Booked

                                                     By Kwame Alexander 

     Middle school is a tremendous time of growth and maturity.  A time of new interests, old friends new friends and romance.  Nick has a highly developed lexicon due to a father that is a professor of linguistics.  In fact, his father has even written a dictionary of interesting words.  Nick loves to play soccer, hang out with his best friend Coby, he is shy around the girl of his dreams, has a great relationship with his mother and friction with his father.  He has a marvelous mentor in the school's librarian, former rapper Mac. Nick seems to be muddling through his 8th grade year pretty well until strife between his parents makes his home life strained and until the class bullies come back to school.  One of the twins likes Nick's dream girl, which leads to even more turmoil.  

     When Nick's parents openly disagree and dad ends up sleeping on the couch, his life really starts shifting to a new normal.  Nick's mother decides to have a trial separation and moves out of state to further her career has a horse trainer.  This leaves Nick with an exacting father with extremely high expectations.  Nick's father forces him to read his dictionary daily and Nick hates to read even though his romantic interest is in the school's book club.  Nick's love of soccer and his best friend Coby are really his saving grace and they are looking forward to a large tournament with college scouts, but in a rival soccer match, when Coby is on the opposing team. Nick is injured and he suffers a burst appendix.  The tournament is out and Nick is devastated.  When Nick is injured his mom returns home and thinks seems to return to normal, until she packs to return to Kentucky.  Nick learns that the written word is his life-save; a new activity, book club, communicating with his mother and using his words to avoid confrontation.  Nick does return to health and his life has changed. 

     I absolutely love this book and give it 5 out of 5 stars.  It was amusing fast paced and highly entertaining.  I think that it is very appropriate for any student 5th grade and higher.  I could not put this book down and will be one of those books that I will keep for a long time.  I especially liked the thought  that was put into the the font size, the footnotes and the care for the total package.  I never knew that poetry could be this incredible!  This book is awesome! 

Links

Kwame Alexander

Soccer rules

What to do if you are bullied.

Doll Bones

                                                                         By Holly Black 

     This book is ingenious and entertaining.  Welcome to the world of make believe where three friends spend all of their spare time in a created game from their own creative minds.  They have played the game for years, but those around the three friends do not understand their enjoyment and attachment to each other.  Zach, Poppy and Alice are in middle school and things are going to change.  When Zach's dad moves back in with them and throws all of the action figures away, Zach has no choice.  He can no longer participate in the game and is devastated.  Instead of explaining his dilemma to his best friends he lies and claims that he no longer wants to play.  

     Poppy and Alice are left without their hero and the game falls apart until Poppy rescues the queen from her tower (a display case) and begins to have nightmares.  She is told that she must  return the queen to her home.  She convinces Alice and Zach that they must help her and of course the three of them rush to do the queen's bidding.  The problem is that they must catch a bus in the middle of the night and they leave with out telling any adults.  Their quest becomes fraught with danger as they spend the night outside and learn to sail a boat on their route to East Liverpool.  When they are caught in the library, they all believe that the quest is doomed, but they have a small window to find Eleanor's burial spot and put the queen to rest.  

     I really enjoyed this coming of age book.  The tale is very well crafted and ripe with symbolism.  I am giving this book a 4.75 out of 5 and believe it is appropriate for all students fifth grade and higher.  It really is a book about learning to grow and find new interests and that sometimes it is okay to still play and things never stay the same forever!  Definitely worth the read! 

Links

Author - Holly Black

Bone China

East Liverpool OH

Just Listen

                                                                                  By Sarah Dessen 

     This is an incredibly powerful and well-crafted story.  Sarah Dessen approaches a current often hidden aspect of life unfortunately for many women.  Anabel appears to have everything that most teens crave, but one night her life crumbles and she did not know how to deal with her new reality.  Left to begin the upcoming school year with no friends and hated by Sophie, she tries to become invisible.  An unlikely friendship with the school's "bad boy", assists Anabel in dealing with her anger and remaining honest with herself and those around her.  

     Not until Anabel is confronted with  her own memories and another victim, and Owen asks for an explanation that she is not ready to give, does Anabel learn to just listen.  Anabel's friendship with Owen is in a shambles and she finally decides to listen to the CD's that he made for her.  Then a confrontation with an old friend forces Anabel to tell Owen the whole truth, all of her secrets. His understanding and encouragement has Anabel calling the detective and telling her family, what happened.  Finally, Anabel has righted her life and discovered that the truth has set her free that and the power of music.  

     I really enjoyed this story but feel that it is very mature in its content.  It is beautifully crafted and the character development is excellent.  I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and would say it is appropriate for girls in high school.  This was a nice departure for my reading and I would encourage you to read it.  

Links 

Author: Sarah Dessen

Bullying

No means no

Anger Management

Summerlost

                                                                                                By Allie Condie

     This is a poignant tale of heartbreak and the resilient spirit of an individual to overcome the loss of not only her father but a young sibling as well.  Cedar comes to terms with her father and younger brother's death.  Ben had been autistic, but Cedar was able to understand and loved him.  It has been a year and her mother has decided to buy a summer home Iron Creek, near her family.  It should be good for them to be surrounded by loved ones while they learn to handle their new normal.  They quickly settle into a routine, but Cedar notices a young man riding by her home in a costume, and one day decides to follow to see where he goes.
     His destination is the local Shakespear in the park festival where he works doing concessions.  Even though Cedar is young, she is found a job at the festival and quickly becomes friends with Leo.  In an effort to make as much money as possible that summer Leo has concocted a scheme and asks if Cedar would like to be his partner.  The scheme is to give festival attendees a celebrity walk of Iron Creek's famed Lisette Chamberlain.  Of course, this is accomplished without any of the adults being aware of their activity.  Leo and Cedar are eventually caught and lose their jobs at the concession, yet Cedar continues to volunteer her time in the wardrobe department, where she has befriended Lisette's old friend.  In the end, Cedar and her family have decided to commemorate the loss of their loved ones by keeping and collecting items that Ben would have kept near at hand... a toothbrush, a screwdriver etc.
     This is a very enjoyable read, well crafted with some very strong figurative speech especially metaphor for example, "Sometimes I thought of the three of us as pencils with the erasers scrubbed down to the end, and the next swipe across the paper would tear through the page and make a scree sound" (Condie, 11).  I am going to only give this book a 3.5 out of 5.  Somehow the book fell flat and was anti-climatic, the developed story was not the conflict.  If you are looking for a light easy read, however, this is a good book to pick up.

Links

Michigan's Shakespeare in the Park

William Shakespeare

Allie Condie

Under a Painted Sky

                                                                                               by Stacey Lee 


     An unlikely tale of friendship, hardship and love.  This is a historical fiction set in the old west of the United States in the year 1849.  Two unlikely girls are forced to become companions on their escape trek along the trail towards California.  Annamae (Andy) is an escaped slave that is trying to meet up with her brother at Harp Falls and Samantha is a young Chinese woman who killed her attacker and must flee to avoid the hangman's noose.  After Annamae helps Samantha, they decide to flee together under the disguise of young boys, not women.
     In the process of cooking a snake, Andy and Sammy attract a small group of cowboys.  They make a deal with the group to share their meal for a ride on their horses.  This deal works well for the next day, but Andy and Sammy conclude that they can travel faster and safer with the boys.  Sammy gambles it all on who can catch a fish faster.  The girls barely win and avoid having to sing naked in the cold water.  The deal is that they will travel with the ramada, Andy will cook and Sammy will give the boys lessons in french and play her violin and the boys will give them their protection and rides on the horses.
     This arrangement works fairly well and improves as they pass through Fort Kearney and the boys acquire supplies for the journey.  Along the path, the group stops a stampede, meets up with other settlers and are gifted with a mule, avoid death by drowning, contract cholera, run into the dangerous broken hand gang and fall in love.   Their journey is fraught with danger, compassion, and friendship.
Do the boys figure out their secret? Can Andy and Sammy trust the boys with their lives, or is it safer for them to maintain their disguises?  All I can tell you is that "Under a Painted Sky" all sorts of things can happen!
     This is a very interesting read and a time frame that I have never really read a lot about.  There is the recurring theme that life and death situations can have people react and do incredible things.  I am going to give this a 4 out of 5 stars.  It was not 100% believable, for me.  Sammy was born in New York and was moving west with her father during a time when most Chinese were entering the west from California, it seemed far fetched for Sammy to be coming from New York.  I give the author credit however, for a very entertaining read!

Link 

Chinese Migration to the United States

California Gold Rush

The Oregon Trail

Author: Stacey Lee

The Body in the Woods

By April Henry       

     This is a murder mystery set in the Pacific Northwest and our heroes are three intrepid teenagers that are new members of the local Search and Rescue team.  Alexis, Ruby, and Nick have their own reasons for deciding to volunteer for this group, but they never considered that they would discover a dead body on this first mission.  Or that the body would be a young homeless girl that had been murdered and of course the inadvertently have encountered the villain.  The teenagers are embroiled in the mystery as the murderer has discovered his next victim and has his eyes on one of our heroes.  

     Alexis is mature beyond her years as she cares for her mentally unstable mother and dreams of going to college.  Nick is a fatherless young man who dreams of being a hero like his dead father.  Finally, Ruby is a very intelligent and observant young lady whose parents are not happy with her involvement in SAR.  It is Ruby that is convinced that there is more to the murdered young girl and she tries to get Detective Harriman to listen to her doubts.  Of course, he is convinced he knows who the perpetrator is and ignores the teens.  The three bond in their attempt to oust the real killer, with a few mishaps along the way.  Will they be able to find the murderer before he turns his attention to his next victim or will they be able to put a stop to the death?  

     This is a very entertaining read and I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.  The subject matter of the book requires it to be mature and for mature readers, I would not suggest it for anybody younger than 8th grade.  The characters are in high school and there is some romance but I honestly do not feel that most readers would be interested in this book until high school.  The characters are well written and very recognizable.  The relationships feel genuine and plausible, it is very well written just not subject matter for middle school children.  

Links 

Parks of the city of Portland

SAR

Birds of the Pacific Northwest

On the hunt for serial killers in Portland

              

  

Black Duck

                                              By Janet Taylor Lisle 

     This is a historical fiction novel set on the East Coast of the United States during prohibition, a time of bootlegging, people trying to make money outside the law by bringing alcohol into the United States.
     One young man is an aspiring reporter he is trying to make a name for himself by looking back into the areas' nefarious past.  He finds articles of a famed rum runner by the name of Black Duck and discovers that one elderly gentleman is still alive and might be willing to share some of his knowledge of the past. ,Ruben is not willing to divulge the whole story right oft the bat, so the interview lasts several days one summer.  Our young reporter, David, is being pressured to work in the family business, but he wants something more with his life and continues to question Ruben about the occurrences leading up to the fateful December 29th, when the Black Duck was attacked by the Coast Guard and most of its crew murdered.
     Ruben begins the story with a tale of finding a dead body on the beach while he and his best friend, Jeddy, were searching for lobster traps.  By the end of the summer, David hears the whole sad story of what happened to the Black Duck, its fearless crew, the coming of the mob, Jeddy and Marina.  What happens when two best friends, Jeddy and Ruben, end up on opposite sides of the law, can their friendship ever survive?
     This is a multifaceted story and a very enjoyable read.  I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.  I enjoyed the characters and felt true empathy for some of the situations they were in and how they resolved their conflicts.  I think that this would be an extraordinary book for both genders and would encourage it for fourth grade through eighth grade.  It definitely left me wanting to know more about the history of the area, the rum rummers and prohibition.

links

The real Black Duck

History of Prohibition

Organized Crime during Prohibition

History of the "Rum War"