Four Mile by Watt Key

Judging the Cybils Book Awards is quite the adventure.  The excitement starts in August when I apply to be a judge. It is an honor to be chosen.  Then the waiting starts.  Which books will be nominated?  How many have I already read?  The lists start appearing.  Yay, I read that one.  I have no idea what that book is.   Next it is “Oh my god!  What have I done?  I can never read all these!”  Short lists are started, revised, revised, revised.  Discussions start, and finally the BIG chat about what we will send on to the final judges.  (For the record that job sounds WAY TOO stressful!)

http://www.cybils.com

Through the whole process I am reading books that I can share with students. Every year I end up shortlisting books I have never heard about.  This alone makes it worth the experience.   One standout this year is Four Mile by Watt Key. Foster is a twelve year old that lost his father to a fatal accident on their farm.  His mother starts dating a lowlife named Dax.  Foster knows the guy is bad news, but doesn’t have much control in what happens.  Foster’s anger towards Dax is understandable, but not always controllable.  In one of their fights Foster smashes the windshield on Dax’s truck.  He must paint the fence along the property to pay for the damage.  It is here that Foster meets Gary, an Iraqi war vet wander the country.  This chance meeting changes everything.

Four Mile is gritty.  It is everywhere in the book.  This grittiness is what makes this book stand out.  The sorrow that Foster and his mom are feeling is dark and gritty.  The relationships with Dax are stressful for the characters and the reader.  The secrets that Gary carries are unnerving.  I had trouble putting down this book.  At the end I immediately thought about what Foster will be like as an adult.  These are just some of the reasons why it was easy for our group to shortlist Four Mile by Watt Key for the Cybils’ shortlist.

It is definitely a high middle grade book.  Given the theme I would say 5^th grade to 8^th grade.

KINDOF SPOILER ALERT:  DOG ON THE COVER!

Milo Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg

This autumn I read many books for the Cybil’s Award. A common theme was death and autism. One book had death, violent murder, autism and a National Book Award. Through out the process I kept saying to myself “This is a beautifully written book, but does it have kid appeal?” Milo Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg is one that dealt with death and has kid appeal. The book is about a dork (the book says geek, but in my class it would be dork) named Milo Cruikshank. (I have a student this year named Milo with a last name that is even more fun or torturous.) His mother dies of cancer and after the death Milo, his sister and dad move often. Milo is always the new kid. Not an easy task for a tween, especially one that is having to deal with the death of his mother on his own.


Milo makes friends at his new school. As a matter of fact this friendship helps him start the process of fixing his family. Throughout the book Milo tries to win the heart of the girl of his dreams, balance two friendships one with a boy and one with a girl, not sticking out at school and how to be polite to strangers. Milo’s father has not dealt well with the death of his wife and mother of his children. Ok, to be blunt, Dad is a jerk. His way of dealing with the grief is to pretend that the person never existed. (Given how my dad grieved his parents Milo’s dad must be German and Dutch!) The stranger is the woman across the street. He befriends her after a tough day. Actually they befriend each other. Sylvia Poole helps Milo understand that it is important to remember loved ones. This leads Milo to take charge of his families healing in a fun and productive way.

Here is why I think Milo SN&BF has kid appeal:

• It is well written.
• It is funny.
• It is sad.
• It is filled with hilarious illustrations of Milo’s life.
• It has an alter ego named Dabney St. Claire. (Come on with an alter ego like this what’s not to love.)
• It has romance. Ok not really, just tween hopefulness.
• It makes you think.

 

There were many wonderful books nominated for the 22010 Cybil’s and in my opinion one of my favorites was Milo Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze.