Jim the Boy by Tony Earley

Readers of classic "boy" literature such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows and who feared that no one would ever write anything similar to them can now relax. Tony Earley has penned a charming and delightful first novel that fits comfortably on the shelf right beside those wonderful stories.
There are no beloved dogs in this tale of a childhood in rural North Carolina during the days of the Great Depression, but there are many life lessons put into young Jim Glass' path. For starters, his father died a mere 10 days before Jim was born; and his paternal grandfather is notorious for his mean streak and the years served in prison for building a liquor still up in the mountains. (It seems the Internal Revenue Service doesn't take kindly to people thumbing their noses at the government by selling illegal moonshine.)
Jim's widowed mother refuses to marry any suitors, so the only male companions in Jim's life are his three bachelor uncles who live next door, a friendly traveling salesman named Whitey Whitesides, and his best friend and ball-playing classmate, Penn Carson.
The author allows readers to vicariously grow and learn with young Jim as he gradually begins to branch out from his sheltered home to other untamed parts of the world. We see the wisdom of experience his uncles and Abraham the farm hand bestow on him as he ventures into town and has his first run-in with some thugs. We share his wonder as he encounters the ocean for the first time, and marvel along with him as he takes his first view from the neighboring mountain and realizes how small his home town really is.
Jim the Boy is a gentle, charming book that should have no trouble finding legions of fans. I eagerly look forward to more from Mr. Earley and hope that he soon revisits Jim and his family and allows us to see him grow from boy to man. [Update: a sequel, "The Blue Star," comes out in early 2008. The author will be speaking at the TLA Conference in Dallas soon after it is published.]
A copy of this title is available at SMS Library. It is recommended for grades 3 on up, but will surely be enjoyed by those who are young-at-heart even more than by those who are simply young. Check it out...you'll be glad you did.

Night by Elie Wiesel

It's been a very long time since I have been awakened from sleep by nightmares, but this book cost me several hours of sound rest this week, prompting me to awaken repeatedly from bad dreams about the atrocities of Nazi Death Camps during the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. Night is a poignant and powerful memoir that I think everyone from grade eight on up should read at some point in their life. I had been putting it off for years due to the subject matter, but with a recent renewed interest in it from Oprah's Book Club, I decided it was time to check it off my "must read" list. There's not a lot I can add that hasn't already been said or written about it. Other than possibly Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, Night is the best example of a first person account of what happened during this dark time in human history. The author goes into excruciating detail telling the story of how his family--along with countless others--were literally led down the road to death and destruction, a very real hell-on-earth. I can only say that the events related in this book are sobering and unforgettable--as well they should be. Human beings should never again allow themselves to reach the depths of depravity the Hitler regime sunk to during their brief reign of terror. This is a riveting and disturbing story, but a fast read. There are copies available at SMS library.