Notes From The Midnight Driver
by Jordan Sonnenblick
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 285)
Read in January, 2007
After Sonnenblick's incredibly touching first book, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, I was wondering if his second book would make me feel as much as his first book did. I am happy to report, I gained even more from this book.
Alex is your average high school junior--anticipating getting his driver's license, worring about the SATs, dealing with family and girl issues. That is until he decapitates his neighbor's lawn gnome after getting drunk on his absentee father's vodka and sealing his mot...more
Alex is your average high school junior--anticipating getting his driver's license, worring about the SATs, dealing with family and girl issues. That is until he decapitates his neighbor's lawn gnome after getting drunk on his absentee father's vodka and sealing his mot...more
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Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
Come ride along with Alex. Frustrated by his parent's divorce, Alex "borrows" his mother's car to pay a surprise visit to his father, who just happens to be dating Alex's former third-grade teacher. To work up the courage for this visit, Alex has had a bit too much to drink. His midnight drive ends in the neighbor's yard and involves a decapitated lawn gnome and vomit on a police officer's shoes.
Communi...more
Come ride along with Alex. Frustrated by his parent's divorce, Alex "borrows" his mother's car to pay a surprise visit to his father, who just happens to be dating Alex's former third-grade teacher. To work up the courage for this visit, Alex has had a bit too much to drink. His midnight drive ends in the neighbor's yard and involves a decapitated lawn gnome and vomit on a police officer's shoes.
Communi...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
6th-10th graders
I had put off reading this book for a while--the cover really didn't appeal--but I'm trying to read all of the books on this year's Lone Star Reading List, so I finally picked it up. Alex Gregory is a 16-year-old boy trying to deal with his divorced parents. On the night his mother goes out on a date for the first time since their divorce, Alex decides to get drunk on the vodka his father left behind and then drive to his father's house and tell him what he thinks of him. It doesn't end well,...more
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Notes From the Midnight Driver is such a laugh-out-loud-until-your-sides-hurt type of funny. This book is about a sixteen-year-old boy named Alex who gets sentenced to volunteer at an old peoples’ home because he was drunk while driving. Once he starts volunteering at the home, he really hates it. The man he must visit with, Mr. Solomon Lewis, is an irritable, stubborn Yiddish man who constantly insults Alex in the foreign language. Alex and Sol (Mr. Lewis) start to build a bridge through Jazz...more
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Read in July, 2007
Alex Gregory has made a huge mistake. During one night of desperate anger at his parents' divorce, he drunkenly crashes his dad's new car into a neighbor's lawn, decapitating her lawn gnome. As punishment, Alex is assigned to do community service at a nursing home. In particular, he's assigned to spend time with the King of Crotchety Old Men, Solomon Lewis. At first, Alex hates Sol more than he can adequately express, but his pleas to be reassigned are diverted and Alex slowly comes to realize t...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
teens
After drinking what is left of his absent father's liquor, stealing and crashing his mother's car in the process of which he beheads a garden gnome, Alex Gregory is sentenced to community service at the local nursing home so he can learn some “valuable life lessons.” He winds up having to spend time with cranky Sol Lewis, who is suffering from emphysema but has a very interesting and surprising past, which will help Alex with his own guitar playing. The notes of the title come into play whe...more
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Read in June, 2007
At the beginning of this book, Alex does a really stupid thing. Of course, at the time, he thought it was a brilliant idea to take his mother's car keys and drive over to his father's house to catch him with the woman he blames for breaking up his parents' marriage. It didn't occur to him that not having a driver's license and worse, having drunk a fair amount of his father's vodka, made it a really bad idea. Luckily the only casualties were the neighbor's lawn gnome and a policeman's shiny b...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Bryant by:
My Teacherrecommends it for: Teens, Young Adults
Notes to the Midnight Driver, by Jordan Sonnenblick, shows the consequences (or in this case life lesson) of drinking and driving. A young teen named Alex Gregory who gets in trouble for DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) and goes onto someones lawn and totally demolishes a lawn gnome. He then has to serve 100 hours to community service helping out at an old folks home. From catering to an old Jewish mans needs to finding out if he loves his best friend to wondering if his mom and dad will get alon...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
high school aged guys and girls
This book is all about what happens when it seems your life is falling apart and you do something really stupid to reach out, but then, you have to face the consequences of your stupidity. And, if all is right with the universe, you actually get your life back on track and learn a few important life lessons in the process. There were a few laugh-out-loud moments and many heartfelt ball-your-eyes-out chapters at the end. This is definitely a good guy book for grades 8+, but girls will love it, to...more
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Read in January, 2008
I just really love Jordan Sonnenblick's characters--they are very sarcastic, and yet genuine in their "nonplussed" (that one's for Rory) and interesting predicaments. The relationship between the teenage boy and the old dying man is so fabulous--odd, sweet, humiliating, funny, and richly complex. This is also a super quick read and not very depressing at all considering his books deal with chronic illness and death.
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Read in December, 2007
I loved the role of coincidence in Sonnenblick's story. What a great opening Alex running into a yard gnome - drunk, mad at his dad. A truly believable mixed up teen. His community service is helping a grouchy elder man in a nursing home who is connected to another character. I like how music creates their connection and brings the community together. A great ya choice.
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
young adults
This is definitely a "learn a lesson", feel good young adult book, but hey sometimes thats just what we all need. I don't know about you but teen angst has always been entertaining to me, and this of course provides plenty of it. I appreciated all the Jazz tie ins, I completely agree with the author that music can bring unlikely people together.
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
Another book from Sonnenblick, the master of emotional roller coasters. I laughed and cried at the same time while reading this offering about a teenager convicted of drunk driving who is sentenced to serve community service at an elderly care facility.
It is nice to see that band geeks finally have a champion in Sonnenblick, too.
It is nice to see that band geeks finally have a champion in Sonnenblick, too.
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
ages 12 and up
Decent teen guy story about a kid being assigned to a grouchy old guy at the nursing home as community service after drunkenly crashing his dad's car into the neighbor's yard. He learns a lot from the old guy, who is a retired musician, and the old guy reconciles with his family, that kind of story.
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Read in July, 2008
Both funny and touching, Sonnenblick has a knack for creating characters you immediately sympathize and root for. With more laugh out loud moments that you can count on one hand (tough family), the stories mesh and flow smoothly to a beautiful end, a grand tribute to his grandfather and father.
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Read in January, 2008
Funny tale of a teenager who gets drunk and runs over a garden knome. He is sentenced to community service at a retirement home. He is assigned the most asinine man calls him vulgar names in Yiddish. Hilarious coming-of-age story. You will leave the story taking meaning from it.
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Read in June, 2008
This book was great...the author really has the voice of teenagers down. Although his other book, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie was a read aloud for my 5th and 6th graders, this book has more mature themes that wouldn't be appropriate, but still has a good message.
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Read in October, 2007
Contains a good message for teens about redemption through spending time with the elderly. Totally makes up for the decapitated garden gnome that was victim to the drunk driving incident. I preferred this author's other book, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.
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My personal favorite Sonnenblick, Notes From The Midnight Driver is hilariously funny, but also serious at times. A wonderfull mix of the two with a good plot and a stuid boy who learns a lesson. Good in my mind.
(Plus Sonnenblick can do no wrong.)
(Plus Sonnenblick can do no wrong.)
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Read in June, 2008
I found myself laughing out loud as I read the story of Alex and his building relaitonship with Sol, a bitter old man living in a nursing home. Alex is sentenced to volunteer at the home and is assigned to Sol. I will look for more by Sonnenblink.
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