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Notes From the Midnight Driver Paperback – October 1, 2007
Purchase options and add-ons
- Reading age12 years and up
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Lexile measure850L
- Dimensions5.06 x 0.62 x 7.07 inches
- PublisherScholastic Paperbacks
- Publication dateOctober 1, 2007
- ISBN-100439757819
- ISBN-13978-0439757812
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About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Scholastic Paperbacks; Reprint edition (October 1, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0439757819
- ISBN-13 : 978-0439757812
- Reading age : 12 years and up
- Lexile measure : 850L
- Item Weight : 0.017 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.06 x 0.62 x 7.07 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #121,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #190 in Teen & Young Adult Humorous Fiction
- #226 in Teen & Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction
- #2,842 in Children's Friendship Books
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Here's my bio from the paperback version of _Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie_:
"Jordan Sonnenblick attended amazing schools in New York City. Then he went to an incredible Ivy League university and studied very, very hard there. However, due to his careful and well-planned course selection strategies, he emerged in 1991 with a fancy-looking diploma and a breathtaking lack of real-world skills or employability.
Thank goodness for Teach for America, a program which takes new college graduates, puts them through 'teacher boot camp', and places them in teaching positions at schools in teacher shortage areas around the country. Through TFA, Mr. Sonnenblick found his place in the grown-up world, teaching adolescents about the wonders and joys, the truth and beauty, of literature.
Mr. Sonnenblick always wanted to be a writer, too, so one day in 2003 he started in on the book that became Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. This book was inspired by several aspects of the author's real life: like Steven, the main character in the novel, he really plays the drums, he really went through an incredibly awkward year when he was 13, and he really was completely spastic around girls until right around his 21st birthday. The made-up parts of the book are all reflections of the author's basic philosophy, which is that the world is a tough place, so you'd better be kind and laugh a lot.
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie was published by Scholastic Press in 2005 to great acclaim, and was named to several Best of 2005 lists, including the ALA's Teens' Top Ten.
In October 2006, Scholastic will release Mr. Sonnenblick's second novel, Notes from the Midnight Driver, which is about drunk driving, lawn gnomes, divorced parents, a unique old man, and a beautiful girl with deadly hobbies.
Mr. Sonnenblick lives in Bethlehem, PA with the most supportive wife and lovable children he could ever imagine. Plus a lot of drums and guitars in the basement."
I think that pretty much sums it up.
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Have you ever turned on the TV and heard someone who has scored a multi-million dollar lottery jackpot boasting about the skill it took to win? Of course, not! There is no skill involved in buying the winning ticket out of those hundreds of thousands of entries. It's purely the luck of the draw.
Well, I won the lottery as a teenager. A bunch of times. On numerous occasions I drove legally drunk. On special occasions I drove blind drunk. And it turned out that I was one of the few, the chosen, the lucky ones who never hurt themselves or anybody else while in that condition behind the wheel of an unforgiving, speeding mass of metal.
I wasn't good. No, I was lucky. There were back then, and still are, lots of other teens and older folk killing or being killed in this fashion on a daily basis.
And, no, I can't help wondering sometimes where I would be today if the wrong number had suddenly come up for me on one of those long-ago Friday nights.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Gregory will be waiting quite a while now before getting his driver's license. Upset over his parents splitting up and his father moving out, Alex marks the evening of his mother's "first date" by drinking a significant quantity of the vodka his father left behind, finding his mother's keys, and getting behind the wheel of her car. But Alex is a big money lottery winner: The only victims of his near-tragic judgment are Mrs. Wilson's French lawn gnome and the cop whose shoes and walkie-talkie Alex pukes all over after Mom's car comes to rest in Mrs. Wilson's azalea bushes. It's that same cop who delivers the intoxicated, mildly injured teen to the desk sergeant down at the precinct house.
"Then I got the marvy idea that maybe I could just wipe the blood off my head first. I pushed my hair all the way up off my forehead, the alcohol-soaked wipe touched my wound, and I sobered up REAL fast, just as Sarge was putting his cup of steaming liquid on the desk blotter.
" 'Ooooowwwww!' I screamed. Up I jumped. Up jumped my arm. Up jumped the handcuff. Up jumped the desk. Up flew the coffee.
" 'Ooooowwwww! screamed Sarge. Sarge was wet!
"Eventually the sodden mass of paper, blood, wipes, and coffee was disposed of by a guy in rubber gloves. Sarge found a new pair of pants, and came back. He took a really long look at my forehead, the mixture of blood, snot, and tears that was flowing freely across my facial features, and the moist abstract painting that had been his desk blotter, and decided to use a trick which always works for my dad: He would make me Somebody Else's Problem.
"Sarge shouted across the room, 'Call me an ambulance!'
"I couldn't stop myself. 'Okay, you're an ambulance!'
"And so it went, until the paramedics accidentally banged my head against the doorway of the emergency room, and I passed out for good."
Alex is required to atone for his criminal behavior by doing time at the Egbert P. Johnson Memorial Home for the Aged, working with elderly resident Solomon Lewis. Sol is a cantankerous old guy who fires rounds of Yiddish at Alex while inadvertently teaching him to take responsibility for his actions, to learn a little something about the elderly, and to see those things that are right in front of his face.
NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER, the story of Alex Gregory's transformation from a kid who isn't willing to take responsibility for his behavior, is a tale into which Jordan Sonnenblick has deftly folded the stirrings of first love, the tribulations of divorces and new step-siblings, a touch of peer rivalries, a fine-sounding Fender Telecaster, and a satisfyingly graphic portrayal of why teens might not want to get in the habit of smoking cigarettes.
There are some very intense YA novels in print, filled with gory detail, that illustrate the deadly results of drunk driving. This is a much gentler tale that is absolutely perfect for middle school audiences, and is written by a middle school teacher with a keen sense of observation and a superb sense of (middle school) humor.
Moving on, LOVED this book. Wow, Jordan Sonnenblick did such and excellent job blending the funny with the heart wrenching serious. I laughed hysterically, cried with my whole self and completely fell in love with Alex Gregory. The humor is so well balanced with the heavy emotions and serious topic matter, that the story never lags and keeps the reader engrossed from start to finish. The characters are likable, well developed and undeniably relatable. I hadn't expected to like this book as much as I did, but it's truly a powerful must read, with a strong message done is such a way that readers of all ages will enjoy.
Okay, I have to admit, I did find some parts are cheesy now that I reread it as an adult. But I think it's just my oldness showing! LOL!
What I liked most about this book is that this was written when I was a teen (that was about twelve years ago), and yet reading it now still doesn't make any difference. What I mean is, it's still relevant if I read it now, or if I read it later twenty years from now. This book has achieved being timeless. It's still going to be a great book even if my future kids would read it. And I always applaud books that makes themselves immortal through time.
I also just want to give props to the narrator for all the Polish/Yiddish pronunciations that I can never get right. He also definitely gave such awkward realistic emotions to Alex. Very well done!
Other than that, just read (or listen) to it yourself to realize how awesome this book is. I definitely agree to this book being a "Tuesdays with Morrie for teens." But sometimes, I think it's such a different thing.
I had a couple of such events, so it was easy for me to identify with the turmoil of Alex, a mild mannered boy. How he was pissed off with his emerging life, his maiden attempt at confrontation which ended with a mandatory social service. Life sucks. But wait, it gets worse when the person he is supposed to assist turns out to be a pretty vicious character, out to destroy whatever spine was left in him.
And that is where Alex develops a deeper understanding about relationships, the futility of carrying a grouse through the life and the meaning of true forgiveness. Yes, he gets a harsh tutor, but he manages to bring out the best in him, makes him a much more sensitive and caring human being. Towards the end, one gets confused as to who was supposed to assist whom, and brings out the true character of symbiosis.
This is the first work of Jordan I read and was quite touched by his style of writing. He nimbly moves from humour to pathos , seemingly merging the two. He manage to touch me deep inside but did it in quite a flipping manner. His sense of humour was just right, not too much over the top. It was very refreshing indeed.
I would highly recommend all to give this a try, while I go over to read his other works.