Man it is hot out there today! Steve is working on trying to get one running lawnmower out of two rusted old things. We have been to Home Depot twice today for parts. Now he is trying to create a "patch" so he can put the wheel back on - most of the side is rusted out. I told him to let our landlord buy a new mower but this has now become a challenge! So what if the tools and parts cost more than a cheap lawnmower!

When I saw that Eddie De Oliveira wrote Johnny Hazzard I decided to give him another chance. I really did not care for his first book, Lucky. I really wanted to like Lucky because it is upper level YA - about a 19-year-old questioning his sexuality. Sam, the main character, finally decides that sexuality is like a Venn diagram since he, and the guy he likes, also like girls. It wasn't the subject matter that I didn't like and I did enjoy the gritty Brit humor and language. It was the main character Sam I didn't like - he was more than a bit too whiney for me. The same thing is true of 15-year-old Johnny Hazzard in De Oliveira's latest book, Johnny Hazzard. Johnny and his older sister are spending the summer in London with their father and his new wife, as they always do. Johnny is usually bored senseless, but this summer he goes out with his new skateboard and runs into a skater girl. She is older than him, but she doesn't seem to mind and before Johnny knows it he is in a relationship, both emotional and physical. Then the story comes to a grinding halt when Sam and family go on a family vacation and you get a history lesson on the war monuments and cemetaries in and around Brussells. This 15-year-old is even quoting Winston Churchill and crying as he walks through museums. De Oliveira also has a lot to say about U.S. politics and Michael Moore (really likes him I guess). If you take out the history and politics it might have been an interesting but short read as Sam gets dumped by the older girl, as is expected. But, again the main character Johnny is one of the most wimpy whiney teens I have read about. I guess it is obvious I am not a fan of this young British author's main characters.

Hey! I hear a lawnmower! Now I'm impressed! :-)