PICTURE BOOK - Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece by Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the author

2014, G.P. Putnam's Sons

HC $17.99 Borrowed from TPPL

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.16  (234 ratings)

My rating: 4

Endpapers: Solid Red

Dedication:  In loving memory of Thomas Wayne and Joseph Tranchina

Preface:  "It was another September.  All new classes, and a teacher I already knew I was going to live - my English teacher, Mr. Tranchina.  He was funny and really cool!  He woke something up in me.  By the third week I was reading like a crazy person -- more than I ever had -- and writing, poems and stories and essays.
     But then one day he asked us to read an essay on our families in front of the whole class."

1^st line/s:  "My worst nightmare had come true when, after a few days of school, Mr. Tranchina asked me to read my essay out loud."

My comments:  I wonder if Patricia Polacco has journals she kept from her childhood and young adult years?  Her memories seem so strong!  However, even with a flickering memory, a clever writer can embellish the remembered details and craft a story...and Polacco is the master of this.  So many of her wonderful picture books are based on her own memories, and here's another.  
     I love the idea that PEOPLE can be masterpieces, which is the premise of this story - taking a very shy girl and teaching her how to come out of herself on stage, and ultimately speaking in front of a very large crowd.
     This is a great model for teaching writing to kids, AND for kids with stage fright.

Goodreads:  In this inspiring true story, beloved artist Patricia Polacco conquers her fear of public speaking, allowing her to discover her remarkable voice. A wonderful companion to Thank You, Mr. Falker and The Art of Miss Chew, it celebrates the lifelong impact of a great teacher.
        Speaking in front of an audience terrifies Trisha. Ending up in Mr. Wayne’s drama class is the last thing she wants! But Mr. Wayne gives her a backstage role painting scenery for the winter play. As she paints, she listens to the cast rehearse, memorizing their lines without even realizing it. Then, days before opening night, the lead actress suddenly moves away, and Trisha is the only other person who knows her part. Will the play have to be canceled? It won’t be an easy road—when Trisha tries to recite the lines in front of the cast, nothing comes out! But Mr. Wayne won’t let her give up, and with his coaching, Trisha is able to become one of his true masterpieces.

48. Songs For a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson

2007 Source Books
245 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 8-2-2014
Goodreads rating: 3.80
My rating:  3/Liked it
TPPL
Contemporary San Andreas, CA

1st sentence/s:  "My dad named me Calle after a cat he had in ollege that ran away.  He really loved that cat.  I always thought that was funny since he was the one who ran away from me...and my mom."

My comments: This was a quick, interesting read.  There is one female protagonist and a number of minor characters - and the characters seem quite well developed.  The three major "players" in the book are all troubled kids whose jumbled up thoughts and "troubles" come directly from effed up parents. The ending was a bit too convenient, but I'm not complaining.

Goodreads book summary:  What is the soundtrack of your life?         
          After living in twelve places in eight years, Calle Smith finds herself in Andreas Bay, California, at the start of ninth grade. Another new home, another new school...Calle knows better than to put down roots. Her song journal keeps her moving to her own soundtrack, bouncing through a world best kept at a distance.          
          Yet before she knows it, friends creep in-as does an unlikely boy with a secret. Calle is torn over what may be her first chance at love. With all that she's hiding and all that she wants, can she find something lasting beyond music? And will she ever discover why she and her mother have been running in the first place?

51. Talk - Kathe Koja

Frances Foster (FS&G), 2005

Young Adult 940L

134 pgs.

Rating: 4

Told in two voices in alternating chapters, we hear from the two leads in a high school play - Kit, his first time EVER acting, thinking he's been acting his whole life, and Lindsay, drama star and first class b----- ummmm---- mean girl. Kit has a crush on a trumpet player named Pablo and she has a crush on Kit. The play is controversial, the school board shuts it down and the cast and director take it to another venue.

Many issues raised here - being gay and "in the closet", how do you let your parents and friends know, how to you act upon it, how do you live with homophobic slurs, how do you convince a self-centered snob who has a crush on you that she's not what you'd ever be interested in? What does the future hold for these two seniors?

61. Maybe - Brent Runyon

For: Older YA (Gr 9+)
Published: 2006
196 pgs.
Rating: 4
Finished Monday, Dec. 15, 2008

Brian's older brother has died, we slowly find out how. Brian's grief is locked inside himself, and we follow his life and his thoughts as his family moves to an affluent area in Virginia. Here he becomes a junior at his new high school, finds a group of friends - they happen to be in the drama department - and he even gets a part in a play. We are very much in his head in this book, sharing his thoughts, his yearnings and his misgivings. His first...his only...thoughts about each girl he meets is sex, and he goes out with them whether he likes them or not, hoping, hoping...... He's really quite messed up. We are with him as he gets his license, meets new people, even sit in on his classes with him. And slowly, slowly he gets to face his brother's death and get on with his life.

I went up and down about my feelings about this book. I wasn't crazy about the protagonist, but the book is really well written, and I do feel like I was in Brian's head. Brian's screwed up head. You do end the book thinking he's going to be okay - but it's because he finally finds a female that he likes for herself. Where will this take him? Will his fickle feelings return so that he'll have to begin all over? We can only guess!