Notes from the Midnight Driver

Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick, 2006
After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was fully convinced that this was a brilliant plan. Not brilliant as in, ‘That was a brilliant answer you give in Spanish yesterday’ but more like, ‘Wow, Einstein, when you came up with that relativity thing, and it revolutionized our entire concept of space and time while also leading all of humankind into the nuclear age, that was brilliant!”

Some memory-jogging tags: Funny voice. Alex’s best friend is Laurie. Old man is Sol. Judge Judy. Lawn gnome. Drunk driving. Public performance. Benefit concert. Estrangement from child. Divorce. Reconciliation. Retribution.

MS Rating: Great

White Darkness; Red Badge of Courage; Friend at Midnight; How to Steal a Dog; Blue Noon; and Chaos King

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean, 2005

Summary from inverso: Fourteen-year-old Symone’s vacation to Antarctica turns into a dangerous adventure because of her uncle’s obsession with seeking Symme’s Hole, an opening that may lead to the center of the Earth. The book is wonderfully flavored with several unique situations. Symone is very knowledgeable of the Antarctica and is fascinated with the explorer Captain Scott, known as Titus, to the point that she hears his voice in her head. Two of her fellow explorers are conmon, one of them her age and giving her much more attention than she is used to from boys. The extent of her uncle’s obsession and criminal insanity are slowly revealed as they travel to the ice pole. Symone’s only hope to survive is to use her knowledge of the frozen landscape as resourcefully as possible.

Wonderfully effective at capturing the magic of growth that is so often a part of a teen’s life.

Some memory-jogging tags: Deception. Survival.

MS Rating: Great.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane, 1890s. Read by Frank Muller in a Recorded Books production.

Classic war story, originally published in monthly installments by an author who knew of war only through his brother’s experience in the Battle of Chancellorsville during the Civil War. Reading was very dramatic, especially the voices. Story was much slower than I expected. Most of it is the young soldier’s musings about his bravery, or lack thereof, and the alternating boredom and anxiety of the war. Language was at times very arcane and difficult to understand.

It was helpful to read this one in conjuncture with Red Moon at Sharpsburg to get a fuller picture of the era.

MS Rating: OK.

A Friend at Midnight by Caroline B. Cooney, 2006

Summary from inverso: After rescuing her younger brother abandoned at a busy airport by their divorced father, fifteen-year-old Lily finds her faith in God sorely tested as she struggles to rescue herself from the bitterness and anger she feels.

Reb goes to college and isn’t home to learn to love Nathanial (their half-brother) nor Kells (their step dad). But Michael and Lily truly do. When Reb comes home to announce her wedding, Lily’s refusal to attend if their dad is there threatens the family unity to breaking. Worrying about a missing Nathanial brings them all back from the brink and finally infuses Michael with enough courage to honestly and openly face what really happened a year earlier.

The story is gripping and moves along. It has a church-going and God-thinking element that will resonate with church-attending teens and that I found not too overbearing. Great message of friendship and forgiveness and giving someone time and space to make their own decisions.

Some memory-jogging tags: Church attendance. Families. Divorce. Remarriage and step-parents. Abandonment. School psychologist. Anger management. Friendship. Keeping a promise. Parent responsibility. Realistic fiction.

MS Rating: Great.

How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor, 2007

Summary from inverso: Living in the family car in their small N. Carolina town after their father leaves them virtually penniless, Georgina, desperate to improve their situation and unwilling to accept her overworked mother’s calls for patience, persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward that the owners are bound to offer.

The squatter that Georgina meets lives by the motto, “Sometimes the trail you leave behind you is more important than the path ahead of you.” And he has another one, “Sometimes, the more you stir it, the worse it stinks.”

The story was a little slow. It felt a bit predictable, but by the end, the poignancy of the message struck me hard.

Some memory-jogging tags: Homelessness. Brothers and sisters. Conduct of life. Squatters. Journal keeping. Family problems. Dogs. Making a plan. Feeling guilty. Misleading appearances. School teachers. Previous best friends. Shame and embarrassment. Economic disparity. Realistic fiction.

MS Rating: Advisable.

Blue Noon (Midnighters, book 3) by Scott Westerfeld, 2005

Summary from inverso: The five midnighters from Bixby discover that the secret hour is starting to invade the daylight world, and if they cannot stop it, the darklings will soon be free to hunt again.

Rex has much more beast than any human ever had before, and more than the other midnighters understand. He and Melissa become closer than ever. Jessica and Jonathon are closer. Jessica’s sister gets very curious about what her sister is up to and inadvertently ends up right in the beasts’ path on the most dangerous midnight in centuries. The secrets of the previous generation of midnights shame the current midnighters and motivate them to make different choices. When the time warp threatens to entrap whole cities, the midnighters must work together with their unique talents to stop the danger.

Great ending to the trilogy.

Some memory-jogging tags: Supernatural. Alternative reality. Flying humans. Mind reading. Little sisters. Boyfriend / girlfriend relationships. Obscurity of the past. Ethical conduct.

MS Rating: Great.

The Chaos King by Laura Ruby, 2007

Georgie Bloomington is not finding life as the Richest Girl in the Universe very easy, even compared to her years in the orphanage. The Second Richest Girl in the Universe, Roma Radisson, and her two friends Bethany Tiffany and London England poke her and tease her every chance they get. She is also having a hard time talking to Bug (Sylvester). She meets a girl she thinks she can be friends with, but not before taking to turning invisible again, even though she promised her worried parents she wouldn’t. Now she has been “invited” to the punk’s art show and she must come or the vampires will bite her parents.

As I was reading, I kept thinking that this book has a very rich back story. After I was completely done with it, I discovered why. It was a sequel. No wonder. And it ends as if another book may be following, though I couldn’t find anything about that on the author’s site. Even so, the read was very enjoyable with quirky humor throughout.

Some memory-jogging tags: Invisibility. Flying humans. Magic pen. Bringing things to life. Snobbery. Cliques. New York Public Library. Library basement. Giant octopus. Giant sloth. Vampires. Visual art and art gallery. Pet birds. Weirdly cognoscente cat. Cryptic house cook. Mr. Fuss.

MS Rating: Great