Friday, July 30, 2010

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt
Henry Holt
May 2010
309 pgs.

Summary
Traces the hard life, filled with losses, adversity, and adventure, of Amos, son of a trapper and dowser, from 1833 when his mother dies giving birth to him until 1859, when he himself has grown up and has a son of his own.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

Random House
May 2010
191 pgs.

Summary
In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.

Cardturner: A Novel About a King, a Queen and a Joker by Louis Sachar

Delacorte Press
May 2010
336 pgs.

Summary
When his wealthy uncle, a champion bridge player who has lost his vision, asks seventeen-year-old Alton to be a cardturner for him, Alton has no idea how much he will ultimately learn from his eccentric relative. Includes appendix by Syd Fox with information about bridge.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Countdown by Deborah Wiles
Scholastic Press
May 2010
377 pgs.

Summary
"Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it seems the whole country is living in fear..."--Dust jacket flap.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Clarion Books
April 2010
167 pgs.

Summary
In 1573, the crippled, scorned, and destitute Meggy Swann goes to London, where she meets her father, an impoverished alchemist, and eventually discovers that although her legs are bent and weak, she has many other strengths.

Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook by Beverly Patt

Best Friends Forever:  A World War II Scrapbook by Beverly Patt
Marshall Cavendish
March 2010
92 pgs.

Summary
Fourteen-year-old Louise keeps a scrapbook detailing the events in her life after her best friend, a Japanese-American girl, and her family are sent to a relocation camp during World War II.

Is it Night or Day? by Fern Schumer Chapman

Is it Night or Day? by Fern Schumer Chapman
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
March 2010
205 pgs.

Summary
In 1938, Edith Westerfeld, a young German Jew, is sent by her parents to Chicago, Illinois, where she lives with an aunt and uncle and tries to assimilate into American culture, while worrying about her parents and mourning the loss of everything she has ever known. Based on the author's mother's experience, includes an afterword about a little-known program that brought twelve hundred Jewish children to safety during World War II.

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

Henry Holt
March 2010
276 pgs.

Summary
A retelling of the Perrault fairy tale set in pre-colonial India, in which two stepsisters receive gifts from a goddess and each walks her own path to find her gift's purpose, discovering romance along the way.

Take Me With You by Carolyn Marsden

Candlewick Press
March 2010
160 pgs.

Summary
Raised in an Italian orphanage in the years following World War II, a biracial girl named Susanna and her best friend Pina want to be adopted but fear being separated.

Star in the Forest by Laura Resau

Delacorte Press
March 2010
149 pgs.

Summary
After eleven-year-old Zitlally's father is deported to Mexico, she takes refuge her trailer park's of rusted car parts, where she befriends a spunky neighbor and finds a stray dog that she nurses back to health and believes she must keep safe so that her father will return.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

If Stones Could Speak by Marc Aronson

National Geographic
March 2010
64 pgs.

Summary
What are the secrets of the ancient stone circle? Were the carefully placed stones a burial site, an ancient calendar, a place of Druid worship...or even a site of sacrifice? World-renowned archaeologist Mike Parker-Pearson has spent the last seven years on a quest to answer these and many other questions. In If Stones Could Speak, award-winning author Marc Aronson joins the research crew and records their efforts to crack Stonehenge’s secrets. National Geographic helped sponsor the Riverside archeological team’s mission, and now young readers can journey behind the scenes to experience this groundbreaking story first-hand, through the eyes of the experts.

Mike and his team have revolutionized our understanding of Stonehenge by exploring the surrounding landscape for clues about the stones -- an idea first suggested by a visitor from Madagascar. The results have been breathtaking: The team recently unearthed the largest Neolithic village ever found in England. Marc Aronson had total access to the site, the team, and their work over two seasons of digging and brings the inspirational story of the discoveries taking place at this World Historical Site to young readers. The informative and drama-driven text includes tales of dead bodies, cremations, feasting, and ancient rituals, as well as insights into the science of uncovering the ancient past.

The expert text, stunning photography, and explanatory maps and illustrations will all help young readers see this ancient monument in totally new ways, and inspire future generations of archaeological explorers.

Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer

Dutton's Children's Books
March 2010
Unpaged

Summary
A collection of short poems which, when reversed, provide new perspectives on the fairy tale characters they feature.

Finally by Wendy Mass

Finally by Wendy Mass
Scholastic Press
March 2010
296 pgs.

Summary
After her twelfth birthday, Rory checks off a list of things she is finally allowed to do, but unexpected consequences interfere with her involvement in the movie being shot at her school, while a weird prediction starts to make sense.

Batboy by Mike Lupica

Philomel Books
March 2010
247 pgs.

Summary
Even though his mother feels baseball ruined her marriage to his father, she allows fourteen-year-old Brian to become a bat boy for the Detroit Tigers, who have just drafted his favorite player back onto the team.

Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole

Katherine Tegen Books
February 2010
342 pgs.

Summary
Celeste, a mouse longing for a real home, becomes a source of inspiration to teenaged Joseph, assistant to the artist and naturalist John James Audubon, at a New Orleans, Louisiana, plantation in 1821.

Ratfink by Marcia Thornton Jones

Ratfink by Marcia Thornton Jones
Dutton Children's Books
February 2010
216 pgs.

Summary
Creative, impulsive Logan vows to turn over a new leaf in fifth grade so his parents will let him have a pet, but when a competitive new girl arrives at school and his forgetful and embarrassing grandfather takes over the basement of Logan's house, doing the right thing becomes harder than it has ever been.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The War To End All Wars: WWI by Russell Freedman

Clarion Books
August 2010
176 pgs.

Summary
The tangled relationships and alliances of many nations, the introduction of modern weaponry, and top-level military decisions that resulted in thousands upon thousands of casualties all contributed to the "great war," which people hoped and believed would be the only conflict of its kind. In this clear and authoritative account, the author shows the ways in which the seeds of a second world war were sown in the first. Numerous archival photographs give the often disturbing subject matter a moving visual counterpart

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
May 2010
80 pgs.

Summary
On remote Codfish Island off the southern coast of New Zealand live the last 91 kakapo parrots on earth. Originally this bird numbered in the millions before humans brought predators to the islands. Now on the isolated island refuge, a team of scientists is trying to restore the kakapo population.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Clarion Books
May 2010
372 pgs.

Summary
When Jake Limberleg brings his traveling medicine show to a small Missouri town in 1913, thirteen-year-old Natalie senses that something is wrong and, after investigating, learns that her love of automata and other machines make her the only one who can set things right.

Tell Us We're Home by Marina Budhos

Tell Us We're Home by Marina Budhos
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
May 2010
297 pgs.

Summary
Three immigrant girls from different parts of the world meet and become close friends in a small New Jersey town where their mothers have found domestic work, but their relationships are tested when one girl's mother is accused of stealing a precious heirloom.

Fish by Gregory Mone

Fish by Gregory Mone
Scholastic Press
June 2010
241 pgs.

Summary
Eleven-year-old Fish, seeking a way to help his family financially, becomes a reluctant cabin boy on a pirate ship, where he soon makes friends--and enemies--and is asked to help decipher clues that might lead to a legendary treasure.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
Clarion Books
April 2010
167 pgs.

Summary
In 1573, the crippled, scorned, and destitute Meggy Swann goes to London, where she meets her father, an impoverished alchemist, and eventually discovers that although her legs are bent and weak, she has many other strengths.

Keeper by Kathi Appelt

Keeper by Kathi Appelt
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
May 2010
399 pgs.

Summary
On the night of the blue moon when mermaids are said to gather on a sandbar in the Gulf of Mexico, ten-year-old Keeper sets out in a small boat, with her dog BD and a seagull named Captain, determined to find her mother, a mermaid, as Keeper has always believed, who left long ago to return to the sea.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Top Choices - List 1

I've been researching titles that have received starred reviews, as well as looking up the usual suspects--those authors that seem to turn up year after year as writers of the best children's literature.
There will be 4 lists total, with an average of 10 - 15 titles per list. This seems pretty daunting, but by the time fall gets here, we might have eliminated some titles for consideration in our children's club and of course, in our Adult Mock Newbery Club. Now that I've got a list of approximately 75 titles, I can go ahead and give you the 1st list.

I'll post a new list every 2-3 mos.

List 1: July 1
List 2: August 1
List 3: October 11
List 4: December 1

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Pinkney

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan


Incorrigible Children of Ashton of Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

Now it's time to hear from you. Which of these titles spoke to you?  Or did they?  What titles would you put on the list?

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Atheneum Books For Young Readers
March 2010
245 pgs.

Summary
Middle-schooler Isabelle Bean follows a mouse's squeak into a closet and falls into a parallel universe where the children believe she is the witch they have feared for years, finally come to devour them.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
March 2010
295 pgs.

Summary
Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

Crunch by Leslie Connor

Crunch by Leslie Connor
Katherine Tegen Books
March 2010
330 pgs.

Summary
The oldest Mariss brother, fourteen-year-old Dewey, attempts to be the "embodiment of responsibility" as he juggles the management of the family's bicycle repair business while sharing the household and farm duties with his siblings after a sudden energy crisis strands their parents far from home.



Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
Dial Books for Young Readers
March 2010
358 pgs.

Summary
When a drought threatens her family's magical rhubarb farm, eleven-year-old Polly tries to find a way to make it rain again.