This month's book reviews

What will the worst behaved kids in school
do to the Christmas pageant?

The narrator of ''The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" is a middle grader at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School. His mother is drafted to direct the annual Christmas Pageant at the church in town because the usual director at the last minute has fallen and broken her leg.

Everybody in town knows that the worst kids in town are the Herdmans. They lie and steal and smoke cigars (even the girls) and tend to bully all the good kids. But the new director of the Christmas Pageant is desperate. When the Herdman kids show an interest in being part of the production, she feels she has to include them. What she hadn't expected is that with the Herdmans in the show, most of the other kids decided that they didn't want to participate. Herdman kids end up in all the major roles, Mary, Joseph, the wisemen, etc.

The Herdmans had never heard the Christmas story before. Imogene, one of the toughest of the Herdmans, volunteered to play the part of Mary, Jesus' mother. She managed to frighten away any competition for the part. When none of the town's new mothers wanted to volunteer a baby to be the Baby Jesus, Imogene was ready to go out and kidnap an infant to play the role. During rehearsals, she managed to smoke cigars in the church restroom along with some of her brothers. Nobody thought that this year's Christmas pageant could be anything but a compete disaster.

"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" is not a typical Christmas book. Just like all the citizens in the fictional town, a reader can't believe that the Herdman's involvement in the pageant could lead to any kind of happy ending. There are plenty of laughs for the reader as the story and the pageant finally come to a conclusion.

 

A kid from the present goes back in time
to meet Jackie Robinson

Joe Stoshack lives in Louisville and plays Little League baseball. He's not the greatest of players and, besides that, he has a hot temper that tends to get him in trouble. He really loves baseball, though, and collects baseball cards. He discovered, by accident, that he could use old baseball cards like a time machine. If he fell asleep with an old card in his hand, he woke up in the time frame that the card represented.

When his history teacher assigned the kids to write a paper about a famous African American figure of the past, Joe knew whom he wanted to write about. He wanted to write about Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player to play in the major leagues. The prize for the best paper was to be four tickets to Kentucky Kingdom, a "really cool" amusement park with 75 rides. All he had to do was find a Jackie Robinson baseball card and he would be transported back in time to actually see and interview the famous player in person. With that kind of research for his paper, how could he not win the prize? The trouble was that Jackie Robinson started playing in the big leagues in 1947 and cards with his picture on them were rare and extremely valuable.

As you might guess, Joe did lay his hands on a rare Jackie Robinson baseball card and ended up in Brooklyn - the Brooklyn of 1947. An interesting twist to the story is that Joe, who is white, ends up in Brooklyn as a black boy. So not only does he meet the famous baseball player, but also he experiences the racial prejudice and hateful treatment that Jack Robinson had to endure. The plot gets pretty complicated and Joe returns home once to present day Louisville only to have to go back again to the Brooklyn of 1947.

In reading this book you learn about Jackie Robinson's role in major league baseball and the important place he had in breaking down racial prejudice in other areas of life as well. The story of Joe's exciting adventure is one that any young baseball fan will enjoy.

 

A young camper gets lost in the wilderness

Tim Martin was in middle school, but he had a brother, Kevin, who was a freshman in high school. Kevin was "cool" - a natural athlete with lots of friends. Tim thought of himself as a "nerd" - pudgy, clumsy, and sort of a loner. His dad liked sports and liked to go camping and fishing. Tim liked to read, watch TV, and play video games. His parents, Tim knew, wished that he could be more like Kevin.

Tim wasn't too thrilled when his dad insisted on taking him on a fishing trip to the wilderness area in upper New York State. Tim knew he was supposed to "toughen up" and really enjoy sleeping on the ground and cooking the fish they caught over an open fire. But, he really didn't. He would have much preferred a warm motel with a big screen TV.

Through a series of unusual events, Tim got separated from his father and was unable to find his way back to the campsite. Although he was unaware of it, Tim had run down the battery in the SUV while trying to listen to the car radio. When his father realized Tim was missing, he had no car to go for help. Tim got deeper and deeper into the woods before his father could walk back to a ranger station and report that his son was missing.

At first, Tim does everything wrong. He even breaks his glasses and has trouble seeing very well. To his surprise, though, he finds out that he can make use of some of the survival skills he has picked up though reading and watching television. He doesn't eat very well, but neither does he starve to death. He manages to keep alive and, at the same time, elude a bear that is sharing the woods with him.

You need to read the book to find out how Tim, after being lost for three weeks, finally manages to get home. You will come to understand how neither Tim nor anyone else sees him any longer as a nerd.

 

If a girl wants the first horse she sees,
does that mean it is not the horse for her?

Willo, whose real name is Willojean, has just lost her mother to cancer. Her dad, an airplane designer, works on the other side of the country and is seldom home. Home is Willo's grandfather's farm in Maryland, where along with other farm animals, horses are part of everyday life. Willo's mother, before her death, had made Willo's father promise to buy Willo a horse.

When Willo and her grandfather set out horse shopping, the very first horse they see is a Thoroughbred mare, a former racehorse. The mare had been a beautiful horse, but now because of poor treatment, was not in good health and was dirty and run-down in appearance. Willo fell in love with the mare, named Tess, and talked her grandfather into buying her. Her father, now out in California, had to approve before the sale was final.

The main plot of the story, then, is concerned with how Willo has to learn to handle Tess and convince her father, when he comes home, that Tess is the best and safest horse for her. Tess, because of being a high strung Thoroughbred that had been mistreated, was not easy to turn into the riding horse and jumper that Willo needed in order to compete in horse shows.

Willo has some young friends that help her in her efforts to become a better rider, herself, and to turn Tess into the right kind of horse for her. She even develops a crush on one of the boys from a neighboring horse farm.

As readers, we get caught up in Willo's busy life of school, chores on the farm, and trying to train Tess. She has to deal with a number of complications before she can expect things to turn out happily for her and Tess.