A hitch in my plan

I am unable to review the SCBAN books with any regularity from this point forward, as they are in high demand from the students who are actually required to read them. I will continue to post reviews of other books in the Lexington County Public Library System. But not today.

Spinelli Forever! (or not, 'cause even protons die)

Smiles to Go, by Jerry Spinelli--Will Tuppence has every thing planned. He will accomplish his goals, then die, and live on forever as the protons that make up his body spread around the universe. Then he learns that protons, the one constant in the universe, do in fact die. They flash out of existence. Suddenly, life is full of uncertainty.

His faith shaken, Will begins to see every thing and everyone around him in a different light. Even his life-long friendship with BT and Mi-Su is changing.

Jerry Spinelli has drawn his characters to be memorable, not entirely predictable. This means there are times you don't like them, even Will. There are times you find their actions and motivations questionable and the results and consequences either lacking or unrealistic. If you think about real life, though, you don't always like everything your friends do, and there are not always appropriate results and consequences. Good decisions do not always produce happy outcomes. Bad decisions do not always produce negative outcomes.

I really enjoyed this book, and it is prompting me to want to read Mr. Spinelli's other works, such as Stargirl.