Leavitt, Amie Jane. Stories From Those Who Fought in America’s Special Ops.

Leavitt, Amie Jane.  Stories From Those Who Fought in America’s Special Ops.  Capstone Publishers  2017  48p  $21.99  ISBN 978-1-5157-1851-2  ms  Series: US Special Ops.   Nonfiction  E-BN

Amie Jane Leavitt’s approach to America’s Special Ops is engaging, well-organized, and well-documented.  The length is perfect for a middle-school reader -- each story is brief but is told in such a way that the reader feels immediately immersed in the mission being explored.  The images are beautiful -- some are based on works of art, but most are actual photographs that significantly aid the comprehension and engagement of the reader.  In most of the stories, Leavitt allows the soldiers to tell of their missions and their experiences in their own words, using snippets of interviews that are all documented at the close of the book.  For many of these interviews, a link is provided to the original source that allows the reader to further explore the content.  This is one book in a four-book set that explores U.S. Special Ops. This book would be an excellent addition to a middle-school or upper-elementary library. 

Summary: In Stories from Those who Fought in America’s Special Ops, author Amie Jane Leavitt gives her readers a glance into specific operations at key points in history. She begins with the earliest special operations on American soil in the French and Indian War, and takes the reader through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWII, rescue missions of modern Special Forces, and closes with the well-known capture of Osama bin Laden.     

Special Ops                                                                                                                 --Michele Nass

Leavitt, Martine. Calvin.

Leavitt, Martine.  Calvin.  Macmillan/Farrar Strauss  2015  181p  $17.99      ISBN 978-0-374-38073-1  hs/adult  Realistic fiction  E-BN    

What a treat to read a book in which word choice has been carefully thought out so the result is concise, lyrical, and full of WOW moments. Calvin’s journey is told as a letter to Bill Watterson with “play” dialogue interspersed, including blank space after a character’s name to indicate a silent reply. Calvin knows he was named for the comic strip character from “Calvin and Hobbes”. The reader enters Calvin’s genius-level mind as he contemplates things such as school courses that provide no real foundation for practical living, bullies, sophisticated math, brain neurology, and possibly the most inexplicable -- the mystery of love.  Calvin, seventeen years old, knows that if he could just get his hero/nemesis Bill Watterson to do one more Calvin cartoon without Hobbes, his schizophrenia would disappear and he would be “normal”.  Calvin sets out with Hobbes and Susie to accompany him as he treks across Lake Erie to the shores of Cleveland where he knows Watterson will be waiting for him. How much is reality and how much fact (another concept he puzzles through with amazing insight) is left for the reader to discern. Possibly only true “Calvin and Hobbes” fans, and many are getting on in age, will get all the references to the cartoon, but Calvin’s journey is fascinating regardless of the age of the reader. Brilliant writing. Gr 8+

Strongly recommended for high-school and adult readers. The journey into Calvin’s schizophrenic mind is fascinating to encounter, with many facts bumping up against reality, something we all face to some degree.   

Summary: Travel with Calvin, newly diagnosed with schizophrenia, as he sets out across a frozen lake to meet his hero/nemesis Bill Watterson, creator of the “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip. Concise, articulate writing with brilliant moments of humor and insight. Gr. 8-12+  

Schizophrenia-Fiction                                             --Lois McNicol

Leavitt, Martine. My Book of Life by Angel.

Leavitt, Martine.  My Book of Life by Angel.             Farrar Strauss see Macmillan Children's Publishing Group 246p                $17.99  978-0-374-35123-6          2012      jr/sr                  E-BN    Realistic fiction                    

Angel thought living at home after her mother passed away was intolerable until she ran away with her boyfriend Call, who turned out to be a pimp!  Then she knew what it meant to regret leaving her safe home.  Now without the possibility of ever going home again, Angel must make the best of a terrible situation.  At first she takes drugs that Call calls “candy”.  It makes meeting with the men easier to bear.  But then she realizes that this not the life she wants, and she begins to move away from the “candy”.  She is only 16 years old but she feels like an old, old woman, and every part of her body hurts.  Then Call brings home Melli, an 11-year-old! That is when she decides to take control of her life as well as Melli’s.  Angel’s life take on an urgency to save Melli at all costs, even if it means her own life is lost.

 
This is a story told in poetry, building in intensity as it moves toward the climax.  It is shocking and yet compelling.  You will not be able to put it down until the end.  It is a must-read for all ages.                  

Runaways-Fiction, Prostitution-Fiction                                                                                     --Magna Diaz