Doing Time Online Book

Twelve-year-old Mitchell played a prank that led to an elderly woman's injury. Now he finds himself at the police station—his "sentence" is to chat online with a nursing home resident twice a week for the next month.

Jacki Vawter - Children's Literature

Mitchell called it a practical joke that backfired, but the police called it a prank and the punishment is to participate in the O.L.D. Friend program for juvenile offenders. Mitch comes to the police station every Tuesday and Thursday for a month to have a computer "chat" with a resident of the Maple Grove Nursing Home located in another part of the state. Mitch chats with Wootie who is old but not soft. Her feisty remarks and straight-shooting questions help to give Mitch the boost he needs, but he, in turn, helps Wootie with her troubles. It is a good, small story of an unlikely friendship between a twelve-year-old who is trying to make sense of making amends and an ailing woman who is trying to let go of her home to move into an assisted-living facility. The humor and the lack of sentimentality add to the appeal of the book. Secondary characters such as the single parent dad and the neighborhood bully are well developed. More and more children's books feature computer dialogue and here is a smart addition to that niche. 2002, Albert Whitman & Company,