The death of Libby's grandfather has hit particularly hard. He was her best friend. For her dad, it's devastating. He calls his family "the death family" because so many have died now - both his parents, his three brothers, his wife.
But the night of the funeral Libby's grandfather comes to visit her and tells her to go to the lake and find a treasure he left. Now it's up to Libby to not only find this treasure - whatever it is - but to help her father regain his faith.
I thought this was a lovely book of hope and restoration. I am sure some will find it too "religious" or "spiritual" but I thought it was hopeful. I do wish there had been more about the family history and the book.
This was a really interesting text. In it people who lived during WWII in various capacities - as children, as part of military forces, refugees, survivors - gave interviews, often to school children about some of their experiences. The interviews range from about 1/2 a page to several pages and are arranged chronologically. I love that the voices are being hear, experiences are being shared.
That being said, the text was quite long and it took awhile for me to finish. For my library it is too advanced (especially as my 1st - 5th will soon be a PreK to 4th). I can easily see this in a middle school or high school because the primary source information is fantastic.
Ivy's leave is in the midst of upheaval and that's even before the tornado that rips through her town, destroys her house, and leaves her family homeless. Ivy is also struggling with the new twins who are taking all her mother's time, an older sister who isn't around as much, and weird feelings that she is having that she doesn't understand. Shortly after the tornado one of Ivy's notebooks disappears. But then, mysteriously, pictures from the notebook show up in her locker. She begins writing notes with this "keeper" of her notebook and begins to process her feelings. During this time she meets June and figures out that she really likes her and that she doesn't like boys. But does June share her feelings? Will Ivy be able to figure out who she really is, where she fits in her family? In the world?
Truly - uncanny similarities to P.S I Miss You. As in both books it took me a while to warm up to them. In P.S is was the letters. In this book I think my reading was just too scattered and "the keeper" thing seemed a bit bizarre and didn't last long enough?? I did like the way this ended though.
Inevitably I am guessing I will have to choose between the two - I can't imagine having 2 books that are so similar on the next MSBA list. I think overall this edges ahead of P.S for me.
Evie's sister has been sent away. Their family are very conservative Catholics and Cillia is pregnant. After months of fighting Cillia is going to move in with an aunt until the baby is born, give up the baby for adoption, and then go to a Catholic School.
Evie doesn't want Cillia to stay away and writes letters to her almost everyday. This is Evie's way of processing what happened to Cillia as well as process what is happening in her own life - question about God, religion, truth, and her own sexuality.
But Cillia doesn't write back - or at least not often - 3 times in fact and every time she tells Evie to forget her and forget the baby. But Evie can't forget and can't let go so after almost a year she decides to take matters in her own hands and travel to the Catholic School to see her sister.
What she discovers there is life changing (no spoilers)!
So, I have been reading this book on my iPad while on the elliptical. I have also been reading Ive Aberdeen's Letter to the World. Wow, so similar - like seriously did the authors talk to each, share ideas? Both deal with middle grade girls exploring their sexuality and worried about what others will think, but even more startling is the fact that both have main characters (the crush in both) named June. I was really not enjoying the book til almost the end. I didn't like the letter writing technique, especially when the sister never responded. Honestly it got old for me. Of course when some things are finally revealed, the letters as therapy finally made a bit more sense. I also had some issue with the negative religious themes. I found it hard to believe that a family would be so condemning to send a daughter away (and more) in this day and age. Maybe the 50s and 60s and I can understand that a deeply religious family would have issues with both Cillia and Evie's choices but it seemed a bit much. Maybe I am out of touch on this and there are pockets where this still occurs.
In the end I will be comparing this to Ivy Aberdeen because they are so similar... stay tuned.
Natalie's mom is a force of nature - exuberant, helpful, focused - until she isn't. After a setback in research about a Cobalt Blue Orchid Natalie's mom goes into a deep depression. Natalie doesn't understand and is frustrated that she is not enough to get her mom out of it. Natalie thinks if she can just win the egg drop contest, win the money, and find another Cobalt Blue Orchid that her mom will rediscover her passion and be okay.
The book is told in a way that follows the scientific method which Natalie applies to both the egg drop project and to her mother's brokenness. Overall, the effect of the book is good and will probably find an audience. My biggest issue in the book was that the father was a therapist and yet was not able to really help his wife. Of course, depression is a complex subject and his wife was an adult so maybe it was realistic - not sure...
This is a follow up, novel in verse, to Holt's House Arrest. I knew that when I requested the book from NetGalley but by the time I started reading it I had forgotten. It didn't really matter. Yes, it references House Arrest a bit but you don't need to have read that book to enjoy this one.
Knock Out is about Levi. When he was a baby he had health issues which affected his breathing. As a result, his mom and brother are very overprotective. To add to some typical middle grade stress and drama, his best friend Twig has started hanging out with someone else. Levi wants to make his own mark - encouraged by his dad he starts boxing but will his health get in the way of his life?
This was good and I feel like those who read House Arrest will enjoy finding out more about Levi.
Ghalib hates that life in Syria has changed so much. Bombs, scrounging for food, distrust. After he and his cousin is injured by a bomb, Ghalib's family decides they must leave the country but just getting to the border is difficult - snipers, opposing forces, hunger and thirst. Then other countries don't want them so it is more waiting, danger, extortion. Can his family make it safely out of Syria?
Based on accounts of refugees this story will shine a light on the crisis. This will be good for students who may need or want to know more about what is going on.
I am in an interesting situation as a librarian. My grade 1 - 5 school will be closing in a few years and merging with another school in the district and the grade spans will all be changed. For the most part my collection will be for a preK - 4 school with some going up to the restructured junior high which will include grades 5 - 8. All that being said, I am trying to steer away from adding too many new books that would be best suited, as this one is, to the older crowd.
Robinson has some anger issues. She lives with her grandfather and has no other family - she knows nothing about any of them - mom, dad, other grandparents. And know her grandfather is starting to forget things. Then there is school - the class bully drives her crazy and she feels like she has to take care of it - but doing so just gets her in trouble.
Fortunately Robinson has a guidance counselor who helps her with her anger, and in group counseling with the bully and some others she learns about empathy and that we often act out, act like a bully because of the circumstances in our lives.
While Robinson is getting a handle on her anger though grandpa keeps getting worse and when someone from the Department of Children and Family Services shows up Robinson is worried she will lose the only family she has.
This was a great book - lots of heart and a good tale of empathy as well.
What a fun book. 3 kids are chosen to compete in a contest to win a scholarship. They have to travel all over Chicago in order to find and photograph the answers to their clues. They also get use of a cell phone, a debit card, and a private car with driver while they are searching. The 3 solve the clues with varying degrees of success but as they report in the notice something odd. The man in charge doesn't seem to know the answers himself and puts them all off without announcing a winner.
They 3 soon join forces (against the rules) and discover that the whole thing is a scam - or rather, not a scholarship but a stipulation of a will and they are being used as pawns to do the legwork.
But, they may just get to keep the inheritance themselves if they can solve the last puzzle.
Funny, action, puzzles, and a bit of history thrown in. Lots of fun.
Happy Conklin Jr. didn't mean to sell his whole family to the aliens - just his grandma. But now they are all going to be involved in an alien death match.
Happy lives in an odd family. His father is an inventor of very bizarre items that his grandmother takes and uses. While his grandmother lives in a mansion, his whole family lives in the basement. Each of the children in his family, except baby Lu, have some weird abilities because of dad's inventions and grandma's experiments. But when Happy tries to protect Lu by selling grandma to the aliens he endangers his whole family.
This was not my cup of tea but for those who like this kind of humor it may do all right.
I have been a fan of Jennifer Richard Jacobson for several years. Small as an Elephant was the first book I reviewed for MSBA before I was even on the committee. I love the Maine connections and the storytelling.
This book is primarily about Lowen. Lowen had a friend Abe who was killed in a grocery store incident with a gun. Lowen feels partially responsible. Much of the story is Lowen coming to terms with what happened and using his artistic talents to work through his emotions.
In addition there are the dollar kids. In a small, former mill town, several houses are sold for a dollar with the understanding that the families will renovate them and also bring businesses to the failing town. Lowen's family is one of the families that moves in. But not everyone in town is happy to see them and some go out of their way to make things difficult. Can Lowen's family make their dollar home livable?
This book clocks in at 416 pages. In my opinion that is really long for the intended audience. I can rarely get my students to take out books that are that long. In a way I think there was too much going on and it could have been 2 different stories. I did like it and the way it came together at the end but...
This was truly a delightful book. It is about a fairy, Ophelia, who has been trained to grant wishes. But on her first outing things goes horribly amok and she learns about what wishes deserve to be granted, about friendship, and about consequences. I loved the story as a whole.
But... I do wish things had moved a bit quicker. I read this as an eBook so forgive my percents but that is how I was tracking a few things. The first 40% of the book was about Ophelia, Haven, and her preparation and first few hours into her mission. It wasn't until after that Sam arrived in the story. Sam is such a great character it is too bad he didn't get more screen time. Then, although we meet the person who ultimately gets the wish about midway through the book, I wish we had more time to get to know him as well.
Don't get me wrong, I still loved the book - just had a few pacing issues I guess.
This was a fun informational text about body parts and what has happened to the parts of famous people over the years as well as other tidbits of knowledge about our bodies. The tone is cheeky but there is quite a bit of information in here. I would hope that the snippets would lead to further reading about a person or a time period. I can see some kids really enjoying this.
Eric's class isn't very thrilled that their end of the year trip is to Carlsbad Caverns. Then when an earthquake hits sending them into an underground river, separated from their teacher and chaperone, things they like the trip even less. Being lost in a cave is bad enough but there are oversized spiders, creatures in the water, and villages of people who live in the caves and who are war with each other. Can the students survive the caves and get back above ground?
As usual, I request books pretty impulsively from Edelweiss and NetGalley. My impression of the book was that kids were trapped in Carlsbad but I was not expecting the fantastical elements of the book and while it wasn't bad it really wasn't what I was hoping.
Jason is shocked when he finds out his mother is in the country illegally. Then things get worse when his mother is taken into custody while Jason hides and watches. He believes his mother is deported right away and doesn't know what to do. He decides to try and get to New York City to find his aunt but once he gets there he falls and gets a concussion. In the hospital he is afraid of taking to the police so stays quiet.
In the hospital he meets Max. He doesn't exactly know why she is there but he knows she wants to get out too. Together they plan a great escape. Once they are out of the hospital the travel throughout the city looking for Jason's aunt and the zoo because Max wants to go there.
But of course things don't go smoothly but Max and Jason become friends along the way.
This was a decent book - the immigration angle was good and Jason and Max's friendship was cool.
Loved this book!!! I have been a fan of Marissa Meyer for awhile and this new series is great. I think what I like the most is the complexity of characters. While we have heroes and villains we see them more than just black and white. This is shown in Nova's conflict - working for the "villains" but making friends with the Renegades and Adrien in particular as she spies on them. Very good interactions and levels. I believe I have figured something out but will have to wait for book 2 to confirm. Great ending - but grr. When does the next one come out?
Beatrice is not happy that her dad is taking a job in Rome and moving them there. But when she gets there and discovers the rich history she is hooked, especially when she witnesses the theft of 4 turtles off the fountain she can see from her window. What is going on? Is it tied to other thefts in the city? Is it tied to the mysterious portrait in the palace and the diary she finds?
I felt this was a decent mystery with good action. I did feel it wrapped up rather quickly and easily overall but my biggest issue was that the "baddies" couldn't find the turtles when they discovered Beatrice. She had them with her!!! Unless I missed something in my reading where she hid them somewhere else??
