Walden Pond Press | Jenn's Bookshelves

Tales of a (formerly) Reluctant Reader is a feature in which my thirteen year old son, John (a formerly reluctant reader) shares this thoughts on books geared toward reluctant readers. The review below is entirely his own with no alterations other than corrections in spelling.

Age Range: 8 and up
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Walden Pond Press (February 26, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0062071858
Source: Publisher

Haley a pretty normal teenage girl living with her family in Connecticut. All of her friends are looking forward to spending their summers going off to fun camps. Haley’s plans are a bit different; she plans on spending the summer driving around the country with her very supportive parents, investigating the disappearances of several people thanks to a grant from a mysterious research foundation. There’s more than just missing persons, though. Around the same time they go missing, the towns they live in undergo a lapse of time in which they don’t remember what happened. Sixteen minutes are lost with no explanation. Haley uncovers a group of people referred to as We are the Missing,who claim to have experiences with alien abduction.

Dodger lives in Washington and, like Haley, is awarded a grant to investigate the unusual. Unlike Haley, he doesn’t really have a supportive family and is always trying to get the approval of his father. Haley and Dodger meet when the foundation supporting their research mission calls everything off when things get too dangerous. Haley and Dodger soon become the ones investigated, instead of the ones investigating. They are the only ones who can find out the truth about these disappearances and must do so before they too go missing!

Wow…was this an intense book! Normally, I’m not really in to alien abductions or anything spooky like that but this book changed my mind! From the very beginning, the story grabbed my attention. It was almost as if I was watching a movie rather than reading a book! One of the things I really liked about the book were the two main characters, a boy and a girl. Both Haley & Dodger were very interesting people, Dodger maybe more than Haley because he heard voices. But because there is both a boy and a girl character, I think this book would be interesting to both boys and girls my age.

Also, the journey the two go on is pretty sweet! All-expense paid two week vacation!? Yes please! The investigations they go on are pretty intense so this also almost feels like a mystery as well. Maybe a sci-fi mystery? In any case, I’m going to be telling all my friends about this book! Now I need to come up with an exciting way to spend my summer vacation!

Guess what! My mom says that one lucky reader of this blog can win a copy of this book. Awesome, right? To enter, just fill out this form below. The winner will be emailed by my Mom on Friday, March 15. Tell all your friends about this giveaway! Trust me, you don’t want to pass this up!

Tags: 7-10 years of age, 8-12 years of age, alien abduction, Kid-Lit/Middle Grade, Tales of A (Formerly) Reluctant Reader, Walden Pond Press

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Walden Pond Press (September 27, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0062015052
Source: Publisher

Hazel is having a difficult time adjusting to a new school, her parents’ divorce, and life in general. Her neighbor, Jack, is the only real friend she has. He understands her, sticks up for her when school bullies pick on her. Her mother would prefer that she have female friends but to Hazel, Jack is all she needs. Nothing can separate this duo.

Then one day a shard of glass falls into Jack’s eye. He becomes a completely different person: coldhearted, no interest in hanging out with Hazel. He blows her off as if she means nothing to him. Hazel is the only one who seems to see this change in Jack; her mother dismisses the change in Jack’s behavior, stating that things like this happen. Hazel is unwilling to accept this; nothing would tear their friendship apart.

When Jack disappears, Hazel knows something must be amiss. His parents behave oddly, stating he’s gone off to stay with a relative Hazel’s never heard of. It isn’t until one of his friends confesses to Hazel something he’s seen that she begins to grasp what has happened. Jack was seen talking to a woman in white, made of ice and coldness.

Hazel has heard of this woman, the Ice Queen, but assumed the stories were all made-up. So she begins a trek into the cold, cold woods, desperate to find and rescue her closest and dearest friend. Along the way she comes across several unique creatures and individuals. When she finds Jack, she must remind him of the warmth that their friendship brings, to rescue him from the frigid grasp of the Ice Queen’s reign.

Inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s Snow Queen, Breadcrumbs is a beautifully written modern fairy tale, with prose so lyrical it would be a sin not to read it aloud. Here is but one sampling:

“For the snow was not snow anymore, but a woman–tall and lithe like a sketch, in a white fur cape and a white shimmering gown that looked so thin it would melt if you touched it. Hair like spun crystal framed cream-colored skin. The woman stepped closer, revealing eyes as bright as the sun reflecting off snow. But they were cold things, and it was like looking for solace in frost.”

More than anything, Breadcrumbs is a story about two children, bonded together by the loneliness they share. For Jack, his loneliness comes the state his mother is in, a shell of the woman she used to be. For Hazel, her loneliness comes from her parents’ divorce, from starting a new school, from being different than those around her.

This is a book that is ageless, it can be appreciated by adults as well as children. As stated above, I highly recommend reading it aloud. Now that I’ve finished reading it myself that’s what I plan to do: read it aloud to my children. Highly recommended.

Tags: 8-12 years of age, Kid-Lit/Middle Grade, Review, Walden Pond Press