by Swati Avashti Knopf Books for Young Readers 978-0375863400 |
Powerful, realistic, exhausting, important. There isn't much more we could say without this becoming an inarticulate mess. Buy it. Read it. Not for the younger reader - several descriptions of horrifically violent scenes. We give it a
5 out of 5.
by April Lurie Delacorte Press 978-0385736756 |
Noah seems to be making a small career out of rebelling against the image of his father, The Bible Answer Guy, becoming a minor juvenile delinquent. He befriends a homeless teen who happens to be gay, right at the time when someone is killing homeless gay teens and leaving Bible verses near their bodies.
The author has an obvious agenda, which isn't necessarily bad in and of itself, but she is a bit heavy-handed in delivering it. Noah's father is the only one who doesn't give some sort of sermon, and everyone except the bad guy comes to the same conclusion about homosexuality by the end. As a result, none of the characters comes fully to life as an individual person. If she did more showing than telling, she would be a bit more effective.
That being said, the mystery aspect was extremely well-done. We constantly found ourselves positive we had it all worked out, then changing our minds completely. At one point we decided the murderer was Noah's 9-year-old sister, simply because she was the only person we hadn't suspected (it wasn't her, btw). Definitely worth reading if you like thrillers, we give it a
3 out of 5.
by Varian Johnson Delacorte Press 978-0385-738040 |
We liked this one more than we thought we would. The characters manage to shy away from stereotypes for the most part, and religion itself is not portrayed as all good or all bad. Maddie urges Joshua to decide for himself why he believes the things he does, but that doesn't translate into him suddenly changing his mind about everything he believes. Overall, just as the characters are allowed to make up (and change) their own minds about things, so is the reader. Oh, and did anyone pick up on the little stab at the old damaged rose illustration? Nicely done! We give it a
4 out of 5.
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