country.  His cousin Grace introduces him to an acquaintance Mia, a journalism student, who agrees to help him find out about Jun.  This bond quickly deepens to a mutual respect and attachment.  After his brief trip to the Philippines, makes some major life decisions, about who he is and what he wants to do, but can he convince his parents to be on board?  

     I loved this book, it was heart warming, though provoking and wrenching.  It made me wonder if when I leave will I have made a positive impact.  I am giving this book all five stars!  I love books that give a view into different cultures and leaves a lasting understanding.  Anything that opens eyes to what is going on around us is awesome!  At the end of the book there is also a very informative section for further information. This book is appropriate for 7th grade on up and is an incredible read!  

Links 

Author - Randy Ribay

Philippines President

Philippines War on Drugs

Images of Philippine slums

Racing the Past

By Sis Deans 

     This is a fast moving and enjoyable book.  It does a good job of broaching a topic that is too often left ignored or pushed under the rug.  Meet Ricky Gordon he is constantly getting in trouble at school for fighting the school bully.  Ricky comes up with a plan to keep his mother out of knowing how bad school is for the troubled fifth grader.  He can not go down to Mr. Daniel's office for the rest of the year.  How is he going to avoid his nemesis?  Ricky decides to forgo recess and to walk home from school everyday, even in bad weather.  Bugsie is so mad and still tries to bait Ricky whenever he sees him.  Ricky is a math whiz and figures out that if he improves everyday he will be able to beat the bus.  He sets up a grueling training schedule and slowly improves his 3.5 mile run home.  

     Ricky has a hard road to travel he has to better his life and that of his family.  Ricky's father passed away New Years Eve, from drunk driving.  Ricky is actually glad that he is gone, since he spent most of his time drinking and abusing his family, both mentally and physically.  They are dirt poor and live in a small run down shack, but Ricky and Matt slowly begin to clean up their yard and move beyond their father's abuse.  Everyone is noticing the improvements in their small town.  Their lives slowly improve.  Finally, one day Ricky realizes that the running is making positive changes in his life.  It becomes apparent as the his classmates start cheering for him to beat the bus and as the high school coach comes to check out this fifth grader that could run.  Will Ricky's hard work pay off will he be able to run from his past? 
     This book is rather sad, but a necessary topic that needs to be talked about more often.  I am giving this book a 4 out of 5 stars, and feel that it will be enjoyed by readers in 6th grade and higher.  and even though the books main character is a young man, I feel that all students can learn something from this book. 

Links
Author - Sis Deans

Coping with an Alcoholic Parent

Child Abuse Help

Youth Runners

Sanctum

By Madeleine Roux 

     The perfect second book in the Asylum series.  This book does a great job of tying up all of the loose ends from Asylum.  Dan, Abby and Jordan are still in contact and decide to return to Brookline and the source of their nightmares.  They meet up on campus during a prospective students weekend, strange things happen right away when one student begins to chant "Daniel Crawford" then jumps out of the window.  Dan and his friends have been paired with current students who are supposed to show them the way around campus and keep them wrangled.  Dan and his friends have other ideas of course, they want to hunt down some addresses and search for clues and a resolution to their nightmares.  

     The trio decide to visit the first abandoned house and find nothing extraordinary, but Dan does begin seeing glimpses of the past again.  Somebody is working against the group, by stealing information from the library and trying to keep them contained within campus.  The deeper they dig, the more convinced they become that something is not right.  A secret cult has taken over the school and the surrounding community.  Small subversive acts like attacking Dan at the carnival quickly spiral to more aggressive acts.  They are being controlled by a hypnotist and a mysterious stone that has ties to the Warden.  Anything that ties to Daniel Crawford it sure to be evil and deal with mind control.  Dan and his friends discover a lot of information on the early life of the warden, and slowly unravel his secrets.  But, will they be able to discover everything they need to know to save their lives?  Will they be able to evade the Scarlet Cloaked figures?  Will more people die? 

     This is a fitting sequel to "Asylum".  I enjoyed the story telling and the deeper understanding of the characters.  It is a fairly quick read, but the content might be a little gory for younger readers, so would keep it for mature 7th graders and up.  I am giving the book a 4.5 stars for that reason, I just wish that it had a little less gore so younger readers could enjoy the tale.  Basically, if you enjoy creepy, scary and a little gory you would love this book.  

Links

Author - Madaleine Roux

Hypnosis

Secret Societies in College