Story Time

Anderson, J. (2017). Midnight at the Electric. HarperCollins. ISBN-10: 9780062393548. Jodi Lynn Anderson’s creation of Midnight at the Electric will leave readers captivated from beginning to end. The setting takes places in the future of 2065 with Adri Ortiz as a chosen colonist for Mars. She’s been waiting for this moment her entire life. She is smart, witty, and has no connections to people on Earth since she’s been in foster care all her life. Her attitude has never helped her make friends either. Adri is ready to leave Earth behind and start a new life in another planet. Before her mission to Mars, her team’s director gives her one last assignment on Earth. She has to spend a few months with her long lost, 107-year-old, cousin in Canaan, Texas, close to the Wichita science facility where she will be training. Her director wants her to have some closure before the journey of no return. When Adri arrives at the house, she is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland.

Alexie, S. and Forney, E. (2007). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian . Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN-13: 9780316013697. Sherman Alexie writes a semi-autobiographical novel about, Arnold Spirit Jr., a 14-year-old teenage boy living in the Spokane Indian Reservation. Ellen Forney does an incredible job at illustrating Arnold’s comics throughout the story. It serves as a journey into the mind of the main character. The story starts with a detailed description of Arnold’s physicality and major issues. He was born a hydrocephalic, which caused a larger head, vision problems, an over-growth of teeth, and a stutter and lisp problem. He grew up being the victim of name-calling, bullying, harassment, and demoralization. His parents are drunks, his sister is in a deep depression, and his best friend is the biggest bully in the reservation. His true and loyal friend, Oscar the dog, dies because they are too poor to afford the vet. Arnold suffers in a poverty-st