Notes from the Midnight Driver

Gr 8 Up—One night, 16-year-old Alex gets the brilliant idea to drive over to his father's house and tell him off for leaving his mother. However, there are a couple of things wrong with this plan. Alex doesn't have a car, so decides to use his mother's. Also, he doesn't have a license and he's spent the evening drinking the vodka that his father left when he moved out. Alex doesn't get far before he crashes the car and winds up on the neighbor's lawn. That's more than enough to get him arrested for drunk driving and sentenced to community service as a volunteer companion of sorts for Solomon Lewis, a resident at a local nursing home. Sol is a cantankerous emphysema patient who has driven away countless past volunteers. What seems at first like a horrible match—the first words out of Sol's mouth are insults about Alex's posture and intellect—becomes a strong relationship when the two bond over jazz guitar music. Jordan Sonnenblick's story (Scholastic, 2009) unfolds through Alex's first person narration. Narrator Peter Berkrot provides a clear and well-paced performance as the teen. He successfully navigates the more difficult role of Sol, complete with his crotchety personality, Yiddish sayings, and health problems (wheezing, coughing, and difficulty breathing). Listeners are treated to a story of friendship, love, and forgiveness told with humor and heart.—Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL