The Year of the Dog

Do you think you could find yourself in just one year? Decide what your talent is? What you will do when you grow up? Pacy tries to do that during the Year of the Dog. Pacy is Chinese-American and so is her new best friend Melody. They are lucky to be friends because they both share the same traditions, being Chinese-American, actually Taiwanese-American. You can learn a lot from this story about the customs and traditions of Pacy's family from one Chinese New Year to the next. Pacy shares her life along with her mother's memories of her childhood: celebrating Halloween, cutting hair, eating ugly vegetables, playing a munchkin and even going to a camp with her family for Taiwanese-Americans. Author Grace Lin wrote the kind of book she wished she could have read when she was young. Maybe you will be inspired to write about your life and add little drawings, too, like Pacy (Grace Lin).

Princess Academy

What a treat I had driving home yesterday from visiting my dear friend in northern Wisconsin. Listening to full cast audio of Sharon Hale's 2006 Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy made the hours fly by. I only had 2 discs to listen to this morning to finish up the book. I highly recommend listening to this fine story. Don't let the title be off-putting, the young women (ages 13-17) in this novel are strong, clever, resourceful and eager to learn. Of course there are hardships, such as being locked in a closet when something else is in there! The twenty peasant women are being trained to be suitable princesses from which the prince can choose from to marry. Besides reading, curtsying, they learn diplomacy and commerce. Their stern tutor, Olana doesn't just dispense knowledge, it comes back to her in ways that will amaze you. Don't miss this Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee—either written or audio—the pages will fly by!

Lawn Boy

Do you know about economics? What is economics? How about a simple way to learn about money and one way to make it and have fun in the process? Read Gary Paulsen's book, Lawn Boy. A very short, actually too short, he could have written more but a short book with chapter titles like: Dramatic Economic Expansion: Its Causes and Effects and Overutilization of Labor Compounded by Unpredicted Capital Growth. Sounds scary, huh? It's not. The main character has help from Arnold after making money on cutting lawns and Arnold, not being able to actually pay the lawn boy, invests it for him. Crazy way to learn about the stock market but very easy to understand. I recommend this book for a bizarre mow through the lawn of capitalism!

Clementine

Crazy little Clementine! There is never a dull moment with Clementine around, of course she is allergic to sitting still! If you like Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody, Ivy and Bean or Ramona books,, you'll love Clementine. She writes the story herself which makes it a little hard to believe she is only a third grader. I think our third graders have more common sense then she does! Most books I review are for older readers, but this book could be enjoyed by younger readers too. Sara Pennypacker has two more titles about this unique and genuine third grader, The Talented Clementine and Clementine's Letter which I haven't read yet. This "spectacularful"* 135 page book has wonderful drawings to compliment the text. Check out this book and you'll have a head start on reading the Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees for this 2009-10 school year.
*Clementine's word