Moonpenny Island

I hated growing up.  And that time - just before the world turned upside down - when I was still a child but I felt it all leaking away - I fought that time with every sobbing breath.  It took me a while to realize that you don't just - poof! - grow up.  It happens bit by bit.  I didn't like learning about adulthood's inevitability.  (There are those who think I fight it still.)

In Tricia Springstubb's Moonpenny Island, Flor and Sylvie are perfect friends.  This is a good thing.  They are the only 11-year-olds on Moonpenny Island.  But the end of summer brings enormous changes.  Sylvie leaves to go to school on the mainland and Flor is alone.  Flor's older sister, perfect Cecelia, has started acting strangely.  And her parents, well, they should not be acting that way at all.

On a small island, it can be easy to put people in slots. Flor must open her eyes.  She needs to see people as more than just labels.  Ceclia is not "perfect".  Perry is more than just the "bad boy".  Joe Hawkes is not "trash".  And her best, best BEST friend, does not have to stay the same always.

A young visitor to the island - a paleontologist's daughter - a family crisis, and her own impetus nature force Flor to truly see her island, and her family, for the first time. 

Good book.  Read it. 

Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

Ahhhhhh!!!  Wow!  Whoooaaa!  Sigh.  (Grabs a tissue)  Oh my!

Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli is a fantasy that ties up all the best things in a boy's childhood - bikes, cartoons, battles with girls, best buddies, Little Kids, Big Kids with some of the worst things in anyone's childhood - being bullied, getting hurt, fear, - all in the land of Hokey Pokey.

The care that adults give is relegated to the Hokey Pokey man and Snuggle Stop and safe havens for Tantrums and a "Don't" sign.  In Hokey Pokey all there are, are kids - who play and ride and have wonderful adventures.

Jack is our hero.  His wild mustang bike, Scramjet, is stolen while he sleeps.  By a girl.  No, by THE girl.  And he calls his Amigos to help him reclaim it.  But even before that happens, even before he wakes up, something is different.

This is an ode to what we remember of childhoods in our happiest dreams.  Racing down hills with the wind in our hair, jumping in puddles, laughing and screeching and twirling in abandon.   And it is an ode to that day when our childhoods begin to change.

And when the book is done, adult readers will go  "Ahhhh!  Wow! Whoooaaa!  Sigh."  The more sentimental of us will grab a tissue.  Read Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli.

P.S.  Kids will like it, too.  Because even when kids are happiest, they yearn to be bigger.  And the adventures Jack and Dusty and LaJo have are awesome.