How To Build A House

How To Build A House
By: Dana Reinhardt

240P
Wendy Lamb Books

ISBN-10: 0375844538
ISBN-13: 978-0375844539


Annotation:
17 year old Harper Evans hopes to escape the effects of her father’s divorce on her family and friends by volunteering her summer to build a house in a small Tennessee town devastated by a tornado.

Summary:
This poignantly written novel by Dana Reinhardt, introduces us to our well developed protagonist; Harper Evans. Evans is a 17 year old girl concerned with the environment, who is forced to deal with the fact that her father, Art, is getting a divorce from the only mother she has ever known, her step-mother Jane. Harper decides to join a summer volunteer program in Tennessee for a chance to escape from the problems at home. It here where she must deal with many of the issues surrounding the divorce, all the while trying to make the lives of one family better.
Reinhardt does an exquisite job comparing the building of the house with Harper’s emotional healing. In the end Harper has opened up to the possibly of love, made new friends, and moved beyond the ill feelings and blame she held for old friends and family members. Showing us all the importance of family and the idea that family can take on many different shapes and sizes.

This novel depicts the hard work and subtle rewards one can receive by doing good for someone else. Teens interested in volunteer organizations such as Habitat for Humanity will get an honest taste of what life is like for people devastated by natural disasters. This book would be perfect for anyone looking for a Traveling Pants read-a-like, and will leave you with the warm and fuzzies.

Hold Up

Hold Up

By Terri Fields

176p

Roaring Brook Press

ISBN-10: 1596432195
ISBN-13: 978-1596432192

Annotation:

Diverse teens each react differently to a shift at the Burger Heaven on a busy Saturday night that culminates in a showdown with two armed robbers.

Summary:

What determines a person's character, is it the behavior or how how they act in a moment of panic? This is the question teens must ask themselves as they open the pages to Terri Fields "Hold Up".

Told through the perspectives of nine different people, this novel portrays how we are all different yet in some ways still the same. Set against the backdrop of a robbery gone wrong. This poignant narrative of life and how the decisions one makes can have a startling affect on them for years to come. In this novel we are introduced to the characters in journal type submissions, some of these characters are cliché such as Jordan an overachiever who does what she is expected to do, even when she doesn’t want to, while some are very interesting and easy to relate to such as Manuel an impoverish yet intelligent boy who needs goading by a retired teacher to even think about going to college or Joe a boy described as “white-wall” by his classmates, who get mixed up with the wrong people all in the attempt to impress a girl.

Each character’s entries allow us to become more and more familiar with them and their individual needs and desires, leading up to the robbery. Everything changes once the gun is pulled.

Teens will enjoy this short young adult novel if only for the nonstop action and the suspenseful climax. This is novel can lend itself to an open discussion on the ideas of perception and how teens view themselves and others, perfect for teachers in search of an edgier novel for that reluctant reader.