Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
Recommended for: Middle School and up
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Gary Schmidt first introduced us to Doug as a peripheral character in The Wednesday Wars, but here Doug is the star. And what a star he turns out to be. Just about everything about this book – from Joe Pepitone’s jacket to Audubon’s birds – felt perfect to me. It’s sad, and it’s complicated, and it’s wildly improbable at times, and yet… totally, absolutely truthful.
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
Ms. Murphy’s Review
Recommended for: Upper School, Adults
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
David Small’s life story would be riveting material no matter how it’s told, but his beautifully subdued drawings — capturing human expression with unsentimental honesty and empathy — and the simplicity of his language make this book a treasure, not just a good read.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Ms. Murphy’s Review
Recommended for: Middle School, Upper School, Adults
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read a lot of children’s and YA books, and I love a lot of them. A lot. But it’s hard – usually – to know how I would have enjoyed the same books when I was a child (or a young adult). But with this book, I knew, I was so sure, that I would have LOVED it as a kid. I almost felt, while reading, that the book had been with me forever, that I had always loved it. This may partly be due to importance that A Wrinkle in Time – one of my all-time favorite and most read books – plays to the plot of Stead’s book, or it may because the references to the $20,000 Pyramid made me nostalgic for my old TV habits, but whatever it was, I got the sense that When You Reach Me had reached me long before I ever read it.
Playing with Matches by Brian Katcher
Ms. Murphy’s Review
Recommended for: Form II and up
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
How important is physical beauty in human relationships, and why? Young adult books and movies often suggest that inner beauty is far more valuable and that the smart hero or heroine will win out, despite not being on the Homecoming court. But the characters in those books – our their adult counterparts – are rarely repulsive, or even ugly.
Playing With Matches is different. The male narrator is the smart slightly nerdy type, probably average looking, certainly self-deprecating. But the object of his very confused affection was severely burned as a child, and has no hair, outer ears or features to speak of, excepting her eyes and mouth. This is not your typical teenage romance, and not your typical YA book. Brian Katcher asks questions about love and beauty without clear answers, with thoughtful ambiguity, and without heavy moralizing. Best of all, it’s funny and a pleasure to read.
Ms. Murphy’s review
Recommended for: Form II and up
rating: 4 of 5 stars
John Green obviously suffers from wounded bird syndrome. You know those guys, the ones that cannot, will not resist the lure of the tragic, crazy-eyed girls. Men young and old who suffer from this syndrome tend to be clever, cute, and talented just like Green and his heroes. But they lose all sense of reason, all sense of humor in their quest to fix the unfixable girl.
In Green’s third book, we meet his third adorably geeky hero, and his third insufferably selfish and quote unquote mysteriously alluring female. Like Alaska (in Looking for Alaska) and nearly all the Katherines (in An Abundance of Katherines), Margot of Paper Towns is bratty, self-absorbed, and wounded. Well then, thank goodness she disappears for most of the book. I think there is a lesson here, about the futility of trying to fix anyone, especially a wounded bird. But I am not convinced that Quentin actually absorbs that lesson.
It’s good though, this book. I admire John Green’s writing very much; I think his books are truly gifts to teenagers and shouldn’t be overlooked by adults. But next time, I hope he will leave the irretrievably damaged girl behind.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Ms. Murphy’s review
Recommended for: Form II and up
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Frequent visitors to the library will already be familiar with this title because I have attempted to get each of them to check it out. My success has so far been less than impressive, but I won’t quit.
If I had my way, every student, every person, every where would read this book. It is not to be missed. Not, that is, if you have ever given a single thought to being an outsider, have ever lost a loved one, have ever had a desire to break out, have ever made a friend angry, or have ever wanted to laugh, cry and celebrate what it means to be a person, to be a kid, to be different.
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Ms. Murphy’s review
Recommended for: Middle School, Upper School
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Shakespeare, the Yankees, political awakening… pretty much everything I could want in a middle school book.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Ms. Murphy’s review
Recommended for: Form I and up
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book knocked me out. Up half the night, couldn’t stop reading, didn’t want it to end, but couldn’t stop, dead tired and sobbing. That kind of knocked out.
Just read it. It’s utterly unsentimental, but contains no shortage of genuine feeling.