Notes from the Midnight Driver
Author: Jordan Sonnenblick 
Paperback: 265 pages
Publisher: Scholastic (October 2006) also available in paperback
Synposis:
What do you get when you combine an angry 15 year old boy, alcohol, a car, a beheaded gnome, and a guilty musician with emphysema? Notes from the Midnight Driver, a story about coming to the realization that not everyone in your world is “out to get you”. It’s about noticing other people—that they have problems, secrets, and joys. In short, it’s about growing up.
Review:
The first chapter of this book is one page. Maybe 300 words. With just 300 words Jordan Sonnenblick manages to create a thousand questions in his readers head. This is the type of book you can’t stop reading. There are no car crashes(OK, one minor one), death defying stunts, or wild adventures. It’s the relationship between 15 year old Alex and Sol that is the adventure. Who knew a 80+ year old guy could create so much suspense?
Sonnenblick does a great job of getting inside Alex’s head using pleading letters he writes to the judge and hilarious conversations he has with himself. Reading this book as an adult it was easy to remember what I was like as a teenager and imagine myself in Alex’s situation. And Sonnenblick tells a fun(make that hysterical) story that doesn’t hit kids over the head with tragedy, moral lessons, or magical transformations of the characters. Alex is a real kid with feelings and actions that I think younger readers will recognize.
Thought You Should Know:
Sonnenblick, a middle school teacher, has written 8 books in the past 7 years and I can’t wait to read them all. Don’t miss them!
