The Book Search

I'm FINALLY getting around to reading new books again (thanks Netgalley!) and there are some terrific ones in my pile!  One of parents of a student asked me to keep an eye out for characters with challenges, so here are a couple that I found! The first one is called "One Third Nerd" and it's written by Gennifer Choldenko.  Choldenko has written a series of books about a boy growing up on Alcatraz Island in the 1930s who has a sister with a significant unnamed disability (but is probably some form of autism).  Her new book has a child with Down's Syndrome.  However, Izzy is the baby sister and not really a main character.  She has a big brother named Liam and a big sister named Dakota.  Liam is the story teller in this book.  Liam is trying to survive middle school and is profoundly embarrassed by Dakota (who is a science loving genius, just ask her) as well as the fact that they are not exactly poor, but struggle with some money issues and they live ...

I'm enjoying the winter break-we got to come and spend some time with my family in Western NC, we've eaten A LOT, laughed a lot, walked a lot...  Today it's POURING  so I had a little time to finish some books!  YAY!!! The first one is called "Skylark and Wallcreeper" by Anne O'Brien Carelli.  It's told from two different perspectives-Collette and Lily.  Collette is Lily's grandmother and lives in a nursing home in New Jersey.  When they have to evacuate because of Hurricane Sandy, Collette gives Lily a pen and tells her not to lose it, that it's important, but in the chaotic aftermath of the storm, the pen disappears.  It turns out that the pen is link to Collette's past that Lily doesn't know anything about.  Collette grew up in France in the 1930s and 1940s and was involved in the French Underground.  So the story has pieces from World War 2 (told from Collette's perspective) and the present day (told from Lily's perspective). ...

Since October, I've pretty much read nothing but middle grade realistic fiction.  I liked it a LOT but a steady diet of anything, even the good stuff, can leave you craving something different, something spicy, something sweet, something surprising.  So these books totally fill that bill! The first one is called "Inkling" by Kenneth Oppel.  It's a really interesting combination of realistic and fantasy fiction.  The main character is Ethan.  He lives with his dad and his younger sister Sarah. Sarah has Down's Syndrome and their mother died about two years ago.  Ethan's dad is struggling with depression and unresolved issues around his wife's death.  He is a successful graphic novelist, but he hasn't sold anything since his wife died.  The savior comes from an unlikely source-ink.  One day, the ink magically gathers itself into a ball and starts to gather more ink, and more and more until it's animated.  It soaks up some words and t...

I'm still reading for the CYBILS award and it's bit surprising this year.  Usually there are several that I can start and within just a few pages, I know I'm not going to have to finish reading it because it's not interesting or it's poorly written, or I don't find the characters interesting.  But this year, they're all so GOOD.  Lucky I'm a fast reader! This first one is called "Everlasting Nora" by Marie Miranda Cruz.  It's about a girl named Nora who lives with her mom in a cemetery in Manila.  They live in the cemetery because a while back there was a fire in their apartment and in addition to losing most of their belongings, Nora's dad was killed. They lived with relatives for awhile, finding small odd jobs to make money, but when things there didn't work out either, they ended up moving into the family mausoleum.  It's not ideal-there's only a small lock on the gate and it's only closed on three sides, but most o...

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 ...