"Beaker's gang had a reputation for rearranging faces. I just wanted to get out of there in one piece." Filled with action, 14-year-old Cody's terse first-person narrative tells of his struggle to resist a dangerous gang. To prove themselves worthy of being members, he and his friends are ordered to steal a local park bench, and at first, Cody goes along with the theft. Then he learns that the bench has a placard in memory of his kind teacher's parent. Cody's own parents seem like zombies as they grieve for his older brother, and Cody, too, struggles to confront his loss, even as he connects with a girl he likes and gets a job on the school newspaper. This Orca Currents title packs in a lot of issues for one small paperback, but reluctant readers, especially, will be hooked as the tension builds, and the realistic story, which avoids a slick resolution, will spark discussion.

Following the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill, eleven-year-old aspiring ornithologist and "bird artist" Bouler created paintings in exchange for donations to the clean-up effort. Here she shares her love of birding, her own conservation efforts, and ways for others to take action. Though content is a little sparse, the book's message and design--including impressive original sketches--will successfully reach young environmentalists. Websites.

Gr 7 Up-Cody and his friends are coerced by members of his brother's gang to perform what seems like a harmless prank: steal a bench from the local park. After the boys pull off the feat, Cody realizes that the bench was a memorial to his favorite teacher's father. To make matters worse, he is asked to cover the story for his school newspaper. When the gang members approach Cody and his friends again, they begin to understand that they are headed down a one-way street toward trouble. Tension mounts when Cody decides to confess the crime to his teacher and the newspaper editor. He must then find a way to make amends with his teacher, report the story fairly, and withdraw from the gang's violent pressure. Though reluctant readers may find themselves caught up in a situation beyond Cody's control, they may be disappointed in the ending as the boy's troubles neatly resolve themselves. Stilted dialogue and regional colloquialisms will turn off others. Inner city readers with their own gang experiences may cry, "Foul!" since Cody's encounters don't seem authentic. The overt moral will finish off the rest. Benched needs to remain benched, er, shelved. H. H. Henderson, Heritage Middle School, Deltona, FL