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Title: Click: One Novel, Ten Authors; by David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones; Arthur A. Levine Books, October 2007, ISBN-10: 0-43941138-6, ISBN-13: 978-0-439-41138-7.

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, ages 12 and up, grades 7 and up.

Characters: Margaret ‘Maggie’ Keane Henshler, Jason Keane Henshler, George ‘Gee’ Keane, Annie Lunsden, Brendan Murphy, Dr. Kronski, Lev, Gina Henshelr, Frank Henshelr, Chantel, Jacqueline, Vincent Sheils, Frankie Shepherd, Jasmine ‘Min’, Jiro, Taro, Afela, and Iona.

Plot: George ‘Gee’ Keane has passed away, but he has left behind a few autographed photos, a box of shells, many secrets, and many mysteries. Maggie Henshler is in Junior High, and her favorite person in the world, Grandpa Gee, has passed away. He left her a special box of shells with a note that says to throw them all back; it is a gift that will last a lifetime. Jason is mad, he just wants to get out of town, and go and live with his father in the Caribbean . Jasmine has a secret and by letting Jason take photographs of her with a broken, jagged, piece of glass; she realizes that this is a secret she needs to tell. Annie is special and she knows it. Is she really who she thinks she is? Or is she something else? Maggie is trying to remember Gee because she is afraid that she will forget about him. She finds pictures of victims from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and is fascinated by them. Jiro’s brother was a soldier fighting for the Japanese in WWII. When Jiro’s brother, Taro, is injured in battle Jiro is convinced that he will hate the Americans. Gee is in Japan to photograph victims from the war, when Taro has been . Jiro soon learns that he has nothing to fear of the Americans.

Maggie has found a bunch of pictures of a mysterious woman and soon finds out that her grandpa may have had a secret wife, Jacqueline, and a secret daughter, Chantel, hidden in France . Vincent and Frankie are two kids that enjoy getting into trouble. When Gee comes to town they take him to the stadium where Muhammad Ali is going to fight later that night. Jumping over barbed wire surrounding the stadium, the cops spot them, but they are left alone because Vincent was hurt. The boys were taken to Vincent’s house where his grandmother predicted that Gee would have two Grandchildren named Margaret and Jason. Afela is just a young girl who wants to be left alone and sometimes wants the attention that she doesn’t get. When Afela’s brother’s dog attacks a lady on the beach, Afela is asked to throw a shell back, she is unsure about what she is doing, but she trusts that she is doing something right. Margaret is now very old and is still trying to get all of the shells back into the right seas. She is traveling with Jason’s granddaughter, Iona , and leaves the rest of Gee’s life long gift to her niece.

Touchy Areas: There is swearing and the book deals with death. Also, there is mention of a gruesome dog that attacks one of the characters.

Related Titles: (from Amazon.com search) The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Music: When You’re Gone, by Avril Lavigne—the song is about losing someone you love very much, and I think it fits well with Maggie and Gee’s relationship.

Evaluation: This book has a great story, it may seem like it would be hard to follow, but it flows great. I really liked this book and I would definitely recommend it to everyone I know. I would rate this book a 9 out of 10.

Reviewed By: Katie from Virginia

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