Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom by Susin Nielsen

This book was written by the same author as Word Nerd, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Violet's movie-director father has an affair and moves to California where he lives with his new wife and two-year-old twins. Violet is not dealing well with the situation. She flies out to California with her little sister to visit, but they're sent home the next day when Violet makes a very poor decision. Luckily, Violet has her best friend for support as she tries to handle the divorce and life in the seventh grade. Her mother is dating various men that Violet thinks are losers. Now, she's dating Dudley Wiener, and he's clearly not good enough for her mom. Just look at his name! The only person good enough for her mom is George Clooney, and she gets ideas when she discovers he is filming a movie in the same area as her father. An apology and another trip to California may be in the future.

I enjoyed Violet's character as she deals with her life. She has trouble understanding her feelings about her father and mother after the divorce. She loves them, hates them, and doesn't know how to behave around them. She swears she'll never have a boyfriend, but that was before Jean-Paul shows an interest in her. Thing One and Thing Two are giving her a hard time at school, and she snaps when they show Facebook pictures of her mom to her classmates. Hopefully, most girls don't behave the same way as Violet, but girls dealing with divorce can probably appreciate her feelings.

Lexile level from lexile.com 700

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

This book is about soccer, family, racism, and many other topics, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Paul Fisher's family moves to Tangerine, Florida, where he hopes to play soccer for the middle school team. However, his brother is an outstanding kicker on the high school football team and receives all of the family attention, especially from his father. After a disaster hits his school, Paul ends up transferring to a neighboring school full of minorities where he must learn to adapt. They have an excellent soccer team and compete for the county championship. The team has several female players which makes it unusual as they compete against all-boy teams. Paul's brother gets increasingly out of control, even dangerous. There's also a memory stuck deep in Paul's mind that his brother had something to do with damage done to Paul's eyes. Paul learns that "The truth shall set you free."

I found the book interesting, but it was hard to get into. For my taste, there were just too many things going on during the plot. The story centered around Paul and his problems, which was fine. He dealt with the racism between his neighborhood and his new school as well as the conflicts with his brother and family. The plot veered off at times to describe his mother's issues, his father's issues, and the tangerine business. I understand the reasons the author did this, but it disrupted the flow of the plot for me, at times. Overall, it was an interesting book.

Lexile level from lexile.com 680

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

I chose not to classify this book as a fantasy, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Prosper and Bo are orphan brothers, and they run away to Venice, Italy, to escape their aunt. They find refuge in an abandoned movie theater with Scipio, The Thief Lord. The aunt hires a detective to locate the brothers, and Scipio decides to steal a strange, wooden wing for a mysterious client. It turns out that Scipio isn't exactly who he claims to be, and the wing is more than it seems to be. The plot takes many twists and turns along the way.

It was interesting how the plot took off when the detective took on the case of finding the brothers. Scipio's secret threatened to tear the gang apart, but they receive unexpected help from the victim of one of their robberies. Midway through the book, the tale of a magical merry-go-round pops up that adds a fantasy element to the story. Ninety-five percent of the plot is realistic fiction, so I chose to classify the book in that genre.

Lexile level from lexile.com 640

Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline Cooney

This book surprised me, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Jared's family is hosting a refugee family of four people from Africa, but he gets the feeling that they're not who they seem to be. The parents don't seem to pay much attention to their son and daughter, and Jared doesn't see a family resemblance. The daughter does not speak and does not seem to hear others. The son is very protective of his grandparents' cremated ashes that he's keeping in cardboard boxes. Jared later discovers black diamonds are hidden in the boxes, but he can't figure out what is going on. Jared's family is unaware that there was a fifth refugee on board the plane from Africa, and this murderer will do anything to get his hands on the diamonds.

I was expecting a plot in which an African family needed to learn to adapt to the American culture, and that is how the book begins. However, I quickly became aware that the plot was more of a mystery, and I enjoyed trying to figure out the secrets of the refugees. The suspense builds to an exciting climax when the fifth refugee discovers the location of the family.

Lexile level from lexile.com 750

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

The setting of this book is in Afghanistan, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Zulaikha was born with a cleft lip which causes her great embarrassment. Great hope arises when some American doctors offer to fix her lip, and she prays that the surgery will make her pretty and normal. She meets Meena, her deceased mother's teacher, and Meena would like to teach Zulaikha to read and write. Zulaikha fears that her father and stepmother will object if they discover what she is doing. In addition, her father arranges a marriage for her sister and best friend, Zeynab. Zeynab will become the third wife of her husband, and she hopes to have many children and make her husband proud. This announcement makes Zulaikha very happy. During this time, the Americans have moved into the region to fight the Taliban forces. The Americans bring a mixture of hope and hate to the citizens of Afghanistan. In the end, the characters learn that beauty isn't everything and that wishes don't always come true.

The exposition and early part of the plot didn't really grab me. However, the personal conflicts became more interesting with Zulaikha's planned surgery and hopes to read, her sister's marriage, the birth of her stepmother's new baby, and the presence of the American army. The author did a great job of telling the story from Zulaikha's point of view and describing her thoughts and feelings. I had some problems with names; I couldn't keep track of which names were siblings, friends, and extended family (step family, aunts, etc.). It wasn't a big problem. This book offered a view into the beliefs of another culture and their mixed feelings about our culture.

Lexile level from lexile.com 670

The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong

This book is about survival at sea, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Following his mother's death, Ben's father decides to sell the house and spend the next year sailing around the ocean on a boat with his three sons. The boys hate the idea, and Ben, being the oldest, is the most vocal about it. There is conflict all of the time, and everyone is very depressed and angry. Finally, the family's fortunes take a turn for the worse when the father disappears overboard during the night. A huge storm rises up and tosses the small boat around until it smashes into a tiny, coral and sand island. How can three brothers survive, alone, on an island without fresh water and very little plant and animal life? Ben decides something risky must be done when the middle brother becomes seriously injured in a fall.

The last third of the plot saved this book for me. The first half of the plot stressed the conflict and turmoil within the family as they tried to deal with the death of the mother. It was obvious that the father was hurting inside, but Ben couldn't help hating him. The author constantly described this hate, and I felt the plot suffered. There's not much action on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean, so that already offered a challenge in holding my interest. The focus on the problem between Ben and his father became repetitive after a while. The plot became interesting after the father fell off the boat, and I enjoyed the climax and resolution.

Lexile level from lexile.com 660

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

I read this book in one day and gave it a rating of five out of five. Max is a large, learning-disabled boy going into the 8th grade, but he has no friends. His father is in prison for killing his mother, and people assume Max is a bad person too. Then, Max meets a tiny, genius by the name of Kevin, or Freak. Kevin's legs are in braces, and he uses crutches to help him walk. When Freak first climbs onto Max's shoulders in order to avoid the neighborhood juvenile delinquent, the two of them are joined to become Freak the Mighty. They become an odd couple and inseparable friends. Freak dreams up many quests and adventures, and Max becomes the transportation. Freak tells Max about an operation he's going to have in which the doctors are going to give him a totally new body to go with his amazing brain. Later, Max discovers that his father wants to see him, and this angers and frightens him. His father is supposed spend the rest of his life in prison, so there's no way he can get out. Right?

I enjoyed the blend of characters, and the way they bonded. Freak was a tiny, loud-mouth know-it-all who could annoy people with his intelligence and big vocabulary. Max was a large, misunderstood boy who was reluctant to take chances. Although I didn't always see a main conflict to resolve, the plot moved along nicely with many ups and downs. Freak's free spirit made him a funny character, but the juvenile delinquent and Max's dad added some suspense. The author threw in a bit of sadness too. Overall, the book was entertaining.

Lexile level from lexile.com 1000