Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

A 13 year old boy reeling from the divorce of his parents manages to crash land the plane he is taking to visit his father in the far northern Canadian oil fields into a small lake in the wilderness after the pilot dies of a heart attack. The boy proceeds to survive in the wilderness for 55 days on his ingenuity and using the small belt hatchet his mother gave him before he climbed on the plane. A well-executed survival story long on action and self-reliance and self-actualization, this book would likely have enormous appeal for boys from about age 10 to 14. Younger readers with strong skills could also probably tackle the book, but references to the family breaking up over possible infidelity on the part of the mother may give some parents pause, but the book as a whole is definitely recommended strongly for school and public libraries. This was a Newbery Honor book in 1988.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

A book about a girl whose brother is autistic, this story about coping with life in a family that revolves around a child with special needs is funny and touching. Catherine lives her life making rules for David to help him cope with life. Some are practical, like "No toys in the fish tank" but others mean a little more, like "Some people think they know who you are, when really they don't." This story of one summer when Catherine does some growing up is deceptively simple, but emotionally complex. When Catherine tells her father that just because David needs him more, doesn't mean she doesn't need him at all, it's a real heartbreaker of a moment. As an aside, how can you not like a book that quotes so extensively from Frog and Toad?

http://www.cynthialord.com/rules.htm

School Really Messes with Blogging

It's not that I haven't read any books, its just who has time to reflect or write about good books when you're cramming text books?

A partial list of the books I've read over the past couple of months:
Penina Levine is a Hard-Boiled Egg (Yay!)
Rex Zero and the End of the World (Boo)
Team Moon (Yay)
The Heart (Ehhh)
Outstanding In My Field (Yay)

I will try to review the YAY books in the next weeks, after my two undergraduate classes are over....

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

This is a 2008 Caudill book, and was recommended highly to me by a person whose judgement in books I trust completely. It tells the story of an 8th grader who sees his whole life turned upside down when his 5 year old brother gets terribly ill. Steven is a caustic, intelligent boy who lives to play the drums, and not look like a dork in the eyes of the hottest girl in school, until this family crisis pushes him to grow.

This book sounds like a typically award-winning, depress you downer of a book, and in many places, it is certainly a tear-jerker, but it is also sometimes laugh out loud funny. The author has crafted a very interesting narrator in Steven. Steven is a wiseass, but he's the kind of wiseass that you can't help but like, because his view on the world is so very clear. Sonnenblick also manages to create a pathetic and sympathetic little brother who at the same time is sometimes bratty and annoying - and that is a feat for a five year old in a novel who is in danger of dying from leukemia. In the materials at the back of the book, we learn that Sonnenblick is a teacher, and his familiarity and frequent contact with children shows. The children in his book feel real - they have faults and strengths and depth. That said, I did have a hard time accepting Steven as an 8th grader. He seemed just a little too emotionally smart and self aware for an 8th grade boy. Then again my own children have not reached that age yet, and my only extensive contact with 8th grade boys pretty much happened about 27 years ago as an 8th grade girl, when I thought they were all stupid and irritating..... so maybe I am not giving them enough credit. That aside, this is a funny, touching, engaging book. I would not probably give it to anyone under 6th grade, but I think it would appeal to both boys and girls, and would probably make an excellent choice for a realistic fiction selection for children in middle school or junior high.
http://www.amazon.com/Drums-Girls-Dangerous-Jordan-Sonnenblick/dp/096689409X

Millicent Min, Girl Genius/ Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time / So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yee

These three books by Lisa Yee chronicle the same summer as seen by three children whose lives interconnect. Stanford Wong is a basketball star who just might lose his spot as the first 7th grader ever to make the A-team if he doesn't pass 6th grade English in summer school. Millicent Min is the child-prodigy who at 11 is poised to enter her senior year of high school, and who is forced to tutor "Stan-turd." Millie thinks Stanford is a hopeless stupid airhead, and Stanford hates Millie because as he thinks - it is kids like Millie who make everyone expect Chinese kids to be geniuses. Emily is a new kid in town who is having a hard time adjusting to life as a child of divorce who manages to become Millie's first best friend, and Stanford's first crush. All 3 children figure prominently in each book, but each book takes the same summer and looks at it from the perspective of each child. These books are funny and insightful, and it is almost brilliant the way they show how the same events can look so different from different perspectives. But the best thing is, they teach that lesson without being boring, or preachy, or depressing, and each book stands on its own as a self-contained novel. They cover serious issues - fear of failure, fear of not fitting in, fear of what others will think, the dissolution of your family - without being a giant drag. The kids think like kids and talk like kids, and worry about kid things, and sometimes they're really funny.

I think these 3 books are perfect for about 5th grade to 7th or 8th grade, boys or girls. Boys might resist reading "Millicent Min" or "Emily Ebers," but Stanford will certainly appeal to them. If I were a teacher trying to show point-of-view, I might teach these books, or if I didn't have time to require all 3, I'd pull out passages that describe the same event from each book to show how things can look different depending on how you see them. Fun books - worth your while - all around highly recommended.

Link: http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/author.asp?authorid=33

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Henry is a librarian at the Newbery in Chicago and Clare is an aspiring artist. When these two attractive, perfectly cool and Wicker-Parky bohemian arty Chicagoans meet and fall in love, it is practically love at first sight. But is it? You see, Henry has a genetic disorder that makes him slip in and out of time, traveling willy-nilly with no self control backwards and forwards in time. And because they share a great love, his travels have frequently brought him to Clare throughout her life, so she has known him since she was 6 years old. This science fiction-ish premise sets up a novel that contemplates the nature of free-will, of cause and effect, and the power of love across time.

You would think that I'd be pretty pre-disposed to liking this novel. After all, it is set in Chicago (my home town) and I can picture pretty easily almost every setting in the book. One of the main characters is a librarian who graduated from the very same school that I am attending right now. It has a fantasy/science fiction feel to it, and I've always liked fantasy and sci fi. And I DO like the book, even though it indulges in one of my least favorite activities in a book - gratuitous references to outre popular culture so I can tell just how cool and with it the author is. This book club reading is my second time around reading the novel. But as much as I enjoy the book, it just feels like mostly surface to me. Maybe I'm missing the allegory, or I'm not sensitive to the deeper themes, but the book feels like a quality chick flick to me. It is entertaining, easy to digest, with appealing characters, but it for me it just missed being something. It's a frappuccino of a book - more sophisticated than a milk shake, and you don't have to feel ashamed carrying it around - but it still kind of feels a little like junk food....

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=2-1931561648-4

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine is an original girl - a third grader whose curious mind finds the world around her much more interesting than school - and she is having a pretty bad week. Her best friend's mother is very mad at her, her best friend seems to have a new best friend, she thinks maybe her parents are thinking about giving her away so they only have to raise the "easy one" (her little brother) and she's pretty much been in constant trouble at school. And even though she's the only one in school who seems to notice all the interesting things going on around, everyone is constantly telling her to pay attention. Sigh - it's hard to be 8.

This is a funny, delightful little book. As the parent of a first grader who has attention problems, I just loved this book for the way it shows just how original these children can be, and how delightfully different and interesting their worlds are. It helped remind me that I probably would profit from remembering the strengths of children like Clementine. What I liked most was the way it managed to make Clementine funny without her being bratty. A wonderful little book for the precocious 2nd grade reader or for those about 3rd grade and up, and would make a good read-aloud for just about any age over 6 or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Clementine-Sara-Pennypacker/dp/0786838825/ref=sr_1_1/103-7768330-8380643?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175297211&sr=1-1