Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick is about Alex, a 16 year old high school student who is living through his parents' divorce. One night he gets the "brilliant" idea to drink alcohol and drive his mother's car over to his father's house to confront him about his new girlfriend. Unfortunately, Alex only makes it up the street a little ways before ending up on his neighbor's front lawn, decapitating her lawn gnome in the process. As his punishment, the judge sentences him to 100 hours of community service at the nursing home where his mother works. His mom assigns Alex to work with Solomon Lewis, an angry old man with emphysema. Through his 100 hour experience, Alex has to write letters to the judge to keep her abreast of his progress. The purpose of this punishment is to hell Alex come "full circle". He is supposed to teach Solomon a lesson, learn a lesson from Solomon, and just, in general, learn from his mistakes. Needless to say, Solomon and Alex don't develop a real fondness for one another at first. 100 hours is a long time, though, and in the end both Alex and Solomon change in ways neither one expected.I liked this book even more than Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, Jordan Sonnenblick's debut novel. A lot of the same ideas were explored within this book, but to a deeper degree. I really liked the way Alex developed as a strong, caring person who eventually was able to take responsibility for his actions. I also liked the way Solomon changed (but didn't)! I liked the little threads of romance laced within the story - Alex and his best girl friend Laurie, Alex's mom and dad, and even our old friends Steven and Annette (from Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie). This is one of the 2009-2010 Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees.
