Blank Confession

Shayne Blank walks into the police station and confesses to having killed someone.  How could this quiet, unassuming new kid in town be a murderer? The other kids don't understand him. He's not afraid of anything. He seems too smart. And his background doesn't add up.

This is a compelling mystery from the National Book Award winner Pete Hautman.  As I was reading this novel, I couldn’t help think about Robert Cormier’s Rag and Bone Shop.  In Rag and Bone, a young girl was murdered, and the town brought in a high profile, ambitious interrogator who had a perfect record in getting confessions from criminals.  In Pete Hautman’s “Blank Confession”, the confession comes voluntarily from Shayne, who tells his story to Detective Rawls, a tired detective who has his own baggage.  

There are so many good themes explored in this short novel – bullying, drug dealers, self-esteem and truth.  The story alternates between the detective’s point of view and Mikey’s point of view.  Mikey is the smallest kid in his class. He’s a suit-wearing grade eleven student, who is always bullied, and who Shayne ends up defending.  Mikey’s sister hangs out with a tough crowd, and when one of her friends gives Mikey a bag of drugs for safekeeping, Mikey throws it away.  And that’s when the trouble starts.  

This is a great page-turner and a quick read.  Intermediate students will enjoy the richly drawn characters, and the twists and turns in this fast-paced murder mystery.

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Wonder

 “I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.”

August Pullman, also known as Auggie, is a 10yr old boy who has a severe facial disformity, which has prevented him from going to a mainstream school – until now.  Auggie doesn’t want to go to school, but his mother is determined that he should try before he reaches middle school.  How can Auggie fit into this new school, when kids stare, whisper about him, or try to avoid looking at him?  Even though he’s used to people’s reaction to him, he still wants them to see that inside, he’s just the same as they are. 

Auggie has a loving family and a good sense of humour.  But that’s not always enough to get through the day without feeling like you’d rather be invisible.  There was so much I loved about this book.  I loved the authentic characters – his classmates and family, who were flawed, but went through a change.  I love the changes that Auggie went through too.  I love how the author told the story through the perspective of several characters.  I loved his English teacher who gave the class a precept for each month of the year.  I love the main precept which was “choose to be kinder than necessary”. 

 I read most of this novel on the Polar Bear Express train on my way to Moosonee.   Luckily (and I’m not exaggerating) everyone on that train was sleeping.  I say lucky, because I cried through most of the second half of this novel.  There were so many lines that I wanted to write down as I was reading this. “Wonder” is my favourite novel so far, for 2012.  Buy this one. You won’t be disappointed.  I will be re-reading this one for sure!

Reviewed by Maria Martella.

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