A Star is Born

November 26, 2012
The third installment in Myers’s Cruisers series follows the adventures of Zander—the creator of an alternative high school newspaper called The Cruiser—and his friend LaShonda, who recently won a scholarship because of her theatrical costume design. As high praise and opportunities for LaShonda start rolling in, she finds herself conflicted by a difficult choice she must make—whether to embrace her success or stick with her autistic brother. Narrator Kevin R. Free turns in a solid performance in this audio edition. His narration is brisk, clear, and captures the fast-paced world of DaVinci Academy. Free also proves adept at vocally differentiating the book’s many characters—from the unctuous assistant principal (with crisp, over-enunciated diction) to the down-to-earth, good-humored Zander and free-willed LaShonda. Free’s rendition of LaShonda is particularly impressive—he vividly renders her excitability and internal turmoil. Ages 9–12. A Scholastic Press hardcover.

July 1, 2012
In the third installment of the series, Myers offers another slice of middle school life at Harlem's Da Vinci Academy for gifted and talented students. For 14-year-old LaShonda Powell, real life is a lot tougher than solving for x and y in algebra class. She's been offered a full scholarship to the Virginia Woolf Society Program for Young Ladies, thanks to her costume designs for the recent class play, and if she completes the program, she'll qualify for future college scholarships. The problem is that LaShonda lives in a group home with her autistic brother, Chris, and the two are inseparable. Narrator Zander Scott understands LaShonda's situation: "You can jump on a scholarship if you're jumping by yourself, but if you have a little brother to take care of, as LaShonda did, things get hard in a hurry." It's a tough issue for a group of middle school students who care for one another and take pride in having one another's backs. Myers has accomplished something special with this series, crafting a seemingly simple story that is really surprisingly rich, handling big themes of friendship, family, education and dreams. This fine volume easily stands on its own, but readers will look forward to the fourth book, already in the works. (Fiction. 9-13)

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July 1, 2012
Grades 5-8 This follow-up to The Cruisers (2010) and Checkmate (2011) extends one of today's smartest middle-grade series. This time out, LaShonda's bold costume designs for her friends' Shakespeare-inspired class play, Act Six, catch the attention of the New York Times, and soon she is offered a scholarship that could get her out of her group home and onto a college track. But that would mean separating from her autistic kid brother. Can the Cruisers band together to hammer out a solution? Well, of course they can, but in Myers' deft hands the plot never feels tidy or preordained. These kids feel, speak, and act in believable ways, giving the series a most welcome, naturalistic feel. Meanwhile, a handful of hard issues ranging from religious freedom to child labor are encountered via classwork and the dueling school newspapers (which, by the way, offer up a great example of passionate but polite political discourse). No monsters or aliens to speak of here, but kids will gobble it up regardless. Appended with the fulland very funnyAct Six. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Five Coretta Scott King Awards, three National Book Award nominations . . . the list goes on and on. Any book by our current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature will be well-read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)