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lizziekam 's review for:
Notes from the Midnight Driver
by Jordan Sonnenblick
I just discovered Jordan Sonnenblick via my seventh grader with Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. His novels are easily consumable novels for a younger teen reader (there's no sex or cursing, etc.) which feature smart, male narrators and a realistic teenage voice. The plot in this book does involve drunk driving - the protagonist goes on an out-of-character drinking binge one night and is about to go confront his father (mom & dad are in the midst of a divorce) and gets halfway down the block and decapitates a garden gnome when he ends up on the neighbor's yard. He is sentenced to community service so he is assigned to be a companion to a crotchety, Yiddish-speaking resident of a nursing home. Thus the book becomes a sort of YA Tuesdays with Morrie with enough plot twists to keep things interesting and touching without becoming overwrought.
I don't think this book aspires to be much more than it is: well-drawn, realistically flawed but likeable characters (like teenagers, really!), relatable plots that hook the reader, and themes that speak to the YA reader: family, friends, music, what is important in life, etc. They are a refreshing break from the bleak landscape of YA dystopias and as stand-alone novels, they are a welcome change from the parade of endless mediocre series that seem expertly crafted to sell as many books as possible in the teen marketplace.
I don't think this book aspires to be much more than it is: well-drawn, realistically flawed but likeable characters (like teenagers, really!), relatable plots that hook the reader, and themes that speak to the YA reader: family, friends, music, what is important in life, etc. They are a refreshing break from the bleak landscape of YA dystopias and as stand-alone novels, they are a welcome change from the parade of endless mediocre series that seem expertly crafted to sell as many books as possible in the teen marketplace.