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The
year is 2085 and Melly is 16 again. In the year 2000 Melly and Anny
Beth were asked if they wanted to be younger. "Now that was a
stupid question to ask someone about to celebrate birthday
101." Melly, Anny Beth and others were injected with the
unaging PT-1 drug. The drug was experimental, and even the doctors
weren’t sure what would happen.
One
year after the injection Melly "did feel like her brain had
improved. She was sharper…, but why should she be losing her
memory about her own life? It was like a whole year had been erased
when she hit her 100th birthday again." It was
almost as if they were recording over the old memories and replacing
them with new ones.
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Most
of the book takes place in 2085, 85 years after the injection. Anny
Beth and Melly have unaged to 18 and 16 years old. Melly will have
to give up her driver’s license on her next birthday when she will
be 15. She is faced with the problem of how to tell the family she
babysits for that she will no longer be able to drive the children
places. Also, there is the problem of finding someone to be their
guardian when they unage to the point they can no longer live alone
and take care of themselves. This is a story of a race against time
and an experiment gone wrong.
This
is a very interesting fantasy about the future and the possibilities
it could hold. Haddix tells us in her author’s notes at the end
that she was surprised to learn in 1998, when she was halfway
through her book, that researchers had figured out how to restore
cells and prevent them from dying. Could the events of this story be
played out in real life in this century?
[Pat
Schlough, Lincoln Public Library]
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Gary
Paulsen has written many adventure stories, including
"Hatchet," "Brian’s Winter" and "Brian’s
Return." "Guts" brings the phrase "write about
what you have experienced" to a whole new level. Paulsen wants
his books to be "real," so he has used many of his
personal experiences in his writing.
Paulsen
was a volunteer emergency worker, and thus witnessed heart attacks
and plane crashes. Many chapters in this book describe his
adventures in the wilderness in northern Minnesota, Canada and
Alaska. "Moose Attacks," "Things That Hurt" and
"Eating Eyeballs and Guts or Starving" are a few of the
chapter titles. At one moment, he’s so scared of a snorting,
raging moose all he can do is stand still and close his eyes. As he
hears the moose race past him, he opens his eyes and watches the
large animal stomp and rip a tree into little more than splinters.
Another moment, he’s so hungry anything looks good to eat — and
I mean anything!
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Reading
this book will give you a new appreciation and respect for the woods
and the writer. You will experience survival up close and personal,
probably as close as you care to be! If you know someone who craves
adventure, hand him or her this book. They won’t want to put it
down until the last slimy bite has been swallowed.
[Pat
Schlough, Lincoln Public Library]
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Hope
Yancy is a 16-year-old waitress who lives with her Aunt Addie, a
well-known diner cook. Hope was born too early and too small, and
her mother, Deena, didn’t want the responsibility, so she gave her
to her sister Addie. There is no father in the picture, much to Hope’s
distress, and Deena appears only once again in the story.
Hope
says that her mother left her with two things. One she kept was her
gift of waitressing. The other she threw away: her birth name,
Tulip.
Hope
and Addie live an interesting life working in diners across the
country. With each move, Hope leaves her mark, "HOPE WAS
HERE," in ballpoint ink somewhere on the premises.
As
the story opens, Hope and Addie have been working in the Blue Box
Diner in Brooklyn, N.Y. Addie was chief cook and part-owner of the
diner with her partner, a man named Gleason. One evening he decided
to clean out the cash register and the bank account and head for
parts unknown with the night waitress, Charlene. Addie tried to hang
on for a few months but had to close down before the bill collectors
took it. That is the reason Hope and Addie are headed for Mulhoney,
Wis., and the Welcome Stairways Diner.
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G.
T. Stoop, the Quaker owner of the diner, has leukemia and needs
Addie’s help to keep the diner running. Things get even more
complicated when G.T. decides to run for mayor of Mulhoney against a
corrupt incumbent, Eli Millstone. As the story progresses we are
introduced to a myriad of colorful characters, from the diner
employees to the residents of the town.
G.T.’s
campaign is beset with problems from the start. There is a lot of
crooked politics going on in Mulhoney, and Eli Millstone is right in
the middle of it. Hope and Braverman, a young man that cooks at the
diner, throw themselves into the campaign and each other’s lives.
The
political theme of the story has a very contemporary plot twist that
will entertain and interest anyone who followed our nation’s
presidential race. The mix of dealing with G.T’s illness,
small-town politics, and a budding romance for Hope and Addie, along
with strong messages about values and self-esteem, makes for a very
enjoyable and inspiring story.
Joan
Bauer has written several highly acclaimed novels for young adults,
including "Thwonk," "A Taste of Smoke," "On
My Honor," "Backwater" and "Rules of the
Road." This book is recommended for grade eight and up.
For
more information, visit the library at 725 Pekin St. or call (217)
732-8878.
[Linda
Harmon,
Lincoln Public Library District]
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