Pick of the Day: Kindness for Weakness

SLJ — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:00:52 +0000

GOODMAN, Shawn. Kindness for Weakness. 272p. Delacorte. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-385-74324-2; PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-375-99102-8; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-0-307-98207-0.
Gr 8 Up–In this gut-wrenching narrative of loneliness and anger, disillusion and hope, 15-year-old James desperately wants to reconnect with his estranged older brother, Louis, and agrees to deliver drugs to several clients. When he is arrested, he is abandoned by Louis and sent to a juvenile detention facility where intimidation, abuse, and violence among guards and inmates are daily occurrences. As James struggles to find his own voice and reconcile his feelings about his negligent brother and mother, he begins to realize that everyone can make choices about how they live and treat others. James is comforted by letters from a favorite English teacher, reading Jack London’s The Sea Wolf, and the encouragement of a guard who teaches him to lift weights. In a climactic confrontation, he sheds his passive demeanor and attacks a cruel guard who is relentlessly punishing a gay inmate friend. In retaliation, James is brutally beaten by two guards. The unexpected intervention of a staff nurse brings paramedics who airlift James to a hospital and to a “second chance.” Despite the harsh, stark circumstances of his broken home and the upstate New York detention center, James becomes more than a survivor. His nonaggressive disposition provokes contempt but enables him to see more clearly vulnerabilities and injustices around him. Like Shavonne in Goodman’s Something Like Hope (Delacorte, 2010), James must set his own course in life and find supportive adults. Gripping action, gritty dialogue, vivid characters, and palpable tension permeate the brief chapters of James‘s powerful, honest, compelling narrative.–Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC

Pick of the Day: Path of Beasts: The Keepers Trilogy, Bk. 3 (Audiobook)

SLJ — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:00:53 +0000

Path of Beasts: The Keepers Trilogy, Book 3. By Lian Tanner. 6 CDs. 6:39 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-307-71091-8. $34.
Gr 3-6–After their perilous adventure in Spoke in City of Lies (2011), Goldie Roth and her friends have just returned to Jewel and are eager to see their homes and families again in the final title (2012, both Delacorte) in Tanner’s trilogy. Their joyous reunion is interrupted by the discovery that the Fugleman has taken over the city, with a mercenary army as well as his Blessed Guardians to enforce his orders. When the Fugleman brings a canon to the doors of the Museum, its up to Goldie and her friends to save both the Museum and the city, and to defeat the Fugleman once and for all. Their only hope lies at the end of the Beast Road, a path Goldie will walk knowing that no one has ever survived the journey. Fans of the previous titles will relish this thrilling and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Claudia Black returns for the final installment, providing the perfect vocal talent. Her smooth, pleasant voice for the third-person narration blends with shifts in pitch and accent for immediately recognizable characters. Not to be missed.–Beth Gallego, Los Angeles Public Library, CA

School Library Journal» Delacorte

Pick of the Day: Kindness for Weakness

Pick of the Day: Path of Beasts: The Keepers Trilogy, Bk. 3 (Audiobook)