Josh's parents are divorcing and he gets drunk one night and drive a car without a license into a neighbor's front lawn ruining the garden gnome. As punishment the judge assigns him community service, which he does at the facility where his mom works. His mom assigns him a cranky old man who Josh learns a great deal from and who in turn shares his exp erience with the judge in the form of letters. ( )

This was kind of predictable -- I thought, "Yeah, the old man he's assigned to will be really crotchety but loveable underneath and then Alex will become a more sensitive person and probably also end up going out with his friend Laurie." But it was enjoyable nevertheless and often very funny. ( )

The Midnight Driver is about a 16 year old boy named Alex who is going through the toughest time of his life. His father has started dating his 3rd grade teacher. One night though, Alex thought it would be fun to start drinking. He knew his parents were gone and left the car at home with the keys(not a smart move). Drunk, Alex took a midnight drive and crashed into their neighbors lawn, destroying a lawn gnome. When Alex is sent to court for drunk driving he is sentenced to community service at the senior center. Alex is to attend and help a old senior named Solomon Lewis. At first he has a bad attitude toward him, but later gets a life-changing experience from Mr.Lewis. The two men learn to deal with past, present, and future problems. From this book I’ve got one main quote that helped me understand the meaning of this book that “ All things happen for a reason”. The reason that I wanted to read this book was because when I had read the summary in the back it had a very good way of getting you to read the book.I think this is a great book to read and really enjoyed it and hope you will to. Sonnenblick is also author of Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie. N.N. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As I read, I could just hear some of my former students living through and saying some of the dialog. Jordan Sonnenblick has written a hilarious but touching book about responsibility and growing up. The book would fit neatly into a unit on decision-making and resiliency. ( )

I liked this book because it teaches you a lesson. The sayin" Don't judge a book by the cover" goes along with this book because this boy gets into trouble and has to do community service at a retirment home. He gets assigned ot this grumpy old man and thinks he's the worst. But in the end he shouldn't judge him and that everyone needs love and some one to care for them, and thats why i like it. ( )