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Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
          This book is on the top of about every mock Newbery 2012 award list, and I can see why. Doug Swieteck is about the most real and well-written character I've read in a long time in young fiction. The entire story spans Doug's 1968-69 school year beginning with him and his family moving to stupid Marysville, as he deems it.
          Doug has a meekly sweet mother and not-so-loving father, as well as two older brothers.  The oldest, Lucas, is away fighting in the Vietnam war, but we get an idea of his character when Doug does or says something "jerky" and compares it to his brother. Now I sound like Lucas.  That's something Lucas would say.  Christopher, the second oldest brother, seems to be another chip off the old block.  He is ruthlessly mean to Doug, stealing his Joe Pepitone-signed hat, and making fun of all he does.  Doug has to hide anything valuable or special to him from his brother.  The boys' poor attitudes are a result of their father's character.  He is negative, abusive physically and through his words.  Doug's mother is the only saving grace of Doug, but she does not stand up to her husband.
          Doug's story has its ups and downs - things look up and then something happens to dampen his spirit.  His teachers and principal think the worst of him for crimes his brother allegedly committed.  People in town question his nature as well.  And, of course, there is the crotchety librarian who scolds Doug for waiting on the steps of the library to open.  What librarian would do that?
          There is so much addressed in this book that one could spend days discussing - John James Audubon's Birds of America and how Doug can associate what's happening in each painting with what's happening in his life, domestic violence, the controversies of the Vietnam War, Jane Eyre!, baseball and the New York Yankess, NASA's space program and landing on the moon, as well as other significant events of the 60's, etc.  Doug is such a dynamic character, as well, that the story almost reads as a memoir.  A nice surprise at the end of the book is a teaching guide full of discussion questions and activities, along with the first chapter of The Wednesday Wars, a companion to Okay for Now.

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The Wall... Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

          I placed this book on hold at my local library along with some other children's picture books.  I got a call yesterday that a few of my book selections were available, so I headed over, found a seat, and got to reading.  This book was compactly educational in regard to the Cold War and Communist Soviet Union.  I grew up hearing about the Berlin wall and "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" I knew about the Cuban missile crisis. I knew we were at odds with Soviet Russia, but I didn't understand the conflict any further than we had differing governing ideologies.  I also liked that the introduction concisely explained the link between the events of WWII's aftermath to the onset of Russian-formed Soviet Union, because many times we study events of our history in isolated segments, and we forget to examine the cause-effect sequences in between large events. This book told the story of author Peter Sis's first-hand account of life in then Czechoslovakia and how the Prague Spring of 1968 helped him to awaken from his "brainwashed" youth.  Art and music played a huge role in his awakening.  I've read many fictional dystopian novels and never fully realized that these societies truly existed/exist today.  I highly recommend putting a copy of this on every school/classroom library shelf.  It's a great jumping off point for further research and examination.

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