He brings you into his world as he remembers eating “cold beans and slices of week-old bread from the metal pie pans nailed to the table to be hosed off between shifts of eaters,” and following the Mexican workers whose “white shirts always drifted ahead of him, farther and farther out like white birds flying low.” These serve as an anchor as Paulsen recaptures the strange mix of growing awareness and fading innocence. The memoir escapes harshness because of the extraordinary detailing and imagery that Paulsen displays as skillfully as his truths. Paulsen’s 16th summer is the year in which he ran away from home, and he faces sexual, emotional and intellectual coming-of-age by himself while picking beets, fleeing police and working with the carnies. Paulsen explains in his introduction, “small portions of this book appeared in softer forms, shadowed and sketched and changed into gentler fiction … But here it is now as real as I can write it, and as real as I can remember it happening.” But to me, his greatest books are those in which he tells the truth about what he has seen, experienced and knows. Gary Paulsen has the same reputation as Rowlings for exciting the most reluctant readers. Gary Paulsen, The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer (Delacorte, $15.95 ages 12 and up) Tortured while writing a book report, Jake comments: “Trust me, if anyone in your class ever looks amused while you’re giving an oral book report, it’s because your zipper is down.” She does the best she can for him by giving him the gifts of intelligence, honesty and the sardonic sense of humor so many middle-schoolers understand. Park is true to Jake and lets him take the lead. The book might have been funny if Jake weren’t hurting so much. Now Skelly has Alzheimer’s disease and Jake is resentful, embarrassed and overwhelmed with responsibility. Her new hero is Jake Moon, the son of a single mother, who has grown up with his supportive, nurturing Grandfather Skelly. In her latest book, Park’s humor takes a back seat to her commitment to character. When you see her name on a book’s cover, you expect humor and characters who are very human and real. With Rowling’s book, you know what you’ll get in each new volume. The best of INDY Week’s fiercely independent journalism about the Triangle delivered straight to your inbox.īarbara Park, The Graduation of Jake Moon (Atheneum, $15, ages 9-12) She captures the confusion and shame of first sexual stirrings, and masterfully depicts the sensitivity and thoughtfulness of two very bright children. And no one heard.” Konisburg shows respect for words and for her reader’s intellect and conveys the complexities of relationship with family, friends and oneself. Only Connor seems to understand that “Branwell was screaming on the inside. Konigsburg elevates the mundane with the complicated relationship she unveils when Connor, Branwell’s closest friend, determines to get him talking again. Readers might be suspicious, but the police transport Branwell to a juvenile behavior center. Vivian, the au pair, grabs the phone and explains that he has dropped and shaken his sister. Thirteen-year-old Branwell Zamborska, while calling 911 after his infant sister slips into a coma, is suddenly struck dumb. The plot of her newest novel seems derivative of recent news reporting. Her originality of form and word unite to transform both her characters and her readers, and the result appears effortless. But when the covers of the book close, readers will be haunted by how it all hangs together. Konigsburg has shown us her gift for taking complex ideas and expressing them with a spare, seemingly simple poetic voice that captivates readers. While Rowlings writes an escapist novel that pleases both children and adults, her structure is simple and she relies on patterns.
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