The Trap by John Smelcer
The Trap by John Smelcer is set in a really cool location – Northern Alaska. In this land the sun only shines for a couple of hours each day in the winter – winters that are so brutal that the inhabitants lives revolve around just surviving. In this brutal land, an Indian teenager, Johnny Least-Weasel, spends his time working a few hours a day in the general store, taking correspondence courses from the University to earn his high school diploma and taking care of his elderly grandparents. His stubborn grandfather, Albert Least-Weasel, still goes out and checks his animal traps (imaginebig, scary, steel bear traps with terrible teeth) alone in the wilderness. When Albert doesn’t come home from checking his traps in a reasonable amount of time Johnny worries and sets out to find his grandfather on his own at his grandmother’s request, despite his uncle’s encouragement to wait out the bad weather. This story is one of life or death in a land filled with wolves, unimaginably cold temperatures and isolation told in chapters narrated alternately by Johnny and his grandfather. If you are looking for a quick, action-packed story this is the book for you!
2008-09 South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominees | Comment (0)Heat by Mike Lupica
Heat by Mike Lupica is the story of a young man, Michael Arroyo, and his struggle to keep his life together after the death of his father. Michael, his brother, Carlos, and his father, Papi, came to the New York from Cuba where Papi worked as a taxi driver and Michael was an incredible Little League pitcher. When Papi suddenly died, Carlos, just a few months away from turning eighteen, and Michael were able to continue living together in their apartment with the help of their neighbor, Mrs. Cora. Things were going as smoothly as they could until several Little League coaches called Michael’s age into question – he was too good to be only twelve years old. With no record of a birth certificate (they neglected to bring it along when they left Cuba) and many “Official Persons” asking too many questions, Michael and Carlos aren’t sure if they can keep-up their act much longer. This is a great book if you love baseball and still a good book if you don’t – romance, suspense and celebrity keep this story moving until the very end.
2008-09 South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominees | Comment (0)