Doris Buchanan Smith, A Taste of Blackberries (1973) & Philippa Pearce, Bubble & Squeak (1978)

When I was in grade school, it was popular to order books from Scholastic. We'd browse the catelog & choose our books. Our parents would write the check, & our teacher would place the order. Weeks later, the books would come in & we'd all pass them around the classroom in excitement. I couldn't wait to get home & start reading.

Two of those books have stayed with me over the years, traveling from house to house, state to state with me. One of them was A Taste of Blackberries, a touching story of a boy's friend who dies of a bee sting & how the boy deals with the loss. I'm not sure why this book resonanted with me when I was 12 years old. I hadn't lost any friends & all of my relatives were still alive. Still, I remember treasuring this book as a tween, & I've kept it ever since. Rereading it now, I still really like the story, & would recommend it to any kid, whether they've experienced a loss or not.


The other Scholastic book that I kept was Bubble & Squeak. I wound up naming my own gerbils after this story. Even though I didn't remember much of the plot, I kept the book on my shelf to remind me of my little gerbil friends. Now, after reading the story again, I realize that it's not such a good influence on a kid. The mother is sneaky, the children manipulative, & the step-father is complacent. I would not recommend this book for a sprouting teenager.

Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die (1998)

A 24-year-old woman decides to commit suicide, not because she's depressed or lonely, but because she feels that she's contributed all that she can to the world & thinks it would be a waste of everyone's time if she continued living. So she takes four bottles of sleeping pills. Of course the attempt fails, & she winds up in a mental institution, where they tell her that, although she survived her attempt, she only has one week to live because she has damaged her heart beyond repair. The rest of the story chronicles her week at the crazy house & the life lessons she learns while there.

I loved Coelho's The Alchemist & so I was looking forward to reading Veronika. In both novels he tells a story to make a point. In The Alchemist, he encourages us to follow our dreams. In Veronika, he gives us reason to believe that life is worth living. Coelho's style is easy, yet profound. He really does have a point.