The plot of this book is hard to describe. It follows the lives of 6 or so young teenagers, all of whom are looking for love and friendship and a place to belong. Their lives criss cross in a myriad of important and unimportant ways. Some of the characters find what they are looking for, some don’t, and some merely don’t recognize what they’ve found when they find it. I reached the end of the book thinking that I had just begun to understand how the characters were linked, and also feeling that I had missed some things and should read it again.

First Blood is an under-statement. This book is better called Everyone’s Blood because basically everyone dies a really gruesome death in this story. The basic plot is that Rambo, a disturbed, homeless Vietnam vet decides he’s sick of being pushed from town to town, and decides to stand his ground against a stubborn Chief of Police. Of course, much violence ensues, which leads to even more violence, etc. I haven’t ever seen a Rambo movie, so I don’t know how the plot of the book compares with the movies. Morrell’s signature highly-trained, survivalist main character is present in Rambo, but there’s none of the espionage or horror elements that his more recent books have included.

I first discovered Snelling’s books when I read her series Red River of the North. This was classic “pioneer fiction” and I absolutely loved it. It fell under the genre of Inspirational Fiction, but there was no cheesy, fake, “inspirational” atmosphere in the series. Unfortunately, as Snelling began to delve further into the genre, and began to crank out books at an unbelievable speed, her books took on the typical “All of us Christians love each other, get along and have great lives serving the Lord in a meaningful, yet unusual way, in spite of our quickly solved problems” tone. This book was no exception. I won’t even summarize the plot, as I don’t recommend you read it.

When 14 year old Trixie is raped by a friend at a party, her life is torn apart, and her family is shocked. Both her father, Daniel, and her mother, Laura, come together to care for their daughter and seek justice for the crime commited against her. As is typical with Picoult’s books, she sets up what looks like a cut and dry plot with an obvious bad guy, and then begins to taunt you with facts and alternative points of view that don’t fit the crime as you know it. However, if you are familiar with Picoult’s writing, this won’t surprise you, and neither will the true identity of the culprit.

The one unique feature of this novel is the mini-graphic novel that is inserted throughout. Trixie’s father is a cartoonist, and his “novel” appears throughout the book. The plot of his graphic novel correlates and explains what is happening in the main novel. And at the end, Picoult gives the reader a puzzle to solve based on the cartoons, which seems a bit childish, but of course, I couldn’t resist figuring it out.

My recent re-reading of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn inspired me to re-read another of Smith’s books-Joy in the Morning. This book follows the first year of marriage for a young couple. Annie and Carl married against their parents’ wishes, while Carl was still trying to make his way through school. Although very young and without a formal education, Annie is determined to make a good life for her and Carl. She easily makes friends with the people around her, she does her best to make their home beautiful, she supports Carl’s studies, and even begins reading, studying and writing on her own. Gradually, she develops from an insecure young house-wife to a competent, educated partner. I love this book for its simplicity, positive spirit, and of course, for the way it stresses the importance of education.

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