Notes from the Midnight Driver

NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER; Jordan Sonnenblick; Scholastic; 2006; Young Adult; 272pp.
Good kid Alex Gregory is so upset over his parents' divorce that he gets likkered up, steals his mom's car, and heads to his father's girlfriend's house to demand satisfaction. Unfortunately he lurches into a neighbor's yard, beheads a lawn gnome, and winds up doing 100 hours of public service for a cranky old man at a retirement home. Notes from a Midnight Driver has many familiar elements: Alex is horrified by Sol's mocking behavior, and by his Yiddish
name-calling. By and by he and Sol start getting along, find a common interest, and Alex grows up. What distinguishes this book from others of its kind is its laugh-out-loud good humor. Alex and his friend Joanie are a couple of big-league crack-ups, and Alex's growing understanding of what it means to be compassionate and responsible is nourishing indeed.

LW