Bazan Librarians Review...

One of my favorite young adult novels is Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach.  I came across this book when I was working at McCreless Library Branch a few years back.   I remembered receiving the book and shelving it in the New Book shelf, away from my Young Adult section.  I was in need of wanting a young adult romance and found it.   I read the back summary of the book and decided to take it home to read.  It sat on my coffee table that week until I picked up for reading that Friday afternoon. The book tells the story of a teenage boy named Parker Sante who experienced a traumatic car accident resulting in his father's death, and the spawn of his new form of communication...silence. After the accident, Parker spends most of his time downtown San Francisco in the Palace Hotel, where he people watches and picks pockets.  The story starts with Parker introducing himself (writing about himself) and letting the reader know that he will share th...

I chose to read this novel because it is set in San Antonio, TX, and it chronicles the life of Lorenzo, a 12 year old attending Tafolla Middle School.  To give you some perspective, Tafolla MS is less than a five minute drive from Bazan Library Branch.  This is a school that I frequent throughout the year for outreach. The book quickly captured my attention after reading the introduction.  It describes fear while walking home, describing streets and interstate highways that quickly set the stage in west side San Antonio.  The author lets the reader know that we will be reading his story as a middle schooler, while ending each chapter with the present day author writing to his younger self. The story presents fear, anxiety, and nervousness entering new territory, middle school.  Young Lencho enters a world that is unfamiliar and quickly learns to adapt new rituals to stay clear of trouble.  Gang fights, hazing, violence, and uncomfortableness bo...