My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

The holiday break starts this week and many students (and teachers) are looking for books to keep them occupied. Being out of school provides a perfect time to catch up on reading--and watching football--HA!

My Most Excellent Year: a Novel of Love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger is a great lighthearted read for the Christmas break. The characters and plot are not particularly deep, but they are people that you would like to spend your holidays with and it has a happy feel-good ending. Like I said, it is the perfect book to read over the holiday.

I first picked up the book because of the title; I really wanted to know how Mary Poppins and Fenway Park fit together. In a way that is very popular now, this book is told from the point of view of the three main characters: TC, Augie and Ale'. The three teens are given an assignment in their Junior English class to write about their "most Excellent year." All three of them write about their freshmen year is high school and thus the story is told in alternating views throughout their 9th grade year.

TC is perfect--he is the guy you would want for your best friend, boyfriend, brother, son... When he was 6 years old, his mother died of cancer and he "adopted" Augie as his "brother." In face, Augie and TC are so close that they call each other's parents Mom, Dad and Pop, they have beds and dressers in each other's rooms, and they share everything. TC and Pop share a love of the Red Sox, in fact, TC, like every member of his family, was named for a Red Sox player. Augie is even more of a stereotype than TC. He loves musical theatre, is a born performer and is the last one to admit that he is gay. His freshman year is filled with his search for love and his attempt accept himself even though everyone else already does. Alejandra moves to Boston as a freshmen and quickly becomes a love interest for TC. She is as strong willed as he is and works hard to resist him. Throw in a 6-year-old deaf kid who is obsessed with Mary Poppins and you have a great book that explores not only young love and friendship, but also what really makes a family.

The characters are kind of stereotypes, but they are very likable. This book isn't going to win a Nobel Prize or anything, but it is a fun book . And it made me happy when I read it. Sometimes we need to read "junk food" for the mind. And this book fits that bill.

Happy Holidays!

The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman

It is cold outside which makes it perfect to sit in the warm house and read. Now is the time to get books to keep you busy over the holiday break from school.

The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman is one of those novels that makes me wish I had a sister. Katie and Michaela are best friends. They live in the East Village in New York City and study dance together at Anna Povlova’s famous ballot school. Michaela is a very promising ballerina and the plan is for her to attend Julliard after graduating from high school this year. Katie is just starting high school and is excited about attending the high school for the performing arts with Michaela. However, all those plans go out the window when their parents announce that they are moving to upstate New York so Katie and Michaela’s mother can teach Russian Literature at Fennimore Cooper College in Fir Lake, New York.

Katie is stunned. She has always been a city girl and cannot imagine not living where there is a deli on every corner. She doesn’t like bugs, animals or anything even close to nature. And the dance school is nothing like she is used to. She knows that she will never fit in at Fir Lake. And things go from bad to worse when Michaela seems to love living in Fir Lake. Her life changes completely and her new life does not include Katie.

This is a good novel about sisters, friendship and what is really important in life. Have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

It is snowing today. I can sit in my office and watch the big fat snowflakes float to the ground. It is beautiful--and cold! It is a perfect day to sit inside, drink hot chocolate and read good books!

I just finished reading Sweethearts by Sara Zarr. In this book, Jennifer Harris is the girl who everyone makes fun of. In elementary school, the kids made fun of her for everything she did. They would tease her and then she would cry and then they would make fun of her for crying. The only solace she could find was in stealing and hiding food and then her classmates made fun of her for being fat. Her single mother waits tables to support herself and Jennifer and then goes to Nursing school at night in hopes of a better life. Since her mother is busy, Jennifer often goes to school with dirty hair or clothes. And, of course, the kids make fun of her.

Jennifer’s only friend is Cameron. She and Cam do everything together. But Cameron’s life is worse than Jennifer’s with an abusive father and a mother who cannot protect her children. Jennifer and Cameron rely on each other. Until one day in 5th grade, Cameron does not come to school. The other kids in class tell Jennifer that Cameron was killed and when her mother doesn’t deny it, Jennifer believes it.

In high school Jennifer’s life changes. Her mother marries a wonderful man and Jennifer changes to a small school. She changes her name to Jenna Vaughn and leaves her past behind her. She has many friends, a boyfriend and a supportive family--everything she always wanted. But one day, Cameron shows up on her door step and everything changes. Suddenly she is confronted with reconciling her past with her present. Is Jennifer Harris the same person as Jenna Vaughn?