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Pop by Gordon Korman Review

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We’ve all heard of the stories of people who have Alzheimer’s, or maybe we even know someone who has it. We’ve also all heard the talk about how dangerous the NFL is becoming, how past players are now suffering from Alzheimer’s.

In Pop, Gordon Korman explores this theme of football players getting Alzheimer’s through the eyes of a boy named Marcus, a kid who just moved into a new town. Before long he meets a man named Charlie (aka the “King of Pop”), an ex-NFL linebacker who has Alzheimer’s.

Charlie gets worse and worse since Marcus knows him, and before long he loses all reality whatsoever. He imagines things as though they were decades ago, and has no knowledge of the present world. His condition is very sad, and this book does not have a happy ending.

Summary

When Marcus moves into a new town with his divorced mother, things don’t go quite as well as he had hoped. Although Marcus was the starting quarterback at his last high school, the school in his new town has already won the state championship two years in a row and has no need for a new player.

Marcus ends up practicing on his own, and it is not long before he runs into an unknown middle-aged man. He hits extremely hard, and at first Marcus doesn’t like it, but as time goes on he learns to enjoy the contact, the “pop.”

Things are strange about this man, however. Whenever Marcus tries to schedule a meeting with him, he waits for hours and the man doesn’t show up. And other times the man accuses him of being late even though it wasn’t the agreed upon time.

Meanwhile, Marcus is having a competition with Troy, the starting quarterback of the football team. He even has a brief romance with Alyssa, who is usually Troy’s boyfriend.

After some digging, Marcus learns that the friend he’s been playing with is Charlie Popovich, a former NFL linebacker who is the celebrity of the town! Marcus also discovers that Charlie is Troy’s dad.

Other strange things start happening. Charlie begins to call Marcus “Mac,” apparently an old friend of his, and acts as though he’s still a kid. Marcus knows that something isn’t right, and he discovers that Charlie has Alzheimer’s, something his family is trying very hard to keep a secret.

Of course, there can’t be a Korman book without an exciting story. There is a college hall of fame induction for Charlie, but he doesn’t even know what’s going on. His family doesn’t want him to go, but Marcus has a feeling that he’ll have a great memory of the times that happened decades ago.

Will Charlie get to experience the joy of his old college days again? Will his old friend Mac come out again? Most importantly, will Charlie survive?

Review

Korman normally says he writes books that kids would want to read, period. This book is clearly written as education about the rough condition of Alzheimer’s. It is very sad, but also very true, and it makes you feel great compassion for Charlie.

I have a family member who currently has Alzheimer’s and it’s very hard for all of us. I do feel I understand it better having read this book, but this is not at all meant to a factual presentation of the disease; for that you’ll have to look elsewhere. This story merely follows its impact on one man.

I almost want to cry thinking about the book now. Yet there are happy times in it, as well, and even the hardest moments are mixed with happiness. This is not a depressing book, but more of a reflective one. Still, I’d talk to your child about Alzheimer’s and how they feel about it if you’re planning to have them read the book.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it’s a very powerful book. Probably Korman’s most powerful in several years.

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The Million Dollar Shot by Dan Gutman Review

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Dan Gutman writes books that kids want to read. That’s why he did his “million dollar” series, where he puts kids into situations in which they have the opportunity to win a million dollars. Gutman says he believes that’s the kind of stuff kids dream about, and the success of his books prove that he’s right.

What makes the books so good is that he creates believable characters that you can really identify with. The Million Dollar Shot is no different, in which young Eddie Ball unexpectedly has the opportunity has the opportunity to shoot one basket worth a million dollars.

Summary

Eddie’s family is poor, and his mom works for a company called Finkle Foods, a snack company that employees most of the people in the area (Eddie’s dad passed away sometime in the past). Eddie loves playing basketball and befriends a girl named Anne who is able to beat him in horse.

Unfortunately, Eddie and Anne come home from school one day to find out that both of their parents have been fired. Finkle Foods isn’t doing as well as it used to, and so they’re having to make a few cuts. They already lived in trailers, but now they’re going to be a dire financial situation.

Earlier in the story, however, Eddie had run across a poetry competition that will give the winner the opportunity to win a million dollars by sinking a shot during halftime of the NBA Finals. Originally Eddie couldn’t enter because his mom worked for Finkle Foods, but now that his mom was fired he can enter the contest.

Unfortunately, however, all Eddie can come up with is a silly rap song. Anne laughs when he reads it and she writes her own poem for Eddie to send in. Eddie doesn’t think much of it (it’s a little old-fashioned), but it ends up winning him the contest!

After that, Anne’s dad starts coaching Eddie. He was a great college player and almost made it to the NBA, but he slacked off and instead ended up having to live in a trailer. He tells Eddie the secret to shooting a free throw and has him shoot 1000 free throws a day.

Eddie is shooting over 90%, so things look good for him to win the prize. Finkle, however, really doesn’t want Eddie to win. Now that his company is doing poorly he can’t afford to pay out a million dollars. He starts paying people to say nasty things to him and try and throw off Eddie’s shot. It works, and Eddie has to work hard to not let it get to him.

I think we all know the ending already, but I won’t spoil it anyway. Eddie’s mom and Anne’s dad also start dating, much to Eddie’s chagrin, but he learns to handle it.

Review

This is a very good book. Sure, there isn’t that much suspense as to what’s going to happen, but Dan Gutman doesn’t really write his books to be suspenseful. Eddie is a down-to-earth, identifiable character and you really feel for him and his family.

The stuff about basketball was interesting, too. I love basketball, and it was fun to read about Eddie’s preparation to become a free-throwing champ.

It’s not good for older kids, though; probably it would be best for age eleven and under. It’s only 128 pages, and those go fast, even for kids who don’t normally like reading.

There are criticisms I could give for the book, but there aren’t really things missing; there are things Gutman intentionally didn’t put in. This is a book about a poor kid who lost his dad taking his opportunity to make it to the top and his journey to get there. The character tensions and development make The Million Dollar Shot well worth the read.

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The 39 Clues Book 6: In Too Deep by Jude Watson Review

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With the sixth book of The 39 Clues series, In Too Deep by Jude Watson, the series was moving into its second half. We were moving into more secrets, getting closer to discovering secrets such as the identity of Amy and Dan’s branch and what really happened the night Amy and Dan’s parents died.

Note: Little did we know, of course, that there would be a second and now a third arc.

In The 39 Clues, young Amy and Dan Cahill learn that their family contains a secret powerful enough to make the owner of it the most influential human in history. The secret is scattered across the world in the form of 39 clues, or chemical elements.

Of course, Amy and Dan aren’t the only ones looking for the clues. Their relatives will do anything to get the clues first. In fact, we meet the worst one for the first time in this book.

Although Jude Watson’s earlier addition to the series was mostly mediocre, this book is much better, mainly because of its well-crafted character development.

If you haven’t read The 39 Clues series yet, then I’d advise starting with the most recent book and then working your way backwards from the first book. You probably you won’t read all of them, but you’ll thoroughly enjoy the ones that you do.

If you’re familiar with the series, though, then read on.

Summary

At the end of the last book, Amy and Dan decide to head to Australia to meet with their dad’s cousin Shep. Their parents were very involved in the clue hunt, and Amy and Dan want to figure out what they discovered.

The trouble starts immediately, however, when someone steals Amy’s necklace. Grace, Amy’s late grandmother, gave her the necklace, and it is very important to her. She runs after the thief, only to fall into a trap set by Isabel Kabra.

Ian and Natalie, Isabel’s kids, were bad enough. They had tried to kill Amy and Dan more than once. But their mother? She is the leader of the Lucian branch, and probably the most evil person in the entire series.

Isabel tells Amy, however, that she can help Amy learn who killed her parents. She also tries to manipulate Amy by telling her how Ian has a crush on her. Amy knows that Isabel is trying to trick her, but the chance to learn about her parents is just so tempting.

In the meantime, they learn about Bob Troppo, an Ekat who was close to discovering all of the clues. Amy and Dan spend their time in Australia trying to track him down.

Amy is in a terrible emotional state throughout the book, having flashbacks about the night her parents died. Ian calls and informs Amy that her parents were murdered. Then Irina, an ex-KGB agent who is supposed to be working for Isabel, tells Amy that she shouldn’t trust Isabel because she is the one who murdered her parents. Isabel, however, says the same thing about Irina! Amy is totally confused. She tries to keep it away from Dan, however, because she doesn’t want to him to have to feel the pain, too.

Unfortunately, Amy allows Isabel to lure her into a boat and then threatens to murder her if she doesn’t share which clues she’s found. Amy is in a tough spot, but Hamilton Holt comes and saves her. Even though the Holts called off their alliance at the end of the last book, he obviously still feels like he owes her.

While following Bob Troppo’s footsteps, Amy and Dan are lead through the desert and discover a clue that their mom left. That leads them to a mine, but Isabel drops poisonous spiders and a venomous snake down the mineshaft. It is yet another very close call, although Amy and Dan are once again able to escape.

We are able to identify a lot more with Irina this book. In past books we thought she was just a ruthless killer, but here we learn that she has some heart. In fact, she makes a serious sacrifice to help the Cahill kids, to avenge for her own child dying at Isabel’s instructions.

We also grow more suspicious of Nellie, Amy and Dan’s au pair. Before they had just kind of trusted her, but now they suspect that she might be up to something. After all, what kind of au pair knows tons of languages, can fly planes, and can do all kinds of other crazy stuff?

Who will die at the hands of Isabel? Will Amy and Dan go, or will someone else pay the ultimate price for them? Will they find the clue?

Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The parts about the clue hunt weren’t super great or clear, and I don’t think I remember any historical information from the book at all (I’m not even sure if there was any). Either way, Jude Watson does a masterful job of dealing with the characters in this book.

As mentioned above, we get to see Amy grow more mature and deal with her trauma of the past. We see a softer side of Irina, Amy and Dan worrying about the only person they thought they could trust, and the first death of the clue hunt. While most of the books are mainly focused on action, this book is about understanding the characters better, something that is very important to the series.

Would I recommend it? Definitely. Writing this review, I almost feel like I want to read this book again. Just some of the emotions of the characters in it were fascinating. Clue hunters will love it.

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The 39 Clues Book 5: The Black Circle by Patrick Carman Review

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As usual, I was really excited to read the fifth book in The 39 Clues series, The Black Circle by Patrick Carman. After a wayward third book, the fourth book had been relatively strong and the fifth book was looking to be exciting by all indications. There were some promos and sneak peaks for it during the summer that were pretty well done, and I’m happy to say the book didn’t disappoint.

The 39 Clues, for those who don’t know, is a multi-author series about two kids named Dan and Amy Cahill. Amy and Dan learn that they are members of the most powerful family in human history when their grandmother, Grace, dies. The source of their families power is in thirty-nine chemical elements, and whoever assembles them all will become the most powerful person ever.

Of course, Amy and Dan are not the only people looking after the clues. Their conniving relatives are also after them, and will do anything to find them. Even kill.

The 39 Clues also tends to be good for learning history because Amy and Dan travel the world to all kinds of exciting places. Paris, Venice, Cairo, and, in this book, Russia.

If you haven’t read the series yet, I’d start with the most recent series and then work your way back from the first book. For those of you who have…

Summary

Amy and Dan are still in their hotel room in Egypt when they get a telegram from a person who calls himself (or herself) NRR. NRR gives them an airport locker number. The telegram also contains a poem about how Dan buried his bottle cap collection in Grace’s yard, making Amy and Dan think NRR must have known Grace.

Their au pair Nellie is asleep, so they head out without her and leave a message. In this book much more than any of the others, Amy and Dan act independently without Nellie’s help.

Of course, things won’t go so easy for Amy and Dan that they can just get to the airport easily. Ian and Natalie Kabra, their rich cousins, are already on their tail. Amy and Dan manage to outsmart them, however, and find a key hidden in a glass paperweight and a piece of paper with jumbled letters on it. They also get disguises, passports, a credit card (which Dan is most excited about), and a Russian guide book with plane tickets. Most important to Amy and Dan: A picture of their late parents in Russia.

Even though Nellie is still in the hotel room, time is of the essence and they head out. Dan decodes the piece of paper to be various cities in Russia. Amy and Dan learn that the clue may have something to do with Anastasia Romanov and her medicine man, Rasputin.

They scale all the to the top of The Motherland Calls Statue to find a clue, but meet up with the Holt family. Dan decides to team up with Hamilton because he knows that there’s no way they can to all the cities on the list in time. It is a very exciting book and they do all kinds of awesome things, too many to list here.

They are also tracked down by Irina Spasky, an ex-KGB agent. Irina tries to convince them not to look for the clue, but the pictures of their parents and the connection to Grace make Amy and Dan forge on.

Will Amy and Dan make it in time to see NRR? More importantly; will NRR actually help them, or simply kill them?

Review

This is an awesome book, one of the best in the series. It is very clearly written and I still remember a lot of the historical information in the book. It is very fast-paced and full of adventure. Carman did a great job.

Even though it’s not quite written in the same style as the earlier books, I think this one is just as good. The characters also develop well, as we see Amy and Dan going off on their own. We also meet NRR and get closer to the Holt family, seeing a better side of them. In addition, we see that Irina cares about Amy and Dan because she doesn’t kill them when she has the chance.

If I was going to rate The 39 Clues books, this would be a strong contender for the best one; I can’t even think of anything bad to say about it. It’s too bad that this is the only book Carman wrote in the series.

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This Can’t be Happening at MacDonald Hall by Gordon Korman Review

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When twelve year-old Gordon Korman didn’t have an English teacher to teach his seventh grade English class, the school had no choice but to have a gym teacher put the reading and writing hat on. As Korman said, “When it came to writing he just sort of blanked, so he said, ‘Just work on whatever you want for the rest of the year.’ And I wrote my first book.”

It is such a crazy and inspiring. Twelve year-old Korman going crazy on a homework assignment and writing his first book, This Can’t be Happening at MacDonald Hall. Now remember, this wasn’t modern day where children authors are fairly common and most of them are self-published. The G-Man sent in his manuscript to the address on the Scholastic book order form, and the day after his thirteenth birthday he signed a contract for his first book.

But here, I’ll let Korman tell you himself (the first part of the movie is about his journey as a kids author. The second part is about his recent book Swindle):

Isn’t that so amazing? The thing is that it’s not like this book is a slacker, either. It’s actually quite good, already showing the humorous style of Korman that everyone loves.

Summary

At the beginning of the story we are introduced to the main characters, Bruno and Boots, two roommates at the boarding school MacDonald Hall who are “partners in crime,” playing all kinds of funny pranks. We see some of their hilarious escapades, including going over to the girls school and hanging out with Diane and Cathy.

Unfortunately, however, the headmaster of their school, Mr. Sturgeon (also known as “The Fish“) decides that their trouble making has come to point of being detrimental to both them and the rest of the school. He switches their rooms, making Bruno the roommate of Elmer Drysdale, the eccentric school genius, and Boots the roommate of George Wexford-Smyth III, a weird guy who is obsessed with money and the stock market.

Bruno and Boots attempt to get themselves back together into the same room, but all of their plans backfire. In the end, a series of improbable events take place that make Bruno and Boots heroes. They are congratulated by an important government official, but will their headmaster congratulate them by giving them what they really want; having each other as roommates again?

Review

It’s hard to believe that Korman really wrote this book at twelve. Many of the jokes in this book are quite funny, hilarious even. It’s written in a very different style than his current books, which are mainly based on action. Korman’s earlier books (and all the MacDonald Hall) books are based on humor.

The characters in this book are very familiar and it’s easy to connect with them. I still remember and feel for all the lovable characters in this series. It’s like a happy world that is no less real than this one.

The only way that you can tell Korman was twelve when he wrote this book is the fact that it’s only 144 pages. In those 144 pages, however, is a story of very great depth and enjoyment.

This book also opens the way for a great series. The books only get better and better and climax with The Zucchini Warriors and Beware the Fish, the latter of which is the funniest book I have ever read.

These books are super easy to read. The great thing about Korman’s writing is that he doesn’t write his books to prove a point, not for book committees or reviewers. He writes books to be enjoyed, period. Reading MacDonald Hall you feel a great happiness and joy for life.

As much as Korman’s current books are great, I know old fans of Korman’s classic stories who think that his new books pale in comparison. While they are both good in different ways, I have to agree that there is no better way to guarantee yourself you’ll be laughing up a storm than reading MacDonald Hall.

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Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham Review

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Everyone’s heard of John Grisham, haven’t they? After all, Grisham has written dozens of great legal thrillers that are interesting and will keep you on your toes the entire time. So when Grisham decided to foray into the kids book world, a lot of people were super excited. Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer is the first in a series of books Grisham is writing for kids.

Theodore Boone was the first book I read by Grisham a few years ago. My mom was a big Grisham fan and thought I’d enjoy him on a little less intense scale. Now I’ve also read many many of Grisham’s adult books. Are they comparable? No, Grisham’s adult books are far better than his kids books so far. That doesn’t mean, however, that Theodore Boone is a slacker.

Summary

At the beginning of Theodore Boone we meet the main character, unsurprisingly named Theodore (or Theo) Boone. Both of his parents are lawyers, and at 12 he is also interested in becoming one. Or maybe a judge. He’s not quite sure yet.

A lot of the book is telling us about the legal system and how it works. It’s kind of dry, and also not that interesting. Most kids reading the book will probably already know it. It is interesting, however, to see Theo going to different court cases and even defending a hot girl in Animal Court.

It’s interspersed, however, with an exciting trial: Did Pete Duffy murder his wife? Boone’s small town doesn’t have exciting trials like that very often, and Theo is of course absolutely stoked.

Although the plaintiffs are mounting what looks to be a good case against Duffy, they don’t have any real evidence, and everyone knows that Duffy is going to walk. At least that’s what Theo’s Uncle Ike tells him, a former lawyer who was kicked out of the profession.

Theo loves watching the trial, but he never thought he would have any actual involvement. Until he meets Bobby, a young immigrant who witnessed Duffy on the day of the murder. With Bobby’s testimony, Duffy may be locked up behind bars.

The problem is that Bobby isn’t just an immigrant; he’s an illegal immigrant. Bobby is afraid to step forward because the authorities will catch him if he does. Theo tries to convince him that they will grant him citizenship in return for his information, but Bobby just doesn’t know.

Grisham, being smart, doesn’t let us know what happens to Duffy yet. Instead, he makes us read the next book. He leaves us wondering what other adventures will Theo have? And, more importantly, will a murderer be let free?

Review

I mainly enjoyed Theodore Boone while I was reading it for the parts about Theo going to different trials and seeing the outcome. I used to watch judge shows for hours, so that kind of thing is interesting to me.

Really, though, I don’t think this is a particularly good book. Although Grisham presents his characters clearly, we get very little identification with them or learn to care for them. That would be fine if this book was as much a thriller as his others. But it isn’t.

Very little action actually takes place in this book. Sure, the murder trial is entertaining, but Grisham gives us very little reason to care about it and also mostly ignores it in the next books. I would be fine with the way it developed in this book if it was solved in the next, but instead book 4 is already out and we are no closer to Duffy either walking free or being put behind bars.

Some intellectual kids like me might enjoy the book, but the fact is that there are far better kids books than this. For a twelve year-old, this book may alienate Grisham. Better to wait a couple of years and have them read the thrillers. That’s where Grisham got his name, not from twelve year-old Theodore Boone.

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