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ACS Book Reviews of the Week - from Lucy M in Grade 10

Title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Author: Mitch Alborn
Genre: Allegory
Interest Level: Grades 9 and up
5 stars

This Spring Break I was amazed and pleasantly surprised that in such simplicity there could be so much meaning. The story’s starting point is the main character’s freak accident death. Eddie believed that he was living a nothing life that was going nowhere. In “Heaven” he meets five people who have somehow altered his life, or had their lives altered by him. In Heaven the five people show him the true value and meaning of his life. In the story Albom shows us that we live in a vast web that interconnects all of us. In Heaven Eddie learns that our seemingly insignificant acts of kindness and sacrifice do affect others. The story shows that each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. In writing this story Albom takes a huge risk in his public thinking that he is being too preachy. The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a simple, pure book that would find its place anywhere in a person’s heart.

Title: Tom Loves Anna Loves Tom
Author: Bruce Clements
Genre: Romance
Interest Level: Grades 8 and up
4 stars

Tom falls in love with Anna from the very first time he lays eyes on her. Tom seems to have the strongest relationship with Anna, describing her in such precision that it makes her spring to life right off the page. He knows her for a short time, but the deaths of both young and old, conflicting feelings to different people, and the aftermaths of acquaintance rape bring the pair closer together. The story depicts true teenage love, pure and sincere and at times impulsive. Some would rather call it infatuation, but in all sincerity it truly is love at first sight. That's why I liked the book, because it showed that some people still believe in love and all the emotions that go with it. While reading you usually get lost, in a good way, in Tom’s ramblings and passionate monologues that are usually about Anna. What the story lacks in action is immediately forgiven when looking for a quiet, and intimate reading experience.

From the Librarians

Richard Peck mixes jokes and heartwarming stories and small-town Americana as well as any author I’ve ever read. This adventure, set within the earliest days of auto racing in Indiana, is one more example. I’m not sure librarians deserve all the reflected praise we may gain from a character like Irene Ridpath, but she’s someone to aspire to. The strongest character by far is 14-year-old Peewee. Rough and outspoken, better with a gearbox than almost any boy, she makes a rapid transition into strong-willed junior feminist. She needs all the strength she can find to stand up to the evil Kirby family. In other hands, the Kirbys might suffer more fearsome, or at least slapstick, justice. Maybe folks like the Kirbys don’t deserve the effort it would take to wish them ill – I’d like to think that’s part of Peck’s message too.

You Can Get Your Reviews Published Too

Elementary Librarian: Dianne Salminen
Secondary Librarian: Steve Crandell

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