Review: Tight

Tight by Torrey Maldonado
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I was reading this book, I was reminded of many students I've taught in the past. Those students really could have used a book like this in their lives. Many of them grew up in similar situations to the main character, Bryan: a home in the projects, a parent in and out of jail, and struggling to figure out where they belong. So often, I could see those students straggling an invisible line: they could be smart and well-behaved around certain classmates and teachers, but around peers from home, they had to be so hard. I think that many of those students probably worried about their friends and family thinking they were trying to be better than them by doing well in school and trying to have a different future. I hated seeing them have that internal struggle. I can only recall one student who was adamant that he was going to make a better life for himself, and I hope he did.

Bryan has a very similar internal struggle; he longs for peace and quiet in a very loud and unpredictable environment. His dad often lets his temper get the best of him, and it has put him in jail more than once. Bryan doesn't want to be like his dad, but at the same time, he doesn't want his dad to think he's soft. He pushes himself out of his comfort zone with his new friend Mike who encourages him to do things that aren't exactly legal. Bryan's parents think Mike is a good friend, but they don't see Mike's wild side. When Bryan befriends Big Will, he realizes that there are other kids like him who value peace and calmness. He has to make a difficult decision: stay friends with Mike because they've been so tight or bounce because Mike isn't who he thought he was.

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Review: Grenade

Grenade by Alan Gratz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alan Gratz has historical fiction down pat. He makes events from the past come to life for his readers, and his latest novel, Grenade, is no exception. This story takes place on Okinawa during WWII and is told in the alternating perspectives of a young Okinawan boy, Hideki, and an American Marine, Ray.

Hideki is given two grenades and charged with using one to kill as many Americans as possible and using the other to kill himself. Ray is the son of a WWI vet, so he has seen what war can do to a man. He doesn't want to become used to killing Japanese soldiers and Okinawan civilians, but he has to in order to survive. Hideki doesn't want to become a monster like the Japanese and American soldiers that he is constantly trying to avoid.

This novel truly shows war for what is: death, death, and more death. There are scenes of Okinawan civilians committing mass suicide, body parts being blown off, etc. It's certainly not a lighthearted read. Know your younger students before handing this book to them. Grenade would be a great addition to WWII text sets. I would recommend this book for mature 5th grade students and above. I can see high school history teachers using this book to highlight a battle that students don't typically learn about (at least I didn't).

I loved the alternating perspectives in Refugee; they were so necessary for that book because they helped hammer home the point that history keeps repeating itself. I honestly would have preferred for Grenade to be solely from Hideki's point of view. Ray's story serves a purpose; it shows that both sides really don't want to be fighting and that they all had identities separate from being a soldier. However, I felt like his chapters disrupted the flow for me; I read part two much quicker because it was only in Hideki's point of view. While Grenade may not be as thought-provoking or self-convicting as Refugee, it does offer a front-row seat to the destructive nature of war.


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