Blackwater

Blackwater by: Eve Bunting  Brodie is hoping for a normal fun summer in his town of El Camino.  He wants to travel with his friend down the Blackwater River and be adventurous 13 year olds. He is really upset when his cousin Alex has to come live with his family and he is told her can no longer go on the trip. He tries to make the best of it and teach Alex to swim, but the events that take place that morning change his whole summer and life forever. Brodie sees the girl he really likes out on the rock in the pond with another boy and he decides to play a trick on them, things get bad when Pauline and Ottis fall into the river and are killed.  Alex makes up a story to tell the police and Brodie to scared to do anything else just goes along with it. But someone knows and keeps leaving things for Brodie to find urging him to tell the truth. Will Brodie make the right decision to tell the truth or leave things the way the are? This book was one that would make anyone who read it think. I really don't know if I think that 5th graders are ready for a book like this, yes it has a good moral, tell the truth, but it has really deep life issues that maybe some 5th graders would not be ready for. I would think it would be a great read for a middle school student though who might be able to handle the sensitive issues of death and a person feeling that they are responsible for others deaths.