Red Kayak

Red Kayak Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes I read a book for kids and I think, "wow, this is like a John Irving book for kids." Red Kayak is reminiscent of John Irving, a tale of a boy living on the east coast (Maryland, specifically), tackling the themes of man vs. nature, man vs. man, and especially man vs. self. The novel opens with this loaded sentence: "After all this time, I still ask myself: was it my fault?" This novel doesn't end with tragedy, it opens with it. Brady, our narrator/main character/hero, struggles with a secret he holds, the truth behind a tragic accident. He feels obligation to his friends to keep the secret, though he also has a powerful need to do the right thing, whatever that may be.

This book should fall in my personal category: "Books it took far too long for me to pick up and actually read." A fifth-grade teacher I work with reads this aloud every year. I have worked with this teacher for the past seven years, and despite his selection of Red Kayak as an Important Book for his students, I didn't read it. I know the students love it, and not just because it has naughty words. I truly enjoyed it, heartbreak and all. It's also a choice read for freshman at my high school. I'm very glad I finally picked it up and I highly recommend it, especially to middle grade readers.

View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Red Queen

Image
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard My rating: 5 of 5 stars "I grew up wondering if I'd have food for supper; now I'm standing in a place about to be eaten alive." -Mare. Mare is a Red. Red, as in the color of her blood. In Mare's world, there are Reds and Silvers. Silvers do have silver blood, but they also have special abilities or supernatural powers that make them the ruling class over the Reds. The Reds are the serving class, going to war for the Silvers in addition to being the workers who make the Silvers' clothing and exist generally to better the lives of the Silvers. They are nearly a slave class while the Silvers either are royals or seem to live like royals. Mare knows she is going to be sent off to war (she will be conscripted, as she calls it), like her older brothers. Her younger sister, Gisa, is an apprentice to a clothes-maker, so she will be able to avoid going to the war. Mare is envious of her sister and her safer path. Mare
Read more

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Image
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green My rating: 4 of 5 stars "i don't know what freaks me out more- that i matter to him, or that he matters to me." -David Levithan Where to begin? I love this book. It is one of my absolute favorites. It's called Will Grayson, Will Grayson because it is about two different teenagers named Will Grayson. David Levithan authors the Naperville, IL Will Grayson. Naperville Will Grayson lives with his mother, is not affluent (he works to help pay the bills), does not have many friends, and was just betrayed by Maura, his closest friend. John Green authors North Shore Will Grayson, whose parents are doctors, who does what is expected of him, and who tries not to get noticed. He fails at trying not to get noticed simply by being best friends with Tiny Cooper. Tiny is best described in the words of North Shore Will Grayson: Tiny Cooper is not the world's gayest person, and he is not the world's largest person
Read more

Rain Reign

Image
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin My rating: 3 of 5 stars "My official diagnosis is high-functioning autism, which some people call Asperger's syndrome. (Do YOU have a diagnosis?)" -Ann M. Martin Meet Rose, main character and narrator, a 5th grader with high-functioning autism. Rose likes homonyms (Rose/rows), rules, and prime numbers. Rose lives with her father who doesn't always understand Rose and her autism. Rose has a dog she loves and cares for named Rain (reign). Rain gets lost after a hurricane, and Rose develops a plan to find her. Something unexpected happens on Rose's quest to return Rain home, and Rose learns she will have to accept change. Rain Reign is an enjoyable book, definitely for upper elementary and middle grades. Since the narrator is the main character/protagonist, the reader gets a window into the mind of someone who has autism. It's an interesting book I'm sure younger readers will connect with. View all my
Read more