Book Review: "On Christmas Eve"

Before you say anything, yes. I know. Christmas was a month ago (almost to the day, in fact!), and yet I'm just now reviewing this one? ...Frankly, I expected it to be a super quick read, and normally, it would have been, but having to catch up on Etsy orders, it took me until just now to finish it. No judging.

Anyway, that aside, this past NaNoWriMo season I decided I might like to take a crack at writing some children's books sometime (no, it wasn't my NaNoWriMo project this year), but that it's been so long since I've read one, I've almost forgotten what children's literature looks like. So, I harkened back to one of my favorite old mainstays of children's lit: Ann M. Martin, author of the beloved Babysitters Club series (of which I used to read practically religiously, and may even give a re-read to in the not-so-distant future). Truth be told, I actually was unaware she'd written anything outside of the Babysitters Club series/franchise, so when I learned by chance that she's actually written quite a few other books, I was intrigued, and this particular book happened to be the first one I was able to track down.

It's hard to really give a proper synopsis of this book without giving the entire plot away, but in a nutshell, our main character, a little girl named Tess, has a best friend (Sarah) whose best friend's father is dying of cancer. As this story takes place back in the 1950s, children were not yet allowed to visit patients in the hospital, and as such, Sarah progressively begins spending more and more time with Tess's family, even as the holidays approach. She remains ever hopeful that her father will be home in time for Christmas, even though the odds of that happening become more and more bleak as time marches on. Tess does everything in her power to try and keep Sarah in good spirits, including making sure she's included in her own holiday festivities (which she normally is anyway -- these two have been joined at the hip practically since birth), and at one point, even plan out a Christmas 'concert' to put on in the parking lot of the hospital, right outside her father's window, singing all his favorite carols.

Sarah's father is allowed to come home for Christmas -- coming home from the hospital "for the last time." Tess remains optimistic that perhaps this means he's getting better, and that this is the end of his medical woes, but Sarah knows more than she's letting on. Still, ever the optimist, Tess this whole time has been devising her own secret plan to stay up on Christmas Eve so that she can meet Santa Claus, face to face. Initially she has her own motives for wanting to do so, but when the time comes, she has only one Christmas wish: for Sarah's dad to get well again.....but there's some things that even Santa can't fix.

This story brought back an old childhood myth I had long forgotten about: the story about how at midnight, on Christmas Eve, animals are able to speak. (I always did wonder if this was true, and if I had gotten around to reading this book a little bit sooner, I probably would've stayed up at midnight this past Christmas Eve to see if my dog could speak at midnight. No hurt in hoping, anyway. ;)) Even as an adult, just reading about that even in this story, I got ridiculously excited and swept up in the hope that maybe this myth just might be true. Forget about meeting Santa -- I'm way more all about the prospect of talking to pets!

Anyway, this story is definitely one of hope, on many levels, and is definitely one that any child who's ever lost a parent (or any other relative, for that matter) to cancer might be able to relate to in not only the loss itself, but in how it changes and affects your life afterwards, and forces you to grow up way too fast. This really hit home, and I commend Ann M. Martin for going there. But I ALSO commend her for including a point where Sarah begins to find joy and hope in her life once again, even in the face of loss. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: "Accidents of Nature"

When you hear mention of a book with a premise of severely handicapped teenagers going to summer camp, you must assume that the book is going to treat these individuals as some sort of freak show, and that the story will be a very depressing one.

Except, of course, when the author is one of them.

This story takes place in 1970, when handicapped individuals were more or less cast out of society as though they were lepers. But these kids converge year after year at Camp Courage; a state-funded summer camp for disabled teens. Some of them have severe handicaps -- cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, muscular dystrophy, amputees, parapalegics, quadrapaledgics, etc... Some, the 'walkie-talkies', appear normal outwardly, but suffer from things like asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, mental illness, etc. All are welcomed as equals to the camp. and nobody feels out of place, as everyone is here for similar reasons.

More astoundingly though is just how vividly colorful the personalities of each of these characters is. People often dismiss the disabled as not being all there and not really having feelings, lives, hopes, aspirations, dreams, life goals, crushes, you name it...but this story touches on all of that and portrays them as the real people that they are. The real live, breathing, flesh and blood people. And it's with this, and seeing that they're not a bunch of sad individuals but rather, teenagers like anybody else who o the best they can with the hand they've been dealt, that serves as somewhat of a jolting wake-up call.

I personally was very sucked in by this story on many levels and really enjoyed it. I'm rating it a 5 out of 5 stars. :)

Book Review: "Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth"

Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth by Robert E. Owens Jr., PhD is a comprehensive handbook/guidebook for teenagers and families of teens who are discovering their own sexuality among the LGBT spectrum. It covers important issues such as the coming out process, homophobia, the AIDS epidemic, etc. As it's more of a textbook than anything, it's written very dryly, but for anyone looking for informative purposes in discovering themselves, this is a good place to start. The back section of the book is loaded chock full of further LGBT resources to turn to as well. It'd be a useful tool to have in your arsenal, so if you're among the LGBT spectrum and a teenager, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of this. 3 out of 5 stars.