Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

What would life be like for an immigrant from India living in a rent-controlled apartment in busy New York City? Or living in a small Appalachian town with your mother and grandmother while your father has a job far away? These two middle school student's lives seem so different and yet as you read their letters to each other they have a lot in common. I was so absorbed reading about their days, their thoughts and experiences, that I forgot these two pen-pals were characters in a book. (Oops, I shouldn't have told you.) Enjoy learning about Mamaw and Meena's neighbor Mrs. Lau, too. This book is full of interesting news.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Can you image what life would be like if you had a facial deformity? How would you feel watching reactions from people who get a glimpse of you? Would you just stay home and out of sight?

Auggie was born with a facial deformity and he had never been to school. Though after being home schooled for his entire life, he's now going to a real school for the first time starting as a 5th grader. The principal tried to ease his transition but...kids can be so cruel, and even adults are cruel (shouldn't they know better?) Conflicts, friendship, bullying, tenderness, unconditional love and affection make this book a hit with me.
This is another amazing book that I listened to. The multiple perspectives from all the characters in an assortment of voices is awesome. You will be an the verge of tears one moment and laughing the next. Now I wonder how the 6th grade will work out for Auggie.....

Kepler's Dream by Juliet Bell

It's summer vacation and your mom is very sick and in the hospital and you are being sent to live with a grandmother you've never met. Your dad refers to her as the Old Dragon. What kind of a summer will that be?
This book is narrated by 11 year old Ella and is filled with peacocks, stars and lots of books and horseback riding and a real mystery that Ella and her new friend try figuring out.
I enjoyed reading this story of learning about family relationships, new places, meanagers (mean teenagers) and the worry of someone you love being sick. 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Amazing book! I listened to this book being read instead of myself reading the words. Hazel told us her story. I was there hearing about her cancer, her support group, her love of the most awesome book. She meets Augustus in support group and he has cancer too. They become friends. I was totally wrapped up in her story.
I usually write in this blog about books for elementary students but this book is for older more mature readers, in 8th grade or high school.

Troublemaker by Andrew Clements

Why would a kid get in trouble on purpose? And not even be afraid to go to the principal's office?
Clay is not your typical 6th grader (or maybe he is?). He is proud of his daring deeds of trouble around school and thinks his older brother will get a kick out of his nasty behavior too. But Mitch has been in jail and he has other ideas for his little brother. Can a trouble maker change his ways?

I have read a lot of Andrew Clements books. This is not as good as those others. Personally I think it is a bit too preachy and too predictable. It still was an enjoyable story but I'd say, pick out one of his other books to read before this one.

The Beef Princess of Practical County by Michelle Houts

Do you live on a farm? Have you ever visited a farm or know what it is like? Reading this book will open a window for you on life on a cattle farm. This story is told from the viewpoint of 12 year old Libby Ryan who is raising two steers for admission into the Practical County Fair contest for Champion Steer, a family tradition. Libby has a very wise friend, Carol Ann who stands by her in tense situations. Will Libby (who prefers jeans to dresses) try out for the Beef Princess? And how does someone whose family raises beef become a vegetarian? Several other female characters in the story add to the drama. There's nasty stuff going on and Libby rises above it. I hope you enjoy the story as I did. Reading the Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees gives you a plenty of variety for reading this year!

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass

Do you have a friend that you've had since you were little? A child of your parents' friends perhaps, or maybe a neighborhood kid that doesn't need any special arrangements to just come over anytime and play. Maybe someone you've know since your first daycare.

Amanda and Leo have known each other since their birthday, their real Birth Day—they were born on the same day! They have a special friendship, even though they are boy and girl, they have celebrated every birthday together up to their tenth birthday. Now it is their eleventh birthday and this will be their first party they have separately but the day is not at all what either one of them could imagine, even the fourth time or fifth time around! Find out about their eleventh birthdays in this Maud Hart Lovelace book nominee.

I like this story of friendship, it reminded me of my childhood friend who lived next door to me all while I was growing up. I met her when I was two years old. I am two months older than she is but we never went to the same school and yet we always remained special friends. Now she lives two states away. I think I will write her a letter when I am done with this post. Friendship is a gift you never want to lose.

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

Hoot, Scat, Flush and now Chomp—Newbery award author Carl Hiaasen has done it again! SO many interesting characters and an intriguing plot plus a little bit scary and a touch of funny. My kind of book.
Florida is the setting (come on—it's a Hiaasen book) for this reality TV show: Expedition Survival! episode. The star of the show conveys this image of being a true rugged outdoors man with courage and cleverness but in reality he is nothing but fake and foolish. Stunt men fill in the real daring deeds and the scrip isn't always followed.
On location in the Everglades, Derek Badger (the star) hopes to have great footage of his rumble with an alligator. Fortunately, he is rescued by the alligator's professional handler. One of many mishaps and glitches while filming the show. Besides Derek Badger, characters include Tuna, the runaway; Wahoo, the son of the alligator wrangler; Raven Stark, the production assistant and various reptiles. Read this entertaining novel to find out who all gets chomped.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Don't let this six hundred thirty-nine page book scare you! More than half of the pages are black and white illustrations. Did you ever read The Invention of Hugo Cabret? This book is by the same author written in the same way with half the story being told in pictures. You will travel to Gunflint Lake Minnesota and New York City with Ben and Rose while reading this book.
While I was in the middle of reading Wonderstruck, we had a storm and our power went out for several hours and it was unnaturally and amazingly quiet. I didn't realize how many noises we had humming in our house. For awhile I could understand the quiet that Ben and Rose experience. 
Another aspect of this book that I could relate to was the mementos that Ben collected and saved in a special box. We each have our own "museum" of artifacts that tell a story of our lives. What do you collect to signify events or people important to you?
This story has so much to enjoy and discover. I invite you to check it out and let me know what part of the book inspired you.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Gaby really liked this book. That was enough for me to want to dive into this novel. Besides I really liked the cover!
If you were eleven, almost twelve, would your dad let you fly from New York to Oakland, California to visit a mother you hardly remember? Could you even fathom taking your two younger sisters all by yourself? Delphine is pretty capable and when their mother doesn't act very motherly, she makes sure the three of them are fed and attended to. She even takes them on an adventure to see San Francisco, as any tourist would coming to the area.
Breakfast is eaten with the Black Panthers at a community center where they spend their day, and along with the meal, they are given instructions on standing up for their rights! This story takes place in 1968 and the historical references are very interesting. I would recommend this award-winning book to older readers.

Piper Reed and Calvin Coconut

Two books that I will blog about together today are: Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury and Piper Reed: Navy Brat by Kimberly Willis Holt.

Both books are very short, easy to read, humorous chapter books with illustrations sprinkled throughout. Each of these Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees are also part of a character series. You do not have to read the books in any particular order.

Calvin lives with his mother and little sister in Hawaii and Piper moves around with her family (being a "Navy brat") but in this book they are living in Pensacola, Florida. Both characters have many adventures and their lives are one crazy thing after another. Both are fun stories that 2nd and 3rd graders will enjoy.

A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park

What if you had to walk to get your family's water everyday? And that walk took hours, I mean hours. Eating, drinking, washing would be remarkably different. Your life would not be the same.
This story takes place in Sudan. Sudan is in Africa. And it does not take place back in the olden days, the time period for this story is in your parents' lifetime. There are two characters whose lives we follow: Salva, a young boy escaping violence in Southern Sudan; and Nye, a young girl also living in Southern Sudan. Salva is a real person. This is his life. Salva was sitting in class, when fighting rebels close to the school caused students to run for their lives, resulting in Salva being separated from everyone he knew. Nye doesn't go to school because she spends much of her day collecting water.
I learned a lot reading this short book and am glad it is on the Maud Hart Lovelace list of Nominees for Division II readers. I would encourage readers in Grades 4 and up to read this too. It is always good to know how kids around the world live their lives and to remind ourselves of all the blessings we have. This book is such an inspiring story — the world needs more Salvas.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

I wished this story didn't end. And then I can't believe I actually started reading it.
The trouble was that I listened to someone say they didn't like the book. And for over a year I put off reading this 2011 Newbery Medal book. Everyone is different, and we don't all like the same kinds of books. I love books with well developed characters (Abilene, Miss Sadie, Shady, Hattie Mae) and interesting information from historical time periods (1917, 1936) mixed into the story. Plus I enjoy profound change that takes place in people, such as with the immigrants in the story. Immigrants from Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and Germany fill the pages. All have stories of their journey to America. Stories, the glue that brings them together. But those are the things I like. Perhaps you like a mystery, or tree houses and spying on your neighbors? This novel has those plus a cigar box with many secrets. Will you discover along with Abilene the secrets of Manifest?

Next Book!!!!

Can't wait until July 13!
Publication Party for Jacqueline West's
third book of 
The Books of Elsewhere: 
The Second Spy. 
Red Balloon Bookshop
891 Grand Ave
St. Paul, MN

The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (The Brixton Brothers) by Mac Barnett

Have you ever read The Hardy Boys? Or should I say, have you ever heard of the Hardy Boys? The 12 year old sleuth in this story reminds me of the boy detectives from way back. But Steve is way funnier. As you can see from the cover these two chums are in a little bit of trouble. How can that be funny? Well, Steve keeps referring to his Bailey Brothers' Detective Handbook to figure out how to get out of trouble. Such as: Tie your sheets together to make a rope when one needs to exit the second floor bedroom. A section on Hiding Places helped Steve out when he was in his first sticky situation at the Public Library. Mac Barnett wrote a very entertaining mystery and I am glad to know that there are more Brixton Brothers books. Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee 2012-13.

Dying to Meet You by Kate and Sarah Klise

Short fun book, very punny! I love the names especially Olive C. Spence. Poor Seymour Hope is all alone in this mansion except for his friend Olive, but she is a ghost. Seymour doesn't care, he likes it there and doesn't care that his parents are in Europe for the summer. The house gets rented by a grumpy writer who wants peace and quiet so he can write his next ghost book. Ha! You are thinking, a perfect spot for Ignatius Grumply. But Mr. I.B. Grumply doesn't think so, a child (he doesn't like children), and a ghost — a very sassy ghost too, and a cat! Will he ever get his book written? Will the ghost ever quit bothering him? Author Kate Klise writes this Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee in her usual fashion with letters, newspaper articles and very nice drawings by Seymour.

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

What if you couldn't move on to seventh grade because of your poor grades? Would you do Extra Credit? Abby Carson decides she better get her act together so she doesn't have to repeat sixth grade. Not only does she have to do Extra Credit but she needs to get good grades from now until the end of the school year. I read this school story to the 5th graders and we enjoyed learning about Afghanistan along with Abby. The pen pal idea was the teacher's and it made me want to arrange pen pals for my students to learn about another culture. I wonder how many of Andrew Clements' readers followed Abby and wrote to someone in a foreign country.

Goosebump Book Book Talk by Nick

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

Pura Belpré Medal book award winner, The Dreamer caught my eye right away with the title and art. (It's okay, you can pick a book by its cover!) Then I received an added bonus—it was a very interesting and unusual book. Neftali Reyes is a real person and I learned about his childhood in this fictionalized biography filled with drawings and poetry. You may know him as Pablo Neruda, a very famous poet from Chile. He even won the Nobel Prize for his poetry. Becoming a poet had its challenges and one of which was his father who was verbally abusive and didn't want his son to be interested in words. But growing up, the sickly Neftali spent hours dreaming and captured the essence of life in simple but exquisite language. Learn about this awesome poet either with this chapter book, or this children's picture book, shown on the right. 

Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor

What if your mom moved the two of you to an artist colony for the whole summer against your will? Poor Raine, she couldn't even talk, much less find a phone to call her grandpa for help!
Raine makes some important decisions this summer and meets some very interesting people at Sparrow Road. While Raine's mom is cooking and cleaning, Raine pretty much can do what she wants (except talk) and gains a new perspective on her mother and actually makes friends with the silence. I love the way Raine started writing herself, using her imagination and from morsels of information tucked away in the secrets of the main house.

Here I am with author Sheila O'Conner!

Lucky me, I was fortunate to be able to meet Sheila O'Connor at our librarians' inservice and hear her story of how this novel came to be. We have a place in common—Red Wing—she wrote while in Red Wing at the Anderson Center. In fact, the idea of the artist colony at the Center gave her the idea for the setting for this book. Pretty cool.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

I was driving home from somewhere and listening to the radio and there was Jack Gantos, recent Newbery Medal Award winner telling a story from his life to the audience. This author was so entertaining!
A few days later, I see my grandson and he says he is reading the funniest story ever! Could it be? Yes, his mom is reading it aloud to him and he thinks the weird stuff Jack does and writes about is hilarious. His favorite thing (so far) is when the old lady's hearing aid lands in the toilet and the firefighters must help her out.
Perhaps I needed to be nine years old to enjoy this book, but I gave it a try and yes, I did enjoy it.
Give Dead End in Norvelt a chance, perhaps you can even solve the mystery of why all the old folks are dying.

Spellbound

Our class just finished reading the second book in Jacqueline West's The Books of Elsewhere series. We are eagerly awaiting book three, which we heard will be out in July. Maybe we can get an advance copy so we can read it together before school is out for summer.
I think I can say for the class: we totally absolutely really very much enjoyed reading this book. Ms. West is a great writer! We love the cats, they each have such unique personalities. Especially Agent 1-800. And each chapter left you hanging in suspense. Which characters can you trust? And will Olive ever get out from under the spell the grimiore has on her? Thank goodness for the cats.
Another bonus: We kept track of the similes as we were reading, just for the fun of it—and they were awesome, incredible and made the reading of the book so enjoyable, like eating ice cream on a hot day. Thank you dear Jacqueline West for an amazing book. Our fifth grade class will always remember our morning time with Olive.