From Ant to Eagle

March 1, 2017
Cal's little brother is diagnosed with cancer just as Cal's magical summer of friendship with a girl his own age comes to a close.In a first-person narrative set in 1995 near London, Ontario, white, 11-year-old Cal Sinclair describes the change in his relationship with 6-year-old Sammy and his new friendship with Aleta Alvarado. Cal, an avid Goosebumps reader, is an inventive tormentor of his brother, bribing Sammy with "levels" of achievement--Ant to Eagle--for missions like wasps'-nest bothering. Cal is determined to befriend the new girl at church. Aleta, who intensely mourns her deceased mother, is from Mexico (Cal describes her speech as "sing-songy, pretty with only a slight accent"). Cal and Aleta form a strong bond that leaves Sammy behind. When at summer's end Sammy's bruises and exhaustion are given a diagnosis--leukemia--Cal is devastated and contrite. A course of chemotherapy turns into what Oliver, an older, long-term patient in the children's cancer ward, calls the "cancer crumble": arguments between Cal's parents that emerge along with despair even before the unhappy diagnosis and recommendation of palliative care come through. Lyttle's voice for Cal is appealingly direct and articulate, if occasionally outsized--"I imagined a place of absent hair matching absent smiles, cries and moans haunting dark halls and darker rooms"--and his account of his struggle to cope will appeal to readers. Tender, direct, and honest. (Historical fiction. 9-12)

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March 1, 2017

Gr 5-8-Calvin Sinclair spends the summer before sixth grade challenging his six-year-old brother Sammy to earn "levels" by completing tasks such as collecting a jar of ants or sinking 100 baskets. Each level, named for an animal (such as Snail for mowing the lawn and Fox for showing bravery), is documented in a journal as Sammy strives to move closer to Calvin's Eagle status. When a new girl, Aleta Alvarado, moves to town, Sammy is pushed aside as Calvin and Aleta bond over their shared love of "Goosebumps" books and adventures to their "Secret Spot," an area in the fields between their houses that offers a view of Lake Huron. During this time, Sammy has been feeling tired and sick, leading to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia. Calvin feels guilty and wants to protect his younger brother from the cancer as his parents struggle to deal with the crisis in their own ways. VERDICT An honest portrayal of love, loss, and friendship in the face of a life-changing journey; hand to those who appreciated Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia or Jordan Sonnenblick's Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.-Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga Public Library System, OH

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