Well I'll be a Monkey's Uncle...err, brother

AUTHOR: Oppel, Kenneth
TITLE: Half Brother

When forced to reconcile the idea of humanity, 13-year-old Ben Tomlin learns to appreciate family members in whatever size, shape and species they come in. Zan was taken from his mother after only a few days and given to the Tomlins to be raised and cared for as their own. Zan which happens to be short for Tarzan is a chimpanzee. As Zan grows, his new family attempts to teach him sign language and to test to see if it is possible for chimps to learn language.
As time passes, Ben sees Zan as more of a little brother and less and less as a science experiment, his sentiment is not shared by his father. While Zan is learning words and sign and beginning to combine them to form thoughts, he also begins to demonstrate typical animal characteristics and after a while it is decided that Zan must be sold. Oppel makes this story compelling and interesting, while the books setting 1970’s Canada is a bit unfamiliar and at times awkward, the story of Ben and Zan is heart wrenching and will force readers to ask what makes a creature human.

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.

Middlesex

Middlesex

By: Jeffrey Eugenides

p.529
Farrar, Straus & Giroux

ISBN-10: 0312427735
ISBN-13: 978-0312427733

Annotation:
Calliope's friendship with a classmate and her sense of identity are compromised by the adolescent discovery that she is a hermaphrodite, a situation with roots in her grandparent's desperate struggle for survival in the 1960s.


Summary:
Now on most Summer Reading Lists, this novel explores the difficulties of trying to discover who you are and in some case what you can become.

Imagine you are a person who for more than half of your life thought you were someone completely different, now imagine that this is the early 20th century. People are less understanding and even less knowledgeable that present day. This is but one part that makes of the complexities of Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex.

Calliope or as we grow to learn "Cal" is a fully formed hermaphrodite. At birth Cal was told that she was a girl and raised in such a manner for the first fourteen years of her life. It is then that she becomes the man she always knew she was. Eugenides does and exemplary job of balancing the issues of the time with the very difficult subject matter.

Readers will appreciate the realness that the author lends to the story and through it we can learn much about ourselves.

The Brothers Torres

The Brothers Torres
By: Coert Vorhees

316p

Hyperion

ISBN-10: 0312428162
ISBN-13: 978-0312428167

Annotation:

Sophomore Frankie finally finds the courage to ask his long-term friend, Julianne, to the Homecoming dance, which ultimately leads to a face-off between a tough senior whose family owns most of their small, New Mexico town, and Frankie's soccer-star older brother and his gang member friends.

Summary:

In one year Frankie Towers is making big changes. After living for years in his brother the soccer star's shadow, Frankie is finally beginning to make a name for himself.

Frankie has just asked the most popular girl in school to the homecoming dance, the only problem is that he just beat the wealthiest and most influential high school senior at their New Mexico high school. In addition, Frankie is far from being considered popular in fact many of the people in school would consider him to be a "nerd".

This novel is the perfect combination of humor and the occasional serious situation. Frankie has to balance the expectations of his family and their ideas of what a true man is, with the man he wants to become. A feeling that many teenagers can relate to.

Students will instanly see the parallels between Frankie and his brother Steve the college bound sibling who spends all of his time with the local cholo gang, and grow to feel for the difficult situation that he is in. Frankie, however never loses his voice and will fight to gain the respect of his family and his friends. Traits that alll teenagers can appreciate.