After Ever After

Sonnenblick, Jordan. After Ever After. New York: Scholastic, 2010.

Jeffrey is a fairly typical 8th grade boy.  He struggles with math class.  He worries about the end of the year high-stakes testing that may hold him back in 8th grade.  He is trying to decide whether he really likes Lindsey, the new girl in his class.  He wonders why his brother decided to move to Africa to study drumming for a year.  Oh, and he's a cancer survivor.

Jeffrey and his friend Tad are both cancer survivors, and they are both dealing with the long-term effects of both the cancer and the medications they had to take to survive.  They are planning to walk across the graduation stage together: a milestone for both of them as Tad can't walk more than nine steps and Jeff isn't sure he'll be graduating. 

This story was sweet.  It was funny.  It was entertaining.  It was sad, predictably so, but I read it anyway, and I really enjoyed it.  This would be a great read-aloud story for a junior high class (as long as the teacher can edit some of the characters' word choices).  It was definitely worth the trip to the library.

The River

Beaufrand, Mary Jane. The River. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 2010.

Ronnie has moved from a bustling city to a small, small town.  Her father loves the town.  Her mother loves the town.  Her foster brother and sister are thriving.  But Ronnie misses civilization.  She is pulled out of her homesickness by a little girl down the street, and things start looking up.  Then the little girl is found on the banks of the river. Ronnie is sure that her death is more than an accident, and she is determined to find the answers no one else is looking for.

This book was predictable but not excessively disappointing.  I figured out the ending long before the end of the book, which shouldn't be that surprising since this book was written for teenagers.  I almost would have liked the story if it were longer and more detailed.  It seemed a bit too short to me; I finished it in one evening.  It's not a bad story, but there are better teen books out there.

A Collection of Wednesdays

Hayes, Amy. A Collection of Wednesdays: Creating a Whole from the Parts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

Amy Hayes uses Wednesdays as her writing days.  She writes whatever's on her heart, and this is also what she has chosen to share with the rest of the world.  The writings in this book do not follow a particular order, but life in general doesn't seem to go in order, either.  She writes about a variety of topics such as belief, books, music, and wisdom, and like the Puritans shows that God is in everything.

This is a great "night stand in the guest room" book - not too deep, but still thought-provoking. I don't know that I would put it in my own collection, but I could easily imagine buying such a book to give to a church friend.

The Secret of Indigo Moon

Taylor, G.P. The Dopple Ganger Chronicles: The Secret of Indigo Moon. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009.

This is the second installment in the Dopple Ganger Chronicles, a series of graphic novels for young teens. Similar to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the Dopple Ganger Chronicles novels consist of pages of text interspersed with both illustrations and "comic book style" pages.  The story is entertaining, free of objectionable elements, and mildly suspenseful. I can understand why this book appeals to young people, especially reluctant readers: each page offers something different, and the breaks in the text help to maintain the teens' attention to the story.

The story itself wasn't actually that interesting.  I kept reading for the sake of the illustrations, not to finish the highly predictible story line.  Sometimes, however, a predictible plot is just what the doctor ordered, and in the case of reluctant tween and teen readers, the Dopple Ganger Chronicles might be a perfect fit.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel for the purposes of review.

Commercial Break: Inconceivable

Savage, Carolyn and Sean. Inconceivable. New York: Harper-Collins, 2010.

The subtitle of this book sums up the story nicely: "A medical mistake, the baby we couldn't keep, and our choice to deliver the ultimate gift."  Wow.  The title first attracted me to this book, then I got caught up in the story, and I just had to check it out.

Believing God wanted them to "be fruitful and multiply," the Savages chose to use IVF (in vitro fertilization) to conceive their children when other infertility treatments did not work.  Tragically, there was a mix-up at the clinic.  The wrong baby was placed in Carolyn, and she became pregnant with someone else's child.  There were few options open to the Savages.  They could abort the baby, or they could choose to give the child to his biological parents upon his birth.  They couldn't imagine aborting the baby, so they chose to continue the pregnancy to full term and give the baby to his genetic mother and father, all the while knowing that this was going to be Carolyn's last pregnancy; there would be no more little Savages in the house.

I cannot imagine being in this couple's place.  Absolutely I believe they did the right thing.  Absolutely I believe it was incredibly hard for them.  I applaud their moral integrity and commitment to life, and I am glad they chose to tell their story, too.  This book was well worth the read.