by Chris Baron
If Middle School isn’t tough enough, Sasha also suffers from a condition that can, at times, get him into trouble. At first, Sasha seems to be a typical albeit shy middle schooler preoccupied with video games and texting his friend; however, we immediately learn that Sasha suffers extreme anxiety, which he tries to cope with through playing Earthfordge and watching YouTube videos for hours on end. This means of ‘escape through technology’ is not working, however. When Sasha is overwhelmed by anxiety, he goes to “the gray”, a place where he zones out and can hurt those around him. It is when Sasha enters “the gray” at school and beats a bully that his parents decide to take away all of his technology and send him to stay with his aunt out in the country. Sasha loves his aunt and does have fond memories of visiting his aunt and uncle until his uncle died two years ago. But his mom says his aunt “will look after [him] if [he’s] having a hard time,” and maybe he could “watch over her too”.
Throughout his visit, Sasha encounters several people, some of whom will become close friends and confidants and others who are just like the bullies he left at school. Through these encounters, Sasha learns that others around him encounter heart-wrenching life events that cause anxiety in them as well. Can he remember to manage his own “gray” while helping those he has begun to care for?
It is a wonderful novel that deals with anxiety in youth honestly and straightforwardly. Its characters are interesting and relatable, and it possesses many moments of suspense that propel the plot. A great addition to any middle schoolers’ reading list!!
When Giants Burn
by Beth Vrabel
This novel is told in alternate chapters from the point of view of two different characters. Gerty lives with her mother, father and little sister in a cabin “off the grid”. Her parents are survivalists, and her father is especially suspicious of the government and is ready to pack up and move at a moment’s notice. Gerty misses the life they had before when they celebrated Christmas, had reliable running water, and she didn’t have to sneak around to visit her pilot Grandmother. In fact, Gerty and her grandmother have a secret: they are building an ultralight airplane. Gerty is obsessed with flying and is considering joining the civilian air patrol (CAP). Still, with the types of parents she has, doing so looks highly impossible.
Our other narrator is Hayes. Hayes’s mother has just been released from prison, and he is trying to do everything he can not to end up like her. He is especially suspicious and fears she may commit another crime when his mom invites one of her friends, a past inmate, to visit.
Gerty and Hayes meet in the school counselor’s office when she attempts to help them build social skills, but neither kid is receptive to the idea. It is when Gerty shares her secret plans of building her plane and visiting Pando, an intricate system of trees originating from one organism believed to be one of the oldest on earth (Google Pando, it’s fascinating!!!) that two of them form a friendship that will prove to one essential to the survival of them both.
A fast paced book full of adventure. One of my favourite Middle School reads this summer.
Ink And Spine 