AJ Dunn Reads

  Where the Red Fern Grows By Wilson Rawls My yearly re-read of this lovely book, which follows Billy Colman as he lusts after a pair of hunting dogs, saves up money to get them, teaches them how to hunt, and has his adventures with them before the sad conclusion which claims both lives of the dogs. I, of course, cried my eyes out. Now that I have personally known the love of, and for, a pair of beautiful dogs it hit home in a different way. I'll always love this story. 5 stars, naturally.

  Rick by Alex Gino Rick Ramsey is starting middle school. For a few years he's been best friends with Jeff, a not-so-nice to other kids video game buddy, and the kid who punched George (now Melissa) in the stomach in the fourth grade. Rick lives with his parents. His older sister just left for college, following their older brother. The two older siblings used to spend Sundays with their grandfather in turn, and now the task has fallen to Rick. He thinks it's going to be boring, but he finds that he and his grandfather have common interests and get along really well. At school, a new club called Spectrum is introduced to Rick in a science class. Rick feels funny. He is always ducking comments made by Jeff and his father about girls. "Or boys," his father knows he should include in the comments. Rick's parents are pretty progressive. But Rick doesn't ever think about girls or boys that way, and he wonders if there's something wrong with him. In secret, bec...

  George by Alex Gino George is a fourth-grader who desperately wants to play Charlotte in the school play of Charlott'es Web. The only problem is that the part will only be given to a girl and everyone thinks that George is a boy. But George knows she's a girl. George is bullied in school by Jeff and Rick who pick on George and call him a girl and a freak. George's friend, Kelly, also doesn't understand that she's really a girl uncomfortable in her boy's body. Living with her mother and older brother, Scott, George hides "girl's magazines" and looks at them in secret, afraid that if they are found, her mother will know her secret, which she is ashamed to let be known. When auditions for the play come around George and Kelly both read for the part. George's teacher tells her she has to be a girl in order to get the part. George is crushed and decides not to accept any part, but to be one of the crew members. Throughout the story George comes ou...