Notes from the Midnight Driver

Notes from the Midnight Driver, by Jordan Sonnenblick, is also from the 2008 Best Books for Young Adults list. I enjoyed reading this book very much. I laughed. I cried. To me, that’s the mark of a great book right there. I believe this book would appeal to teens for many reasons. First, it has a teen, Alex, committing a crime, getting arrested, and subsequently being taunted about it at school. Most teens can relate to at least some of that. Then it has humor throughout the book, particularly in the interactions between Alex and Sol, who he visits at a nursing home for community service. It realistically depicts a variety of interpersonal relationships that teens could relate to - parent and child, parent-to-parent, best friend, new friend, and people who annoy you. Finally, the book has a very satisfying ending that comes after a lot of hard work, particularly for Alex and Sol. I think this book would be a great choice for male readers, because of the male point of view. Most of it was written in first person narrative, with the addition of a handful of letters that Alex wrote to the Judge who assigned him to do community service at a nursing home, and her replies to him. There was a lot of humor in these letters as well. We got a surprise at the end that the Judge was Sol’s estranged daughter. That was a nice touch that female readers would especially appreciate.