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When Loose Ends Meet

When Loose Ends Meet

Connecting the frayed ends of reading, writing, and living

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Author Archives: Jeanne E. Fredriksen

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It Wasn't Me by Dana Alison Levy

It Wasn’t Me by Dana Alison Levy

1 Oct 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 5-8  Having to go to school over break stinks, but circumstantial evidence surrounding vandalism brings six unhappy seventh-graders together for a justice circle facilitated by a favorite teacher. Like The Breakfast Club, each student carries a label by which they are automatically judged (the nerd, the princess, the jock, the weirdo, the screw-up), and this experimental gathering seeks to discover not only who destroyed Theo’s photographs but why. [Read More]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Middle Grade Readers

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Grenade by Alan Gratz

Grenade by Alan Gratz

15 Sep 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

***Starred Review*** Gr. 4-7  Okinawa native Hideki is 13 when American forces storm his Pacific island during WWII, and he and his classmates are pressed into service by the Japanese army. They are given two grenades and told one is to kill the American “monsters” and the other is to kill oneself afterward. Ray, 18, is a Marine enlistee fresh from a farm in Nebraska and about to enter his first battle. Both boys share the fear of the unknown, […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Middle Grade Readers

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All the Stars Denied by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

All the Stars Denied by Guadalupe García McCall

15 Sep 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 7-10  Estrella is a feisty 15-year-old living with her parents on a ranch in southern Texas. It’s 1931, and the Great Depression is in full swing. Her town is severely divided ethnically, and families of Mexican descent, though American citizens, are being rounded up and repatriated across the border. Following a protest that Estrella organizes, her home is burned, and she, her toddler brother, and mother are separated from her father while being transported to Mexico. They are thrown […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

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What They Don't Know by Nicole Maggi

What They Don’t Know by Nicole Maggi

15 Sep 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 9-12  Sixteen-year-old Mellie is the ideal daughter for her conservative, religious family. But her perfect life changes one afternoon when she is raped in her own home. Too afraid to tell anyone, Mellie silently watches the waistband on her jeans grow tighter, convinced her pro-life parents would sentence her to having her rapist’s baby. Lise, Mellie’s classmate and former childhood friend, is an activist and works as an escort and shield for women against the constant group of protesters […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

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Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

29 Aug 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 9-12  Evan Hansen, a teen crippled by anxiety, starts each day by writing a letter of encouragement to himself. When loner Connor Murphy finds one of the letters at school and dies by suicide days later, his parents deliver the “Dear Evan Hansen” to Evan, who lies about being Connor’s best friend. As the Murphys embrace Evan, his lie goes viral, giving comfort to the grieving family and making him a social media darling. But as the lies build […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

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The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden

The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden

29 Aug 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 4-7  Seventh-grader Zoey doesn’t think she’s as good as other kids at school who have nice things. She also doesn’t have the inclination to do homework because she’s too busy taking care of her siblings—Bryce (four), Aurora (three), and baby Hector—all offspring of different fathers. They and their mother live in a trailer with Mom’s fussy bully of a boyfriend, Lenny, and his cantankerous father. When Zoey’s social-studies teacher makes her join the school debate club … [Read More]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Middle Grade Readers

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Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu

Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu

21 Aug 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 9-12  In this prequel to Yu’s debut novel—Four Weeks, Five People (2017)—Stella, a junior who suffers from depression, seems over the meltdown she experienced the year before. Happier than she’d been, she’s content to hang out with best friends Katie (who’s into athletes) and Lin (who’s consumed by her need to get into Brown next year). Enter Kevin, a philosophy student who becomes Stella’s first boyfriend. Their relationship takes Stella on an emotional roller-coaster, and though their fights become […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

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Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount

Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount

15 Aug 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 9-12  As a freshman, Ashley was raped by one of her brother’s teammates during a traditional, but unconventional, “scavenger hunt.” “Sex with a virgin” was the top point-getter on Victor’s card, so he targeted Derek’s little sister. Now, two years after a trial in which Derek lobbied the court to give Victor a light sentence because it was just a game—and “justice” acquiesced—​Ashley continues to experience myriad debilitating triggers. Away at college, Derek struggles with his role in the […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

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American Road Trip by Patrick Flores-Scott

American Road Trip by Patrick Flores-Scott

3 Aug 2018 by Jeanne E. Fredriksen

Gr. 8-12  Despite living in near poverty, Teodoro “T” Avila’s dream is to change his life during his junior year of high school. Fueled by a blossoming romance with Wendy Martinez and abstinence from video games, T’s goals are to better his grades, get into college, be with Wendy, and make something of himself. He partners with his best friend, Caleb, and things start to look up. But when T’s older, near-legendary brother, Manny, comes home from Iraq with extreme […]

Categories: Appeared in Booklist/ALA, Book Reviews, Young Adult Readers

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