Notes from the Midnight Driver

Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes from the Midnight Driver. New York: Scholastic, 2006.

Alex is upset over his parents' divorce, so one night he raids the liquor cabinet and steals his mom's car keys in an attempt to drive to his dad's place.  His attempt fails miserably, though, when his car bumper meets his neighbor's garden gnome.  Alex is assigned community service to pay for his crimes, and his mother chooses for him to volunteer as an assistant in the hospital.  Alex is assigned to an older man who is slowly dying of emphysema, and it looks like this will be the longest 100 hours of Alex's life, until he starts looking beyond himself and sees how he can use his time of service to truly serve others.

I chose this book for two reasons: I have enjoyed other books by the same author, and this book has a really funny cover. And I was not disappointed. Sonnenblick has a very engaging writing style and hooks the reader into his stories quite quickly.  Not only that, but his characters do good work while enduring incredible hardships.  I have been very impressed with Sonnenblick's novels, and if I had a classroom still, his books would be on my shelf.