This month's book reviews

A book about the Vietnam War and a boy's dog
that becomes a war hero

Wolfie was Mark Cantrell's dog. Wolfie was part malamute and part German shepherd, so he was a big dog. Mark's dad was a high school band director and his favorite composer was Mozart - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That's where the name "Wolfie" came from; it was short for Wolfgang. Within a short time, Mark and Wolfie are inseparable. Although he's not supposed to, Wolfie even sleeps in Mark's bed.

Mark is in middle school. The year is 1969. The Vietnam War has begun. Mark's brother, Dannie, has just gone into the army, and is trained to fight in the War. Mark hears about how dogs are needed to help the soldiers, and he decides to "volunteer" Wolfie for duty in Vietnam.

Right away, after volunteering Wolfie for the army, Mark starts to have regrets. He thinks that the army might not value Wolfie's laid-back personality and playful disposition. He also is concerned that, unlike in World War II, dogs in this war might not be returned to their original owners. The army is not clear either about how long it will keep the dog at the front. However, after Wolfie is assigned a trainer who goes to Vietnam with him, letters start coming regularly telling Mark how Wolfie is doing. In fact, the trainer begins signing Wolfie's names to the letters. So Mark is kept in touch with how useful his dog is to the troops in this jungle warfare.

While all this is going on with the dog, Danny, Mark's brother, is also fighting in Vietnam. His letters that he sends home are bitter and increasingly critical of the War and the way it is going. Within a few months, Danny is wounded, loses a leg, and is returned to recover in the States. On being shipped back, Danny connects with other veterans, most of whom are starting to come out publicly against the War. With all of this going on, Mark wishes more and more he had kept his beloved pet at home. But what can a kid do to influence the army and the U. S. government to change their ways of doing things?

This book will help young readers understand how people reacted in different ways to the Vietnam War, just as they are reacting differently to the war in Iraq being waged today. It is not just a good story about a boy and his dog.

Is the new girl in school really as friendly and helpful
as she tries to appear?

Lauren is usually isolated while at lunch in her new middle school. She eats her brown bag lunch all by herself. Her best friend from grade school, Krista Rice, sits at the table with the cool and popular girls. Krista is now snotty and backstabbing as well as boy crazy. Surrounded by girls just like her, she no longer has anything to do with Lauren. The cool kids all buy their lunches. Other kids call the table the DYWYWM table - Don't-You-Wish-You-Were-Me table.

This particular day, Tara, a chubby girl with black-painted fingernails is sitting with Lauren. Tara is sharp-tongued and quick with nasty comebacks if anyone tries to put her down. Lauren wishes sometimes she could defend herself like Tara does. Tara points out that a new girl is in the cafeteria. She is tall and pretty and has long blonde hair. Even though she sits down by herself, it seems pretty clear the new girl will be at the popular girls' table within a short time.

It turns out that the new girl's name is Celeste and she has what some call "a lively personality and a winning smile." Within a short time, Celeste is sitting at the "A-list" table. However, she is different from the others in that clique. She is nice to all the other kids and chats and laughs with girls that Krista Rice wouldn't be caught dead talking to. When one of the "A-list" girls says something mean to Lauren, Celeste comes over right after and is nice to Lauren. She asks Lauren if she will help her with problems she is having in math class. Celeste ends up going home with Lauren on the bus.

Once they get home, Lauren fixes food for Celeste who eats just about everything in sight. To Lauren's surprise, Celeste, without even asking, starts going through the closet in Lauren's room, pulling out clothes. She holds up one piece in front of her and looks in a mirror. It is a low-cut black top with a gold star on it that Lauren would never have nerve to wear to school. It is clear Celeste would like to borrow it to wear. So Lauren offers it to her. Celeste puts on one of the CD's she picks up and music starts to blare. Celeste then offers to put makeup on Lauren. Wow! She just takes over. And Lauren is flattered.

When it's time to go home, Lauren has to "loan" money to Celeste to take a cab home. And so it goes. Celeste appears to become friends with Lauren, but, for some reason, everything seems to have a price. Borrowed things are never returned. But Lauren is so thrilled to be receiving attention from an "A-list" girl that she doesn't listen to her own suspicions. She ignores Tara when Tara starts to question Celeste's behavior.

Now, as a reader you understand why the books title is "CON-fidence." Celeste is "conning" Lauren and others in the school without their being aware of it. You need to read the book to find out how bad it really gets.

 

A kid eats so much chocolate
that he comes down with chocolate fever

Henry Green lived in the center of the city with his family. He had an older brother who was ten and a very, very old sister, who was fourteen. A usual morning's breakfast for Henry was chocolate cake, a bowl of cocoa-crispy cereal covered with chocolate milk, a big glass of chocolate milk, and five or six chocolate cookies. On Sundays, he had chocolate ice cream for breakfast also. With all of this chocolate, Henry was still skinny and never had a cavity in his teeth. Since it never seemed to harm him, Henry's parents let him eat all the chocolate he wanted.

One morning, though, on the way to school, Henry felt really strange. In school, little brown freckles started popping out on his arms and hands. He finally was taken to the school nurse, Nurse Molly Farthing. As soon as Henry entered her office, the nurse mentioned she smelled chocolate. Henry spots were growing into bumps that were popping and leaking chocolate!

Nurse Farthing took Henry to the hospital, where he was finally examined by Dr. Fargo, chief of children's medicine. The doctor was excited that he had discovered a new disease - chocolate fever! It was at that point that Henry became really scared. He ran away as quickly as he could. In fact, he ran so fast and so far, he finally realized he was lost. To add to his troubles, he gets kidnapped by a couple of crooks.

You need to read this funny little book to find out what finally happens to Henry. Does he ever get cured of chocolate fever?

A girl genius tries hard to hide her abilities
so she can be just an ordinary kid

Can you imagine a fifth grade girl who deliberately tries to get "D's" on her report card? Nora Rose Rowley is just such a kid. She knew from the time when she was just learning to walk that she had unusual abilities. Her older sister, Ann, was working a jigsaw puzzle on the floor. Ann tried to chase Nora way, telling her that it was not a "baby" puzzle. Nora surprised Ann by showing that she could just look at the pieces and immediately see just how to put them together. After that she learned from the way her sister and parents reacted to her unusual skill to keep her genius-level abilities hidden from those around her.

Nora's best friend from first grade on was Stephen. He wasn't a dumb kid, but he had a lot harder time learning and making good grades than Nora did. So one grading period Nora decided to let Stephen make better grades than she made. She never realized in how much trouble that was to get her, both at home and at school. Of course, she was grounded at home. Her parents were called in for conferences at school. Nora had to go talk to the school counselor. Worst of all, they started giving her intelligence tests.

Nora told the grown-ups that she didn't think it was fair that kids had to be tested and compared with one another. Why couldn't they all be recognized as having different skills and learning in different ways? Then she really got in trouble when most of the kids started giving wrong answers on tests. They were protesting just as Nora had protested. The principal and some of the teachers saw that as rebellion, and such behavior had to be stopped immediately.

You need to read "The Report Card" by Andrew Clements to find out whether Nora was enough of a genius to resolve these problems.