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Two
Engaging Books for Young Readers
By Holly E. Newton
Books can
evoke emotion, anticipation, imagination — or they can just plain
entertain. Sometimes a book comes along that doesn’t have the gripping
adventure or drama, but wraps around you from the beginning because
the story is so engaging and well written that you instantly feel
a bond with the protagonist. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning
of Life, by Wendy Mass, is a story that fills you with the
need, along with Jeremy Fink, to find the meaning of life.
 A
package has arrived through the mail and Jeremy can’t wait for his
mom to get home from work so he can open it. A beautifully varnished
wooden box has the following inscription on the top: “The Meaning
Of Life: For Jeremy Fink To Open On His
13th Birthday."
The box
is from his father, who died suddenly — and tragically — five years
earlier. His mom indicates that his dad bought this ornate box
— with several locks — at a flea market and placed something very
valuable inside to give to his son when he reached the age of 13.
But Dad died soon after he put this desire into his will.
Jeremy
also finds a letter inside mentioning that the caretaker of this
box has sadly lost the keys to open the box. And so begins the
quest to find the keys that will open and answer the meaning of
life according to his dad. Jeremy has received the box early, as
his birthday is still a month away.
His best
friend, Lizzy, helps him as he goes to flea markets, bazaars, even
sneaking into the office of the person who held on to the box for
so long in order to locate the four different keys needed to open
the box. But all this effort leads to trouble with the law. When
he and Lizzy are caught sneaking around the office illegally, they
are ordered to perform community service as their punishment.
It seems
strange when they are ordered to arrive at Mr. Ozzy Oswald’s home
and follow his instructions by delivering special packages to elderly
people. Nothing about this unusual community service follows the
norm. Jeremy and Lizzy soon discover that the packages they are
delivering are items that senior citizens traded away long ago when
they were young and desperately needing money.
These deliveries
not only leave Jeremy and Lizzy emotional and fulfilled, but undoubtedly
will leave the reader teary-eyed as well. A book is found in one
of the packages. The kids meet an elderly Mrs. Billingsly who traded
a “Winnie-The-Pooh” book signed by the author in exchange for $20.
Mr. Oswald has been saving this book to return to the original owner
after sixty-five years. “She reaches in and pulls out the small
book. She turns it around in her hands, and tentatively opens the
front cover. She reads something written there, then closes it again, hugging it tight to her chest. When
she looks up, her eyes are full of tears. But they are shining,
too.”
These exchanges
help Jeremy and Lizzy learn about how precious memorabilia can be
— but this is only part of the web that Ms. Mass is spinning in
this tale. As the kids set out to locate the keys needed to open
the box by the time Jeremy turns 13, they can’t find all of the
keys they need. But along the way, they ask a scientist, a pawnbroker,
even a tattoo artist what is the meaning of life.
What Jeremy
ultimately discovers, at the end of the book, will completely surprise
you. The twists and turns along the way, along with all that Jeremy
and Lizzy experience, and the wonderful way this exceptional story
is written, will keep you reading all the way to the end. The unique
storyline, with humor sprinkled throughout, and with excellent execution
of plots is reminiscent of Holes, by Louis Sachar.
This book
is bound to win awards! It is perfect for ages 11 years old through
adult.
****
 Do
you remember when you were young and played with the simplest of
objects that, through your imagination, changed into the most amazing
things that took you to the moon and back or floating away to a
deserted island on your boat? Not a Box, written
and illustrated by Antionette Portis, celebrates this activity in
a most creative book.
A simple
black line drawing of a bunny sitting inside a box is the first
picture you’ll see. The text reads, “Why are you sitting in
a box?” The next page has the same black line drawing of the
bunny and the box but now you see a racecar drawn around the box
and the bunny is wearing racing goggles. The imagined extension
is drawn with red and the text reads, “It’s not a box.”
This is
just the beginning of many exciting adventures the bunny is about
to have while sitting inside the box. This clever story is simple,
yet powerful, as it celebrates a youngster’s great imagination and
all of the fun that can be had with simple inexpensive objects.
I also
believe this book opens the minds of adults to the simple pleasures
of childhood. They don’t need electronic devices to create a world
around them. Imagination is a powerful force and this simple book
celebrates how objects lying around the yard or house can become
anything your mind can create.
The book
is ingeniously bound in cardboard and looks like a box — or is it?
It makes the phrase “think outside the box” come alive!
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© 2007
Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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