Month: September 2024
-
What Hearts by Bruce Brooks (1993)
A collection of four short stories about Asa, each detailing a moment in his life between the end of first grade up through seventh grade, dealing with friendship, love, and complicated parents. This was one of my favorites from when I was in middle school, and it holds up even better than I had expected — it manages to be repeatedly heartbreaking without being saccharine or maudlin or cheap.
-
The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson (1958)
Conn is a teenager living in Ireland in the late 19th century. When he was younger, his aunt read his fortune, telling him he’d head west and some day ride the greatest wheel in the world. Sure enough, he is asked by his uncle to come work in America, and on the trip, Conn meets a nice German girl named Trudy on her way to Wisconsin. Later, another uncle brings him farther west to Chicago to work with Gary Ferris on the first Ferris wheel, located at the 1893 World’s Fair, and many people doubt it…