One for Sorrow

By Mary Downing Hahn

     This is a very thought provoking story.  I picked it up by happenstance one day subbing in a classroom.  I had just finished a book and this happened to be laying around, once I started reading I was hooked.  The new girl in town inadvertently becomes friends with a very unlikable person. Annie quickly regrets becoming acquainted with Elsie and wants to extract herself from the relationship, but Elsie will not let her go.  Annie gets her chance to remove herself from Elsie's grasp, when Elsie is absent for a week, and quickly shifts her friendship to Rosie's group.  Unfortunately, Rosie and her gang are "Mean Girls"  and belittle and bully Elsie. 

    It seems like overnight that Annie has a new friend group and begins to bully Elsie, and Elsie is left once again friendless.  Things quickly change, however, when a deadly Spanish Influenza hits Mount Pleasant and people begin to die at an alarming rate.  As schools are cancelled and the kids are left to their own devices, Rosie comes up with a plan to get free sweets, why not visit some of the wakes, and pretend to know the individual in the coffin?  They even learn to peruse the obituaries the night before and garner information about the deceased.  On one of these ventures, they happen to run upon Elsie alone in the park.  Elsie is wearing a flue mask, in an attempt to protect her from contracting the flue bug.  Rosie decides it would be fun to harass Elsie and chase her down.  After surrounding her and singing about her getting influenza, stealing her mask, Elsie is left crying in the park;  Annie and the rest of her friends feel bad,yet vow to never speak of this again.  The secret is kept until, they visit one wake with out forewarning and it happens to be Elsie...       Annie believes she is truly done with the worries of Elsie, but is she?  

     An accident that results in a concussion while sledding in the cemetery, another secret and somehow Elsie returns to haunt Annie from the grave.  Elsie is out for revenge!  She wants Annie back as her one true friend and she wants Rosie and the gang to pay for her death.  suffice it to say Elsie is a very angry ghost.  She coerces Annie to do her evil work, and puts words in her mouth that Annie would never say.  Annie's behavior and outbursts reach such a point that she is sent to a convalescent care home, so she can get the rest that she needs to recuperate.  Elsie follows her and continues to make her mind miserable.  Fortunately, there is help in the guise of another patient.  One who claims to be able to see and communicate with ghosts, one who says she can help Elsie transition to her afterlife.  Step one is to get Elsie's friendship, Elsie must believe that her and Annie are best friends.  Will Annie be able to help Elsie move on and reconnect with her mother?  Will Annie be able to return home and be able to get her friends back.  

     This book is very entertaining to read, a fairly quick read.  I think that it would be appropriate for fifth grade and up and even though the main character is female, the content is available to both genders.  I am giving this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and think that if you like books about the supernatural you would love this book.  

Links 

Author - Mary Downing Hahn

Spanish Influenza 1918 

Dangers of school bullying

Crow nursery rhyme from title

     

Can;t Look Away

By Donna Cooner 

     This is a extremely interesting read.  It was very eye opening, shedding light on the invasive beast that we have created with social media.  Today's youth no longer have the worries of popularity with in their immediate friends or schools, they are attempting popularity on a much wider scale.  When fashion icon, Torrey, looses her younger sister in a tragic accident, her avid followers can't ger enough of this real life drama.  Torrey and her parents even move out of the state to attempt to adjust to a life without Miranda.  

     Torrey is transplanted into the Texas community.  She feels that all eyes are upon her, used to being in the spotlight and popular, she thinks she knows how to be welcomed by the Queen bee and her underlings.  Blair, rules the schools social scene and one has to be welcomed into her social circle in order to become teen royalty.  Torrey knows how to walk the walk, she knows what she has to do to be accepted, but she is struggling with her sisters death and being pulled by the very attractive Luis and her cousin Raylene.  If she follows her mind she will be accepted, but if she follows her heart... HAPPINESS!  Luis becomes an incredible friend and sounding board, through his heritage and dealings with his family business.  His father is the owner of the local funeral home.  Luis hopes to follow in his foot steps and is very supportive of Torrey.  She finds some solace in collecting and keeping some of Miranda's belongings close to her, but she knows she has to let them go in order to deal with her sadness.  

     The book builds nicely to the climax, with Torrey having to make a definitive choice between Blair (and popularity) and Luis.  I am going to be honest, a lot of this book Torrey is very unlikeable.  She is very superficial and concerned about appearances, going as far as ignoring Luis when Blair or her underlings are around.  She is very cold and methodical in her quest for popularity.  Only when she realizes what is important do you learn to like our fashionista.  

     This book is a good read and entertaining, but I am only giving it a 3 out of 5 stars, for two reasons first of all it is very gender specific.  Second of all, it did drag a bit with the back story.  With that being said I feel that this book is a very emotionally mature story.  I think that young girls in 7th grade and higher would enjoy the content and how Torrey strives to be popular.  It is a good story but very sad.  

Links 

Author - Donna Cooner

Coping with the death of a loved one

Social Media Addiction

     

Brown Girl Dreaming

By Jacqueline Woodson

     This book is a beautiful surprise.  Many people have told me that they love this book and I now know why.  It is extraordinarily well crafted, the voice is honest and the imagery transcends time.  This is an incredible narrative through the craft of poetry.  In this tale you meet the Woodson family as they grow and move from their Ohio home, to South Carolina and than New York during in the  1960's.  A time when this country went through the civil rights movement and emotions were charged. 
     Jacqueline is the youngest of the Woodson family, initially, and as such feels constantly challenged by her older siblings.  Both Odell and Hope are seemingly very intelligent one loves science and the other can lose themself in a good book.  Young Jacqueline wants to be a writer, but the process of getting her beautiful stories on paper is a struggle.  At first, she does not know how to write, than she struggles finding words that she knows how to spell, so her writing does not flow nor is it fluent. 
     As time marches and the Woodson family moves from Ohio to South Carolina, to live with their grandparents, whom they love a great deal.  Jacqueline and her siblings learn to love the heat of the deep south, though they do not understand all of tension between everyone.  They are forced to become Jehovah's Witness, by their grandmother.  They love their grandfather, whom they consider their daddy.  Their mother leaves them in her parents care while she travels to New York looking for a job that could support their needs.  When she finally returns to bring them to the big city with her, she brings a baby, Roman.  Jacqueline misses her South Carolina family and dislikes their new home and the cold dreary New York weather.  This new time in her life brings her her best friend Maria and opens her up to new experiences, public school.  Yet the still spend their summers in South Carolina with their aging grandparents.  Daddy's health is beginning to wane as a life time of cigarettes takes a toll on him.  As Jacqueline ages she learns more words and how to spell and she is finally recognized as a writer. 
     I love this book, it was a nice read and it flowed beautifully.  The use of powerful poetry worked well with the imagery that the author projected.  I am giving this book a 5 out of 5 stars and feel that it is appropriate for fourth grade and up.  The content about discrimination, although beautifully done and not graphic at all needs to be above third grade.  What I appreciated the most about this book is the multiple layers to each chapter and the ease of the read, very enjoyable.  If you have not done so, pick up your copy today. 

Links 

Author Jacqueline Woodson

The history of the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina

The History of New York city

Falling Over Sideways

                                                                                          By Jordan Sonnenblick


     What an awesome story and a great way to look at a family tragedy.  Claire is definitely a character full of middle school drama.  It's hard to be the youngest with a perfect older sibling.  Nothing seems to go Claire's way, school, dance, friends and family life.  Nothing ever seems to go the right way for Claire, But her world is forever changed when her outgoing, creative dad the author has a stroke right in front of her. and she is alone.  She can not contact her mother and she has to call 911 and help her dad.  Due to her quick actions her father lives, but a stroke can be a debilitating health condition.
     Now on top of all of the other middle school drama, Claire has lost her father, he is a shell of what he used to be.  The emotions are overwhelming.  Claire's father is unable to communicate in a normal fashion, and has other deficits.  His road to recovery is going to be long and difficult.  He does slowly begin to recuperate, but has a second health crisis when he contracts pneumonia from attempting to swallow his Thanksgiving "Feast".  Of course Claire happens to be in her crazy Science class and they are in a lockdown when she gets the text message.  This does not go over well with the teacher who takes Claire's phone away, among some straight up rebellion from her classmates.  The teacher slaps Claire and the whole group has to meet with the principle the following day.
     Eventually, Claire's father returns home from the hospital, a little bit healthier and Claire becomes his inspiration for rehabilitation.  She is instrumental in motivating him to try to do his rehab exercises.  The school year ends and Claire normally would be looking forward to her dance recital and her first participation in the father daughter dance, but how can she look forward to something that is not going to happen?  How can she expect her father to dance, he can barely walk.  Her brother volunteers for the duty and Claire is able to participate in the number, but not how she had envisioned this landmark event.
     This book was a great read.  I really resonated with me on multiple levels.  As a realistic fiction story the characters and events were spot on.  The author, did an incredible job describing feelings and circumstances in a careful and touching voice.  As an individual that has had a loved one suffer a stroke, I was touched with how close the descriptions were to reality.  I am giving this book a 5 out of 5 and feel that it is appropriate for anyone over 5th grade on.  This is an incredible empathetic read and multifaceted in tone and nature, many teaching points.

Links 

Author: Jordan Sonnenblick

Symptoms of a stroke

Stroke Rehab

What is a stroke?