The Book Search

I'm polishing off the last of the turkey AND the last of my CYBILS list.  Although every time I think I'm really done I get another a box, so maybe I'm not as done as I think I am! The first one I read that really surprised me was called "Boy Bites Bug" by Rebecca Petruck.  It's about Will, who lives in a small town in Minnesota.  His community doesn't have many immigrants so he's been with the same group of friends since he was in kindergarten until a new boy named Eloy moves in.  Eloy's family is from Mexico and his family runs a Mexican restaurant in town that has been wildly popular.  Will is offended when his old friend Darryl uses a racial slur towards Eloy and on a dare, eats a stinkbug which gains him a surprising notoriety in his middle school.  Will decides to use that notoriety to make Darryl feel bad about his use of the racial slur in a science project that he does with Eloy about eating bugs.  Except that Will often offends Eloy wit...

As we're approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, it's great to have a little time to stop and think about all the things I'm grateful for, like the ENTIRE week off school (thanks Palm Beach County Schools) and having brand new books delivered to my doorstep (FIVE PACKAGES TODAY!!!-Thanks CYBILS!).  AND since I've got all these new books AND all this time, guess what I did today?  Not laundry!  Not yard work (ok, there was a little yard work, just a few weeds and a few bags of mulch). YES!  I was reading!  Luckily, there were some terrific ones in the mail today! The first one is called "Class Action"  by Steven B. Frank.  Mr. Frank comes by his knowledge of kids and schools first hand.  On the back fly leaf, it lists his profession as a middle school teacher.  So he knows of which he speaks.  The story is about Sam, who feels like he's drowning his homework.  His big step sister is drowning even more thoroughly, because she is bent ...

One of the things that middle graders find compelling is an exploration of social issues.  As a group, they are exploring the edges of childhood and adulthood and trying to find their own paths, they are connected strongly to their families but are finding their own identities and sometimes these clash with their parents' views.  It's an interesting time.  The books that I've been reading this week explore some of those clashes. The first one is called "No Fixed Address" by Susin Nielsen.  It opens with an interview at a police station.  Felix is 12 and lives with his mother.  It turns out they've been homeless for several months and despite Felix and his mother's optimism that things are going to work out, they really aren't working out.  But, that's really the end of the story.  The beginning works it's way through how they ended up there.  When Felix was small, they lived with his grandmother.  She died when he was about 5 and they ...

One of the things that's so much fun about reading middle grade fiction is the amazing array of characters.  This first book has the most interesting array of characters I've read in awhile.  It's called "The Not So Boring  Letters of Private Nobody" by Matthew Landis.  It's about 12 year old Oliver, who is SO EXCITED to be starting a new social studies unit on the American Civil War.  Oliver loves learning about the Civil War.  He even belongs to a group of people who re-enact Civil War battles.  The bad news is that the project he's been so excited to start requires that he has a partner (he really wants to work alone) AND he and his partner are given a soldier to research that no one has ever heard of.  The partner is a GIRL named Ella who appears disheveled and is failing many of her classes.  She is not particularly interested in the Civil War and Oliver tries very hard to get out of working with her.  But, his teacher, Mr. Carrow (...

I'm really excited that I get to be on the CYBILs judging panel again this year!  Last year I did middle grade speculative (fantasy) fiction and this year I'm doing realistic fiction.  It's such an awesome opportunity to get to read A LOT of books in a short amount of time!  So, not to gloat, but                                 Aaaand, that would be me doing the happy dance! The first book I read was already terrific!  It's called "Once Upon a Princess" by Christine Marciniak. I'm going to tell you the truth, I was totally ready to hate this one.  I have very little patience with things that are just pink and sparkly and after the first chapter, I was ready to kick it to the curb, but I persisted and man, was it worth it!  It's about a princess (yes, pink and sparkly and silk gowns to start with but be patient!) who is ready to attend her first ball.  She's only 12 a...

We had our Scholastic book fair this week and there was a grand assortment of books.  There were two new ones I'd been hearing about but hadn't read, so I got to read this them this week! The first one is a picture book.  It's called "All Are Welcome" by Alexandra Penfold.  It's a story told in rhyming verse about how school is a welcoming place.  The illustrations are warm and inviting and show a range of people who look different, sound different, and worship different from me.  This is going to be a terrific book for talking about classroom and school community.  I think it would be appropriate for little kids, but I think big kids, even middle or high schoolers, could appreciate it too.  Unfortunately, Scholastic only sent me three and when I tried to reorder, they were out of stock.  I think this shows that a LOT of people are enjoying and appreciating what a good book this is.  So you need to look for it too! The second one was...

Ahhh, a long weekend filled with rainy days.  A tropical disturbance that's dumping rain but no real drama?  I'm in.  And LOTS of good books to read.  So here are two that are coming to a book store near you soon! The first one is called "The Darkdeep" and it's written by Allie Condie and Brandon Reichs.  I loved Condie's work but haven't read any of Reichs (which I'm TOTALLY going to fix), but since it's the start of a brand new (what I assume will be) series, I'm not sure it matters.  "The Darkdeep" is about a group of kids who live in a small town in the Pacific Northwest.  There are three kids-Nico, Emma and Tyler who are solid friends.  Opal used to be their friend, but now appears to be friends with the town bully, Logan.  Logan is mad at Nico because Nico's dad is forest ranger and has made recommendations that have damaged Logan's family's business.  Nico, Emma, and Tyler are out flying a drone that Nico had been...