Ordinary Friends

I think it's important to have different types of friends. Sometimes, having a friend that's really different from you can let you discover new things about yourself that you might not otherwise have found out. Friends can help you find new activities and likes/dislikes, but sometimes if you go too far outside your comfort zone, you can get lost. So, it's also nice to have friends that you share a lot in common with, to help you stay grounded and feel comfortable. I'm not sure if I'd call any of my friends "ordinary", though. Maybe Dan is just a bit shy, so no one ever really gets a chance to get to know him, so that's why Jason refers to him as "ordinary". I do have some friends like that. They might seem ordinary to other people, but not to me! Ellen

Ordinary Friends

Early in the book, Jason says, "Dan Grant is my ordinary friend. Everybody should have at least one ordinary friend, and Dan is as ordinary as they come. He is so ordinary that most people have to meet him six or seven times before they remember his name." Do you find that you have different kinds of friends? Is one or more of them what you would call "ordinary?"

Should kids read books like Godless?

Some parents are not comfortable with their kids reading books that challenge or question their beliefs. What do you think? Is it harmful for kids to read books or watch movies that tell stories of people who are questioning or going against their parents?

Stacy's review of this month's book: Godless by Pete Hautman

Godless is a funny, tense, suspenseful book about a bored, nerdy teenager who, on the spur of the moment, to irritate his church youth group leader, invents a new religion that worships the town water tower, because "Water is life." A motley collection of other kids join in worshipping the "Ten-legged One," mostly as a lark, but Jason Bock's best friend, Shin, starts to take the religion and his role as the First Keeper of the Sacred Text too seriously. As he writes the Chutengodian bible he begins to channel the Ten-legged One, speaking in a deep, authoritative voice that is definitely not his normal self. The group begins to have ceremonies which involve midnight excursions climbing to the top of the tower. Of course, events spiral out of control, and the consequences are more serious than any of them could have predicted. This book was the Winner of the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Review by Stacy Church

This month's book: Godless by Pete Hautman

What Pete Hautman has to say about Godless:

"A FEW THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...
What sort of book is Godless? It's a coming-of-age story, a comedy, a tragedy, a drama, an adventure. I've been told that the title makes it sound like a scary, violent tale about someone or something evil. It is not. My intention was never to equate godlessness with evil. They are not the same thing at all. I was thinking of the temporary godlessness that descends upon a person who is actively searching for his or her faith. Maybe I should have called it "Churchless."
Godless is neither pro- nor anti-religion. The main character, Jason Bock, is Roman Catholic, but he could as easily be Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim.
Godless is not about God. It doesn't weigh in on the existence or nature of a Supreme Being. It is not about which religion is the truest, or the best. It's about how people--teenagers in particular--deal with the questions that arise when their faith has been shaken.
If you strip away the whole religion thing, Godless is about a big fat nerdy kid named Jason Bock who has an excess of smarts and imagination, and his relationship with his even nerdier snail-collecting best friend Shin.
Godless is about the power of ideas--Jason conceives the Chutengodian religion, he sets it in motion, but he is unprepared for the consequences. This is a latch-key teenage moment--our first conscious realization that the expression of our own beliefs can have a huge impact on the beliefs of others--especially our friends. It's about discovering personal power, and the heady experience of plying it.*

The Closer and Burn Notice

I am so happy that the new season has started for my 2 favorite TV shows, The Closer (TNT Mondays at 9), and Burn Notice (USA Thursdays at 10). The Closer is a police show starring Kyra Sedgwick as LAPD Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. I like pretty much everything about this show: the characters are great (Brenda Leigh is from the South, and she has the funniest way of saying, "Thank you, thank you very much," when she's told people to do things they don't want to do); the cases are interesting and exciting (there's plenty of blowing things up and smacking people around); and the ongoing plot line involving Brenda's romance with Fritz, an FBI agent, is alway entertaining. If you haven't watched this show before, and you get hooked on it, you might want to check out the DVD sets of the first three seasons from the library.

Burn Notice is another adventure show, but instead of police, the main character, Michael, is an ex-FBI agent who was "burned" by the agency, dumped in Miami with his bank accounts frozen and no chance of ever working for the government again. What he does have are a lot of skills as a spy, and an ex-IRA agent who loves to blow things up as an ex-girlfriend, and a best friend who is a washed-up ex-military intelligence operative who started out keeping an eye on Michael for the feds. Does it sound complicated? It is. Each episode involves a case that Michael takes on to earn money and help out some poor unfortunate who's being taken advantage of by the mob or some other criminals, and also the progress Michael makes in trying to find out who "burned" him and why. The cast is excellent, and includes Sharon Gless as his cigarette-smoking, wise-cracking mother. Take a look at Ask a Spy: http://www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice/video/spytips/index.html