Paul Acampora

Oscar, Riley and Noah meet in their introduction to clay class. Oscar and his family are grieving his little sister's death from cancer. Noah's parents are divorced and he decides to not be homeschooled anymore although he is far more advanced than the kids in school. Riley's mother moved them back to West Beacon for a fresh start after being robbed at gunpoint in Philadelphia. As different as all three are, they end up bonding and becoming good friends who support each other. The dialogue show more is whipsmart and funny and there is an easy comfort to the portrayal of their friendship. show less

Since Leo’s grandfather died, his grandmother has spent a lot of her time wandering around the park, walking by the river, eating free grocery store samples, reading at the library, or sitting at a table at Good Eats, the 24-hour donut shop. Missing her husband is Gram’s full-time job. Leo’s job is to find her whenever she goes missing. Early one Saturday evening, Leo finds his grandmother drinking coffee at Good Eats surrounded by National Geographic magazines and a United States road show more map. She and her husband used to travel around the country. One trip they never took was to see the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Price, Utah. While Leo urges his grandmother to go home, Abbey, waitress and third cousin, encourages her to go to Utah. Before he knows it, Leo isn’t taking Gram home, but accompanying her across the United States. Abbey helps Gram drive the big, aging Buick while Leo sits in the back seat with Kermit, Abbey’s gas-passing dog. Leo keeps thinking about how mad his mother is going to be when she finds out, but he can’t change the course of this inevitable journey. From Allentown, Pennsylvania, to the Field Museum in Chicago to Nebraska to Utah. In Nebraska, Gram ditches Leo and Abbey and heads to Utah on her own. They borrow a car and follow her. A tattoo and a bear encounter later, Leo learns that the trip never was about seeing dinosaurs. It was about family and friendship. And, it was about life- about avoiding extinction.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com show less

I'm not gonna lie - I'm having quite a love affair with middle grade books lately. And this one did not disappoint, I loved it. There is no insta-love, no mythical creatures, no hormonal angst, no partying, drinking, or other inappropriate behaviors; just good, normal kids from loving homes who do something a little crazy that changes the world. It was wonderfully refreshing. One of the quotes I love from the book:

"If you're a teacher, you dream about having students who will try to change show more the world someday because of something you do or say in the classroom."

There are so many things to love about this book, one reviewer called it a "book-lover's book" and in an online article the author called it his "love-letter to books". Another favorite quote:

"A book connects you to the universe like a cell phone connects you to the Internet." ..... "But it only works if your battery's not dead."

Now, there are several books lately that could have been called "book-lovers books", but this one is definitely my favorite. And although the main character loves the book that the title comes from ( To Kill a Mockingbird ) , one of the other major characters doesn't like it, he loves Dickens. So it shows that different books speak to different people, and I think that is an important concept to know. You could argue that these almost-9th-grade-book-nerds are too well read, but I know kids like them and it's wonderful to see that kind of student celebrated. Maybe that is why I felt such a connection with the characters, or maybe it is because they were described so well.

As I mentioned before, each of the 3 main characters come from good, loving homes. Not homes that are perfect and without problems, because each character has their own different set of problems, but loving homes where they are taught good behavior and good values. In a conversation with his daughter about her mother's cancer, Lucy's dad tells her:

“Life is a gift. Going to church is like sending a thank-you card.”

Lucy's mother was also full of wisdom. When Lucy was treating her mother with kid gloves and worrying constantly about her health, her mother told her:

" “I'm not one of those people who think that cancer is some kind of jousting match. People live or die based on good medicine, good luck, and the grace of God. The people that die from it did not fail. The people who live will die another day.”

Oh gosh, there are so many amazing quotes from this book. Just check out the quotes page on GoodReads. I loved, loved, loved this book, it would make a great classroom or family read-aloud, or a quick, fun individual read. Let me finish with this one last quote from the WWW.KILLaMOCKINGBIRD.com manifesto (not a real website, don't bother clicking):

“We support all actions that lead to the joy, the fun, the reward, the challenge, and the adventure of reading.”

Read this book for all those reasons. show less

Danny inadvertently gets a date to the school's Halloween dance with Natalie Flores Griffin, his former classmate and crush who is now a famous actress. He's a little uneasy with the bright light of celebrity once people start hounding him about Natalie, but he does enjoy talking with her on the phone. He's also uneasy with his high-powered mother's campaign for mayor and her self-serving idea to make Natalie the Halloween festival queen. Danny is an appealingly unassuming kid caught in show more extraordinary circumstances but he does his best to get through, if not quite with aplomb. The pacing is quick, with humorous lines that zing and snap. A fun read for tweens. show less