Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat

The first thing that caught my attention was the great drawing of the rat on every page so as you flip through the pages it looks as though the rat is falling out of the tree.
Emmy's classroom rat speaks and Emmy can hear him. Good thing because no one in her class notices her. As Emmy befriends the rat and discovers a classmate who can also hear the rat they work together to solve their own problems using the magical powers that have been used against Emmy and her parents.
Many unusual and ratty characters in this book make for a very entertaining story and who would have thought that the rodents would be the good guys?
This Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee is written by Minneapolis author Lynne Jonell. Check out her web site.

The Homework Machine

Lots of interesting things take place in this Maud Hart Lovelace nominee. I like the first-person entries written by the different students in the class. The entries are mostly by the four kids whose desks are arranged together in Ms. Rasmussen's fifth grade class. Four very different students, unlikely to end up friends begin to spend time together. Each one has a unique story and outlook on the homework machine and their relationship with Brenton (the creator of the machine) and each other. A moral dilemma arises. How would you deal with this? Read this book and let's talk about your reaction to Mr. Milner, the police who get involved and the new teacher at the school—Ms. Rasmussen.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

I read this book to myself in one sitting and I felt as I was reading it that I should be reading it aloud. It has lots of quirky and bizarre characters whose voices needed to be heard. A very different book from DiCamillo's other books, very haunting and dark. Everyone in the book had losses and needs. I felt frustrated with the caretaker of 10 year old Peter Augustus Duchene, who didn't have his best interests at heart. But the magic and poetry of the writing and the possibilities of Peter being reunited with his "dead" sister kept me enchanted until the end.

Denied, Detained, Deported: Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration

Have you read the poem by Emma Lazarus a the foot of the Statue of Liberty? The last line says " I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" This book published by National Geographic and written by Ann Bausum is powerfully written and full of unbelievable injustices. True stories of people you will meet are: Herb Karliner, age 12 and his Jewish family, escaping Germany's concentration camps being denied entry into the U.S.; Mary Matsuda, a 16 year old Chinese-American teenager and her family and neighbors, rounded up, given a number and detained at Tule Lake Relocation camp. Though camp is a flowery word for what really was a prison. Chinese and Mexican workers, deported when their services are no longer needed. Even a law forbidding Chinese Americans from becoming citizens. Throughout this 112 page book there is archival photos and a six page detailed time line, resource guide and bibliography are in the back. This book will have you thinking about the United States being a land of opportunity. Arguments for and against immigration tend to repeat themselves, maybe looking at our past, we can learn from our mistakes.