Louis Sachar has come a long way since the days of Wayside School. This is another reason I love YA (that's Young Adult in the book trade). I get to follow authors like him from my own childhood into my kids', and watch the books get better along the way. Sachar is the bestselling author of the award-winning Holes, Small Steps and, yes, those infamous and hilarious Sideways Stories from Wayside School. He has also written a wonderful new book, The Cardturner.

This is a book about bridge. Yes, bridge the card game. And not just any book, but a YA book. About a card game. In it, you will learn the rules, language ("bridge gibberish") and strategies of this old-timers sport. But don't worry, you will be able to choose between a long and a short version for every bridge lesson – lest the diagrams and mental acrobatics make you zone out and forget to finish the book. If this seems like it might put teen readers to sleep, well, that is an understandable first impression. Bridge is not exactly popular among the 12-and-up age group these days.

But Sachar's book is spectacular, and not just because he spices things up with a half-naked New Age nurse.

But let me back up. I don't want to give any wrong impressions here. Really, this is a book about a young man and an old man, 17-year-old Alton Richards and his wealthy great-uncle, Lester Trapp. They are both at the bottom of their game. Alton has recently been dumped for his best friend, and his family is sorely feeling the effects of the recession. Trapp has recently gone blind due to diabetes, and his health is deteriorating quickly. Though he is a rather crotchety old man, his good graces are much sought-after as relatives hope to get a place in his will, Alton's family included. So it is that, upon hearing Trapp needs someone to accompany him to his bridge club, Alton's parents make him do the bidding. He is to drive Uncle Lester to his game four times a week and be his cardturner.

And so generations collide. Alton senses that his gossipy, cynical mother and his distrustful father don't always know what they're talking about. Trapp himself is no picnic. He is grumpy and impossible to please, dismissing Alton's video game playing as nothing more than "chasing pixels on a screen." In fact, it seems all of the adults in his life are a little bit crazy. But after meeting the shy and pretty Toni Casteneda, Alton's perspective begins to change. He even becomes intrigued with bridge, and all the subtle relations it has to his own life.

As you might expect from a comedy, there is a tragedy in this book which shows how family secrets are born and, over generations, become distorted or misunderstood. As Alton comes of age, his observations remind us that life is interesting, heartbreaking, perplexing and always, somehow, somewhat unknowable. "Are you sure?" is the theme question of the book – the question Alton is forbidden to ask, but the question that is asking itself all the time. And Sachar writes this with humor and grace.

NOTE: What are the odds that you would have two chances this week to meet Louis Sachar (!) and hear him read from his book, The Cardturner. Visit Left Bank Books about the reading Wednesday (the 19th) or Pudd'nHead Books for more info about the reading Thursday (the 20th.)

By Erin Quick, Books Blogger for SmartParenting