Dark Sons (YA)

Dark Sons. Nikki Grimes. 2005. Hyperion. 218 pages.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Nikki Grimes' A Girl Named Mister, a verse novel about how a Christian teen handles her pregnancy by taking comfort from Mary's story.

Dark Sons, like A Girl Named Mister, is a verse novel. It stars a young man, Sam, who is struggling to accept his new reality. His father has left his mom. His dad has fallen in love with a white woman--a young woman--and he is starting a new life, a new family.

Dark Sons is about his struggling to make peace between his past and present. How the father he loved and respected and admired goes missing. How he feels about his father marrying again. How he feels about having a half-brother, David. Where does Sam belong? Has this divorce displaced him forever? Or will he find a place to belong in this new home?

Sam may be confused, but he never falters in his faith. He holds onto his belief in God. He sees God as his Father. The one Father who will never fail him. He identifies with Ishmael's story.

Dark Sons is a verse novel. The book alternates between a modern story (Sam) and an ancient story (Ishmael).

Child of Promise

Long awaited.
Twice promised.
Heir of Canaan.
Born of Sarah.
Son of miracles.
The one intended.
The son
who is
not me. (75)

Newly available in paperback from Zondervan. I really liked this one. I liked both narrators. I liked seeing the bible story through fresh eyes. I liked the poetry.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Christmas List

Evans, Richard Paul. 2009. The Christmas List. Simon & Schuster. 368 pages.

James Kier looked back and forth between the newspaper headline and the photograph of himself, not sure if he should laugh or call his attorney. It was the same photograph the Tribune had used a couple of years earlier when they featured him on the front page of the business section....While the photograph was the same, the headline could not have been more different. Not many people get to read their own obituary.

James Kier comes close to beating old Ebenezer Scrooge when it comes to crankiness. Well, not crankiness exactly. But for his cynical, cold-hearted, what's-in-it-for-me approach to life. His business practices don't just border on unethical and immoral, they're just downright mean and heartless. He doesn't care who he hurts in his life--it could be his childhood best friend, his elderly neighbor, or his own wife and son. The truth is if ever a man was in need of a wake-up call, it was James Kier. And you can count on Richard Paul Evans to deliver that and more in The Christmas List.

How do you want to be remembered? What do you want your legacy to be? Kier always thought he didn't care. That it just didn't matter how people felt about him. People's feelings just didn't rank very high with him. He didn't care how many enemies he made. Not if it made him richer, more successful. But when Kier reads his own obituary--well, more precisely reads the comments his online obituary brings, he realizes just how much he does care. It stings, really stings, to see how very many people are rejoicing in his death, how many are happy to talk bad about him. What he realizes--in those moments--is that truth is being spoken. The person they're describing, that is him. That is how he lived, that is how he treated people.

So what can he do about it? Can he change who he is? Can he change his legacy before it's too late? With an oh-so-helpful secretary, Kier has a plan for "fixing" his image, his legacy. But can it be done all by Christmas day?

I really enjoyed this one. It had an interesting premise. I didn't know at first how well it would work for me. But I must admit that even though this one is definitely message-driven and a bit melodramatic, well, it worked all the same. Expect it to be oh-so-bittersweet.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

I, Lorelei (MG)

Smith, Yeardley. 2009. I, Lorelei. HarperCollins. 339 pages.

Dear Mud,
I've decided to start keeping a diary, so that when I become a famous writer/actress/chef I'll remember everything that happened to me. Plus, when I'm dead, and someone wants to write my biography, they won't have to make stuff up about me.

Lorelei would probably tell you that life isn't all that easy when you're eleven. She's got two brothers: one older, Teddy, one younger, Ryan. And her home life is stressed. Her parents are prone to arguing. That is when her father is home and not at work. But all that changes--and for the worse--when her father quits his job unexpectedly. He's going through a mid-life crisis, and it puts his marriage into major crisis, let me tell you. She even catches her dad making out with another woman. Poor Lorelei! Fortunately or unfortunately, she's got the school play to distract her. True, her mom--a former Wendy--is determined that her daughter should get the role of Wendy in the school's production of Peter Pan. But for the most part, the play is a positive experience, a chance for her to grow.

I, Lorelei is written in journal format. Letters to her newly departed cat, Mud. The book depicts the drama--both heavy and light--of being eleven. Family drama. School drama. And friend drama. It's not always easy to have a perfect relationship with her best friend. Fights happen. Especially when they both like the same cute boy.

I liked but didn't love this one. What I did like--for the most part--was the characterization. There were a few minor characters that were more fleshed out that I was expecting. (It's rare to see a family so fleshed out, for example, to have a mom and dad and two brothers actually be real characters. Not to mention some of Lorelei's classmates.) I would have liked to see even more simply because I found them interesting. And the story was enjoyable as well. The drama of the play--everything from auditions, dress rehearsals, and opening night--along with the family drama of a marriage unraveling and a forthcoming divorce make for a nice balance. It's never so heavy that it's unbearable, yet it's never so light that it's shallow and frivolous either. So I have mostly positive things to say, however, there were a few times when I felt the dialogue and narrative was a bit weak.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews