This Month's Book Reviews

 

Young guitarist from New England competes in music contest in New Orleans

Whitney Stewart, who wrote "Jammin' on the Avenue," lives in New Orleans with her acoustic guitar playing husband and electric guitar playing son. Her paperback details the experiences of teen-age electric guitar playing Eric Wieman, who travels to New Orleans to compete in the national Quickfinger Guitar Contest. Eric is the guest of a New Orleans family, all the members of which can't wait to show the sights of New Orleans to a boy from Massachusetts.

The family that Eric stays with is the Woo family, an Asian American family. A close friend of the Woo family is Lashley Moran. Lashley just happens to be a gorgeous blond that is Eric's age. In addition, she is a gifted guitarist and will be competing in the same contest with Eric. She and Eric find out that they complement each other when they perform together to entertain the guests at a party held by the Woo and Moran families.

Another contestant in the national contest is a teen-ager from Washington, D.C. named Jordan Brooks. He tries to "psych out" Eric and even resorts to sabotage in his attempt to win the contest. So the story does have a "bad guy" to help complicate the plot. The big question is who will win the Quickfinger contest? An expensive guitar and a music scholarship are the prizes for the winner.

If you like music and like to read about good food and the sights of historic New Orleans, this is the book for you.

 

How a big, ugly dog with a grin
changed people's lives

India Opal Buloni appears to be about ten years old as she tells her story. She is the daughter of a preacher who has just moved with her to Florida. Her father calls her Opal, and the name "India" was the result of his having been a missionary in India at an earlier time in his life. Her mother had run off and left her and her father when Opal was much younger.

Opal is a lonely young girl. So when she goes to the grocery store and finds a big, dirty, ugly dog causing a lot of problems in the store, she tells the manager that it is her dog. When asked what the dog's name is, she can only think of "Winn-Dixie," which is the name of the grocery store. Anyway, she takes the dog home and manages to talk her father into letting her keep him. She cleans up the stray dog and he becomes her best friend. He has two special talents - he listens very well when she talks to him and he seems to be grinning all the time.

Much to her surprise, other people like Winn-Dixie, too, and Opal starts to make a lot of interesting new friends as she walks around town with her dog. These friends include old people, as well as kids Opal's age. She and some of her new friends plan a party that brings together many people, including Opal's father. During the party, Winn-Dixie disappears. While the search goes on, everybody starts to realize how important Winn-Dixie had been in bringing the group together. They especially realize how important he is to Opal. Luckily, Winn-Dixie turns up in a surprising place, and the story goes on to have a very happy ending.

 

In modern India, a young girl finds herself in an arranged marriage that takes her from her home

Koly is only thirteen and still feels like a child. She is happy with her home and family, even though they are poor. Her parents, however, have arranged a marriage for her with the son of a family in a distant village. They have scraped together a dowry large enough to secure a husband for her. Since this is the custom in India, Koly has no choice but to obey her parents.

After the marriage, Koly discovers that her new husband is ill and hasn't long to live. She also finds out that his family has arranged the marriage in order to obtain the money that Koly brings with her as her dowry. Her new mother-in-law treats her badly, and on the death of the young husband, cruelly abandons Koly in the holy city of Vrindavan. Koly wakes up among hundreds of other penniless widows who have been taken to the holy city, where they are forced to live on the streets and survive on charity.

Koly is unusual among young Indian girls in that she had been taught to read. She has a talent for embroidering original and beautiful designs on scarves and quilts. She uses her talent to make her living in the strange city. She meets a hardworking young man who befriends her. She helps him learn to read. After returning to his village and buying some farmland with money he had saved, the young man returns to ask Koly to be his wife.

There is much more to the story than the bare outline presented here. The reader is introduced to an ancient culture and its customs. In the book, Koly shares the Indian poetry that helps her keep her spirits up and overcome the hardships that are forced upon her.

 

For the young reader who likes
books based on movies

"Spy Kids" is a paperback based on the plot and characters from the new motion picture of the same title. Many of our most popular movies today contain a lot of special effects - explosions, crashes, people flying through the air, and bad guys that are so evil they are almost funny. "Spy Kids," the movie, fits that description. "Spy Kids," the book, tries to do the same thing using words alone, although there are a few color pictures of the "good guys" and the "bad guys."

Juni Cotez is only eight years old and his sister, Carmen, is just ten. They fight a lot like brothers and sisters tend to do. To their surprise, their Uncle Felix comes to stay with them when their parents are called away to do some kind of a job. What the kids didn't realize was that their mom and dad were super spies who had been retired for almost nine years. Because of a threat to the entire world from the evil techno-wizard, Floop, the two super spies had been called back to duty.

Their Uncle Felix finds out that Mr. and Mrs. Cortez had been kidnapped by Floop, before they could even get started in stopping him. Felix, who turns out to be another secret agent and not really their uncle, alerts the two kids and tells them they now are the only hope to stop the evil Floop. He sends them off in backpack transporters to a safe house. At that point the special effects take over. It just one wild adventure after another for the two kids from then on.