Nan Marino

It's the summer of '69, but we're not talking Woodstock--we're talking kickball, Neil Armstrong, and the ice cream man. Our narrator, Tamara, has just finished the fifth grade. She's unhappy because her best friend has suddenly moved away and in her place a runty, mendacious boy nicknamed Muscle Man has moved in. Sadly, she takes her frustration out on poor Muscle Man, who smiles through all her bullying like a love-hungry puppy who doesn't know any better.

I think we're used to hearing stories like this from the perspective of the victim (Muscle Man) or the hero (which could be any of the other kids in the neighborhood--they're all very nice). That we hear it from Tamara, who is basically the villain, makes it interesting. The reader gets an inside look at why she's cruel and how she doesn't really see herself as cruel at all. I can't say I really enjoyed reading about a clueless mean kid, but it was a good idea and fairly well-executed.

There are a lot of what we call "issues" in this book: loss, death, bad parents, class differences. I think, though, that the issue that stood out to me is when and why it's sometimes better to lie than tell the truth. The book doesn't spell it out too overtly, which I liked.… (plus d'informations)

This review published by Brigham Young University's Children's Book and Media Review

Elvis Ruby was supposed to win the biggest reality TV show, Tween Star. He doesn’t. Cecilia is supposed to be able to hear the music of the trees that played when she was born. She doesn’t. When Elvis runs away to the middle of New Jersey to avoid the press after he panics on stage and loses the competition, he meets Cecilia. The two of them explore their interesting town to discover their own music in the midst of disguising Elvis, helping Elvis’s Aunt Emily and cousin Millicent keep the press off his tail, and learning more about their own secrets.

The parts about the music in the trees and the jersey devil were interesting, but they didn’t make a lot of sense and sometimes felt strange in a book that was otherwise somewhat realistic. However, the characters were interesting, with Elvis dealing with the aftermath of disappointing himself and other people and Cecelia refusing to go along with the crowd. It would have been nice to have more description of why Elvis froze up on stage when he'd had performance experience in the past. It's a fun read without a lot of depth but a good message about finding your own path.… (plus d'informations)