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

Do Unto Otters; Touching Darkness; Red Moon at Sharpsburg; Glitch in Sleep; Secret Hour

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners (picture book) by Laurie Keller, 2007. An otter family thinks about what kind of neighbors they’d like. Cute cartoony illustrations and a very simple story may make this book too young for even the narrow purpose of introducing a TA character lesson.

MS Rating: OK. I wouldn’t have bought it if I had previewed it first. It was recommended by C Mitchel’s Bedside Rants and Raves blog.


Touching Darkness (Midnighters, bk. 2) by Scott Westerfeld, 2004. Jessica now knows her talent, and the primitive beasts are afraid. But now the danger leaves its previous bounds of the midnight hour. Humans are stalking Jessica, threatening her well-being during the other 24 hours. The midnighters discover what happened to all the older midnighters, and finds one survivor. The threat is repeating itself.

This is a great sequel, just as good as the first. A very high creepy factor and a sprinkling of swear words throughout may make this book unattractive for some readers.

Some memory-jogging tags: Conspiracy. Magic symbols and runes. Alternative reality. Greed. Beast-human hybred.

MS Rating: Great.


Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells, 2007. The small north Virginia town of Berryville isn’t as big or well-known as its neighbors in the Shenandoah Valley, but is a beautiful corner of the world and well beloved by its residences. The Trimbles own acres of orchards and the grand Longmarsh Hall. The Spreckle spinster sisters are busybodies. Ester and Micah Cooley are the black “servants” of the Trimbles. The Pardoes are Quakers whose father is a lawyer and daughter Julia is best friends with the narrator. Finally, we have the Moodys. Mr. Moody is a tradesman who makes harnesses and encourages his daughter India to be as independent and curious as she wants, even though it is against the customs of the day, and worries her mom. Except for the first chapter that happens about 12 years prior, the story begins in 1861. The Civil War has begun, and life will never be the same. The Pardoes move to Ohio to wait out the war with relatives. The Trimples’ two sons enlist while the oldest son, Emory, stays behind on account of his asthma. The schoolmaster becomes the town’s first casualty and India is sent to Emory for tutoring, where she learns chemistry and biology and medicine and, eventually, falls in love with Emory. Before the end, the war comes to Shenandoah Valley. India’s father dies of disease. Emory leaves to help with caring for the sick and wounded and is captured and sent to a prison in Baltimore. India and her mom move in with obnoxious relatives to avoid destitution, but India cannot stay and runs back home. She and the Cooleys tend a Union officer who had his leg amputated at the hip and left barely alive in the Trimbles’ home. Against orders, they succeed in transporting him back from behind enemy lines.

This is a Civil War story with a lightness of voice, true to a teen’s limited perspective. Not a sweeping, epic-like, quintessential “experience,”, but rather a very personal account of how totally devastating war was for this girl, her family and neighbors.

Some memory-jogging tags: Virginia. Shenandoah Valley. Civil War. Medicine. Chemistry. Women’s roles, 1800s.

MS Rating: Great.


Glitch in Sleep (The Seems, bk. 1) by John Hulme and Michael Wexler, 2007.
Becker Drane fills out an application for “the best job in the world” and his life is changed forever. He becomes a Fixer for The Seems, the machinery behind weather, sleep, coincidences and everything else you always thought was just controlled by the laws of nature. Becker is the newest and youngest Fixer and is called up when a Glitch is loss in the Department of Sleep and causing Havoc, threatening a Ripple Effect. Toward the end, when Becker creates a dream for his mission-within-a-mission girl, he offers this hope, “Tomorrow, when you wake up, pretend that maybe The World isn’t what you thought it was. That the trees and the leaves and the wind – and even you – are part of the most magical place ever created, and something, somewhere, is making sure you’ll always be okay. Honest! I tried it and, yeah, it’s not always easy, but the more you do it, the more you realize it just might be real.”

All the word plays on common phrases made this a more choppy read for me. The story never really flowed well, though I found the premise unique and curious. My teen readers seemed to like this book.

Some memory-jogging tags: Training. Alternative reality. Gadgets. Team work. New Jersey.

MS Rating: OK.


Secret Hour (Midnighters, bk. 1) by Scott Westerfeld, 2004.
When Jessica moves to Bixby, Oklahoma, leaving behind her Chicago home and friends, she starts having strange dreams. But they are not really dreams, they are real experiences she’s having during the 25th hour. While the rest of the world – including people and rain and speeding cars -- is frozen, Jessica roams free. But there are creatures who like to stalk and eat humans that exist only during this midnight hour, effectively making this free time much more dangerous than anything Jessica has ever known. There are a handful of other teens who also experience the midnight hours, and by banding together these midnighters, each with their own unique talent, manage to evade the beasts for another day. Rex is a seer. He can see traces of where the dark creatures have been, and can read their lore. Melissa is a caster, able to read others’ thoughts and influence those thoughts as well. Dess is really, exceptionally good with math, able to thwart the midnight creatures with 13-letter words and multiples of 13. Jonathan, the most independent and least willing to follow Rex and Melissa’s lead, is a jumper. Gravity doesn’t have much hold on him during the midnight hour. By the end of the book, Jessica has discovered her own talent – a torch thrower. Modern technology such as a flashlight and wrist watch, which normally will not work during the midnight hour, work with her touch. The flashlight incinerates the beasts on contact.

The story is very fun. The premise is very original and the characters are believable and interesting to read about.

Some memory-jogging tags: Alternative reality. Good vs. evil fantasy. Mind-reading. Friendship. Relocation.

MS Rating: Great.

Everlost; Mother-Daughter Book Club; Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; and Teacher's Funeral

Everlost by Neal Shusterman, 2006

Two young teens, Nick and Allie, are traveling in opposite directions when their cars collide, killing both. On the way to the light at the end of the tunnel, they collide again and fall into Everlost. The rest of the story is about them finding out about Everlost, what the dangers are, who has information, and how to get to where they’re going. Unique premise, gripping story. The ending has a high creepy factor, and leaves room for a sequel.

Some memory-jogging tags: Death. Supernatural. Adventure story. Life-after-death. Trust and betrayal. Friendship. Eternity. Monsters. Adult-less society.

MS Rating: Great.

Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick, 2007

Four middle-schooler girls and three of their moms form a book club to read and discuss together Little Women. Set in Concord, the home of Louise May Alcott, the story rotates between the different girls’ point of view as the story progresses through the school year. Emma’s mom is a librarian who loves Jane Austin (her brother’s name is Darcy) and Emma loves to write, including poetry, and is a little heavy. Candace just moved to town from California. Her dad recently died, her mom has been a famous fashion model, and her older sister looks like one. She, on the other hand, is a total tomboy and gets a spot on the boys’ hockey team. Megan is part of a cool Fab-Four group that acts superior than everyone else and treats them accordingly. Her mom is into health food and MIT but Megan is interested in fashion design. Jessie lives on a working organic farm while her mom is acting in a soap opera and living in NYC. The different voices don’t sound different enough and the story is predictable. I liked the setting, but lost my interest after just a couple of chapters.

Some memory-jogging tags: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. Book clubs. School stories. Bullying. Concord, Mass.

MS Rating: OK.

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, 2007. Art by Ellen Forney

Fourteen-year-old Junior escape from the hopelessness and drunkenness on the rez begins when he hits his teacher with a 30-year-old textbook. The teacher comes over to apologize to Junior (!) and tells him to leave this place before his hope is lost. With the moral support of his family but not his best friend nor anyone else on the rez, and with no ride and no money, he starts attending the best rural school in Washington in the neighboring town of Reardan, 22 miles away. The story is funny, crude, heartbreaking, eye-opening, often simultaneously. The use of f— three or four times, and sh— and other swear words throughout, makes this book inappropriate for my middle school population.

Some memory-jogging tags: Reservation life. Coming-of-age story. Bullying. Drunkenness. School story. Basketball story. Best friends. Hopelessness. Death and grief.

MS Rating: No

Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck, 2004. Read by Dylan Baker in a Listening Library production

If your teacher has to die, August isn’t a bad time of year for it,” says Russell Culver, fifteen, who’s raring to light off for the endless skies of the Dakotas. Maybe now with his teacher, mean old Myrt Arbuckle, in the ground, Hominy Ridge School will be shut down for good. But Russell, his brother Lloyd, Pearl, Flopears, Little Britches, and their other classmates do have school, with Russell and Lloyd’s 17-year-old sister as the teacher. Two of Russell’s classmates, his best friend Charles and Glenn from a no-account family, try to woe Tansy, as does a motored vehicle driver Eugene who ran their buggy off the road, first such accident in 1904 rural Indiana. At first I thought the story was hokey, but by the end, I was really enjoying it. It took awhile to get over the reader’s annoying style. Captures the rural school house experience well.

Some memory-jogging tags: Education. Teachers. Family life. Rural America. Humorous. Practical jokes. Early 20th-century American life.

MS Rating: Great.