OPERATION YES

Author: Sara Lewis Holmes

Genre: YA Fiction, Standalone

Published: 2009

Personal Rating: 4/5 (very good)

Yearly Count: 67

From the front cover:

PLAN A
Bo is going to behave for his new teacher.
His father, an airforce colonel, says so.

Gari is going to live peacefully with her cousin.
Her mother, an army nurse, says so.

Miss Loupe is going to teacher her class language arts, social studies, math and science.
What's to stay secret: the theater lessons - and her tattoo.


PLAN B
Bo stages a food fight.
His father isn't pleased.

Gari stages a protest.
The army isn't pleased.

And when something happens that none of them could plan for . . .
they lose Miss Loupe too.

And what comes out of this is . . .


PLAN C
It involves misbehaving - and working together.
Protests, fighting - and making something amazing.

For everyone's parents. Everyone's families.

It's a plan so big, so daring, so life-changing, that it can only be called:

OPERATION YES

This book was part of a generous package I was so grateful to receive from Scholastic. As I glanced at the covers and read the titles, I immediately thought this was a "boy book" because of the green, plastic army men on the cover. After a closer look, I noticed a piece of chalk and an eraser - the army men were standing on a chalkboard ledge. Now, that got my attention! I love school and almost everything about it, so I opened the book. I have to say that I immediately was swooped up in the story and had to make myself stop at page 12. (If I didn't - I would not have stopped and I couldn't add another book to my current readings.) Yesterday, I finally had an opportunity to squeeze it in and discovered that it is not a "boy book" - it's good for all.

The story takes place on an Air Force base, so the military theme was throughout. It was interesting to watch how the children dealt with their emotions and thoughts about the war and their parents' role in it. It has spurred a desire to read more about military families. Anybody know of any good books?

I thoroughly enjoyed being with the students from Room 208. They were not the silly, lovesick classmates one might expect at that age, but they were still children that made mistakes and learned along the way. I felt like the class was very typical in many respects, so it's a very relatable book for children and adults alike. Amazon labels it as YA, but in relationship to other YA books I have read - this fits better in a 9 - 12 age group. It's a good, clean book. Also, the students were blessed with a unique teacher that inspired learning in all areas of their lives and would especially appeal to educators.

Many thanks to you, Tracy, for sharing the goodness of Scholastic! OPERATION YES will be published in September, 2009.