Rye Middle School

Summer reading for Rye Middle School students

Last shot by John Feinstein

Sports and mystery get equal play in sportswriter and adult author Feinstein's (A Season on the Brink) novel set during a Final Four basketball tournament in New Orleans. Taking center court is 13-year-old Stevie, who - along with Susan Carol, another eighth grader - landed tickets and press passes to the weekend's games by winning a writing contest sponsored by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. The story starts slowly with some superfluous dialogue and a surfeit of detail about specific players, coaches, sports writers and announcers. Yet the pace picks up when Feinstein casts the two aspiring young sports journalists in additional roles of sleuths: the pair overhears a man blackmailing Chip Graber, the star player (and son of the coach) of the Minnesota State team to throw the championship game against Duke. Though they can't see the culprit during this conversation, it takes the youngsters no time at all to identify him as a member of MSU's faculty - ironically, an ethics professor. As Stevie and Susan Carol team up with Chip to uncover the intricacies of the blackmail plan - and to try to foil it - the author's plotting entails some fancy footwork that will keep readers on their toes. The minimal on-court action is nonetheless dramatic and briskly paced. Young basketball fans will most appreciate the caper, but mystery buffs will also turn these pages eagerly. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Heat by Mike Lupica

Michael Arroyo's life is heating up in several ways some of them unpleasant. The Cuban-born 12-year-old and his older brother, Carlos, have been living alone in their Bronx apartment since the death of their father several months earlier. Afraid they will be split up before Carlos turns 18 and can become Michael's legal guardian, the two have only confided the news of their parent's passing to Michael's supportive best friend and a kind elderly neighbor who looks out for the siblings. The boys' elaborately staged ruse ostensibly convinces an official with the children's services administration that their father is still caring for them. On another front, ace pitcher Michael is barred from playing on his all-star baseball team on track for earning a spot in the Little League World Series when opposing coaches file a petition accusing the boy of being older than 12 and efforts to procure a copy of his birth certificate from Cuba are unsuccessful. But warming up Michael's life in a positive way is his new friendship with a beautiful, elusive girl who turns out to be the daughter of a celebrated Yankees pitcher. The finale may stretch readers' credibility, and at times the drawn-out dialogue slackens the novel's pacing. But convincing characterization and exciting on-field action help Lupica (Travel Team) throw out a baseball story with heart. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Devil’s arithmetic by Jane Yolen

The Holocaust was so monstrous a crime that the mind resists belief and the story must be made new for each individual. Yolen's book is about remembering. During a Passover Seder, 12-year-old Hannah finds herself transported from America in 1988 to Poland in 1942, where she assumes the life of young Chaya. Within days the Nazis take Chaya and her neighbors off to a concentration camp, mere components in the death factory. As days pass, Hannah's own memory of her past, and the prisoners' future, fades until she is Chaya completely. Chaya/Hannah's final sacrifice, and the return of memory, is her victory over the horror. The book's simplicity is its strength; no comment is needed because the facts speak for themselves. This brave and powerful book has much it can teach a young audience. Ages 10-14. Copyright 1988 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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