Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick

Claire enters 8th grade not having much fun. Ryder, the kid who's been tormenting her since 6th grade, is in all of her classes. The mean girls seem even worse this year. Dance has always been an escape for her, but now her friends have been moved up to a higher group leaving her with the kids.

Worst of all, Claire's dad has a stroke. One minute they are talking in the kitchen; the next he is slumping to the floor mumbling nonsense. Her world is turned upside down. She needs her funny dad who writes books for teens. He cannot speak, can barely walk and struggles to get food to his mouth. The annual Dad's Dance performance was one thing Claire always looked forward to. Now, she will not be able to dance with her father on stage like the other girls.

Claire's mom is always super positive (which is sometimes annoying in a crisis). Her older brother is practically perfect. Her father's prolonged illness tests them all.

We follow Claire through her whole 8th grade year. Her friendships are tested along with her patience and self-esteem. Middle school is tough enough without having an almost non-functioning parent. Once again, Jordan Sonnenblick has given his readers wonderful characters to cheer on.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick

How can you understand a time that you didn't live in? You can't. You can listen to the music from that time. You can read books about it. You can hear stories from people who lived it. But I don't think you can ever know what it was really like. Too bad you can't time travel...like Rich does in this book.

Rich doesn't ask to go back in time; it just happens. He strums a chord on an old guitar and ends up at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. I make it sound like it just happened, but it is more mystical and sad than that. The guitar has been hidden away in a room where Rich's dad keeps all the items related to his brother Michael who died two months after Woodstock. Every year on the anniversary of Michael's death, Rich's dad locks himself in the room and listens to old music.

A simple strum of the strings and Rich finds himself in 1969 running into his Uncle Michael, Michael's girlfriend Willow and Rich's dad (age 15) on their way to the festival. Being the time that it was, no one is too surprised to see a 15 year old appear out of nowhere wearing nothing but the silver-white hair on his head (the color changed during the time travel). Rich realizes that this is a golden opportunity to not just see some of the most famous rock performances ever (he has studied Woodstock extensively) but also get to know his uncle (who died long before he was born) and to hang out with his dad (who is a strict, melancholy adult).

It is with eyes wide open that Rich learns much about why his dad behaves the way he does (he is very strict) and what really happened to his uncle. Rich's dad has never talked about his brother or anything surrounding his death. In fact, he blames Woodstock for causing Michael's death. It all starts to make sense. Rich has purpose for being there. He is a messenger of sorts.

I really felt like I was being taken to Woodstock to experience it with Rich. We hear the music right along with him and get to see performances through his descriptions. And Jimi Hendrix plays an important part in the story, too.

I really identified with parts of this story. Rich had an uncle he never knew because he died before Rich was born. That is true for me, too. His uncle died two months after Woodstock. My uncle died the week of Woodstock (he was killed in Vietnam). It is a small thing, but I felt more connected to the story.

As with any Jordan Sonnenblick book, I recommend this one. It is a trip back to the late 1960s and gives examples of some of the best parts of the time and some of the worst.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

I really like Jordan Sonnenblick's books. This one was no exception. He writes about regular teens dealing with interesting problems. In this case, it is Peter who has more time on his hands now that he is no longer an athlete.

Going into his freshman year, Peter was planning on trying out for the baseball team with his best friend AJ. They switch back and forth as pitcher and catcher and together they were unstoppable. That is until Peter seriously injured his pitching arm during a game. He had been feeling the pain long before but ignored it and now he will never pitch a ball again (something he cannot bring himself to tell AJ).

Also, something is wrong with Peter's grandfather, but Peter promises not to tell his parents. Peter's grandfather, a professional photographer, has taught him all about cameras and taking pictures. One day when they are attempting to capture the image of an eagle in flight, Peter's grandfather blanks out and misses the eagle. Shortly there after, he gives Peter all his photography equipment. These blanking out episodes and memory loss are only getting worse.

The upside in Peter's life is Angelika who he meets in photography class. She volunteers them to be the sports photographers for the school paper, so they spend a lot of time together. They discover more about each other than the portraits they must take for a class assignment.

I'll admit that this is not my favorite book by this author, but I still like the story of a teen dealing with struggles with good people around him to help.

For more info about this book visit the Indianapolis Public Library catalog or visit Jordan Sonnenblick's website.