The Cruisers

 The Cruisers (Myers, Walter Dean; Scholastic, 2010; 128 p. 9780439916264 $16.99)

The Cruisers are a group of students at a Harlem school who are surrounded by gifted, motivated kids, but who are content with just getting by (thus, they cruise).  The students, eighth graders, are forced off their path of apathy when a school assignment lands them smack in the middle of a heated controversy involving the Civil War.

Smile!

 Smile (Telgemeier, Raina; Graphix, 2010; 213 p. ISBN 9780545132060)

This is a memoir—told in a graphic novel—of a 12-year-old girl who requires extensive orthodontic work after a bad fall results in damaging and losing her front teeth.  The orthodontic trials are difficult enough, but for them to be happening during a time of such insecurity and focus on appearances is especially difficult.  Readers see the author grow and evolve as her teeth heal; this book is especially great for any braces/retainer/headgear-wearing young people.

Check out a trailer for the book here.

Copper Sun

Copper Sun (Draper, Sharon; Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006; 302 pages ISBN 9780689821813)

This is the story of Amari, a 15-year-old girl living happily with her family in Africa and looking forward to marrying her beloved Besa soon.  Amari’s life is devastated in an instant when a group of white slave traders invade her peaceful village, killing many of her neighbors and all of her family as she watches in horror.  Amari goes through the next few weeks in a haze as she is prepared for the long journey across the sea to America where she is sold into slavery, all the while reeling from her tremendous loss of family and homeland.

Draper’s work of historic fiction is readable for younger students, but the subject matter is probably best suited for the upper level of middle readers, mainly because of the violent nature of what Amari experiences.  She is raped aboard the ship, though Draper implies the attacks without describing them.  The plantation owner who buys her labels her as a birthday gift for his teenage son, and she is further abused (again, the reader infers the abuse).  Amari, a sweet and obedient girl, gets along well with the other slaves and even forms an unlikely friendship with a white indentured servant her own age.  The two misunderstand and mistrust each other in the beginning, but form a strong bond when they attempt to escape together.  Ultimately, this is a hopeful tale and an effective way to impart some of the horrors of this part of the country’s history to young students.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts (Choldenko, Gennifer, 2004, 215 p. ISBN 0142403709 $6.99)

This fictionalized account of a family living on Alcatraz island in 1935 is charming, witty, and abundantly sweet.  Twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan narrates the tale of his family’s recent move that has brought his father to work on The Rock as an electrician and guard.  Moose is not happy about the move, which means he must leave behind his best friend and baseball-playing buddies, but his family is hopeful about getting his sister—who has autism, though that name and diagnosis do not yet exist—into a promising new school in San Francisco.  Moose is frequently torn between wanting to move back to his old, familiar life, and wanting to get help for the sister he loves.

Moose meets up with a new group of playmates, including the mischievous Piper—the warden’s daughter—who is always plotting a new scheme that is sure to land Moose in trouble.  The earnest and endearing Moose will appeal to a wide range of readers, including boys and girls from middle school on.  The author includes delightful details (many of which are probably true, as she explains in the notes) about Alcatraz at that time period, including Al Capone’s mother’s visit that sets off the metal detectors and sets the island abuzz.  It is a lovely tale of family loyalty, friendship, and finding one’s way in the difficult age of early adolescence.