Review: Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Clare Vanderpool. New York: Delacorte Press, 2013. 308 pp.
Rating: OMG (Oh My Greatness)

How do I begin to describe Navigating Early? Well, I guess this is as best a start as any. Years ago when I was preparing for the LSAT, I enrolled in a preparation course at Georgia State University. The course was taught by a math professor who reduced all words to numbers or letters in a math equation; in which he would then proceed to solve. I sat stupefied, inwardly shouting, I read words! WORDS!  My bibliophilic mind could not grasp this alpha to numeric metamorphosis. Needless to say, my brain never converged with the professor's tactics on the best approach to the Logic Games and Analytical Reasoning sections. 

Review: Carrying Mason by Joyce Magnin

Joyce Magnin. Michigan: Zonderkidz, 2011. 153 pp.
Rating: Don't Bother

Promises are made to be kept.

Thirteen year-old Luna Gleason, the third of six children, is not your typical teenager. Following the surprising death of her best friend, Mason, Luna decides to move in with his special needs mother, Ruby Day. Luna and Ruby Day quickly fall into a routine that is threatened by exposed secrets prompted by the arrival of Aunt Sapphire, Ruby Day’s aunt.
 
Luna, despite the obstacles, never wavers in her perseverance to help Ruby Day. Her appeal to her father was a delight.  “But Daddy, you said I couldn’t carry Mason and I did. I did that just fine. You said I’d never bait a proper hook, and I do that like a champ because Mason taught me. Ain’t you the one who is always saying, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me?’ All things, Daddy, not just some things. Even fight Aunt Sapphire and her fancy foxes and big car” (102). Magnin wonderfully illustrates the Christian principle of sacrifice. Even though Luna could have been killed or seriously hurt, she “stretched out as close…to the back wheels of Sapphire’s car” and didn’t hesitate to offer up her life. “Frederick can run me over if he want but I’m not giving up.” My favorite line of the novel is Luna’s mother's response to her husband's question about Luna’s actions. “She’s laying down her life for her friend.”