List 4--November 26, 2010

Forge, Anderson
Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, and Science,  Aronson and Budhos
A Tale Dark & Grimm, Gidwitz   
Touch Blue, Lord
A Long Walk to Water, Park
The Kneebone Boy, Potter
Heart of a Samurai, Preus
Mindblind, Roy
Saving Sky, Stanley
A Conspiracy of Kings, Turner
Moon Over Manifest, Vanderpool

A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Clarion Books
2010
121 p.


Summary:  When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan.

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, and Science, by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, and Science,  by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

Clarion Books
2010
                         166 p.


Summary:  This meticulously researched, brutally honest, compelling book offers readers a different way to look at many events over the past 200 years or so. The title says it all. From the slave trade through abolition; from revolutions (American, French, and Haitian) to the Louisiana Purchase; from the decline of honey to the rise of saccharine, these events and many more are directly traced to the cultivation and production of sugar cane around the world. With a focus on slavery, Aronson and Budhos demonstrate how this one crop, with its unique harvesting needs, helped to bring about a particularly brutal incarnation of slavery. What makes this such a captivating read is that the book has a jigsaw-puzzle feel as the authors connect seemingly disparate threads and bring readers to the larger picture by highlighting the smaller details hidden within.  (School Library Journal)

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gitwitz

A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Dutton Children's Books
2010
256 p.


Summary:  Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Based in part on the Grimms' fairy tales Faithful Johannes, Hansel and Gretel, The seven ravens, Brother and sister, The robber bridegroom, and The devil and his three golden hairs.

Saving Sky by Diane Stanley

Saving Sky by Diane Stanley

Harper
2010
199 p.

Summary:  In an America that has suffered continual terrorist attacks since 9/11, seventh-grader Sky stands up for what is right and helps a classmate of Middle    Eastern descent, although doing so places her and her family at great risk.

SJCPL Mock Newbery Club Meeting - November 11, 2010

Skyping with Laura from Laura's Life

Great meeting with 22 students in attendance.  We talked books, Skyped with Laura, and then discussed the books they thought were the "most distinguished".

Top Vote Getters

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Cardturner, Mockingbird, Out of My Mind, and The Red Pyramid have gotten top votes two meetings in a row!

Skyping with Laura from Laura's Life

Laura was nice enough to Skype with us and opened by telling us a little about herself.  She was an honored guest at the 2010 ALA Newbery Award ceremony.  She's met both Jerry Pinkney and Rebecca Stead.  

A Q & A with Laura

Q:          How many books do you read a day?

Laura:   I don't know.  I'm usually reading 5 at a time. 

Q:          Do you have a favorite book or series?

Laura:   Caddy Woodlawn

Q:         Picks for the 2011 Newbery?

Laura:   One Crazy Summer, Out of My Mind, Mockingbird, The Dreamer and Keeper.

Q:         Did you read Holes?  It's by the same person who wrote the Cardturner.
Laura:  Yes, but I didn't love it.  (Our group really LOVES Cardturner and they wanted to know why it wasn't a top choice of hers.)

Q:         What are your top 5 books of all time?
Laura:   When You Reach Me, Caddie Woodlawn, The Giver and Hitty: Her First 100 Years.  (Couldn't think of a 5th one.)

Q:        What are you reading right now?

Laura:  Encyclopedia Brown, Hugo Cabret, The Outsiders, and Savvy. (There was a fifth but I missed it!)

Students really enjoyed meeting with Laura.  I'm hoping that a couple of the students, who will be too old for the club, will think of assisting Kris next year.

Mindblind by Jennifer Roy

Mindblind by Jennifer Roy

Marshall Cavendish
2010
248 p.

Summary:  Fourteen-year-old Nathaniel Clark, who has Asperger's Syndrome, tries to prove that he is a genius by writing songs for his rock band, so that he can become a member of the prestigious Aldus Institute, the premier organization for the profoundly gifted.

Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Delacorte Press
2010
351 p.

Summary:  Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

Lost Hero, The by Rick Riordan

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Disney Hyperion Books
2010
557 p.


Summary:  Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from a school for "bad kids," find themselves at Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Plain Kate by Erin Bow (will soon be ordered by SJCPL)

Arthur A. Levine Books
2010
314 p.

Summary:  Plain Kate's odd appearance and expertise as a woodcarver cause some to think her a witch, but friendship with a talking cat and, later, with humans help her to survive and even thrive in a world of magic, charms, and fear.

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond (will soon be ordered by SJCPL)

Candlewick Press
2010
170 p.


Summary:  A fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston's childhood with her best friend Carrie, in Eatonville, Florida, as they learn about life, death, and the differences between truth, lies, and pretending. Includes an annotated bibliography of the works of Zora Neale Hurston, a short biography of the author, and information about Eatonville, Florida.

SJCPL Mock Newbery Club Meeting - October 14, 2010

Rushing to get the last books!

Today we had our first meeting to discuss books!  22 students showed up and they were ready to rumble!

First they nominated books that they wanted to discuss and the books with the most votes were "brought to the table".  They were:

• The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
• The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
• Cardturner by Louis Sachar

Some other books that received high votes were:

• Finally by Wendy Mass
• The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
• Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holms

Next meeting, Thursday, November 11, 2010.  We will Skype with Laura from Laura's Life.

The Year of Goodbyes by Debbie Levy

The Year of Goodbyes by Debbie Levy

Disney-Hyperion
2010
136 pgs.

Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord

Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord

Scholastic Press
2010
186 pgs.

Summary

When the state of Maine threatens to shut down their island's one-room schoolhouse because of dwindling enrollment, eleven-year-old Tess, a strong believer in luck, and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child, to increase the school's population.

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O'Connor

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O'Connor

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2010
168 pgs.

Summary

After Owen captures an enormous bullfrog, names it Tooley Graham, then has to release it, he and two friends try to use a small submarine that fell from a passing train to search for Tooley in the Carter, Georgia, pond it came from, while avoiding nosy neighbor Viola.

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins

Charlesbridge
2010
272 pgs.

Summary

Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and in order to survive they must learn to trust each other.

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

Amulet
2010
301 pgs.

Summary

In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Little, Brown
2010
217 pgs.

Summary

In New Orleans' Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see spirits, and her adopted grandmother have no choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane Katrina bears down upon them.

Dark Emperor by Joyce Sidman

Dark Emperor by Joyce Sidman

Houghton Mifflin
2010
29 pgs.

Summary

A collection of poems that celebrate the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark.

Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder

Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder

Random House
2010
304 pgs.

Summary

When her father suddenly quits his job, the almost-ten-year-old, friendless Penny and her neglectful parents leave their privileged life in the city for a ramshackle property in the eccentric town of Thrush Junction, Tennessee.

Hard Kind of Promise by Gina Willner-Pardo

Hard Kind of Promise by Gina Willner-Pardo

Clarion Books
2010
200 pgs.

Summary

California seventh-graders Sarah and Marjorie made a promise in kindergarten to always be friends, but Marjorie is weird and Sarah, wanting to be at least somewhat popular, makes friends with a fellow choir member.

Scumble by Ingrid Law

Scumble by Ingrid Law

Dial Books for Young Readers
September 2010
400 pgs.

Summary

Mibs's cousin Ledge is disappointed to discover that his "savvy"--the magical power unique to each member of their family--is to make things fall apart, which endangers his uncle Autry's ranch and reveals the family secret to future reporter Sarah.

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

Atheneum
2010
304 p.

Summary:  This sequel to Chains (S & S, 2008) opens with Curzon, an enslaved teen who was freed from prison by Isabel, recalling his escape and anticipating the future. After an argument with Isabel about where they should go next, the 15-year-old battles the British at Saratoga and winters in Valley Forge with the Patriots. He reveals many details of the conditions endured by the soldiers during the winter of 1777-1778, including the limited food supply, lack of adequate shelter, and tattered clothing. When Curzon and Isabel meet again, they have both been captured and must devise a plan of escape once again. While the Patriots are fighting for the freedom of a country, these young people must fight for their personal freedom.

Little Joe by Sandra Neil Wallace

Little Joe by Sandra Neil Wallace

Alfred A. Knopf
2010
184 p.

Summary:  Nine-year-old Eli raises his first bull calf and looks forward to showing it at the county fair.

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

G.P. Putnam's Sons
2010
325 p.

Summary:  New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells

On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells

Candlewick Press
2010
329 p.


Summary:  When the Depression hits in Cairo, Illinois, and Oscar Ogilvie's father must sell their home and vast model train set-up to look for work in California, eleven-year-old Oscar is left with his dour aunt, where he befriends a mysterious drifter, witnesses a stunning bank robbery, and is suddenly catapulted onto a train that takes him to a different time and place.

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illus. by Jon J. Muth

Hyperion Books
2010
unpaged

Summary:  Through the seasons, whenever City Dog visits the country he runs straight for Country Frog's rock to play games with him, but during the winter things change for them both.

Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst

Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst

Atheneum Books
2010
113 p.


Summary:  Lulu's parents refuse to give in when she demands a brontosaurus for her birthday and so she sets out to find her own, but while the brontosaurus she finally meets approves of pets, he does not intend to be Lulu's.

The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Feiwel and Friends
2010
282 p.


Summary:  Otto, Lucia, and Max Hardscrabble, whose mother has been missing for many years, have unexpected and illuminating adventures in the village of Snoring-by-the-Sea after their father, who paints portraits of deposed monarchs, goes away on a business trip.

Sabotaged by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sabotaged by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Simon and Schuster
2010
377 p.

Summary:  Time-travelers Jonah and Katherine are summoned to help another missing child from history, this time Virginia Dare from the Roanoke Colony, but their journey is sabotaged and goes dangerously awry, leaving them in the wrong time period. Includes author's note about the history of Roanoke Colony and Virginia Dare.

Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff

Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff

Wendy Lamb Books
2010
166 p.

Summary:  Forced to spend months at an aunt's house, Elizabeth feel a connection to her ancestor Zee, whose picture hangs on the wall, and who reveals her story of hardships during the Revolutionary War as Elizabeth comes to terms with her own troubles.

The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco

The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco

Alfred A. Knopf
2010
266 p.

Summary:  In a 1930s Massachusetts farm town torn by the Depression, racial tension, and other hardships, Charlie Anne and her black next-door neighbor Phoebe form a friendship that begins to transform their community.

The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier

The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier
Delacorte Press
2010
296 p.

Summary:  Twin daughters of interracial parents, eleven-year-olds Keira and Minna have very different skin tones and personalities, but it is not until their African American grandmother enters them in the Miss Black Pearl Pre-Teen competition in North Carolina that red-haired and pale-skinned Minna realizes what life in their small town in the Pacific Northwest has been like for her more outgoing, darker-skinned sister.

Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood

Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood
Front Street
2010
142 p.

Summary:  Twelve-year-old Joseph helps his family to survive when the natives of Saipan are caught in the crossfire between the Japanese soldiers and the American troops at the end of World War II.

Jake by Audrey Couloumbis

Jake by Audrey Couloumbis
Random House
2010
162 p.

Summary:  When ten-year-old Jake's widowed mother breaks her leg just before Christmas while her sister and best friend are both away, a grandfather Jake barely remembers must come to Baltimore, Maryland, to help a neighbor take care of him.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
2010
390 p.

Summary:  Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol wants revenge ... and President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe!

My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis

My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis
Henry Holt and Co.
2010
248 p.

Summary:  In 1966 Illinois, twelve-year-old Wilhelmina, convinced that she, her parents, and sisters are Abraham Lincoln's family reincarnated, determines to keep them from suffering the same fates, which is complicated when she and her father become involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

Finding Family by Tonya Bolden

Finding Family by Tonya Bolden
Bloomsbury
2010
181 p.
Summary:  Raised in Charleston, West Virginia, at the turn of the twentieth century by her grandfather and aunt on off-putting tales of family members she has never met, twelve-year-old Delana is shocked when, after Aunt Tilley dies, she learns the truth about her parents and some of her other relatives. 

Modern fairies, dwarves, goblins and other nasties : a practical guide / by Miss Edythe McFate ; as told to Lesley M.M. Blume

Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins and Other Nasties : a Practical Guide by Miss Edythe McFate as told to Lesley M.M. Blume
Alfred A. Knopf
2010
242 p.
 
Summary:  A compendium of practical information and cautionary tales about fairies and other similar magical creatures that might be encountered in modern cities like New York, intended to help the child who may come into contact with them.

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2010
172 p.


Summary:  Bartoletti's book traces the origin and evolution of the Ku Klux Klan from a small mischievous social club into a powerful, destructive organization. They Called Themselves the KKK presents the complex era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, that gave rise to the KKK. After the Civil War, the defeated South was a simmering cauldron of political, economic, and social instability. As the federal government struggled to provide law and order and to protect the rights of freed slaves, secret groups of Southern whites banded together to vent their anger over lost property, prosperity, and power. From six men in a law office in Pulaski, TN, KKK dens spread across the South targeting freed blacks and their supporters.

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett
Scholastic Press
2010
306 p.

Summary:
In small-town Michigan, twelve-year-old Zoomy and his new friend Lorrol investigate the journal found inside a mysterious box and find family secrets and a more valuable treasure, while a dangerous stranger watches and waits.

Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky

Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky
Candlewick Press
2010
362 p.

Summary
 In 1952, when Georgie is eleven years old, her family moves to a new Indiana neighborhood where her teenaged neighbor has polio and is in an iron lung.

The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns

 The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
2010
66 pgs.


Summary

Bees don't just produce honey. Your food supply depends on them. Apiarist Dave Hackenberg's bees have a busy travel schedule, pollinating around the United States from February to July. So when Dave inspected four hundred of his hives and found that the bees had simply vanished, a dream team of bee scientists got to work.

List 3 - October 11, 2010

Welcome back!   Our 3rd list of 10 titles is a mixture of nonfiction, historical fiction, Newbery Medal winning authors and Newbery hopefuls.  2010 is shaping up to be a great year in the Newbery Medal race.  Please leave comments at the pages we've created for these titles.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
The War to End All Wars by Russell Freedman
The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns
Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky
The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm
The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

And take a look at List 1 from July 1 and List 2 from August 1.

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb
Balzer + Bray
2010
218 p.
Summary:  Fox Street means everything to Mo Wren, who is nearly eleven, and so she is very upset when a land developer offers to buy her father's house, especially since she has not yet found the fox she is sure lives in the nearby ravine. 

List 2 - August 1, 2010

It's time for our second list.  These are the books that will be brought to the table at our adults Mock Newbery meeting and voting session on Saturday, January 8, 2011. This will be an all-day session, from 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the Main Library Children's Services Storytime Room. Registration for this program will begin May 1, 2010, from this link. 

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Crunch by Leslie Connor
Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Firefly Letters by Margarita Engle
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Please click on any title and leave your comments.  Also, check out our first list from July 1, 2010.  We will also keep links at the top right of the page.

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman
Houghton Mifflin Children's Books
April 2010
Unpaged

Summary

Poems and factual information about some of the creatures that live on Planet Earth.

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

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. 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

Cardturner 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

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.