Customer Reviews

Mind Games

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book. I am so impressed with the author's prowess, using so many different voices (no easy feat), and so cleverly using a science fair experiment to talk about many important things in the world from a seventh grade point of view. This is a creative and original work and a very fresh voice in children's literature. I am still wiping the tears from my eyes and hoping that, like the kids in this story, the author goes on to win a lot of prizes.

MIND GAMES brilliantly juxtaposes the voices of six different seventh graders as they attempt to solve their science premise along with their relationaships with each other.

With precise language, featuring an economy of words, the author deftly moves from one character to the other in this tightly woven novel.

The imaginative format found both inside and outside the book itself add immediately to its charm and originality.

Jeanne Marie Grunwell is master of her material with each sentence of each paragraph on every page. The varied format, including exhibits, adds interest. The characters are neither simple nor stereotypical. Each is an individual with distinct needs to be met. The resolution is gratifying and complete.

Personally, I have rarely been so moved by such excellence in a novel which may be aimed at a middle grade audience, but is profoundly satisfying for the 'older' reader as well.

Every middle school student has to sign up for an extra class, called Club. Some clubs are athletic, like basketball, and some are for crafts or for putting together the school's television news program. All of the students in this book, though, chose or got stuck with mad science for their club time. Their club teacher tells them that they will use their club time to come up with a group project that they will be able to enter in the science fair.

Right away there is tension. Brandon doesn't want to be in the science club at all. His grandmother is the school's principal and she thinks this will be better for him than basketball. Marina has recently arrived from Russia and didn't really understand what she was signing up to do. Kathleen, a student with serious learning disabilities, was having a crisis when it was time to choose, and her identical twin Claire was handling the crisis, so they were stuck in the science club by default. Ji joined the club by choice, as did Ben, who is very intense about science and impatient with the rest of his group members.

After some initial conflict, the group settles down to do their project on ESP, attempting to figure out if there is such a thing and, if so, how it works. Through their work together it becomes clear that there is some serious tension between Ji and Claire, who used to be best friends. There has always been tension between Claire and Kathleen, the result of Claire feeling like she constantly has to take care of her sister. Ben and Brandon both have family problems, and Marina is doing all that she can just to follow along with what is going on. Will this group be able to pull it together and come up with a project for the science fair?

I liked having the different points of view of the different characters in this book; it helped me to see the ways in which they all related to each other. I especially liked seeing the relationship between Claire and Kathleen develop and get a little better.

Although I liked having the different points of view, I thought I could have learned a lot more from a different writing format--the science report didn't leave much room for personal comments, even though the characters included them.

Mind Games is a book all about 6 seventh grade students who are doing a school project exploring ESP. The kids decide to purchase some lottery tickets to test their ideas on ESP! The end up winning $500 and winning first place in the county fair for their prject! The book is very unusual. It includes charts, newspaper clippings, and test data.

The book moved at a fast pace. The story was written well and it kept the readers attention. It was very unique. The cover is designed to look like a writing notebook instead of a regular book. This will draw a young reader in.

The book is great for kids who are interested in mystery and science.

"Mind Games", by new author Jeanne Marie Grunwell, is simply superb. This is one of those books that you won't want to put down, and will read in one sitting. An inviting mixture of colorful characters, an involving story line(..a school project exploring ESP..), all presented with a true ease of writing style. Young people will relate with the middle school students here, as they embark on a most adventurous exploration. "Mind Games" is sure to interest readers for years to come--it's the kind of book I loved as a young adult..and still do! I can't wait for the movie version!