Smiles to Go

By Jerry Spinelli

He plans everything obsessively, from the perfect stargazing night with his crush, Mi-Su, to the regular Saturday-night games of Monopoly with his friends. He’s even planned his entire adulthood: Career as an astronomer; mint condition, black 1985 Jaguar XJS/12; two kids…
But everything changes the day Will learns one startling fact: protons-those tiny atomic particles, the building blocks to the building blocks of life-can die. The one thing that was so certain in this world to Will has an expiration date.
And Will’s carefully planned-out life?
Not so certain, either.

In his usual style, Jerry Spinelli delivers a believable story about teenager Will, who is just starting to realize that life isn't controllable. The catylst: a news story that a proton has died. Will begins to question the stability of everything in his life. If a proton can die, something that he thought was forever, then what is the point of everything? Asking questions we all ask at one point, this is the journey of one boy into getting a few questions answered...or at least he has started to answer them. It's a good book with a very personal story. It still wasn't one of my favorites from Mr. Spinelli, but it was good.

Maniac Magee

By Jerry Spinelli

Maniac Magee is a folk story about a boy, a very excitable boy. One that can outrun dogs, hit a home run off the best pitcher in the neighborhood, tie a knot no one can undo. "Kid's gotta be a maniac," is what the folks in Two Mills say. It's also the story of how this boy, Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, confronts racism in a small town, tries to find a home where there is none and attempts to soothe tensions between rival factions on the tough side of town.


This was one of those books my teachers read out loud to us in elementary school. But seen as how I’ve never had very good listening skills, I decided to read it again recently seen as how it is a Newberry medal winner. I was sorta surprised when I read it because I was expecting to like it more. I mean, it’s still good, but I guess I was expecting fantastic. It’s a great book that shows an outside character that comes into a racially segregated neighborhood and changes things upside down simply because he doesn’t get why it’s a big deal. I liked the simplicity of Maniac Magee. It makes it even more powerful when you understand the deeper meaning of the book. Great read, but not a book I’d read twice. You don’t need to.

Stargirl

By Jerry Spinelli

"She was homeschooling gone amok." "She was an alien." "Her parents were circus acrobats." These are only a few of the theories concocted to explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of nonconformity," is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator Leo Borlock: "She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl."


Stargirl is one of those rare novels that speaks to the individual in all of us. The person who notices strange things and revels in it, the person who acts without fear, the person who doesn’t let the ‘crowd’ tell you who you are. Stargirl was one of the best reads I’ve had in a long time. I really wish I’d read it in high school. It’s told from the point of view of Leo, a boy who sees the spectacular in a girl who isn’t afraid to be herself. Leo represents so many people who conform to society’s expectations only to let the truly special slip through his fingers. It’s a coming of age novel that will warm your heart and help you be a little braver about being yourself with no limits.