Bone by bone by bone (by Tony Johnston)
Tony Johnston’s Bone by Bone by Bone sketches what it was like to grow up in the 1950s is Tennessee in an atmosphere of racial inequality, tension and outright hatred. David is 10, has a best friends who’s black, Malcolm, and a racist dad who threatens to kill Malcolm if he even sets a foot in the house. Bone by Bone by Bone will undoubtedly be compared to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, but it misses the urgency and poignancy of that powerful novel. Moreover, the characterization of the side character leaves a lot to be desired, as does the undeveloped ending.
2.5 stars
Heist Society (by Ally Carter)
Another book that has a perfect movie counterpart is Ally Carter’s Heist Society, which could be best described as Ocean’s Eleven with teens in the lead roles. Obviously this means you have to get past the ludicrous premise that a couple of 15 and 16-year-olds would have the means, not to mention the opportunity to travel all over the world (Unaccompanied Minors much?) to steal all that important art. Anyway, once past that, the book is fairly enjoyable.
Katharina Bishop comes from a family of conmen and thieves. At 15 she’s ready to put that life behind her, but alas, an emergency involving her dad, a couple of lost paintings and a mysterious villain call her back to her old tricks and she sets up her very own “heist society” to make things better for her dad again. Ally Carter hasn’t really sold me on the third person authorial narrator, though. Especially not because almost ever chapter starts in the *exact same way* (E.g. Kat didn’t know it yet but… or “She would later realize that…”). Anyway, fun while it last, but nothing more…
PS. There are however a few too many typos in this editions!
3 stars
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