This month's book reviews

A boy, ashamed of his father's job, finds out that he has much to learn about his father

The kids in the middle grades in Huntington, the fourth through eighth graders, had been stuck in the old high school for a year. The high school students had moved into their new building, but the refurbished middle school building and new junior high would not be ready for ten months. For Jack Rankin, this meant he not only was stuck in a worn out old building for a year, but he was in the same building in which his dad was the chief janitor.

The bullies in Jack's building wouldn't let Jack forget that his dad was only a janitor, especially after his dad had to come into the classroom to clean up after a kid had barfed on the floor. Jack was humiliated and decided to take out his anger on his father. He vandalized a desk in the old music room by smearing it with an incredible amount of watermelon flavored bubble gum. Jack thought his dad would have to clean it up. Instead, he was caught by the vice-principal and punished by being assigned to clean the old chewing gum off every desk and table in the huge old high school building. And who would Jack have to report to, in order to do this job? No one but his father, the chief janitor!

Jack couldn't believe it when his father didn't yell at him at all. Instead, his dad just showed him how to get the gum off and let him go about working off his punishment without making a big deal about it. But the surprises were just beginning for Jack. He was to discover how complex his father's job was and how appreciated his dad was by those people in town who counted for anything. It took a series of adventures and one particularly scary experience for Jack to find out that his dad was truly a man to be admired and respected.

"The Janitor's Boy" tells a great story that is likely to be enjoyed and remembered by those who read it.

 

One of the grossest books you can find

Sarah Mcaffee is fifteen and her brother, Michael, is ten. They live in New Springville, a small town on Staten Island, New York, right at the edge of a huge trash and garbage dump. The kids' mother recently had been killed in an automobile accident. Their father just happened to be one of the supervisors of the dump. He was happy that the huge landfill was being covered with asphalt and that the surrounding area eventually could be turned into green parks and playgrounds. All the people in the neighborhoods around the dump were looking forward to being free from the sounds of the trash trucks and the awful smells from the garbage.

The kids began to notice strange high-pitched sounds coming from the dump after it had been covered over with asphalt. Michael's pet white rat, Surfer, seemed to be excited by the sounds. As you might have guessed from reading a book called "Rats", the strange noise was coming from thousands of angry rats, upset that their home had been covered over with blacktop.

The author of this book, Paul Zindel, seems to take great pleasure in describing one scene after another where people come in contact with the angry and hungry rats. He seems to like giving all the gory details. Late in the book, Sarah and Michael find themselves surrounded by rats. You have to read it to find out what happens to them. Of course, I don't recommend reading the book unless you have the stomach for "gross out" books and movies. I don't think you'll want to be eating snacks while you are reading this one.

 

A girl who loves dolphins gets to go
to sea just to study dolphins

Jody McGrath just happens to have two parents who are both marine biologists. So it's no surprise that Jody loves dolphins. She thinks her greatest wish has come true when she finds out that her family is going on an ocean trip - just to study dolphin behavior. They're not going on a big ship. Their research vessel is a fairly small sailing ship with engines that are mainly for emergency use.

The only problem for Jody is that the ship captain's daughter is brought aboard at the last minute to go on the trip. She is spoiled and self-centered and thinks that studying dolphins is a dumb idea. She is also so hateful that when she accidentally pushes Jody overboard, she neglects to alert those on board. Jody, luckily, is a good swimmer. Bet even more surprisingly, a dolphin that she has made friends with gives her some help.

In the plot, Jody not only studies how to make friends with dolphins, but she has to try to change the mind and actions of an angry and resentful companion on board the small ship. Whether she can manage to accomplish both goals is what makes the story interesting. Throw in a big storm at sea, and you come up with a good adventure story.

 

How to sugar-coat a horror story
with a lot of laughs

The sixth grade students at Palmdale Middle School had to make book reports. Devin Bundy and Francine "Frankie" Lang are supposed to report on "Dracula," the famous horror story about vampires. Since they are both "goof offs," they didn't read the book. They meant to watch the movie when it was on late at night. They fell asleep during the movie, but decided to fake the book report the next day anyway. Naturally, the teacher and, even, their classmates knew they were faking it. As punishment, they were assigned to mend books in the school library.

The first old book they are given to mend just happens to be a beat-up copy of "Dracula."

The book accidentally fell between some old gates in the wall of the room they were working in. When they went to get the book back, they found themselves in a strange world. After a while, they realized they were in Transylvania in the days of Count Dracula. Not only that, they were actually living out the story as told in the book.

The kids find out they can't skip ahead in the story. The characters do not believe what the kids say about Dracula or other things about to happen in the plot. Devin and Frankie are forced to live out each part of the novel. They come close to being destroyed by the vampire in one narrow escape after another. How can they defeat Dracula and save all of England from vampires? You have to read the book to find out.

The book isn't very scary because the kids joke their way all through the story. It's a good way to find out about the famous horror story without risking having any nightmares.