Matt BeamCritiques

Kind of reminiscent of Punkzilla, a first person, stream of consciousness, narration without the edge.

Contrary to the book cover of a boy with hockey equipment over his back, Last December is not about hockey. Steve tries out for the team in his new high school. He doesn’t make the team but makes a friend in Trevor. The story is told by Steve in a series of letters to his future baby sister about what happened that December. The prose style is almost stream of consciousness, jumping from one thought to a completely different thought at times, which can get confusing and is not all that compelling. Steve feels like his life is a mess and he’s confused. He and his pregnant single mom had to move and Steve began high school in a new town. He isn’t getting along with his mother and is unsure how he feels about having a new sibling. He is confused about girls and friends and where he fits in. He meets an older teen, Byron who teaches him about Ms. Pacman and his philosophy on life even though as time goes on Steve knows something is wrong with Byron. He goes to parties with his new friends, Trevor and Alistair, and experiments with drinking to disastrous results and makes a fool of himself in front of his crush, Jenny. This coming of age story might appeal to boys who like sports but are not necessarily jocks.

Booktalk: No doubt about it, Darcy Spillman lo-oves baseball. He talks baseball with his buddies everyday, reads biographies of ball players and hates it when the World Series is over because it means one thing: no baseball all winter. But now that Darcy is in junior high there's other stuff getting in the way of baseball: harder homework, cliques and a certain beautiful blonde named Danalda Chase. Darcy knows a lot about baseball but not much about girls. He thinks "getting to first base" means you've hit a single. Well, yeah, that is true, but not when we're talking about girls. Darcy needs a coach, someone to help him read the signals and not go down swinging. Because when it comes to girls, you never know when a spitball might be coming. Darcy definitely needs a game plan for GETTING TO FIRST BASE WITH DANALDA CHASE.

Modern, urban take on an alphabet book, The photography in the text includes pictures of letters that are found in urban or city settings, often painted on walls, or buildings. The letters are included in both upper and lower case. One page contains the letter and word and then the opposite page contains the photography of the word.

There is no story in the book, but this text can be used to provide the alphabet and associated words in a different context that is often found in children's literature. This book can also be used in conjunction with a phonics lesson as the words selected include many of the basic concepts that young readers need to learn.½

I love this book because it uses a city and uses things that students do not normally think of having numbers to show them that numbers really are everywhere.

Realistic fiction. Well-written but not terribly compelling.

kids hated it

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

When his mom's boyfriend takes off, Steven's relieved. He never really liked Mike. Unfortunately, Steven's mom is pregnant. She says she's having a girl, and they begin calling her Sam.

Steven's dad died when Steven was only one. He doesn't know a thing about him. Now, about to have a little sister who also won't know her dad, he sets about trying to explain things to her. He begins to write Sam a letter. He's not sure when or if she will ever read it, but he writes about everything that's happened to them last December.

There was the new high school and Steven's desire to be part of the hockey team. There was a fight with a group of skinheads and the threat that they might come back for more. There was the irresistible Jenny and new best friend, Trevor, who got Steven involved in the high school social scene. There was Byron, the Ms. Pac-Man playing stranger, who always seemed to show up at the Donut Hole. All of these are intertwined in Steven's letter, along with the stress and pressure of being the man in the family for his pregnant mother and his soon-to-be little sister.

LAST DECEMBER describes Steven's struggle to adapt to the normal ups and downs of being a teen at the same time he comes to terms with being there for a mother about to become a single mother of two children. Using the concept of a letter, author Matt Beam takes his readers directly into Steven's thoughts as he attempts to provide history and guidance for his unborn sister.

So this is how 15 year old boys think! Steven's writing a long letter to his yet to be born sister about what's been happening in his life, because he's acting weird and needs to figure out why. He can't put anything in words to his mother, or to anyone else for that matter. Some of the letter is about the new baby (he really doesn't want to think about that), some of it is about the girl he likes, and some of it is about the older boy he met who has fascinating and incomprehensible theories about life but maybe isn't as together as he initially seems. He not only reports on the day to day events, but also tells what he was thinking throughout -- even though generally he freezes up, turns on the hockey game and says, "whatever". Beam totally captures boys at this age, and leaves the reader wincing at every stupid decision while rooting for him throughout. Includes drinking to the point of passing out and emerging sexuality.½

Sweet and probably good for boys ages 10-14 who aren't necessarily big readers.