Racing in the Rain

Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog 
by Garth Stein

Enzo is a dog that longs to be a human.   He tells the story of his life with his owner Denny.   In the first chapter, Enzo is an old dog suffering through life.  He then takes us back to the day he met Denny and walks us back to the present many years after they met.


While reading we discover that Enzo loves to watch TV and that Denny is an aspiring race car driver. We meet Denny's wife Eve and their daughter Zoe.  We watch Eve die and Denny battle Eve's parents for custody of Zoe. Throughout it all, Enzo offers his insights on life and tries to help Denny, Eve, and Zoe as much as a dog who lacks the ability to speak can.


I couldn't put the book down and read it's 278 pages over the course of three work nights after putting my children to bed.  I had to find out what happened to Enzo, to Denny, and to little Zoe.  I'm glad I finished because the last chapter, which is really an epilogue, is quite touching and turns the story's semi-sad ending into a magical/mystical moment.


Since the content is so heavy and the reading level is high I would only recommend this book to mature and competent fifth grade readers. When I first picked up the book I noticed the cute puppy on the cover and the age recommendation of 8-12 on the back so I figured it was a cute kids' story.  But as I read this book, and discovered the heavy duty topics covered, like: parental death, custody battles, and child neglect,  I kept wondering why this was published as a children's book and not for adults.  Then three quarters of the way through I final noticed a note on the front cover, "A Special Adaptation for Young Readers."  


While it is very deep, it is also a beautiful story and would make a great book for a parent and child to read together.  A teacher that I work with and admire, often says deep books "are a way for children to deal with the difficulties of life in the safety of a book."  Racing in the Rain does that.

First Published: 2011

Reading Level: Above average fifth grader - reading level and content

Genre: Realistic Fiction (Even though Enzo, the dog, tells the story everything that happened could have happened))

Locations: classroom library, Grace A. Dow, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble

The Tower Treasure

The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon is the first Hardy Boys mystery.  The brothers, Joe and Frank, set off to find the Applegate's, a really rich eccentric Bayport family, stolen jewels and securities in order to clear their good friend Slim's dad from being arrested for the crime. The Hardy boys are tenacious and never give up even though many of their efforts to find the thief prove fruitless.

One thing I found very surprising was how involved their father was in helping attempt to solve the mystery.  I say attempt to solve the mystery, but this is book one of the Hardy Boys series, so you can probably guess the eventually outcome, even though I won't say what the actual outcome is. Now back to Joe and Frank's dad, Fenton Hardy is a world class detective.  He actually does a lot of the leg work involved in finding  the missing treasure.  With out his help, the outcome of the story would have been much different than it was.

While reading this book, you can't help but like the Hardy boys. Not only do they never give up but they are also extremely nice to their friends and respectful of their parents and other elders, except for Detective Smuff, whom they tend to mock a little bit. I would too because his name reminds me of Smurf and I kept picturing him as a little blue guy, but that isn't why Joe and Frank mocked him.  Smurfs didn't exist back in 1927, the Hardys just didn't respect Smuff.

In order to solve the mystery of the missing jewels and securities, (Oops I said I wasn't going to spoil the outcome, but come on it is the Hardy Boys and you know what's going to happen.) Joe and Frank did some top notch detective work.  I had closely predicted the eventual solution, but the way it was actually solved surprised even me.  The Hardy Boys and their dogged determination allowed them to solve the case and clear their good friend Slim's dad name.

Once again I would recommend the book.  It is a great mystery and with it's all ages story line perfect for young readers.  It can be found in our school library under the title: The Best of the Hardy Boys.  It is available for purchase at amazon.com.

Reading Level: Slightly above average fifth grade reader

Genre: Mystery

The Secret of the Old Clock

Since this is my first blog posting about a book, I decided to write about one of the newest books on the market, The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene.  I'm just joking, it's not a new book but it is the book I'm writing about today.

The Secret of the Old Clock is the first book in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series.  Surprisingly, I had never read a Nancy Drew or a Hardy Boys book before.  My dad had encouraged me to read them when I was a kid and his approval was their kiss of death. I love my dad, but his book ideas weren't impressive.  My mom took me to book shops and libraries.  In all honesty, if my mother had recommended them I probably would have read them.  With that said, I need to apologize to my dad.  "Dad, I should have read these books sooner."

Now back to the point, The Secret of the Old Clock starring Nancy Drew is a good book.  Even though the book is 80 + years old, with somewhat hokey dialogue, this mystery seemed timeless. There were characters you rooted for: Nancy, her dad, little Judy, and the Hoover sisters; and characters you rooted against: the whole Topham family. The mystery kept you wondering, was there a second will that spread
Josiah Crowley's wealth out among multiple families, or was the will that gave everything to the Tophams the only will?  Nancy's determination to find the second will and help the needy families connected to Josiah Crowley that she met throughout the book made you root for and like her.  Finally, Nancy faced down danger on multiple occasions. With all that, my one year old daughter will be reading this book in 10 years and her children will be reading it once they exist.

I would recommend this book.  It is a fun mystery.   It is available in my school library and can be purchased from Amazon.com.

Reading level: Slightly above average fifth grade reader

Genre: Mystery