If you want to play a useful role in your community, don’t wait to be invited. Volunteer your time, talents, and abilities. Identify something you think needs changing, then work to change it. Lobby for (or against) ordinances or laws. Help create or update a community or neighbourhood Web page. Campaign for a candidate whose ideas you believe in. Side benefit: Life becomes more interesting when you’re out in the world.
When I was about 12 I read The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and was entranced by an adventure in which brave men found themselves having to cope with dinosaurs. After all, though dinosaurs ahve a prehistoric reality, they somehow contrive to be fabulous too. Jurassic Park gets off to a scary beginning and is able to call on modern genetics to give a science fiction credibility to the dinosaurs in this story, but at heart it has a lot in common with Conan Doyle’s original fantasy. A park intended to display recreated dinosaurs has been scientifically contrived but inevitably things go wrong and once again brave men have adventures as they confront prehistoric monsters.
Reviewed by Margaret Mahy
Got time on your hands? Maybe it doesn’t seem that way to you, with school and chores and friends and sports and clubs and other commitments. Or maybe you spend most of your life on the computer, on the phone, or in front of the TV. How much time are you wasting on things that don’t really matter? Think about spending one hour each day helping someone, somewhere - around the house, in your neighbourhood, at school, in the community. Your life will be more meaningful and your self-esteem will soar.
Growing up is never easy, but for ten-year-old David it’s more difficult than for most. His parents’ marriage break ups and he has a bunch of awkward relations to deal with. but luckily David has superpowers - or so he thinks. He also finds he’s attracted to John, the older boy down the road.
Strangeboy is a delightfully tender, funny and honest account of a childhood spent in the north east of England in the 1970s - and immensely readable. All the characters are sympathetically drawn and you may discover that, as origianl a creation as David is, you find lots in him to identify with - especially if you’ve ever felt slightly on the outside of things.
Reviewed by Sherry Ashworth
There’s someone you’ve been friends with forever - maybe since you were little kids. Lately, though, your friend has been making bad choices. You want to be there for your friend, and you still care, but you’re worried that some of those choices might affect you. Try talking with your friend. See if he or she is willing to listen and maybe get help. If not, it might be time for you to back away. (If your friend is in trouble, tell an adult.)
14+
Scout was in grammar school when it happened - the thing that rocked her family and divided her sleepy Southern town. She is a patient storyteller, telling of the odd neighbours down the block with their dark history; Her life in a single-parent household; the angst of a Southern girl who doesn’t have it in her to be a lady. And then there’s her father, Atticus. If you’re looking for father figures, like I was as a teenager, he’s your man. This book changed my life and continues to challenge me as a writer and a reader. It introduced me to characters of honour who stood for their ideals despite raging injustice. This is a stunning story about childhood colliding with ignorance and prejudice, and the grace people need to build a better world.
Reviewed by Joan Bauer
If you want your school to be a more caring place, then be more caring yourself. Learn the names of as many students as you can. Smile and say hi when you see them in the corriders, in the cafeteria, at games. Be nice to kids who seem isolated or lonely. Stick up for kids who are bullied or teased. If your school has a peer helping program, get involved.
