Restart by Gordon Korman, 2017

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Chase's memory just went out the window.

Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. He doesn't, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . . starting with his own name.

He knows he's Chase. But who is Chase? When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return.

Some kids treat him like a hero. Some kids are clearly afraid of him.

One girl in particular is so angry with him that she pours her frozen yogurt on his head the first chance she gets.

Pretty soon, it's not only a question of who Chase is--it's a question of who he was . . . and who he's going to be.

From the #1 bestselling author of Swindle and Slacker, Restart is the spectacular story of a kid with a messy past who has to figure out what it means to get a clean start.

(256 pages)

Do you know, I was supposed to be studying for my AP exams all day today. That was the goal, at least, until that little yellow package from Scholastic showed up on my doorstep. Once I pulled out my brand new ARC of Restart, the newest Korman novel, then my day was doomed. I dropped everything and devoured the entire thing in about two sittings (the one break consisted of my trying to get back to work, failing, and then shrugging and picking the book up again).

I don't know what it is about Gordon Korman, but his books always suck me in. Perhaps it's because I've been reading them for so long now, his distinctively funny yet deep writing style makes me nostalgic and lets me pretend that I'm a little kid again and not a high school senior preparing to head off to college. Perhaps its simply because of the intriguing storylines or because he always takes the story the way I'm hoping. Maybe it's a combination of all of those things.

Because on the surface, Restart is not the most amazing book I've ever read. I mean, its premise is awesome–a bully who's lost his memory and is nice now? Sweet!–but it's also incredibly unrealistic. Take it from the girl who was supposed to be studying AP Psychology all afternoon. And a lot of the elements that make up Restart have shown up in previous Korman novels. I was especially reminded of No More Dead Dogs and The Chicken Doesn't Skate, because all three books have elements of social blending, with kids from wildly different clubs and interests coming together in a combination of sports and theater/filmmaking/science (respectively). I also noticed a few character archetypes, like the filmmaker addict and the main girl who starts out hating the protagonist, and the slightly spacey fangirl chasing after the protagonist. All of these characters show up in at least two of the three books I mentioned, and some of them in others besides.

But you know what? I just don't care. Gordon Korman does middle schools books well. And I love the elements he pulls together, and Restart is actually a really good book. Because you see, I adored No More Dead Dogs and The Chicken Doesn't Skate. To this day, they still rank on my list of favorite books ever. If Korman wants to revisit some of his greatest successes and borrow a few devices, then I am totally okay with that.

And besides, how could I not love the "bully with amnesia" angle? Realistic or not, it's played amazingly here. My main critique, honestly, is that we don't get enough details about Chase's ordeal. I would have loved much more time spent just on watching him adjust to life without any of his memories, and I wouldn't have even minded getting more medical mumbo-jumbo to explain why his whole personality suddenly shifted with the bump on the head!

Anyway, I'll stop the review here because I don't actually have my copy of the book anymore: my elementary-school-aged brother came into my room tonight, asked for Restart, and disappeared with it. And honestly, if that doesn't tell you something about the universal appeal of Korman's books, then I don't know what would.

[Update: Just thought you'd like to know that within the first two days of Restart being in the house, three of us read it: I finished it the first day, my brother borrowed it that night and finished it by lunch the next day, and my mom borrowed it that night and stayed up past midnight reading it (on the landing, because my dad kicked her out so he could go to sleep). Like I said, my family love Gordon Korman books.]

Disclaimer: I received an unsolicited copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Double Cross: Deception Techniques in War by Paul B. Janeczko, 2017

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How does deception factor into fighting wars, and is it effective? In an intriguing companion to The Dark Game, Paul B. Janeczko reveals the truth about the strategic lies of war. The biblical account of Gideon. The ancient story of the Trojan horse. Deceptive techniques have been used in war through the ages. But while the principles have changed very little, the technology behind fooling the enemy has evolved dramatically. Paul B. Janeczko s fascinating chronology focuses on the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf Wars to reveal evolving attitudes toward the use and effectiveness of deceptive operations. Find out the secret plan behind the invasion of Normandy and the details of General Schwarzkopf s "Hail Mary play" during the Gulf War, among many other strategies and maneuvers designed to pull the wool over enemies' eyes. Back matter includes source notes, a bibliography, and an index."
(256 pages)

It's funny how things work out sometimes. I agreed to review Double Cross months ago, but didn't get around to it until now–which just so happens to be the exact same time that we're covering WWII and the Cold War era in my APUSH class. Deception techniques from WWII, the Korean war, and the Vietnam war make up the bulk of the content, so it works out perfectly for me: I get to study and work on my blog at the same time!

Because Double Cross is definitely educational. It talks a lot about military maneuvers on the Allied side during WWII, and on the American/UN side in the more recent wars. It also touches on the Trojan Horse story, but I already knew about that. What I really enjoyed reading about was the new stuff. Did you know that Britain invented a whole new army that was going to invade Europe at Pas-de-Calais (rather than Normandy), and that they had a group of people driving around Scotland to send out telegraph messages simulating conversations between the different parts of the army? Not only that, but they also built props on the ground to look like trucks. And they put little articles in the newspaper about how, say, the presence of thousands of soldiers was demoralizing the young Scottish women. The attention to detail that went into the operation was incredible–and it worked beautifully. Hitler actually kept a large amount of his troops near Pas-de-Calais even after the invasion of Normandy because he thought a second attack would still be coming from there!

There are way more stories in here than just the one about Scotland's notional (fake) army, though. I don't want to go into all of them too much, because Janeczko does a better job explaining all of them than I ever could, but suffice it to say that there have been some very fascinating deception operations over the years. I don't love reading about war as a rule, just because it's too horrible to think of all that death, but I really enjoyed learning about all the stranger-than-fiction ideas people had that actually worked and fooled the enemy. It's also cool to see how, in some instances, these deception tactics saved many thousands of lives. I'm all for cutting down on the casualties!

Anyway, this is a very interesting book that I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. If you're interested at all in trickery, or war-time strategy, or a combination of both, then I definitely recommend you give Double Cross a try. It's also a great bouncing-off book for a variety of other war-time topics, because it has inserts with information about cool spy stuff and technology scattered throughout its pages as well.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.