Found : Book One of The Missing

Imagine that you are adopted and you want to find out more about your birth parents. Thirteen year old Jonah asks his parents a few questions and because they've read every parenting book on adoption and believe in being cooperative and truthful, they start the process of inquiry. This leads to more than they bargained for. Mysterious letters come in the mail and people appear and disappear. Jonah's friend Chip finds out he too is adopted. Even Katherine, Jonah's younger sister gets involved in the puzzle, and she is successful in getting some names of other adopted children. Where did the babies come from? Each chapter deals with a new predicament and I found myself glued to the pages. I think this science fiction novel is a great choice for a Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee.

NO Talking! by Andrew Clements

Do you think your class could be quiet for a whole day? Could you be quiet for the whole day? I liked this book, not only because the class in the book is trying not to talk, but because one of the fifth graders, Dave, reads a book about Gandhi for his report on India. (Hooray!- Fifth graders at SJV learn about Gandhi too) The idea of not talking, something Gandhi did for his own spiritual development interested Dave. In a verbal fight with a classmate, Dave challenges her to keep quiet. Suddenly, a contest develops and spreads to all the fifth graders, where the contestants are the boys against the girls. I enjoyed the clever three-word exceptions that were made when teachers needed to hear from their students. Yes, this is another great Andrew Clements novel and a Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee for 2010-11.

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

Hot summer days. Drinking cold, refreshing lemonade. Have you ever had a lemonade stand? When I was younger we would have a Kool-Aid stand. We never took it to the level that Jessie did in The Lemonade War though. Things escalated between her and her slightly older brother Evan when they found out they'd be in the same fourth grade class next year. They both reacted differently to the news and their brother/sister friendship is turning competitive over the sale of lemonade. Reading this book will give you good ideas about selling lemonade but also insights on friendships, brothers and sisters and economics. Our library has a copy of the Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee for 2010-11.

Mudshark by Gary Paulsen

Can you think of any student in your school that the principal goes to for help? Lyle Williams, mostly known as Mudshark is the go-to-person for lots of people. Mudshark solves lots of problems and locates missing items. But as the story unfolds, his incredible ability is being out shined by a psychic parrot kept in the library. Can Mudshark gain the students' respect back? And solve the school's biggest mystery? Where are all the erasers?
This very short crazy Gary Paulsen story is not like his outdoor adventurous Hacket novels but if you want a quick-make-you-laugh book, this is it.

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

I hope Kristin Levine keeps writing more books! The Best Bad Luck is her first novel and the best one I've read this summer. I was so captured by this story that I almost read it all in one sitting. I didn't even think about perspective or first or third person or settings, and characters. I just enjoyed the book. Twelve year old "Dit" tells the story that takes place in 1917 in Alabama. It follows the developing of his friendship with Emma, the daughter of the Negro family from Boston that moves in across the street. While Dit's family has no problem with the fact that the family is black, many in Moundville outwardly do. Do Dit's friends tease him about about Emma because she's a girl or because she is a Negro? This book will give you a closer look at what life was like in the early 1900s in the south. What do you think kids did during their summer vacation back in 1917? Do you think your doctor would teach you how to drive a car (at age 12) so you can help him with picking up supplies? How would you react if you witnessed discrimination? This book tackles more than you can shake a stick at. Be prepared for the killing of animals, fighting, a murder and an influenza outbreak too. Pick up this book at your public library and let me know what you think.

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

I chose this book to bring along on my recent road trip through Kentucky and Tennessee. It was fun to read a book where the action takes place in the town and state you are driving through. I should have gone to the swamps near the Florida Keyes last week! We stopped in Lexington, and while I couldn't find Thunder Creek, I saw many places that could have been the Mosley's tucked out of sight in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Shiloh) is such a good writer, I would have never believed she didn't actually live in the eastern hills of Kentucky. (Though what does a midwesterner like me know?) Catherine and Ivy June are two seventh grade students from different parts of Kentucky who are in an exchange program. Their lives are very different and they discover a lot about themselves and their stereotypes while spending time in each other's world. They are to keep a journal to help them convey the experience. The journal keeping of the two students was interspersed with the action of the story in between. I recommend this book to all of my students (4th and up), though I see girls more likely to check this one out because of the personal connections girls have with each other. This is a good, realistic novel about friendship and family.