Title: Odd Man OutAuthor: Sarah Ellis
Publish Date: February 2008
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Pages: 162pp
ISBN: 0888997035
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: Grade 5-8
Annotation: After being sent to spend the summer with his grandmother after his mom remarries, Kip finds a notebook that belonged to his father as a teenager (who passed away) that helps him find out more about himself the more he reads it.
Summary: With his mom on her honeymoon, Kip is forced to spend the summer with his grandmother and surrounded by his cousin (who are all girls)! He has a hard time feeling himself in this time of change as well as being surrounded by this unusual and uncomfortable situation. But then he finds a notebook that belonged to his late dad when he was a teen. Naturally he becomes engrossed in the story in the notebook. But what's more he may finally begin to understand his place as well as more about who he really is and where he may be going.
Reading Log: This book is a thoughtful story about the growing up, changing, and facing who you are despite adversity. Almost all teenage boys and girls feel the pains growing up, but Kip has some specially difficult things to face and it is a great book for relating to sensitive issues. I love the idea of a visual history!
Website on Groundwood Books: http://www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_titles.cfm?pub_id=1135
