Some of My Recent Favorites

My last few posts are all about what the students are liking.  Here is a list of books that I have recently enjoyed.


PICTURE BOOKS

I Yam a Donkey! by Cece Bell uses humor aplenty to show how confusing good grammar can be and how unimportant it is if you are about to be eaten.  As soon as someone is ready for the humor (maybe the middle of first grade) this book will be a winner.  Adults will get things that the younger set does not, but that is what makes it possible for adults to read the same book over and over.

Steve, Raised by Wolves by Jared Chapman reassures that no matter how hard a student's first day of school may seem it probably won't be worse than the first day of school for a boy raised by wolves.  It has the good moral of remembering to "Just be yourself" and lots of humor.  Grades 1-4 will get a chuckle out of this one.

Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman is a joy to read to groups of children, most of whom go back to read it again and again by themselves.  It addresses the pressing question of what might happen if a family of bunnies were to adopt a baby wolf.  I have read to first grade up to fifth grade and it has gotten the same positive reactions from all of them.

Take Away the A - An Alphabeast of a Book by Michael Escoffier is a great start to word play.  It illustrates that a word can change by removing just one letter.  I predict many writing projects will be inspired by this book for grades 2 and up.

Toys Meet Snow by Emily Jenkins is lovely, sweet story on its own and good introduction to the chapter books about the toys (Toys Go Out and others).  The picture book is aimed at grades preK to 2 and the chapter books are for grades 2-5.

Alphabet School by Stephen Johnson finds the letters of the alphabet in things found in a school.  There is something about this concept that fascinates me.  I see anyone from kindergarten to retirement enjoying this beautifully illustrated book.

Lucy and Lenny by Phillip Stead, Illustrated by Erin Stead charmed me with the perfect fit of the illustrations to the story of a boy getting settled in a new home.  What is not to love about guardians made from pillows and blankets?  Don't forget that the Steads live right here in Ann Arbor which makes them almost like family.  This perfect for grades K-3.


CHAPTER BOOKS

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate is a gentle story about the tough subject of homelessness that includes a caring family and an imaginary friend in the form of a giant cat.  It is great for grades 4-6.

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley is a perfectly strange story of a magic (or is it imaginary) circus that can change lives if only one believes.  Readers in grades 4-7 should get drawn into this unusual tale.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry is a little bit  of many familiar old-fashioned stories and whole lot of originality.  It tells of girls in a small boarding school with a very Victorian feel who are suddenly faced with what to do when their head mistress dies suddenly at dinner.  They decide to pretend that all is normal as the humor and the adventures spiral out of their control.  Middle school is the perfect audience for this book.

George by Alex Gino has gotten a lot of talk this year as the first book for grades 4-7 to openly deal with transgender issues.  It is well written and written in a way that will not make students uncomfortable and will add understanding.

Anyone But Ivy Pocket by Caleb Krisp  is a mystery with a great sense of humor.  Grades 4-7 will laugh along with the confusion a well-meaning young girl creates around her.

Kung Pow Chicken--Bok! Bok! Boom by Cyndi Marko is part of a series about a young chicken who is a superhero that has students in grades 1-3 laughing and asking for more.

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar uses what first appears to be a normal school conflict story to talk about environmental threats.  I would suggest it for grades 4-7.

The Odin Inheritance by Victoria L. Scott.  Yes, Emerson's own Victoria Scott has written a powerful, well-researched Steampunk adventure that does not stay on our library shelves.  It features strong, interesting characters, plot twists, and some good humor.  None of this surprises anyone who knows Victoria.  Her book is aimed at middle school and high school students and will be enjoyed by adults as well.

NON-FICTION

A Nest is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long  is the newest by this author/illustrator duo that makes nature into a work of visual and poetic art.  There is plenty of information about nests and all the creatures that build nests here, but what readers grades 2 and up will remember is the beauty that is depicted here.

I Am Lucille Ball (And others in this I Am...Series) by Brad Meltzer is a picture book biography that will appeal to young readers (Grades K-3) who like plenty of illustrations and careful touches of humor while learning about the childhoods of famous people.

GRAPHIC WORKS

Written and Drawn by Henrietta by Lineirs comes to us from a cartoonist who is well-known in Brazil.  The story is simply a girl drawing pictures and forming a story and monsters.  The pictures change from appearing to be the art of the little girl to the most sophisticated art of an artist.  I think it is for everyone, but I suppose it is aimed at grades K-3.

Lumberjanes, Volume 1--Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevens and Grace Ellis, illustrated by Brooke Allen is a graphic story of girls at camp and facing strange occurrences that has a clear, strong, and often funny feminists bent.  Grades 5 and up will enjoy this one.


A FEW ADULT BOOKS

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey is part memoir and part a natural science of snail life.  When Bailey was forced by illness to spend an extended period of time in bed with little or no movement, a friend brings her a snail that she watches for hours on end.  The snail, like this book, is calming and reassuring.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a must read for anyone who cares about racial issues in this country.  It is beautifully written as a letter from a father to his son on surviving as an African American in the world today.  The message to all people is angry yet calming, sad yet hopeful, cautious yet urgent.  Everyone will find something worthy of  pondering and discussing.

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth is a change from what I usually read and I enjoyed the break.  This lengthy novel offers a peak into court life at Versailles with the Sun King along with a re-imagining of the tale of Rapunzel.

Being Mortal : Medicine and What Matters in The End by Atul Gawande made me think about what is truly important in life and how to help myself and others find the time to let it end.  That might sound depressing but this book is actually very uplifting.  I recommend it if you have aging parents or are thinking about your own aging.  It will make you feel better about your ability to deal what may seem like insurmountable issues.  If you want a graphic memoir to complement this, especially when dealing with parents, consider reading Roz Chast's Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? : A Memoir.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson  is by a beloved children's book author but here looks at the relationship of a grandmother and grandchild as they spend a summer together on an island that they have visited for years.  The beautiful writing evokes a sense of place and an appreciation of nature.  It is worth owning so you can reread it to savor every word.

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan takes place in the middle of the Atlantic ocean in a lifeboat in 1914.  The boat is overcrowded and everyone is worried about surviving as the chances of being rescued become more and more remote.  The end finds one of the women who did survived on trial for murdering others so that she might survive.

Happy reading!

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.

Middle School: Not Too Busy for a Good Book

It seems as though middle school and high school students barely have time to think let alone read for pleasure between homework, friends, sports, music, and all the other things they do. Just like adults, however, many find that escaping into a good book can rejuvenate them. Publishers are eager to find books that will fascinate and hold the attention of this group. It can be difficult, however, for middle school students to pick among the many Young Adult titles. Some offer much more mature subject matter than these younger young adults want. Here are a few titles that I have enjoyed recently. Parents need to know that many are good for adult reading, too.

1. This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Viktor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel is truly creepy which befits a "prequel" to Frankenstein. This novel looks at the family life if the young Frankenstein boys Viktor and Konrad. When the young twins and their cousin stumble upon The Dark Library filled with tomes on alchemy and the dark sciences, their father forbids them to ever visit the room again. Viktor is drawn to the the library, especially when Konrad falls deathly ill and the doctors seem unable to cure him. Filled with hope and foreboding, I imagine that Mary Shelley would enjoy this novel. My first stop after reading it was to revisit the original which I predict is what middle school readers will do as well. This is not a story for younger readers nor for the faint of heart. Oppel also wrote the adventure series about bats that begins with Silverwing, a fascinating adventure for readers in grades four through six. More recently he wrote Half Brother which takes middle school readers into the world of a young man whose family chooses to study and raise as chimpanzee in their family, soon to become a beloved half brother.



2. A real horror is depicted in Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys which begins with the night in that Soviet officers barge into the home Lina, a young Lithuanian girl. The family is separated from the father and sent to Siberia where Stalin orders them to work in the beet fields under cruel conditions. Lina consoles herself and her family by drawing pictures and trying to find ways to get them to her father. The author is a Lithuanian refugee and much of this book is based on stories from her own family.



3. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen is capturing the hearts and minds of strong young women, whether they are runners or not. Jessica, a high school junior, looks to be in line for scholarships and accolades for her running prowess when an accident claims her leg. The novels traces her sorrow, depression, and climb back into an appreciation of her life and how she can use what she has to help others as well as herself. This could be a terribly treacly story, but it rises above this through the author's talent, humanity, and clear appreciation of running. Van Draanen has also written the Sammy Keyes detective girl series for readers in grades four and up. Runaway, a touching novel in the form of the journal of a girl who runs away from home and must fend for herself, is another Van Draanen novel that will be enjoyed by middle school readers.



4. The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter is a truly odd book. It is this oddness that makes it so enjoyable. The three Hardscrabble children are used to having their father go off for weeks at a time to paint portraits of royal families around the world, but never before have they stayed with their odd great-aunt Haddie who lives in a full size playhouse near an old castle once owned by the Kneebone family. What follows is explorations of folk histories, magic, and some harsh realities. The story is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking. It is book that demands a reader who is willing to ride its roller coaster of emotions.



5. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai is simply beautiful as it tells the autobiographical story of a young Vietnamese refugee who is resettled in Alabama. Told in free verse, the story conveys the beauty of Saigon, the agonies of refugee camps, the slow process of adapting to a new country and customs, and the strength of family and hope. The poems are often humorous and almost always poignant.



6. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park follows the lives of two young people in Sudan. Salva is only 11 in 1985 when his home town is attacked by rebel soldiers. The story of his escape across the war torn countryside to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya and eventually to the United States is told honestly but without too much graphic description of the horrors. His inspiring efforts to help his homeland are mirrored in the alternating chapters about Nya. In 2008, Nya must walk long distances to get drinking water for her family. It seems like a miracle when Salva and his organization drill a well in the village, which also makes possible Nya's dream of going to school.
   

You may notice a conspicuous lack of fantasy on this list. You will have no problem finding this genre from middle school readers. These titles will help those who want more than vampires in their reading list.

Quick Suggestions

I was a little surprised when the Parent Organization (ESPO) took me up on my offer to briefly speak about some good books at their meeting this past week. Time was of the essence, both for me to gather books and for the meeting to end at a reasonable time. Life was wild last week, but I had several good new books that I had just finished reading, so I grabbed them along with a couple of other favorites. Then I edited my growing pile. (Word to the wise: Never ask a librarian to talk about a few good books. Librarians have trouble picking out just a few favorites. We love to talk about good books almost as much as we love to read them.)

Here are the books that I showed at the ESPO meeting. All are well worth your time.

PICTURE BOOKS

The Chicken Thief by Beatrice Rodriguez--I can not say enough good thinks about this wordless and wonderful book. The pictures are detailed and the surprise ending is just exactly what I would have wanted to have happen if I had thought about it clearly.

Olive Goes to Venice by Ian Falconer--The amazing pig's latest adventure takes her to Venice where she learns to love gelato. This is not my favorite Olivia book but that is simply because the others are so good.

Art and Max by David Wiesner--Two friendly lizards share an appreciation of art which leads to a demonstration of many art media. There is a solid mix here of humor and art.

LOWER SCHOOL READING: Grades 1-3

Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee--These two girls seem like opposites but that does not stop them from being great friends. The firendly and engaging illustrations show the girls' visible differences--one is quite tall and the other is short--and the differences in what interests them. This is a wonderful example of how best friends come in all sizes.

ELEMENTARY--Grades 2-5

Tumtum and Nutmeg: The Rose Cottage Tales by Emily Bearn--More beautifully told tales of two mice with just the right about of adventure. and a hefty dose of charm. If you loved the first book, you will love this one, too, but you don't need to read them in order.

UPPER ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL--Grades 5-8

Scumble by Ingrid Law--This is the sequel to Savvy. Both books are about a family which gains unexpected magical powers on their 13th birthday. Magic is not always easy for those who get to handle or understand.

Toby and the Secrets of the Tree by Timothee de Fombelle--This sequel to Toby Alone continues Toby's quest to save the tree that is his entire world, people with good people and those who would rather destroy the tree than lose their power. The environmental moral is strong and the story is even stronger.

NON-FICTION

Bibiloburro: A True Story from Colombia by Jeanette Winter--This simple picture book tells a powerful story of a man who takes books by burro to children in the mountains of Colombia. Google "biblioburro" to see videos and read some inspiring articles.

Marsupials by Nic Bishop--Bishop takes the most astounding wildlife photos I have ever seen. Check out all of his other books as well--Frogs, Butterflies, Spiders, and Lizards. One of my favorite parts of each book is the end piece where Bishop explains how he gets his photos. Many take hours and hours of waiting and hoping.

I will soon be putting up more lists as we prepare for our annual book fair. Keep checking back for those suggestions.

Ending Summer with a Bang

If you read my last entry, you know that I ended it by feeling a little disappointed that I had not read enough books that I truly loved this past summer. Thank goodness that I finished the summer with a great read--so great that I can't wait to talk about it.

Many people have enjoyed Silverwing, others in that series about bats, and various other titles by Kenneth Oppel. Now Oppel has a very different new book. Half Brother takes place in the 1970s when interest in human relationships with other species was growing. (Think of Koko and her kitten or the chimps that went into space.) At that same time of protest about many things there were the beginnings of animal activism, protesting testing on animals. Ben Tomlin, the narrator of this book, is thrown into the middle of all of this at age 13 when his family brings home a baby chimpanzee which they hope to teach to use sign language. If that is not unsettling enough, Ben has had to move across the country from Toronto to Vancouver where his father, a psychologist, will now be working. He is put in a private middle school and works to makes friends, especially with the very cute daughter of his dad's new boss. So there is some good old fashioned love interest and teen angst in this book. It offers a nice balance to the odd life that Ben lives with a chimp for a baby brother. He and his dad soon disagree about what role Zan, the chimp, has in the world. Is Zan a little brother or science experiment?

There is much here to enjoy. The writing is good and will tug at the heartstrings of all but the most jaded amongst us while offering up difficult questions to ponder about the importance of scientific investigation as well as the importance of keeping humans humane. I highly recommend this book to middle school readers and their older siblings and parents, too.

Middle School Might Like...

By middle school most readers have decided on a genre or two that they really like. No one will like all of these books, but there should be something of interest here to the average middle schooler, should such a person exist.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins leave the reader barely able to wait for the next in the series. I have talked about this trilogy at some length on my blog so will just repeat that this is a book that middle school students and their parents are enjoying thoroughly.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins is aimed at a little bit younger students than The Hunger Games series, but it is an equally compelling start to a popular series. It features a young boy who is looking after his baby sister, giant spiders, and myriad interesting creatures, all looking for the one who is meant to fulfill an ancient prophecy.

Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadahota won wide acclaim and numerous awards, including the Newbery Award, all of which were merited. This novel tells of the struggles of a Japanese family in the 1950s when they move from Iowa to rural Georgia and try to fit in. The writing is stunning, pulling the reader deep into the lives of the family’s two daughters.

A Step From Heaven by An Na is at least partly autobiographical as it recounts the life of a young girl who moves with her family from Korea to California. The family struggles to learn English and to adapt to their new home. The title comes from the girl thinking that since they fly to America and heaven is in the sky that America must be heaven. Her uncle assures her that it is a “step from heaven”. Life is not easy for the family and none of the harsh realities of a troubled family are glossed over in this telling.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is set in Texas in 1899. Calpurnia resents the restrictions that are placed on girls. She wants to be out exploring nature, not home cooking and sewing. Only her grandfather understands and helps her explore the world around her. Read this with the intriguing new biography of Charles Darwin, Charles and Emma: the Darwins ’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman which deals with the conflicts that Darwin felt between his findings and his wife’s deep religious beliefs.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon was written for adults but soon became a hit with young adults. The narrator is autistic with the ability to view everything through math. While these may not make him popular or comfortable with people his age—or with adults—it does ultimately help him solve a mystery about his family and a dog he finds dead in his back yard.

The Schwa was Here by Neal Shusterman is an unusual novel, in no small part because one of the main characters in invisible. The Schwa, as he is called, is not really invisible, but people rarely notice him. Can this talent—or curse—be put to good use? The boys in this book seem very real. The story is both moving and humorous.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks has been mentioned before on my blog so let me just say that it is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. It gives a distinctly different view of vampires than you will find in the Twilight books.

The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiole portrays middle school at its worst where bullying and power groups run rampant. The leaders in this story maintain their power by strategically spraying water onto those whom they wish to humiliate. A popular person can be put down with a single shot. This clever school story that will appeal to anyone who has ever felt uncomfortable in middle school—and isn’t that anyone who has ever gone to middle school.

Canned by Alex Shearer finds a young boy who does not fit in well in middle school. It soon becomes obvious that part of this may be because he collects cans that have lost their labels. He lines them up neatly and keeps a close tally when and where he acquired them. When he finally opens one, he finds a severed human finger in it. Other strange things appear in the cans. Then he meets a girl who also collects cans without labels. Together they have to solve a sordid mystery. This has a very British feel that adds to the humor.

Erratum by Walter Sorrells is an adventure that takes a young girl into a book to save herself and her friends from odd people and strange surroundings. Only she can finish the book of her life properly, but she must decide just what that means.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson reveals what so few people realize—that librarians control all knowledge. Alas, the librarians in Alcatraz’s life manipulate this information into cruel lies that allow them to control the world. Alcatraz thinks he is just a normal boy with an odd name (all of his family is named after famous prisons) until his grandfather arrives to show him his special talent that he must use to help save the universe.

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex may be the funniest book I have read in years. The world has been taken over by space aliens and 11 year old Gratuity Tucci sets out to drive herself to the relocation center in Florida after her mother disappears. She is soon joined by an alien who wants to fit into American society so has named himself J-Lo. The story is a comedy of errors but also a thoughtful look at how colonizers treat the indigenous peoples they conquer.

The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede combines history and magic to tell the story of a girl who is the thirteenth child born into a family magic practitioners. Her father is a well-respected professor of the magical arts. Her twin brother is the seventh son of a seventh son which is supposed to mean extra magical powers. She, however, is bad luck as the thirteenth child. When the family moves to the edge of the American West, they must deal with believers and non-believers, magic and the hardships that were faced by all who moved west to settle this country.

The Dead and the Gone and Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer are disaster stories at their finest. They offer essentially the same story—the moon has bit hit by an asteroid which has thrown it out of orbit, changing the tides, climate, and life of the earth. The Dead and Gone is told by a boy living in a Latino area of New York City. Life as We Knew It is in the voice of a girl who lives in central Pennsylvania. You will look at the moon a little differently when you read these stories.