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.

Avery's Book Talk for My Last Best Friend

Dragon in the Sock Drawer

It's a book with adventure and magic! Recommended by Paige.
Emmy hatches from a thunder egg and Jesse and Daisy turn into Dragon Keepers to defend Emmy against St. George. St George Killed dragons to drink their blood to be alive for centuries.
This fantasy book is a Maud Hart Lovelace 2011-12 Nominee by Kate Klimo

Captain Nobody

The narrator did a fine job of reading this book. I was hooked from the first chapter. Even if you read this book instead of listen to it as I did, you could be cheering for Newt Newman (Captain Nobody) as he is a saver to many people he encounters.
Without giving too much away: His older brother, Chris has an accident and is the focus of his parents' attention. Poor Newt was overlooked before, but now even more so. Halloween is coming up and his friends encourage him to come up with a costume. What happened was more than a wardrobe change!
Great book to discuss with friends. Let me know what you think about this Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee by Dean Pitchford.

Please Write in This Book! by Mary Amato

I would say this book is a cross between the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants but much better. Third and Fourth graders will like this very fast read and may get good ideas for writing their own book.
The story: Ms. Wurtz, the teacher, puts a blank book in the Writing Center with only two rules: Have fun and Sign your name. The students find the book and write in it. The personality of each writer is quite obvious. Many of the entries have simple drawings to add to the light heartedness of the book. And the transition from snot to collaborative story is amazing.
This is a Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee 2011-12

Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel

How do you think you'd feel being a new student in your third grade class? You miss your best friend and your old apartment and plus another new student is a big bully to everyone. Dyamonde is a spunky new girl and she solves the problem of the bully in addition to getting a new best friend. Younger readers will enjoy this Nikki Grimes short chapter book and older students will love a quick read.
This book is one of our Maud Hart Lovelace Nominees for 2011-12 Division I

The Maze of Bones

The first book of the 39 Clues series written by Rick Riordan was a fun book to listen to. No I didn't read it aloud to myself, I checked out the CD at the library on Wentworth. It's a good way to catch up on some reading while I drive to school. I know many of you have already read these books so I was anxious to find out why everyone seemed to like them. The story centers around two very likable siblings, Dan and Amy who are searching for answers to clues and then more clues while traveling around with their amazing au pair.

The Magic Half

You are a middle child with two sets of twins as siblings, one older set as brothers and a younger set as sisters. How would you feel?_______ So does Mira. She feels stuck and on her own.
When Miri picks up a piece of an old eye glass and peers through it.....things get wavey and are bending, the wallpaper looks different too, wait, this isn't her bedroom...or is it? Why does this girl think she is a fairy? And who is yelling at them?
Read this book if you enjoy time-travel, friendship and getting back at a big bully. I think 3rd and 4th graders would like this book by Annie Barrows, who also wrote the Ivy and Bean stories. This book is a Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee 2011-12 Division I

On the Blue Comet

The illustrations go beautifully with this hefty story. Looking at them you feel as if you are in the 1930s. My mom has a book from her childhood with pictures just like this. Oscar's simple life is tragic but pleasant as he and his dad live a child's dream in their world of Lionel trains. Then the crash, loss of a job, left to live with an aunt, etc. The story kinda drags until he ends up in California with Dutch (a famous actor.) I am glad I stuck with the story because it had a good ending. I think all the references to history and well known financial folks: Morgan, Rockefeller, Merrel and Lynch and actors such as Joan Crawford will have no significance to a ten-year-old, but it was good to give it historical footing. I would recommend this time traveling historical fiction to upper 4th and 5th graders with an explanation about train sets and perhaps a Internet search of the model trains ahead of time.

Jacqueline West's "The Books of Elsewhere"

 I was very excited to meet the author, Jacqueline West at the Best of Times Bookstore in Red Wing a couple Saturdays ago. She was giving a book talk for her newest book Spellbound. I read her first book, The Shadows (click to see review on a previous post) and am looking forward to continuing Olive's adventure.

She explained that while growing up in River Falls, her school bus drove past the house that inspired the setting for the Dunwoody's mansion. It looked haunted and had all sorts of gadgets and things laying around in the yard.An inventor lived there and she could just imagine all the artifacts occupying the house.  

I asked her what her favorite books were as a child and she said she loved Bunnicula and anything by Dahl or Milne, books funny and scary. Ms. West read the first chapter (funny and scary) aloud to a room of enthusiastic fans of her books. Many many children wanted her to sign their books. Including me!

Ragweed by Avi

Ragweed is the prequel to Avi's award-winning Poppy which I have never read but it was a Maud Hart Lovelace nominee in 1997. Our library has several copies. I admit that I never had any intention of reading it and just the thought of reading a fantasy where the main characters were mice didn't appeal to me at all.

But then two things: One, I needed to read an Avi book that I hadn't read before for my Camp Read-A-Lot adventure with guest: AVI!!!! and Two, my grandson's (second grade going into third) teacher read to the class this series of Tales from Dimwood Forest and he loved the books. His mom bought him the five book collection and he is so excited about these books. I have never seen him get excited about any other book like this before. So I read it.

This book really buttered my muffin, know what I'm saying? Dude, this book rocks! Ragweed, a country mouse decides to see what else is out in the world and ends up in this mouse town totally clueless, "he's so green, he makes the grass envious." But Ragweed makes friends and saves other mice and rocks their world, as well as his own. This book has lots of action, suspense, friendship, funky names and great sketches throughout. It's totally rave. Awesome. It's phat. Check it out!

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

How would one prepare to take a trip to outer space? Are there practice trips? What is it like to be weightless? Liam is a tall boy who looks older than he really is and uses that to his advantage. When he and his "daughter" win a trip on a spaceship, getting there isn't as easy as he thinks. This book cracked me up many times but one of my favorite times is when the principal thinks he is the new social studies teacher and he addresses the school at an assembly!!

because of mr. terupt by Rob Buyea

I will have to get this book for our library. So many of us like Andrew Clemens' books and this has the same feel of his books. School situations. The story is told from the point of view of seven students in Mr. Terupt's 5th grade. It is his first year of teaching and he has a different way about him. The students all have unique personalities, family situations and relationships with each other. One of the interesting things Mr Terupt does is have his students go in small groups to the Collaborative Classroom to hang out with the special needs students. Mr. Terupt understands his students and what they need and they become better people because of him. I would like you to read this book so we can talk about the characters. Look for this book at the South St Paul public library.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

It is so easy to read a good book, the pages just fly by. I didn't want this one to end. Melody, the narrator is a fifth grade girl with celebral palsy, her brain is fine but her body isn't. Sharon Draper has accurately described the life of the classroom and the pettiness that students sometimes have toward each other. The life of a person with disabilities is hard to imagine but listening to Melody gave me new understanding into her life. She is quite the smart girl, but can she compete with the "normal" kids to be part of the Whiz Kids Team?