Lucky For Good

Lucky for Good

Susan Patron (2011)

Third in the Lucky of Hard Pan series. Hard to pin down what this book is "about" except it's about Lucky and how she deals with different events -- school bully, friend leaving, religious beliefs, her absent father.... Good characters, interesting stories.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated...

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making

by Catherynne M. Valenti (2011)

Full of interesting creatures and people, a spunky, resourceful heroine, very Alice in Wonderland-like. I like books that I can hear myself reading to a class; even though the vocabulary in high, the story has a captivating tone and many reading levels would be able to follow along.

Flora & Ulysses

Flora & Ulysses
THE ILLUSTRATED ADVENTURES

Kate DiCamillo
Newbery Medal 2014

A fun book, whimsical and cartoony but poignant. A girl with divorced parents, and a distracted, disinterested mother, saves a squirrel from a vacuum cleaner and their adventures begin. Great vocabulary, some of it comic book creative, and parts of the story are shown in comic style panels. Good read aloud.

Extra Credit

Extra Credit

by Andrew Clements (2009)

Pen pals across international boundaries, a Midwestern girl not doing well in school and an Afghani boy excelling in his classes. Good read aloud with lots of ideas for research projects, letter writing, social studies, and of course pen pals.

Timmy Failure 2

Now Look What You've Done

Stephan Pastis (2014)

Actually haven't finished it yet, but really enjoy it so far. I don't think there's any other book character I've wanted to give a hug to more than Timmy, but I doubt he'd accept one. "Mendacity!"

Not as sad as the first one, but the Calvin and Hobbes-esque (totally a compliment) detective duo is still frustrated in their efforts at Greatness. And solving any case.

Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library

by Chris Grabenstein (2013)

A game, a mystery, a list of great authors and books to read, a Willie Wonka homage, and a celebration of libraries. Kyle loves to play all sorts of games, and while spending the night at the brand new town Library takes part in he most challenging game yet: how to escape from being locked in the Library? It is more game than dangerous mystery, very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-ish, but there are many clues and puzzles to unravel before the end. Great examples of teamwork, using your brain, never giving up. And many, many books are referenced to fill an entire shelf.

Deeper: How many authors and books are mentioned? Research libraries, Dewey Decimal, and apparently there is one more problem to solve for the reader, not the characters in the story. I think this would be a great read aloud and higher level project book.

Nice author's website too, and it looks like he visits schools!

Timmy Failure

Mistakes Were Made

by Stephan Pastis (2013)

Tragicomedy with bad art and a polar bear. The story of a boy detective not in any way in the same league as Nate the Great and Encyclopedia Brown. Imaginative and silly, similar to Calvin & Hobbes (or is the bear real?), but with a poignant touch of real life sadness.

I liked it, chuckled out loud many times, and definitely want to keep reading about his misadventures.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars

John Green (2012)

Quite the prolific young man, this Mr. John Green. Author (5 or 6 books since 2005?), websites (leading the "fight to increase awesome and decrease suck"), and YouTube star... when does he sleep?

Cancer isn't new, rare these days is any person that hasn't been touched by it. And while this book is about the pain of living and dying with cancer, it does such a great job letting us know the characters as real, quality people that I didn't feel played when someone died, I felt thankful I was able to read the story.

And I'll probably kiss my boys a few extra times today.

Besides the whole painful death by cancer subject matter there is alcohol, language, and un-explicit sex. Nothing most kids don't see/hear/know about already but I'd still suggest waiting for the teen years to read it.

Water Street

Water Street

by Patricia Reilly Giff (2006)

Brooklyn, 1870s, as the city builds a bridge families try to build lives. Bridget, aka Bird, follows in her mother's footsteps as a neighborhood healer while being a friend to a boy with a drunk father and worrying about her older siblings. Interesting picture of inner city life and how friends and neighbors need to help each other.  Bird faces fears and has the strength to help when needed.

"12+" not for content but writing style, some passages jump back or forth and from character to character and can be confusing. The family life and interaction was done very well, easy to know and care for the characters.

Glory Be

 Glory Be

Augusta Scattergood* (2012)

Racial unrest during the summer of 1964 threatens the birthday plans of a girl in Mississippi. A small town deals with segregation, the Freedom Summer volunteers, and getting ready for the 4th of July celebrations. Similar to ...Gabriel King, but not as deep or dramatic; some of the storylines feel undone. Best parts were the sister relationship, Elvis vs Beatles, and the brave Librarian standing up to the town's racist bullies. Enjoyable story, likable main character.


*Gotta be one of the best author names ever!

When Zachary Beaver Came To Town

When Zachary Beaver...

Kimberly Willis Holt (1999)

A busy summer for a boy in small town Texas, 1971: a 600 lb boy in a trailer comes to town, his best friend's brother goes to Vietnam, his mother runs off to Nashville, the girl of his dreams loves someone else, he mows the lawn of a senile Judge, and his father raises worms.

Interesting book, full of very descriptive phrases that would provide many examples for use of figurative language. Almost too many personalities and goings on in the first third, might be hard to keep track of the side characters, but when the story focuses it becomes great. Almost got the tears welling up at one point as well.

Good book with many talking points, several angles for different students to appreciate and discuss.
Has anyone seen the movie?

The Liberation of Gabriel King

The Liberation of Gabriel King

K.L. Going (2005)

Two friends, a brave black girl and a timid white boy, face bullies, racism, and spiders in 1976 Georgia. Nervous about going into 5th grade, Gabriel tries to spend the summer facing his fears and helps his friend Frita deal with racist adults. Feels like this could have been a much deeper, longer book with all the characters and plot points, but it's almost just a surface sketch. For younger readers it does bring up a lot of discussion-able issues without getting too heavy.

Definitely recommend. Vote for Carter.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z 

Kate Messner (2009)

"One can do worse than be a swinger of birches."

A lot going on in this book, seems like a good one to take your time on with a class. The pretty and popular girl bully angle, mother/daughter communication and understanding, procrastination on school projects, art brain vs over organized brain (also the mother/daughter deal), grandparents dealing with old age and possible Alzheimer's, funerals, running track, young romance, the poetry of Robert Frost, plus lots and lots of trees.

Personally I'm going to try to get my 6th grade boy to read it, although the only hook for him may be the electronic genius friend (sorry son, no dragons, robots, or time travel). But my father does suffer from cognitive issues and this might be a way to see if he has questions about that. It's not all serious stuff, it's an entertaining story with good characters and some humor.

4/5 stars

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan

Katherine Applegate
Newbery Medal 2013

Rare is the book that makes me want to gather up the neighborhood kids and pretend I had a class of my own to read this to. The only distraction as I read was all the lesson ideas popping in my brain. Loved it.

"Magic Realism" children's book style: Ivan is a gorilla and an artist telling us his story, from capture in Africa to shopping mall circus* to a home at the zoo. Sad but warm, cute but real, simple but thought-provoking. Would go nice with Dahl's Magic Finger in helping students learn to respect the animal kingdom.

5 out of 5 stars, highly recommend.


*Do they really have such things? Never heard of it. I could see a petting zoo maybe, but elephants and JCPenny?

Waiting for Normal

Waiting for Normal

Leslie O'Conner (2008)

Unfortunately, living in a trailer and dealing with hunger, neglect, reading issues, and separated families is the norm for too many children. This book touches on all of this (and more: cancer! music recitals!) in the life of a 6th grade girl but does it with a positive, confident cast of characters that brings hope to the story and reader.

Realistic but not too grim, great characters, humor. A good book to connect with lessons on empathy and recognizing other' circumstances.

WondLa

The Search for WondLa
by Tony DiTerlizzi  (2010)

Good mix of the tried and true and new twists.  Fresh characters, interesting and creative settings, action and thought, with an ending that recalls Planet of the Apes. (Not a real "ending" of course, there must be a minimum of 3 books due to the Children's Lit Stretch It Into a Series Law, right?)

A little futuristic, a child raised by a robot with an iPad-like device, and a little medieval with dragons, beasts, and questing adventure, with a nod to Oz/Yoda as the hero gathers friends as she seeks her home. Great illustrations and interactive maps when you use your webcam to view certain images. A hint at the future of books, if we want books to have a future. Would be a good read aloud book, and I'm looking forward to the next books in the series keeping up the standard.

Wonder & Out of My Mind

 Wonder 

by R. J. Palacio (2012)

Out of My Mind

by Sharon M. Draper (2012)


Two good books with a similar message. Both feature 5th grade students, school and family issues, bullies, physical challenges, and both will probably cause a few tears to flow. Wonder has a male lead and more family/friend interaction while ...Mind is a female lead and mostly her inner voice. Both deal with preconceived ideas of mental and physical ability. Both made me wonder what hidden talents and abilities I missed in my students this year, and both would be great to read and discuss in a classroom.

The Wikkeling

The Wikkeling

by Steve Arntson (2011)

A little spooky, a bit complicated, and very much well worth it. Three kids that don't fit in with the "normal" -- one would love to be a garbage collector when he grows up -- in a future society of computers for standardized testing on every students' desk and cell phones tracking one's every movement. (hmm, did I say "future"?)

A special attic is discovered, full of old books and candles and a window that shows a tree lined street of the past, and the children are chased by a ghost-like creature that is also connected to the city's Big Brother-like computer system. A little mystery, some adventure, helping friends and standing up for what you believe in. Cats, grandparents, and a man named "Oak" are also involved.

4/5 stars, highly recommend it.

connections: 1984, The Last Book In The Universe

101 Ways to Bug Your...

...Friends and Enemies

by Lee Wardlaw (2011)

A little Jane Austin for the miniature golf crowd -- lots of relationship intrigue and discovering of romantic feelings, as well as lessons in friendship as people grow and change.  A lot going on, the numerous characters (and ailments, and accents, and...) in the first chapters had my head swimming, but everything and everyone ties together nicely at the end.  Genuinely funny, and without the usual base juvenile book humor. Loved the Hawaiian golfer character, something different and fresh.

Although I do wonder why I feel the urge to rent Roxanne ...?

http://www.leewardlaw.com/books.htm