“Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree,” by Lauren Tarshis

“Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree,” by Lauren Tarshis is a touching story about an intelligent young girl who decides to start helping her schoolmates by solving their social problems.

Emma-Jean is an unusual girl known for being highly logical. This sets her apart from her fellow schoolmates because she usually doesn’t understand their jokes and queer social customs. Emma-Jean spends her time alone, studying trees, the Hindi language, and other important undertakings.

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Review of "Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree," by Lauren Tarshis

“Danny, The Champion of the World,” by Roald Dahl

“Danny, The Champion of the World,” by Roald Dahl is a novel about a young boy who lives with his mechanic father in a gypsy caravan.

Danny has always enjoyed his life. Not only does Danny live in a fascinating gypsy caravan, but his father has taught him to work on automobiles. But one day, Danny discovers a surprising secret about his father, something that he has kept hidden for years.

Danny's father loves to poach pheasants. As Danny comes to learn more about the illegal art of poaching he discovers that just about everyone he knows likes to poach, even otherwise upstanding citizens such as the doctor that makes house calls on Danny and his father, the local reverend, and the policeman that Danny has been frightened of for years. All these people have one thing in common, they steal pheasants at Hazell's Woods, a forest owned by Mr. Victor Hazell, a local rich brewery owner, and owner of a huge flock of game birds.

No one likes Mr. Hazell, and they all want to do something to put him in his place, even if it means stealing from him. That's when Danny comes up with the ultimate plan. If they can just pull it off correctly, then Danny and his father should be able to steal every last one of Mr. Hazell's pheasants.

To be honest, I found “Danny, The Champion of the World” to be a surprisingly disappointing book. Roald Dahl's other books typically teach good lessons, though they sometimes have satirical aspects to them. In “Danny, The Champion of the World,” however, Dahl glorifies poaching, which is really nothing more than stealing. Perhaps everyone that Danny knows is a poacher, even the local policeman and reverend, and Mr. Victor Hazell may not be a very nice man, but that still doesn't make stealing from him right.

“Danny, The Champion of the World” shows no consequences of stealing. In the end Danny and his father get away with it completely, and I find that very disturbing. As a consequence I would not recommend this book.


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“If You Come Softly,” by Jacqueline Woodson

“If You Come Softly,” by Jacqueline Woodson is the story of romance between a Jewish girl and a black boy.

The two main characters are Jeremiah, a teenage boy attending a fancy prep school in Manhattan. Although he is one of the few black boys there he still feels relatively comfortable being who he his. Jeremiah's greatest worries are about his rich parents who have separated and just can't seem to get along. But Jeremiah's life is due to change when he meets Ellie.

Ellie is a Jewish girl who has her own family problems. She lives with her mother, who has twice abandoned her, so she doesn't really trust her. So when Ellie meets Jeremiah she choses to not tell her mother about him, in part just because she is shy, but to a large extent because she is afraid of what her response will be to the news that Jeremiah and her are romantically attached.

I felt that Jacqueline Woodson did a remarkably good job of approaching this rather delicate subject with careful balance, but also vivid clarity. “If You Come Softly,” has very well designed characters that the reader can commiserate with, no matter what race or color they are.

“If You Come Softly” is about how Ellie and Jeremiah must cope with other people's reactions to their relationship. Though it is not the best book I've ever read, it has a rather unique plot that not many other authors have dared to tackle.

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