If A Tree Falls at Lunch Period

Today I finished Gennifer Choldenko's If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. I absolutley HAD to read this one as I loved her book, Al Capone Does My Shirts. I will preface by saying it didn't hit me AS HARD as Al Capone, but I did like it, and I think teens will enjoy it as well. I especially liked that it SO wonderfully hits junior high/high school right to the heart - Choldenko knows teens and that comes through so brilliantly in this novel. It shows how mean kids can be to each other and yet, how sometimes goodness wins out!! It also brings up the sometimes-touchy issue of race and there again, Choldenko brings up the subject with ease - not being preachy, but certainly getting her point across. I came to love Kirsten, the main character, and think she is a wonderfully strong female character. She befriends a black boy at her, very white, school and that is the beginning of a close friendship - with a hint of surprise. It is fast moving and switches narrators with each chapter - either Kirsten or Walk, her black friend. Thank you, Gennifer for another moving novel!