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The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones by Wendelin Van DraanenISBN: 1101940417
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on October 25th 2016
Genres: Bullying, Emotions & Feelings, Family, Friendship, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Social Issues
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Award-winning author Wendelin Van Draanen gives us a brilliantly fresh and funny story about a boy learning to become the brave hero of his own life. Perfect for fans of Counting by 7sand The Fourteenth Goldfish.
My secret life is filled with psychic vampires, wheelchair zombies, chain-rattlin’ ghosts, and a one-eyed cat. But they’re nothing compared to my real-life stalker: a sixth-grade girl named Kandi Kain. . . .
Lincoln Jones is always working on the latest story he’s got going in his notebook. Those stories are his refuge. A place where the hero always prevails and the bad guy goes to jail. Real life is messy and complicated, so Lincoln sticks to fiction and keeps to himself. Which works fine until a nosy girl at his new school starts prying into his private business. She wants to know what he’s writing, where he disappears to after school, and why he never talks to anybody. . . .
The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones is a terrifically funny and poignant story about a boy finding the courage to get to know the real characters all around him—and to let them know him.
About The Author
Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series, and wrote Flipped which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ, and became a Warner Brothers feature film with Rob Reiner directing. Her novel The Running Dream was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.
Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. The Gecko & Sticky books, are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers, and the Shredderman books—featuring a boy who deals with a bully—received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and became a Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie.
Van Draanen was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.
MY THOUGHTS
Lincoln Jones and his mother have made a narrow escape from an abusive relationship and found a new home, job, and school. Since they don’t know anyone there and Lincoln is only eleven, he must go to the dementia nursing home where his mother works every day after school. As Lincoln gets to know the residents of the nursing home, he actually becomes to discover a lot about himself.
The school is a challenge for him because there are bullies on the bus and he tries to just ignore them by writing fictional stories about superheroes. He gets lost in his thoughts so he can block out all of the tauntings. That is until a girl named Kandi Kane (she brings her birth certificate everywhere) tries to bring him out of his shell and dispatches the bullies quickly. As Lincoln tries to cut her off, she opens up to him and they both discover that they are not that different.
This was a very emotional read for me and the fact that Lincoln was always so on guard and hides his feelings to survive. The story of his past comes out in tiny doses but what they add up to is quite devastating. The characters all rang true and the story is one all kids can relate too. Although his teacher really doesn’t make an appearance until almost the last chapter, she bring the story full circle.
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