This book would have gotten a higher rating if I had liked the David parts better. The perspective in those sections annoyed me. I realize why Lisle did it, to make the story of Reuben less confusing, but I didn't like it at all.

My personal pick for the best illustrated book of last year.

Maine Student Book Award Nominee 2010-2011

I picked up this book because it had been languishing on the display at my library. I really enjoyed it. It tells the story of a kid, Julian Carter-Li, who has been sent to live with his Uncle Sibley for the summer while his mother is in China. Sibley and his wife are NOT happy to have him and have a ridiculous point system that is pretty much designed for Julian to fail. When Julian gets sent home sick from school and is left for hours in his uncle's office, he discovers an email from a girl named Robin, who claims his uncle is going to clear-cut some old-growth redwood forest. Julian and his friend Danny become pen-pals with Robin and from there, come up with a plan to try to save the forest trees from his Uncle Sibley. Will they succeed when adults don't seem to care as much as they do?

This book goes along pretty well until the end, where it all gets tied up rather neatly and a bit too unbelievably for my tastes. Other than that, it's a good story about the impact a small group of people, even kids, can have.

I am always disturbed by what we humans will do to each other out of hatred, fear and ignorance. It also makes me wonder if I too possess some of these qualities and what would cause them to come out. How many times do I do something unknowingly? Is every time I don't speak out a small act of violence on it's own?

The other thing that really disturbed me about this book is that some of the reasoning, some of the plotting sounds almost reasonable and is rhetoric I hear today from people I wouldn't necessarily consider to be prejudiced. I know the KKK is not as big as it used to be, but the insidious thoughts still exist.