FINISHED:

Clements, Andrew. (2000). The janitor's boy. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster.

[Jack's school district is in the middle of a big building switch while new facilities are being built forcing Jack to spend this next school year at the school where his dad is one of the janitors. After being teased about the fact after his father says "Hello" to him around school (once while mopping up vomit...), Jack decides to get back at dad by sticking the largest wad of gum to the underside of a desk in the music room. The deed is traced back to Jack and he, as punishment, has to stay after school for an hour scraping dried gum wads from desks all around school. Jack, though, finds a cabinet of keys in the janitor's room and finds his way into a steam pipe that smells like watermelon bubblegum... This is a fun one, though not my favorite, from Clements which actually mines some touching emotional territory when Jack begins to spend more time with his father and hears stories about his father being in the service and the good deeds he has done for others. A good one for boys with strained father-son relationships.]

STARTED:
Stewart, Trenton Lee. (2008). The mysterious Benedict Society and the perilous journey. New York: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown and Company.

[I've been sitting on this one for months. It's time that I read it so that I can get it back to the library and let someone else read it.]

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