Middle School Reading

There is much talk about Young Adult literature and much out that is great.  It is a bit of a problem to find YA works that do not have more sex and/or violence than some parents want to have shared with their middle school students.  If you are trying to avoid those books that are really directed at high school it does not mean that there are no great books out there for eager and adventurous readers.  Here are a few suggestions.  Some also appeared on my fourth and fifth grade list. They won't be as much of a stretch for middle school readers as they are for those younger readers, but I would hate for them to be missed.

Little White Duck:  A Childhood in China by Na Luc and Andres Vera Martinez is a graphic novel that is a lovely look into life in Mao's China.  Some of the memories are happy and some reveal the harsh realities of life at that time.  It would be good to pair with The House That Baba Built:  An Artist's Childhood in China by Ed Young which is a highly illustrated memoir by this popular artist and author.  Another in the same vein is Drawing From Memory  by Allen Say, though he grew up in Japan rather than China.

Addie On the Inside by James Howe is a companion to the set, not really a series, that began with The Misfits, a book about four middle school kids who do not fit in for various reasons.  They unite to make the school more accepting of differences.  That book was followed by a book about one character, Joe, in Totally Joe.  This book takes another view point for looking at what happens with the original misfits, this time through the eyes of a girl who could be popular but does not want to neglect her friends with their quirks.  The subjects covered in these books include LGBT issues, inter-racial dating, socio-economic issues, intelligence and the perceived lack of it, and other issues that are very real in middle school.

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer is a heart-pounding rescue story that takes place in the Congo.  Sophie is 14 when she returns to the Congo where she was born and where she visits her mother every summer since her parents divorced and her American father moved back to Miami.  Even before she gets to the house and labs where her Congolese mother works with bonobo apes, Sophie has done something her mother has repeatedly told her not to do--purchased a baby bonobo to try to save it from a shady looking man on the street.  Her mother agrees to let Sophie raise the baby as long as she is totally responsible for it.  When war breaks out in Congo while the mother is visiting a rescue center away from home, Sophie takes her bonobo and flees the fighting, struggling to keep both of them alive while searching for her mother.

Take What You Can Carry by Kevin C. Pyle is another graphic work that will challenge any reader.  It tells two parallel stories, one of life in a Japanese internment camp and one of a boy who shoplifts from a Japanese man.  It is a little difficult to follow at times, but the story is powerful.  The juxtaposition of the two stories in which the term "take what you can carry" has very different meanings supports thought and discussion.

Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six , Seven, Nate by Tim Federle struck my funny bone with their first view of New York City through the eyes of a 13 year old  boy from rural Pennsylvania who has travelled alone to try to audition for a Broadway musical production of E. T.  His awe struck me as very realistic, as are the descriptions of the audition experience and, in the second book, trying to fit in with other, more experienced actors.  The first book hints of Nate's interest in boys and the second book includes an innocent romance with one of the other actors.

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire LeGrand is carried best by its quirky characters who are working to rescue kids who are being kidnapped for retraining whenever they express an interest in thinking for themselves. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City by Ransom Riggs  come immediately to mind when quirky characters are mentioned.  These are odd stories of a boy facing evil and trying to track down a home that his grandfather visited during World War II.  The home takes in peculiar children who expect to live forever as they are.  I was fascinated by the origins of the characters in the mind of the author who collected old, odd photos and postcards and then created the people in his book based on these mystical, magical, unusual photos.  This story is creepy and intriguing.  It is written for older readers than the others so far on this list, but will appeal to readers who appreciate stories that are a little bit bizarre.

Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills has an interesting premise that is very much in the news these days.  A student leader in a middle school inadvertently takes her mother's lunch to school one day and discovers that her mother had packed a knife to cut her apple.  Knives are forbidden at school as a part of the zero tolerance policy. The girl immediately takes the knife to the cafeteria supervisor who rushes her to the principal who has no other choice than expulsion.  The question is whether anything can be that black and white and how should school policies be determined.  I am happy that kids are being asked to think about these things.  The story goes down hill when parents and lawyers get too involved and cloudy issues further.

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein reminded me of The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin since they both involve solving mysteries and riddles.  Mr. Lemoncello offers a more literary bent with myriad references to popular books and library organization.  The premise is that a group of kids get to enter a new library ahead of everyone else and may win big prizes IF they can solve all the puzzles first and not get kicked out for any reason. 

The Last Dragonslayer and The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde begin a promised fantasy trilogy that features 15 year old Jennifer Strange who runs a magic store until she called to help save magic on earth.  She must seek someone to slay dragons or perhaps do it herself.  Jennifer is a spunky heroine and she deals with a vast variety of quirky, interesting, odd characters both human and magical.

What we Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World by Henry Clark is good fluff reading if kids are feeling the need to relax a bit.  A couple of kids find a strange sofa by the side of the road and it draws them into wild adventures in a mysterious old house.  The sofa, they soon discover, is a sentient being that survives on dust bunnies.  Inside the house they meet a strange man who convinces them that using the sofa and items found between the cushions they can save their city and the world from evil that is tricking people into flash mobs and regulating a growing coal seam fire that is devouring their town.  While it is fluffy, it also has some parts that require some thoughtful consideration.

The Thing About Luck is the latest book by Cynthia Kadohata.  It tells about Japanese migrant workers in mid-America who work on the combines, specifically grandparents and two children who have worked for the same company for years.  It defines a difficult life as well as the inter-generational relationships.  Has Kira-Kira or Weedflower by this same author.  They are other stories about be Japanese immigrants in the U.S. and struggling to fit in.  Kira-Kira  is the most well known and has won numerous awards.

Counting By 7s by Holly Sloan explores how people cope and adapt in difficult times.  Willow Chase has always been identified as highly gifted, but when she starts a new school she is promptly accused of cheating because she does the standardized testing so quickly and gets a perfect score.  The school sends her to a  school counselor who does not seem to care much about anything.  Also seeing the counselor is a Vietnamese refugee boy who is brought by his sister Mai.  The two girls gradually get to know each other so that when Willow's parents are killed in a car accident, she attempts to live with the Mai and her family. This synopsis just skims the surface of all this book discusses. 

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson kept me on the edge of my seat from the first heart-pounding rithmatic duel to the last.  Rithmatism is a kind of magic that uses intricate drawings and clever strategies to fight battles between good and evil.  One has to be able to prove as a young person that he or she has the power to be a rithmatist and Joel, the protagonist of this story, did not pass the test.  In a private school that  he is only allowed to attend because his late father was a well-respected chalk maker (a vital force for this magic) and his mother works cleaning and cooking, Joel sneaks into the rithmatic classes to learn strategy that he can never perform.  It remains one of the most exciting books I have read in many years.  This first book ends with a "to be continued" so there is something waiting for us to read.  Sanderson has written many other fantasy and adventure books.  Our library also has the series that begins with Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians which I originally read for its title but found to be a great, light-hearted fantasy series and made me a Sanderson fan.

How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks is set in Victorian England in the less savory parts of London.  Ten year old Birdie is apprenticed to a bogler who traps and destroys odd, evil creatures who live in houses in the area.  Birdie is a strong girl with courage, skill, and heart.  This has a real feel of the time and place.

Constable and Toop by Gareth Jones transfixed and haunted me.  I loved this detailed story of a young boy who is the son of a coffin maker and can talk to ghosts.  He, and the reader, learn about ghost culture and rules, which, not surprisingly, can be a bit macabre. Included in this story is a creepy uncle who may be Jack the Ripper, quirky ghosts and living beings who delight in the world of Victorian England.

How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Wilson is a memoir written in sonnet-length poems.  They follow ten years of the author's life, ages 4-14, during the 1950s and 1960s.  Her family is African-American and her father is in the military so they move a great deal and experience the world of Jim Crow as well as a life in which they are almost treated as equals.  The poems don't dwell on civil rights, but they are always on her mind.  I think Hannah would especially like this book.

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL READERS

Middle School students may be closer to the same reading levels than they were in first or second grade, but their maturity and interests vary greatly.  This list is one that should be regarded as having the potential to please everyone but it is almost certain that not every title will be appropriate or appealing to everyone.  

Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel Fattah is told through the eyes of a young Palestinian girl who must travel through Israeli territory to help her grandmother.  

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams  and its many sequels has become a classic of science-fiction and humor.

Watership Down by Richard Adams resonated with me when I read it because it is far more than just a story of rabbits who need to find a new home.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie faces many of the problems of every young man with the added conflict of having to live in two worlds--that of the reservation which is home to his family and his heritage and that of the white high school that recruits him to play basketball.  The cartoon drawings in the book help to add  humor and understanding to a difficult life.  Warning:  The story is very frank about what young men deal with as they mature, including sexual issues.  Sherman Alexie gets mixed reviews from people who care about Native American stories and may be offensive to some people on that level.  That said, it is an interesting story that will move and motivate many readers.

City of the Beast by Isabel Allende  (and two others in the series) follows a young boy as he joins his grandmother on an expedition in the Amazon.  There is a good mix of magic and reality in this book by a highly respect Latin American author.

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez is based on the author's experiences growing up in the Dominican Republic under the harsh dictatorship of the time.

Chains;, Fever, 1793; and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson perhaps seem at first glance to have little in common besides having the same author. The other tie that quickly becomes evident is the outstanding storytelling.  The first two of these are historical--the first about free African Americans living in the American Colonies at the time of the Revolution and the second is about the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Both will hold interest to the last page.  A parent of a daughter told me a few years ago that she wished her daughter and every 8th grade girl would read Speak before entering high school.  It tells of a young girl who goes to a party in that summer between 8th and 9th grade where something so terrible happens that she quits talking.  Her story is slowly, often painfully, revealed in a manner that warns girls of what could happen in a seemingly innocent setting--both in what happens to the main character and in how easily her friends are able and willing to mistreat her.

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby is also about a girl who is mistreated, but this time the setting is much less common.  She leaves an orphanage to join a circus wonder show.  Needless to say there are many odd characters.  This book is tough to read at times with its stories of child abuse. It is also moving and an interesting window into circus life.

My Life With the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis offers some lighter reading as a girl living in Chicago in the 1960s grow to believe that her family is the reincarnation of the family of Abe Lincoln (her father's initials are A.B.E. for one thing) and decides she has to protect her father from Lincoln's fate.  Her father is very involved with the Civil Rights movement and she gets dragged along to much of the activity, too.

Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos is the story of a Muslim girl whose family is illegally in the United States and how they work to be legal and safe and accepted.

Playground by 50 Cents surprised me as I usually don't have high expectations for children's books written by celebrities.  This novel by a rapper is well written and poignant as it talks of a young boy trying to fit in with the crowd while struggling to understand his parents.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis is my favorite of all of Curtis' books.  It is also written for older readers than the popular Watston's Go to Birmingham--1963 and Bud, Not Buddy.  This book takes us to Canada and the first town specifically built for escaped slaves from the United States.  Elijah is the first child to be born there so he does not understand slavery until he travels to Detroit and sees the reality of it.  As with every Curtis book, the story has plenty of humor along with strong historical information.

Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle will be an easy reader for many middle school students but this interesting adventure of a small boy for whom a tree is the totality of his universe carries a big environmental impact that will be enjoyed and pondered long after the last page.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd weaves a mystery around a missing cousin who comes to visit.  Only the boy dealing with life on the autism spectrum has the kind of thinking skills to find a solution.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper will change the way you look at people with severe disabilities.  It is all too easy and common to think of someone who can not speak or control their muscles as somehow mentally inferior.  The narrator of this story knows that first hand because she has dealt with cerebral palsy her entire life.  A text to speech machine lets her prove how much she knows and can do but may not be enough to help her make friends.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer takes dystopian novels to a high level.  Set in a land between Mexico and the United States that is run by a cruel dictator who expects that cloning will keep him alive with harvested organs, this is the story of one of the clones.  It is powerful storytelling.

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle made me laugh out loud.  Middle Schooler Nate travels alone from rural Pennsylvania to New York City to live his dream of auditioning for a Broadway show.  His small town reactions to the big city are perfect as are the descriptions of stage parents.

The Big Splash and Sidekicks by Jack D. Ferraiolo are lighthearted looks at almost typical life.  The Big Splash  is what the students in one middle school calls a practice of  carefully directing water balloons at classmates to help make clear their standing in the social pecking order.  Sidekicks  reveals some of the difficulties of being an adolescent super hero, from the perils of wearing tights to developing  a crush on your arch-enemy who somehow turns out to be a girl.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos is based on the author's childhood in the actual town of Norvelt, a city with an interesting history of its own.  The story is filled with interesting characters, typical pre-teen angst, and some surprises.  It won the Newbery Award.

The  Princess Bride by William Goldman did not cross my path until I was an adult but its humor and adventure is perfect for middle school readers, too.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon was written for adults but soon became popular with young adult readers.  The narrator experiences life through the view of a high functioning autistic teen who uses math to explain much of what he sees and hears.  This situation can make life confusing and difficult but it also helps him solve a mystery.

Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger features a group of boys willing to work hard to avoid having to work over one of the last sweet summers of high school.  Humor builds as every project they devise to keep them out of the workforce leads to new problems.

The Saint of Dragons by Jason Hightman uses a rather familiar plot of a boy discovering his magical powers to take the reader on a high adventure with dragons and prophecy and unexpected developments.  There is a sequel, too.

I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Leib is maybe best explained by noting that the its author is a producer of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and worked for the Simpsons TV show.  It is non-stop sarcastic humor about a friendless boy who is willing to go to any lengths to buy votes in a school election.  Luckily, he has been financially wheeling and dealing long enough and well enough to have plenty of money to spend.

The Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mobus  creates an alternative world in New York City that includes famous figures who have played a part in the history of the city.  It has high adventure while introducing myriad characters, historical and fictional.

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville takes the reader to alternative version of famous cities of the world.  Un Lun Dun is almost like London but not really.

Monster by Walter Dean Myer is not for the faint of heart.  It is the powerful story of a young African American boy who is about to go on trial for robbery and murder.  He keeps going over the crime, both in a movie he is directing in his mind and in his journal, and can not be confident that he is innocent or was unintentionally somehow responsible.  This is a very powerful look at jails, the court system, and life in a tough neighborhood.

A Step From Heaven by An Na is deceptively brief  and easy to read.  The story is not easy, however, as it tells of a girl moving from Korea with her dysfunctional family and trying to adapt to life in the United States.

This Dark Endeavor and Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel show the talent and diversity of this author who visited Emerson a few years ago.  This Dark Endeavor  is the author's imagining of what happened to the Frankenstein brothers before the more famous story.  It is has mystery, love, magic, and events that make it a true work of horror.  Half Brother  has horror of another kind--the horror a boy feels first when is life is torn apart when the family "adopts" a chimpanzee to be his little brother for research purposes and again when they take that brother away.

Life As We Know It; The Dead and the Gone; and This World We Live In  by Susan Beth Pfeffer imagine a world thrown into chaos when the moon is knocked out of its orbit. The first book tells the story through the eyes of a teen girl in rural Pennsylvania.   The second takes us to New York City and the event as it affects a young man, and the third is both of their stories.  

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs uses old photographs that the author discovered in antique shops and at flea markets to create the characters who inhabit this peculiar home and haunt the boy who sets out to discover how they are a part of his grandfather's life.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys is a powerful story of a Lithuanian family who is exiled to Siberia by Stalin.  I recently convinced one of my adult book clubs to read this.  They enjoyed the experience.

Scrawl by Mark Shulman is written as a journal required in a high school detention setting.  I confess that I am partial to journals and letters and such, so maybe not everyone will find it as interesting, moving, and enjoyable as I did.

The Schwa Was Here My Neal Shusterman was my first introduction to this author who remembers the ups and downs of social situations in middle and high school much the same way I do.  I liked the idea of someone being so bland that he was invisible and then others putting that talent to good use.

Runaway and The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen are both about girls running.  Runaway is the journal of a girl who runs away from home and tells of her experiences living on the streets and struggling just to get a meal and a place to sleep.  The Running Dream tells the story of a girl who was a champion runner until a tragic accident takes her legs.  She must learn to be strong for herself and so she can help others.

The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede melds the history of the Westward Expansion with magic in intriguing ways that will probably lead the reader directly to the sequel.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's Back to School We Go

Whether it is just coincidence on my part or a theme of authors and publishers this year, I discovered many new (at least new to me) books about going to school during my summer reading. I would like to share some of my favorites with you.

Young Adult Novels about school are often filled with teen angst and carry messages that adults think young teens need to hear from wiser minds. Of course, sometimes these messages are so heavy that no self-respective teen is going to pay it much heed. The novels that I enjoyed this summer were able to either ignore the need of a message or convey that message in a moving and memorable manner.

The Accidental Genius of Weasel High by Rick Detoria (grades 6 -9) features a boy with plenty of typical high school issues. This novel is plausible and enjoyable through the generous use of humor, interesting plot twists, and friendly, cartoon illustrations. Larkin has a quirky girl for a friend but is suddenly wishing for more in the relationship and he has a believably spoiled sister to add to his problems with adjusting to school and his quest to get himself a quality camcorder.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (gr. 8 and up) manages to deal with a very heavy topic in a believable and moving way while injecting much needed humor to break the tension. The protagonist was raped at a party just before the start of ninth grade. Frightened and confused, she called the police but never told a soul about the rape itself. For this act, her peers she her as a snitch and effectively shun her. The story shows the painful steps that help her regain her voice both literally and figuratively. This story has become a classic in the ten years since it was first published and is worthy of being read by every student embarking on the high school adventure. I found it much more moving, believable, and readable than the currently popular Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

Scrawl by Mark Shulman (gr. 6-9) appeals to my bias for novel in journal form. This journal is assigned by a teacher as something of a last chance to escape expulsion from school. The teacher is to be admired for being strict and fair with her assessments as the writer moves from anger to inklings of understanding.

The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now by Gardy Schmidt are two novels about connected characters but they are certainly stand alone books. The Wednesday Wars takes place in New York City in the late 1960s with a trouble-making student forced to stay after school to work with a teacher. He learns to appreciate Shakespeare and education in surprising ways. Less enjoyable to me was Okay for Now which follows a secondary character of the first book when his family moves to rural New York in search of work. It has many issues with family problems, crime, and even Vietnam War veterans. Both books feature good storytelling and generous dashes of humor.

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea (Gr. 5-8), like too many books for readers of this age, tries to address too many issues in one story so that none is given the attention it deserves. That said, it is worth reading this book for the stellar writing and intriguing concept. Mr. Terupt is the new teacher for a group of angry and troubled students. Through the use of controversial and interesting teaching methods, Mr. Terupt gets the students to bond . When tragedy strikes, they deal with it individually and as a group. The book is told in multiple voices.

Writers for students in second through fifth grade tend to tread more lightly when dealing with school issues. These books are more apt to be humorous (think Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories from Wayside School) or historical (like Belle Teal by Ann M. Martin). That does not mean that there are not some good and clever books about school experiences, but you are more apt to laugh than cry while reading them.

Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon (gr. 2-4) does a great job of dealing with being the different kid in the class by making the hero the only dragon in a school of more prosaic reptiles. There are plenty of cartoon illustrations, often with speech bubbles, so the reading is fun and appealing. The story has a lot that is familiar like unwanted homework, a bully, a nerdy but true friend, and struggling to meet parental standards, but mostly it has lots of humor. I predict that the series of which this is the first will be a big hit.

School! Adventures at the Harvey N. Trouble Elementary School by Kate McMullan (gr. 2-4) advertises itself as a "Very Punny Book" and that it is. The puns are what kept me reading as I discovered interesting names and clever turns of phrase. The stories themselves are light and short in a way that is reminiscent of Wayside School.

The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming (gr. 3-5) is another Wayside School look-alike that will appeal to young readers who want a laugh in a school setting.

It is the First Day of School...Forever by R. L. Stine (gr. 4-6) surprised me because I actually liked most of it. My students know that I am not wild about Stine's Goosebumps series because the stories seem more inclined toward gore and adrenalin rushes than actual plot. This story is not short on gore and excitement but it also has a solid plot, thus making me and the hoards of devoted R. L. Stine readers happy. The story may be every kid's worst nightmare--the first day at a new school keeps happening over and over and over, with each day a little more horrible than the last. It is the surprise ending that made it all worth the read for me.

Picture books generally are eager to make sure that the youngest readers and listeners are eager to go to school. They acknowledge that it is scary to leave the familiar and go off to a new school and thus strive to make school look fun and appealing. Much to my joy, more and more picture books about school are adding surprises and humor.

Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh (gr. 1-4) offers a great twist on the new kid in school issue. The narrator is a student who thinks that this new kid, Marshall Armstrong, is just plain weird and wants nothing to do with him. The illustrations highlight Marshall's quirkiness that may at first be off-putting, but turns out to be truly awesome.

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin (gr. K-2) shows all the great things to be discovered at school as Pete takes his cool school shoes on a tour of school life. There is little plot but lots of energy, rhythm, and vibrant illustrations.

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills (gr. K-2) is about an unconventional school, to say the least. Rocket is a dog doesn't know he wants to read until a friendly bird shows him how much fun it can be. The bird follows the same steps that teachers follow in every school as Rocket is introduced to the basic principles of the sounds of letters and how they go together to make words and sentences and stories.

I Am Too Absolutely Small for School by Lauren Child (gr. K-2) is not new but it is too absolutely my favorite back-to-school book to miss mentioning it. (Many children now know Charlie and Lola from their television show. The TV success and a decline in the appeal of these books seem to have a direct correlation. This is one of the first of the Charlie and Lola books, perhaps even before the TV program.) When Charlie tells Lola that she will soon start school, she can think of many reasons why she does not need school and will not like school. Of course, it all ends well, but not before lots of questions about school have been humorously answered.

Head back to school knowing that you are not the first to have worries. As you read the books for older students, you can be glad that you don't have all of their issues and that the first day only happens once a year.

Suggestions from Parents

At a recent meeting of the parent organization, the parents offered a list of some of their favorite titles. I happy to share it with everyone.

For Young Readers to Young Adults

• Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper grades 4-8
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen grades 5-8
• The Candymakers byWendy Mass grades 4-6
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan grades 4-7
• World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky grades 3 to adult
• The Cardturner by Louis Sachar grades 6 to adult
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley grades 7 to adult

For Adult Readers

• Unique Ability: Creating the Life You Want by Catherine Nomura, Julia Waller and Shanon Waller non-fiction
  
• The Presence Process by Michael Brown non-fiction
  
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett fiction
  
• Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jun Chang non-fiction
  
• Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks non-fiction
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky fiction
• Poser: My Life in 23 Yoga PosesI by Claire Dederer non-fiction
• Still Alice by Lisa Genova fiction

I hope this list helps people find some good reading. I know that I have now added some more titles to my "to be read" list.

Mockingjay

Yes, I have now successfully completed the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It didn't take long because this is a "can't put it down" novel. I am not going to give you a review of these books other than to tell you that I enjoyed them and can easily understand why millions of people aged 12 to 80 have devoured these dystopian, young adult novels.

What has fascinated me is the discussions that I have been having with my young (as in middle school and high school) friends. Many spent the early part of August counting down the days to the Mockingjay release that marked the conclusion of the trilogy. They wondered if the author would adequately tie up all the loose ends. They worried that it would not be as exciting as the first two in the series (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire). They were stressed that someone would tell them how it ends before they had a chance to read it. (Note to all readers: Don't spoil the ending for others, no matter how much you want to gloat about reading the book first or how excited/upset/disappointed you are by it. Plain and simple, that is unfair to other readers.)

Now these young adults are debating the fine points of the plot and the writing. What is the message? Why did the people who survived live while others who we loved died? Was there too much violence or not enough? Was the writing equal to the plot or the plot equal to the writing?

The protagonist and narrator of the series is a young woman but most of the discussions I have seen and heard from my group have been between young men. That, to me, is the sign of a good young adult novel. Both boys and girls are reading and discussing the book. And they are proud to have read some fine literature and not in the least upset that the book focuses first on a woman. I am very lucky to have gotten a chance to be a part of these discussions, especially when I can merely eavesdrop. Thank you, Facebook.

Adults, some time to read these books and discuss them with the young adults in your life. Or just read them because they are good stories. Here is an essay from the New York Times Book Review about the joys of reading young adult books. Start reading or you will never know what you have been missing.

Owls, Owls, Owls

Yesterday evening my husband and I went on an owl walk at one of the local Metroparks. After an interesting and informative talk about owls, their habits and their habitats, the group headed down to a clearing near both woods and the Huron River. The leader of the group pulled out her i-pod and played recordings of screech owl calls. (Isn't modern technology great! Her i-pod may not have rap or even the Beatles, but it has nature sounds of all sorts.) The calls were interesting but the only wildlife that reacted were some cardinals who sent out a warning that danger was nearby. After the cardinals left the area, we kept listening to the recorded calls and watched the sky. All we saw were happy bats scooping up insects by the mouthful. The kids in the group were getting bored as we waited and waited. About 8:00 another ploy was tried. The i-pod sent out calls of a great horned owl, a lower, rumbling call almost alike a dog barking in the distance. Soon there was a reply from a horned owl somewhere off in the distance. The owl called a few times but lost interest in our calls--perhaps they were not as realistic sounding as we believed. Just as those of us who had stayed in the rapidly chilling night longer than we had planned were thinking that it was time to give up, someone pointed at the sky and followed a silent shadow as it flew to a nearby branch. The leader soon focused her powerful flashlight on a barred owl who had thoughtfully placed himself in perfect position for us to get a good look. He did not seem scared but did not look at the light often or for very long. He sat in perfect view for a several minutes and then spread his large wings and silently disappeared into the woods. Those few minutes made the evening a success for all of us on the walk.

As we walked back to our car, I began thinking of the many great books about owls. Let me start with my very favorite, Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat. As a boy growing up on the plains of Saskatchewan, Mowat found and raised two great horned owls. This book is a fictionalized telling of the adventures of boys and their owls, based on his own memories. At times these tales are just plain hilarious--as when one of the owls follows him to school. In other parts of the books you will find some fascinating facts about owls. I confess that I cry at the ending every time I read this book. It is written for upper elementary, but, as I found with my own daughters, it makes a great read aloud for younger children. When my girls needed camp nicknames when they helped me be a counselor at Girl Scout day camp, they chose Wol and Weeps, the names of the two owls in this book. Mowat wrote many great books of adventure and life. There are three other of his books, written for young adult/adult readers, are also prominent on my list of favorite books. Check out The Dog Who Wouldn't Be for memories of Mowat's favorite childhood dog. It is another story that will make you cry from laughing and cry from the sadness. (Yes, it is a dog story with the all too common dog story ending.) Lost in the Barrens and Never Cry Wolf are adventure and nature stories of the highest caliber, based on Mowat's adventures exploring Canada's far north.

If you are looking for owls in a picture book, try one of these. Little Hoot by Amy Krause Rosenthal is about a little owl who just wants to go bed early. Kids love this twist on their desire to stay up late. Little Hoot proclaims that he will let his kids go to bed at any time they choose. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson has some of the most endearing pictures of owls that I have ever seen. Elf Owl by Mary and Conrad Buff was a favorite of mine when I was young. It was published in 1958 and is now hard to find. I honestly do not remember the story, but the cover illustration of a little owl peering out of a saguaro cactus is still clear in my mind.

There are some classics in the easy reader genre that feature owls: Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman and Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel are stories that never grow old because of their subtle humor and well-told stories.

There is an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead George is somewhat similar to Owls in the Family. It also recounts stories based on human interactions with owls living in the house. George is an expert at sharing her love of nature in an interesting and appealing manner.

Carl Haissen takes a different route to encourage elementary and middle school age readers to appreciate nature. He wrote a mystery novel with lots of humor and pleas for taking care of owls in Hoot. Readers solve the mystery both of the owls and of how to fit in as the new kid at school.

There are too many wonderfully illustrated, fact-filled non-fiction on owls for me to cover them here. Make a trip to your library and look at them all to find some that have the information that fits your needs.

Finally, find a copy of The Owl and Pussycat by Edward Lear and read it just for the pure fun of it. Many illustrators have put their stamp on this classic nonsense poem. You will have to decide for yourself which ones fit your image of the tale.

Next time you are outside at dusk, keep your eyes open for an owl sighting. If you do not see one, read one of these books. If you do see one, you will enjoy these books even more.

The Hunger Games

This morning I finished a young adult novel that was compelling from the first chapter to the final words that promise a sequel. I found it very difficult to put down and can clearly understand why I have seen more than one middle school students re-reading it for the umpteenth time.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins draws on classic literature like Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game. In this future society located in what used to be North America, the twelve outlying districts must submit one boy and one girl to participate in the annual Hunger Games. The participants are chosen by a random drawing to be sent to the Capitol where they will compete to the death for honors and wealth for themselves and their district. They essentially are sent out to hunt each other, using whatever skills they have accumulated in their short lives. Some of the children in the more affluent districts train for the event; those from the poorer areas learn survival skills from necessity.

The games are the government's way of reminding all the districts that their should never be a rebellion because the government has the power to crush all who question them. Years earlier there were thirteen districts who dared to unite to try to destroy the dictatorship of the Capitol. District 13 was destroyed entirely. The remaining districts are carefully watched and kept subservient.

Kitmiss, the narrator of the story, steps forward to go to the games when your younger sister's name is drawn. Kitmiss has long been breaking the law by sneaking into the woods with her friend Gale to hunt for the animals that keep her family alive. Joining her is the baker's son Peeta, a boy who she scarcely knows except for a memory that when her family was starving he gave her some bread. The spectacle that they now join reminded me first of The Miss America Pageant with its carefully choreographed show, right down to clothing designed to show off the special qualities of the districts and the high pressure interview session. Then it becomes the lowest possible reality show. The twenty four young people are set out in harsh terrain to not only kill off their opponents but also to survive all that a carefully controlled version of nature has to offer. Yes, just as Survivor and other TV shows do, the contestants have sudden obstacles thrown in their path and horrendous twists of rules and fate are carefully coordinated by the Gamemasters. The entire nation is forced to watch all of this on live television and in highlight summaries throughout the several weeks of the competition.

This could have been a gruesome book, as tortuous to read as the story it tells. But it is not. It is exciting and thought provoking and ultimately a tender love story. Pick up this book when you have time to devote to it. You will not welcome the call to supper if comes when Kitmiss and Peeta are close to starvation.