Feathers
by Jacqueline Woodson
2007

Frannie's sixth grade class changes when "Jesus boy" comes from across the highway and becomes the only white boy in her class. Frannie's been fixated on the idea of hope after reading an Emily Dickinson poem in class, and somehow Jesus boy gets tied into this ideal. Maintaining this hope sometimes is difficult as Frannie reflects on the way that girls treat her deaf brother, and as she thinks about her mother's miscarriages.

Woodson's writing is fine as always, although not a whole lot happens in this skinnyish chapter book. It's kind of a peculiar scene, on the one side of a 1970s Brooklyn highway, but the author sets it well. While the school is all black kids, a range of social classes are represented and the growing consciousness of the kids about this fact is well represented. There is also significant musing on religious themes, but that's not surprising with a character de facto named Jesus boy. A nice book but not so tightly gripping as Woodson's more prominent work.

Night Journeys
by Avi

Peter Yorke is orphaned; he and his inheritance, a horse named Jumper are adopted by the town's Justice of the Peace. This man, a Quaker, solemn in demeanor to the point of near silence, governs Peter's life. Peter longs for excitement and soon finds some: word is, indentured servants have run away and the landowner is offering a weighty reward for their return. Peter begs to be involved, not understanding his master's reluctance to participate. After getting his way, Peter manages to bungle his role in the pursuit. Despite his mistakes, Peter soon finds himself the first to find a runaway. He's surprised to learn that it's a girl younger than he is; this new development causes him to question his role in the pursuit.