McCormick's: Sold

McCormick's Sold is a gripping tribute to the millions of children who have been sold into the sex-slave trade throughout the world. This heart-wrenching tale pulls readers into a wretched world where young girls are sold by their families, tortured for years, and then tossed away into the filthy gutters of Calcutta. A poetic and entrancing voice leads us on a journey from hopefulness to despair and misery where each daily survival is a triumph of spirit over circumstance. This truly remarkable work, funded through a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts will likely make our more sophisticated teen readers thankful for everything they have in their lives.

13

James Howe presents a collection of 13 writings on being 13 by 13 authors/writing teams of teen fiction, perhaps for anyone who is 13, is almost 13, or was ever fortunate or unfortunate enough to have been 13 in 13: Thirteen Stories that Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen. This brilliant requiem for childhood may cause a bit of laughter and misty eyes as poignant moments are shared in quality prose and one short poem on a wide array of themes and styles. Each author shares brief recollections of turning 13 at the end of their piece. Particularly notable in style and substance is Howe's own offering about a bar mitzvah which suddenly goes wonderfully and meaningfully awry.

Paulsen's: Sisters

Paulsen begins to create a set of portraits of two teenage girls. The comparison of two girls surviving their beauty and youth is incomplete and fairly unsatisfying. Paulsen chooses a cheerleader and a child prostitute, similar only in age and beauty apparantly, to draw his comparison. The misleading title pretends to make more of a connection between the two girls than actually exists. Paulsen does not write deeply enough about either girl, or build enough tension to end his story in the abrupt manner in which it is ended. This story reads more like a story starter. A point is made but ever so slight and hardly worth the telling. Arguably, the abrupt ending is meant to be an exclamation point. The reader may be left to wonder why these stereotypes needed an exclamation point when they probably deserved more of a story.

Paulsen's: The Tent

A teen boy and his father embark on a life altering trek across the hot, flat Texas landscape one summer. They discover a way to use an old army tent for making total strangers give them large portions of their money. After becoming rich, they find out the high cost of wealth. Paulsen's predictable "parable for one sitting" uses simple characters talking in simple dialog to tell a simple tale with a profound and important lesson.

Paulsen's: Hatchet

A story of a young teen learning to survive his parent's divorce quickly turns into a story of true wilderness survival for the boy and his one tool, a gift from his mother, a Hatchet. Gary Paulsen's Newbery Honor Book bumps along clumsily, in and out of a what passes as a teen voice back and forth between first and third person. What will capture the reader are the passages of problem solving and near disaster-avoiding adventure. Run-ins with wild life, trial and error lessons in the search for basic necessities, and face-to-face interaction with the force of nature are enough to make this a satisfying quick-read. Oh yeah, and a plane crashes. Although Paulsen's main character learns completely on his own, he is not quite as engaging as Jean Craighead George's Sam Gribley.

Another review

3 Picture Books for Older Readers

Paul Fleischman's: Weslandia fuses 6th grade social science concepts with some fantasy to create a young gifted outcast's utopia named for its main character Wesley. Wesley's parents would even stoop to bribery to get their son to be more like the cookie cutter-type children of the very repetitively styled suburban neighborhood in which they reside. Wesley has other plans after learning about civilizations in school, including creating his own civilization complete with staple crop, counting and lettering systems, and clothing. Wesley's summer project gently shows the reader how being different could be an asset while Kevin Hawkes' colorful acrylic illustrations offer many supporting details.

Patricia Polacco writes an autobiographical piece: Thank you, Mr. Faulker. Her story relates the tragedy of Trisha experiencing what so many children have experienced in our educational system. Trisha has the fortune of being assigned to Mr. Faulker who recognizes her problem and finds the help she needs. Polacco's illustrations help to convey the joy and angst of Trisha's childhood experiences. Any teacher who has spent any decent amount of time in a crowded classroom may find it difficult not to shed a tear while reading this simple, endearing story.

Some authors are able to paint with words in a way that sends the reader into a story. The economy of language necessary for a well-told picture book is so artfully employed by Kim L. Siegelson's: In the Time of the Drums. Siegelson's text has a rhythm like the drums of the African homeland and could stand alone without illustration, but the reader will be glad they don't. Brian Pinkney's illustrations tell the magical legend of the Ibo people all by themselves as if they don't need the words. The scratchboard paintings have a movement and rhythm all their own.