Notes From the Midnight Driver

oie - I read the book, Notes From the Midnight Driver, by Jordan Sonnenblick. This book is about a 16 year old boy who has to do community service because of drunk and underage driving. He gets assigned to help an old man, Sol, who is living in a old folks home. Alex is supposed to make Sol happy, but he has no idea how. When Alex brings in his guitar to play for Sol, he learns that Sol used to play concerts every weekend. Alex decides that they should do a concert together. He learns a lot about music from Sol. I think this book is very good. I really like all the details and how the book makes feel like you are in the story. An example is when Alex visits Sol in the senior home, you feel like you could join the conversation and hang out with them. An internal conflict in the book is when Alex creates a band with a pianist and a drummer. Alex feels like he will never be as good as they are, and that he shouldn't play in the concert they were planning. An external conflict in the book is when Alex's friend, Laurie, gets in a fight with her mom because her mom is pregnant but Laurie isn't happy about it. Another external conflict is that Alex has drunk driving on his record, and has to fulfill his community service. This is a realistic fiction book because all the events that happen in it could happen in real life. This book is good for anyone to read, especially if you play in a band, or like stories about helping the elderly. I thought it was a good story and I think most people would think so too!

Starred review from September 18, 2006
Sonnenblick revisits several key themes from his debut novel, Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie
, to even greater effect here. Narrator Alex Gregory starts off by describing his maiden drinking episode: getting drunk alone, hijacking his mother's car in order to drive to his father's house and give the man a piece of his mind (his parents are separated), and taking an unplanned detour into a neighbor's yard, destroying a lawn gnome. What begins as humor takes on darker implications as the book progresses. Not because Alex has a drinking problem (he never takes another sip in the course of the book), but because of a drunk driver's impact on Sol Lewis, the resident of a nursing home to whom Alex is assigned by Judge J. Trent as part of his community service for his crime. Like Steven's Annette in Drums
, Alex's female best friend, Laurie, sticks by him throughout this challenging time. And Sol, who starts out crotchety, turns out to be much wiser below the surface, and far more complicated. He even suggests to Alex that there may be more to the teen's relationship with Laurie than friendship. The bond that guitar-playing forges between Alex and Sol serves not only to make them peers musically, but also personally, allowing Sol to reveal his own past. While readers may figure out the significance of Alex's judge to the broader story before the hero does, they will likely find the ending no less satisfying. Ages 12-up.