Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Return of the YA Pick

I used to try to do a mini-review (really more a brief chirp of praise) on a YA book on the blog each month, but reached a point where I just wasn't keeping up. No promises, but I am trying to reinstate the feature this year. My "YA" Picks are actually in the upper elementary to YA range - any novel for older children/teens counts around these parts, not just the edgy teen stuff, although I like edgy.

January has two picks, The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt and Red Glass by Laura Resau.

The Wednesday Wars seems to have a pretty dumb plot at the outset - the only Presbyterian boy in his junior high class is convinced that his teacher hates him because she is stuck with him on Wednesday afternoons while all the other children in the class leave early for Hebrew School or Catechism. The teacher introduces him to Shakespeare and changes his life. Dumb-sounding, yes - but the book is so much more. Set during the Vietnam War, the protagonist's family is a microcosm of the shift that young people in the nation were making away from the values of their parents. It is about tolerance during times that try tolerance and love and family and integrity...it is a beautiful book. I highly recommend it.

Red Glass is about a compassionate family that takes in a little boy after his parents die bringing him into the United States illegally. When taking him to visit, and possibly return to, his remaining family, his new sister finds courage and family in a world where there are real things to be afraid of - and to lose. A moving story.

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