Tracy Mack

Rory, a young artist, idolizes her father, who is a professional artist. But when she walks in on her father kissing the woman who is modeling for him, her world is rocked. She refused to talk to him afterward, and soon he leaves the family. Neither Rory nor her mother are getting along all right, and Rory won't even talk to her best friend about it, or the school art teacher who so admires her work.
Divorce and its affect on children is a topic that is relevant to so many, and yet doesn't seem to be a frequent subject of middle grade novels. I applaud Mack for tackling it. I would have liked more three-dimensional portrayals of both of Rory's parents; the reader doesn't get to know either of them very well. Rory is painfully self-absorbed. To a degree, I think most middle school age kids are self-absorbed and self-focused, but Rory never seems to give a thought to what either of her parents are actually going through, or her best friend, and she never really does. The conclusion of the book does not involve her growing particularly in that respect.… (meer)

Birdland
Opinion--
If I were to rate this book it would be a 9-10. This reason is because it’s not the book I expect the story to be really good. This book is about Jed and Flyer. They are filming a documentary of their neighborhood until they run into someone that can help Jed. Jed’s brother Zeke died young and he is trying to connect to his brother. Zeke died of diabetes. Zeke was in a band before he died and he was called Bird.
Summary—
Jed and Flyer are out in their town filming a documentary. They went from Avenue A to Avenue B and so on. After that they went into the subway to get some money from playing music. They didn’t get much. Then a drunken guy came up and talks crap about their music so they left. On their way out Jed noticed a girl who he thinks can help him connect to Zeke. Later on Jed and Kiki (the girl) become good friends and he helps her. He helps her get into school and he lets her live with him. They go to school and they present the documentary to the class and his brothers poems.… (meer)