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In realistic fiction, you can find any
type of problem, ranging in seriousness from acne to AIDS. Realistic
fiction also known as contemporary fiction deals with the here
and now, are sometimes issue-driven and are what some adults
like to call "downers," or problem novels. Many of
these books contain dysfunctional families, absent, distant or
ineffectual parents and/ or protagonists who make poor choices.
Humorous novels and sports novels are also realistic fiction
sub-genres but I gave them their own pages.
|
Coming
of Age/ Friendship
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| Abbott, Tony |
Firegirl
Seventh grader Tom Bender tells the story of three short weeks in his life when everything changed for him and his fellow classmates. Jessica Feeney joined his class and since everyone in his Catholic school class sat alphabetically, that meant he would no longer be sitting next to his best friend. But there's more, although Mrs. Tracy, his teacher, tries to prepare the class for Jessica's arrival, she can't. Jessica had been badly burned in a fire and no one in the class really knows what to say or how to act in front of this quiet, little girl. |
| Almond, David |
Heaven
Eyes
This is Almond's third book.
Heaven Eyes is an orphan who is being taken care of by a grandfatherly
figure on the banks of a river in England. Three runaways (a
girl and two boys) from the local orphanage stumble upon her
as they attempt to sail a raft away from the orphanage. All is
not as it seems in this shadowy tale. |
| Banks, Kate |
Dillon
Dillon
Dillon Dillon has always wondered
why his parents named him that way. The summer he turns ten,
he finally musters the courage to ask and discovers the surprising
story behind his name. This is a simply told story and doesn't
have incredible action in it, but it is subtle and satisfying. |
| Baptiste, Tracey |
Angel's
Grace
Thirteen-year-old Grace is
angry about being sent to spend the summer in Trinidad with her
sister, Sal. She is also a little upset over the fact that her
father clearly favors Sal and feels that he is always upset with
her. She realizes that she always felt a bit apart from the rest
of her family with her different complexion and wild red hair.
Life in Trinidad becomes more bearable
when Grace meet Raj, her attractive next door neighbor and more
interesting when her Aunt Jackie brings an old family photo album
to share with the girls. A young man with red hair and a birthmark
identical to Grace's appears in a blurred photo and suddenly
Grace has a mystery to solve.
The novel is a bit contrived and consist
of convenient coincidences that you can see coming a mile away
but enjoyable nonetheless.
|
| Baskin, Nora Raleigh |
What
Every Girl (except me) Knows
This would be a very sweet story about a motherless girl if Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice series didn't do it better. Still, it's a nicely written story. |
| Bauer, Marion |
On
My Honor
Joel's best friend, Tony dares
him to go on a bike trip to the state park. Joel doesn't want
to go, but asks his father if he can, thinking that his dad will
say no. Surprisingly, his father does not but extracts a promise
from Joel that he will go straight there and straight back. Tony
abruptly changes his mind about the trip and instead, challenges
Joel to swim a race in a dangerous river. When Tony goes under,
Joel tries desperately to find him and now faces a dilemma. |
| Bauer, Joan |
Stand
Tall
Tree is twelve years old and
stands at six foot, three and a half inches tall. People think
he's a natural for the basketball team, but he's not. He carries
around his birth certificate to prove that he is only twelve.
He endures taunts and criticism from his classmates and some
adults. He is also enduring the breakup of his parents marriage
and trying to help and support his beloved grandfather through
a leg amputation. This novel is filled with all sorts of heavy
issues but the characters are likable and realistic. |
| Birney, Betty G. |
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
My was this a sweet book! Eleven-yeear-old Eben has lived in the small town of Sassafras Springs his whole life and he just can' wait to get out of it. The year is 1923 and he lives with his Pa and his Aunt Pretty on a small farm with his dog, Sal. His best friend is Jeb but he doesn't get to see him much because he is the oldest of eight children and often is stuck minding them. Eben's teacher had given him a book on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and Eben has been struck with wanderlust. His Pa says, "There's no use searching the world when you can't see the marvels right under your own nose." He makes a deal with Eben. If he can find seven wonders in Sassafras Springs in seven days, then he will pay Eben's train fare to visit relatives in Colorado! |
| Blume, Lesley M. M. |
The Rising Star of Rusty Nail
What is a ten-year-old girl to do when she loves to play the piano and her musical talent is too large for the elderly piano teacher who naps through her lessons? Franny Hansen, called Mozart by her trumpet-playing, accountant father wants, more than anything, to become a famous piano player. It's not enough to be famous in Rusty Nail, Minnesota, formerly the American Coot Capital of the World for her piano playing. And besides, she wants to put prissy Nancy Orilee in her place. Nancy thinks she is the best piano player because her parents can afford to have a teacher come from out of town to her house to give lessons. But though Nancy plays well, she plays without passion or understanding what the music is saying.
When Charlie Koenig brings home a mysterious Russian woman from New York, everyone assumes that Charlie married a "commie." When Franny sees a grand piano unloaded from the moving van, she is drawn to the house like a bee to honey. Only Madame Malenkov isn't interested in giving lessons. At the same time, the town's gossips have started the rumor mill running and Madame Malenkov's reclusive, standoff-ish manner doesn't help.
|
| Blume, Judy |
Are
You There God? It's Me, Margaret
This is a sweet "growing
up" story about a girl named Margaret. She is a sixth-grader
whose otherwise very cool parents decide to move from New York
City to suburban New Jersey. She misses the city, her grandmother
and their weekly outings. She worries that she won't make any
friends at her new school among other concerns that girls her
age have. She has regular conversations with God about her hopes
and worries about being a sixth grader, being new and growing
up. |
| Blume, Judy |
Blubber
Linda is an overweight outsider,
Jill has friends but is afraid of being on the outside. Jill's
confident friend and leader of her group, Wendy decides that
Blubber is a good name for Linda. That is the beginning of constant
torture for Linda. Jill joins in as well. But suddenly tables
are turned with unexpected results. |
| Choldenko, Gennifer |
Notes
from a Liar and Her Dog
Antonia MacPherson likes to
be called Ant and doesn't get along with her family. In fact,
she tells her favorite teacher she is adopted and writes notes
to "my real mother." As the title indicates, Ant has
a problem with telling the truth. She has some other things going
for her; namely, her best friends, Harrison, her dog, Pistachio
and her favorite teacher, "Just Carol." |
| Clements, Andrew |
The
Jacket
Clements' subversive humor
is absent in this slim story about a boy named Phil, who
confronts his racial prejudice when he accuses a fellow classmate
of stealing his brother's jacket. This novel is thought-provoking. |
| Creech, Sharon |
Heartbeat
Twelve-year-old Annie loves to run-barefoot with her friend,
Max. Moody Max is what she calls him. She lives with her parents
and beloved grandfather and loves art. Changes occur at age twelve
for most children and Annie is no exception. Her mother is pregnant,
her grandfather is becoming forgetful, Max is joining the track
team and wants her to join, and her art teacher wants her to
draw the same apple one hundred times. I adored this book. |
| Creech, Sharon |
Granny Torelli Makes
Soup
Sharon Creech is a master at character-driven plots. She creates
three memorable characters in this novel; Granny, her twelve-year-old
granddaughter, Rosie and Rosie's best friend, Bailey, who is
blind. Although they are best of friends, Rosie and Bailey also
have their difficulties which seem to stem from Rosie interfering
and protecting Bailey. Granny does not lecture Rosie. She coaxes
the story from Rosie while they make soup. Granny then shares
stories about her childhood and her own best friend Nardo. Reading
this book made me wish for my own granny Torelli and made me
want to make soup. |
| Creech, Sharon |
Ruby Holler
Sharon Creech sure can write!
This story is about orphan twins named Florida and Dallas, also
know as the 'disaster twins' by the exasperated owners of the
orphanage they keep getting sent back to. Florida is the more
cynical of the two, always expecting the worst to happen. Dallas
is the dreamier of the two, always thinking maybe the worst won't
happen, but never leaving Florida's side. They are fostering
now with an older couple in Ruby Holler. Dallas is happy there
and Florida is waiting for the worst to happen. This is a surprisingly
suspenseful story. |
| Creech, Sharon |
Walk Two Moons
I adored this book. It is a
story within a story with absolutely lovable characters from
the main character, Salamanca Tree Huddle, to her grandparents,
to her odd friends. It is laugh out loud funny at times and sad
enough to make you cry at others. |
| Creech, Sharon |
The Wanderer
Creech won a Newbery Honor
for this story which is told in the form of two travel logs,
Cody's and Sophie's. Sophie is the only girl among a crew made
up of her three uncles and additional cousin. It is a wonderful
story on many levels. |
| Creech, Sharon |
Love That Dog
Jack doesn't write poetry because boys don't write poetry. He
states this loudly and clearly in the opening poem of this novel
in verse. His teacher, Ms. Stretchberry is immersing her class
in poetry and Jack must keep a poetry journal. The book is Jack's
journal. We read as the year progress, Jack's poetry matures,
he is exposed to other poets, particularly Walter Dean Myers
and comes to terms with the loss of his dog, Sky. Lovely book. |
| DiCamillo, Kate |
Because of Winn Dixie
This sweet story is told by
ten-year-old Opal who has just moved to a brand new town in Florida
with her preacher father. Her mother left them seven years prior
and her father still grieves. Opal is not happy with moving during
the summer as she thinks she won't make any friends until school
starts. However, she goes to the local Winn Dixie supermarket
one day and comes out with a stray dog whom she names Winn Dixie.
With the help of Winn Dixie, Opal makes some memorable friends. Please
read the book before you see the movie! |
| Ellsworth, Loretta |
In Search of Mockingbird
In 1986, on the eve of Erin's sixteenth birthday, her dad announces his engagement. Her jock brothers are thrilled and Erin knows that she should be thrilled. Her mother died shortly after Erin was born and her dad deserves to be with someone. Susan is nice. But Erin feels alienated. She's a nerdy bookworm in a family of good-looking jocks. She craves information about her mother, but her father never speaks of her. Then her dad gives Erin her mother's diary. As Erin reads it, she discovers that her mother had dreams of being a writer as well and even wrote to Harper Lee, the reclusive author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Erin's all time favorite book. On the spur of the moment, Erin decides to take a bus from Minnesota to Montgomery, Alabama to meet Harper Lee.
There's a lot packed into this slim volume at the cost of character development. There are just a few too many convenient contrivances. Nonetheless, Erin is sweet and since To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite stories, I was rooting for her.
|
| Fleischman, Paul |
Seedfolks
This slim novel consists of
chapters devoted to individuals whose common link is a vacant
lot which little by little turns into a community garden. A gem. |
| Forde, Catherine |
Fat Boy Swim
This import from Scotland tells
the story of Jimmy Kelly, a fat boy, who is bullied, feels useless
at everything and not only has a secret crush but a huge secret
involving his expertise in the kitchen. He lives with his "Mum"
and aunt Pol, who share a secret of their own. When "GI
joe," the toughest coach in the school is visiting from
Africa to fundraise for his work with AIDS orphans, he offers
to teach Jimmy to swim in exchange for his cooking a special
fundraising dinner. If you have read One Fat Summer or
Whale Talk and want a "read alike," try this
book. If you haven't and want to read a book about a boy who
is bullied because of his size, read One Fat Summer or
Whale Talk. |
| Frederick, Heather Vogel |
The Mother-Daughter Book Club
This story is told from the points-of-view of four sixth grade girls who were forced into joining a mother-daughter book club and are assigned Little Women to read over the course of the school year. They are very different from each other and feel they have nothing in common, but as the year progresses, they find unlikely friendship and strength in each other's company. Nothing earth-shattering, a tad unbelieveable at times, but entertaining. |
| Friedman, Robin |
The Girlfriend Project
Reed is heading into his senior year, lots of AP classes and applications to Princeton never having had a girlfriend or kissed a girl. He is a self-proclaimed dork. But over the summer, he grew several inches, finally had his braces removed and traded his coke-bottle glasses in for contacts. Now, he's definitely hot, but he has no idea how to talk to a girl, except his best friend Ronnie, and kissing? No way. Ronnie and her twin brother, Lonnie, Reed's best friends since kindergarten set up a web site called The Girlfriend Project.
This is a fun read. It is often laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are likable, albeit so naive it stretches credulity. This is also the quintessential Jersey book. There are lots of New Jersey references and a cute sub-plot involving Reed's grandmother, who is trying to come up with a new state motto for a contest. All the chapters are numbered as exits and make up an exit sign, such as "New Jersey: Big Hair, Big Heart, Exit 6."
|
| Freymann-Weyr, Garrett |
The Kings Are Already
Here
Phebe is obsessed with ballet,
Nikolai is obsessed with chess. This book explores prodigies
and obsession and what young children need to give up in order
to pursue perfection. The story is told in alternating chapters
as Phebe begins to doubt her commitment to ballet and is terrified
and Nikolai, abandoned in Geneva by his overbearing, abusive
father reaches out to Phebe's father, a diplomat for help. Phebe
is sent to stay with her father in Geneva for the summer to rest,
recharge and decide about ballet. Nikolai is desperate for Stas
Vlajnik to become his teacher and is devastated when he doesn't
keep his promise to Nikolai. Phebe organizes her father, his
girlfriend and Nikolai on a search for the elusive Vlajnik and
discovers some interesting things about herself. Very readable,
but I liked her other two books better. |
| Goldschmidt, Judy |
Will the Real Raisin Rodriguez Please Stand Up?
Seventh grader Raisin, recently transplanted from Berkley, California to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania continues her blog that connects her to her 2 bff's, Pia and Claudia. Winter break is coming and she's not as enthusiastic as she thought she would be over her visit to her father. Could it be that she doesn't want to leave her new, violin-playing, cinnamon scented, non-verbal boyfriend, C.J.?
Once Raisin arrives in Berkley, she reverses her blog and keeps in touch with her bff's from Philadelphia, frets over C.J.'s lack of enthusiasm, feels left out when Pia and Claudia introduce Vivvy and wonders about the changes in her father.
This is the third Raisin Rodriguez book. I was underwhelmed by the first, never read the second and didn't miss it when I read the third for review. While Raisin is sometimes funny, the book breaks no new ground. It's a book to give girls who are a little young for the Georgia Nicholson Diaries, which are so much better.
|
| Henkes, Kevin |
Olive's
Ocean (2004
Newbery Honor Book)
Twelve-year-old Martha Boyle is packing to fly from her home
in Wisconsin to vacation on Cape Cod at her grandmother's with
her family. She receives an unexpected visit from Olive Barstow's
mother who gives her a page from Olive's journal. Olive was a
new girl in Martha's school this year, a quiet girl whom no one
bothered to befriend. She was killed while riding her bicycle
a few weeks earlier and now Mrs. Barstow was giving Martha a
page from Olive's journal. In small ways and in large ways, Martha
learns over the next few weeks that the world can change in a
minute. |
| Holt, Kimberly Willis |
When Zachary Beaver
Came to Town
Toby Wilson has to face the
summer of 1971 and some very tough truths. His mother has left
the family, at first saying she wanted to try out at the Grand
Ole Opry, but she isn't coming home. His best friend, Cal, has
a brother who is away fighting in Vietnam and also may not come
home, and Zachary Beaver, the fattest boy in the world is apparently
abandoned in his town. This story alternates between hilarity
and sadness as Zachary, Toby and Cal find some common ground.
A tenuous friendship builds and gradually Toby learns that Zachary
has a heartfelt wish to be baptized. Toby devises a way to accomplish
this. |
| Howe, James |
The Misfits
This is a must-read for any child who has been bullied or has bullied another child. It is the story of four best friends. It is told by one of them, Bobby, who is in seventh grade, starting his first job, falling in love and missing his mother (who died when he was in third grade). He and his best friends started the gang of five, even though there are only four of them. The fifth place is for anyone who would need to join them because they didn't fit in anywhere else. It is a touching book which will make you laugh as well as cry with recognition of the pain and pleasure of being in seventh grade, in love, or cast out. |
| Hughes, Mark Peter |
I am the Wallpaper
Floey Packer tells her story in a combination of diary entries and first-person narrative starting around her thirteenth birthday when she decides that she will no longer live in the shadow of her popular older sister. She refuses to be invisible, like wallpaper and reinvents herself. I found myself alternating between wincing in sympathy and chuckling as this colorful character forges ahead with her make-over.
Unfortunately for Floey, she doesn't know the newfound attention she is receiving is not because of her change in style.
|
| Koss, Amy Goldman |
Stolen Words
This slim novel is the "new"
diary of a girl named Robyn. While traveling in Austria with
her family, their luggage is stolen. Robyn's beloved diary is
stolen as well and she is furious because the diary was a gift
from her Aunt Beth who was killed in a car accident. Her mother
was in the car with Aunt Beth and has been suffering from severe
depression since the accident. Robyn misses her Mom. |
| Lasky, Kathryn |
Memoirs of a Bookbat
I wanted to like this book.
It is written from the point of view of a teenaged girl, Harper
who is on a bus, running away from home. She then tells the story
of her family and how her parents found religion and became missionaries
for family values. This involved traveling around the country
to organize book challenges, or censorship. The book examines
some serious and interesting ideas, but I did not love the book. |
| Lisle, Janet Taylor |
The Lost Flower Children
Olivia and Nellie's mother
has died leaving them with a father who is not sure about what
to do and who is about to lose his job. He sends the girls to
live with a great aunt who has never had children of her own.
Nellie has her own headstrong ways and Olivia has become a mother
figure to Nellie at the expense of her own friends and childhood.
How will the girls and great aunt Minty cope with each other? |
| Lubar, David |
Dunk
Chad is a 15-year-old who is
slightly mad at the world. He lives down at the Jersey shore
in a working class community where the residents hustle for what
little they have. His mother is a single-parent who works as
a waitress and rents part of her house out to boarders. Chad
wants very badly to have a job, but his mother wants him to concentrate
on school. One day, Chad stops to listen to "Bozo,"
the clown in the dunk tank who hurls insults at people until
one of them stops and pays for balls to throw at a target which
will dump the clown in the water. He is mesmerized, decides it
is the perfect job and vows to become one. |
| Marcum, Lance |
The Cottonmouth Club
Eleven-year-old Mitch is gearing
up to the best summer with his best friend when he learns that
his military dad has been temporarily transferred to Louisiana,
close to his mother's relatives. They think it would be wonderful
to spend the summer there. Needless to say, Mitch doesn't.
The cover of this book promises a better
book, but it has its entertaining moments.
|
| Martin, Ann M. & David Levithan, Editors |
Friends: Stories about New Friends, Old Friends, and Unexpectedly True Friends
Proceeds from the sale of this sweet little collection of short stories go to the Lisa Libraries, an organization that provides books to needy children. Eleven well-known children's authors write about friends and friendship. The authors include, Pam Munoz Ryan, Jennifer Holm, Meg Cabot, Ann M. Martin, Patricia McCormack, Tanuja Desai Hidier, Brian Selznick, Patrick Jennings, David Levithan, Rachel Cohn and Virginia Euwer Wolf. |
| Mass, Wendy |
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
About a month before Jeremy Fink's thirteenth birthday, he receives a package in the mail. Well, technically, it's addressed to his mother, but that doesn't bother his best friend Lizzy Muldoun, who convinces Jeremy to open the package after she "accidentally" opens the tape. The box contains a beautiful, locked, wooden box and engraved on the top are the words, "The Meaning of Life: For Jeremy Fink to open on his thirteenth birthday."
Jeremy's father died when Jeremy was eight and so this message from his father is very important. Unfortunately, the four keys which open the locks are missing and the box cannot be opened without destroying the box and/ or its contents. So Lizzy and Jeremy set to work trying to find the four keys.
|
| Messe, Susan |
Kissing Brendan Callahan
This first-person narrative features twelve-year-old Sarah, budding writer and avid fan of romance novelist Antonia DeMarco. When her mother's newspaper runs a writing contest, Sarah wants to enter but if forbidden by her mother due to a possible conflict of interest. She earns a consolation prize when she becomes assistant to the contest judge and it turns out that it is her idol, Antonia. This is a summer of learning that all is not as it seems as Antonia is very high maintanence, her baby brother's nanny is hiding something and icky Brendan Callahan is turning out to be kind of cute. |
| Myers, Walter Dean |
Handbook for Boys
Duke owns a barbershop in Harlem.
He hires two teenage boys, Jimmy and Kevin, who are on probation
to work for him. Duke and his friends think that most problems
can be overcome by following some basic rules. They share these
rules and other pieces of advice with Jimmy and Kevin who often
have a hard time accepting the advice. |
| Myracle, Lauren |
Twelve
Winnie Perry turns twelve and that's something she's looking forward to. She's also developing and that is something she is so not looking forward to - that and bra shopping with her mother, ugh. Her twelve-year-old year brings the end of sixth grade and elementary school, a glorious summer camp experience, and seventh grade at the junior-senior high.
Lauren Myracle picks up Judy Blume's mantle as she matter of factly and hysterically deals with all things twelve.
|
| Na, An |
A Step from Heaven
An Na has written a powerful
first novel. In it she describes the story of a modern immigrant
family and their struggles to understand and become part of America.
Aside from the language barriers, there are some deep family
problems which may not be resolved very neatly. It is a moving
novel which is at times difficult to read but makes one think. |
| Ostow, Micol |
Westminster Abby (S.A.S.S. #1)
S.A.S.S. stands for Students Across the Seven Seas and Westminster Abby is the first in this series where high school students spend time abroad. In book one, Abby a sixteen-year-old Manhatten private school student goes to England to study for a semester. She has mixed feelings about it as her overly protective parents have suggested the experience after discovering she had been lying to them and dating a boy. It's breezy and cute with likeable characters and a simple plot. |
| Park,
Linda Sue |
Project Mulberry
This lovely book tells a parallel
story. Nestled in between the chapters in which Julie Song tells
the reader about the ups and downs of her WIGGLE Project, her
relationship with her mother and bratty brother and her friendship
with Patrick, there is a dialogue between Linda Sue Park and
Julie discussing authorship. Seventh grader Julie is best friends
with Patrick and they always work together but Patrick wants
to raise silkworms for their farm project and Julie, whose family
is the only Korean family in town, feels the project is too Korean. |
| Perkins, Lynne Rae |
All Alone in the Universe
If you have ever lost your
best friend or even an almost best friend, this is a story for
you. This story is narrated by Debbie and she talks about losing
her best friend, Maureen to an interloper, Glenna. |
| Perkins, Lynne Rae |
Criss
Cross
Winner of the 2006 Newbery
Award, this is a sweet, little story weighing in at a hefty 337
pages. It focuses primarily on three friends, Debbie, Hector
and Lenny and the narrative meanders in and out of each character's
moments and shifts from a gentle stream -of-consciousness into
other forms such as dialogue and hiaku. This is sometimes cool
and sometimes jarring, but many of the moments in these three
characters are so real and so poignant. Some of the chapters
might work as stand alone read alouds. The descriptive language
is beautiful. The Newbery Committee was quite right to call this
a novel in which nothing and everything happens. |
| Philbrick, Rodman |
The Young Man and the
Sea
Philbrick pays homage to Hemingway's
Old Man and the Sea in this story of Skiff Beaman, a twelve-year-old
adrift in a sea of problems. Ever since his mother died, Skiff
has taken care of things at home while his fisherman father sits
on the couch drinking beer. Now their boat and only means of
earning money has sunk at the dock and his father won't lift
a finger to repair it, in fact, he doesn't seem to care about
anything. So it is up to Skiff to haul the boat out of the water
and repair it. To top it all off, rich boy Tyler Croft has it
in for Skiff. He bullies, threatens and sabotages all of Skiff's
attempts to stay afloat. |
| Philbrick, Rodman |
Freak the Mighty
Max Kane lives with his Gram and Grim and because he is huge for his age, learning disabled and his father is Killer Kane, Max spends a good deal of time "down under" in his basement bedroom. When Kevin moves back into the neighborhood, Max remembers him from his preschool days because Kevin was tiny and had braces on his legs, but was a force to be reckoned with. Well, Kevin still has the braces and hasn't grown much but is still a force to be reckoned with and the two form a fast friendship and are soon inseparable. So much so that Kevin insists that Max be taken out of the learning disabled class to attend regular classes with Kevin.
It is the intensity of this rock solid friendship that allows the reader to overlook holes in the plot. Although you can see the tearjerker ending from midway through the book, it is best to have tissues nearby.
|
| Sachar, Louis |
Holes
This winner of the 1998 National Book Award for young people's literature and the 1999 Newbery Award was an instant favorite at HPS library. I recently reread this wonderful book as part of a project for a graduate course called Children's Literature Goes to the Movies and hope to develop a unit of study for my sixth graders around the book and the movie.
Poor Stanley Yelnats, he's an overweight target for bullies, cursed with bad luck courtesy of his rotten, no good, pig-stealing great great grandfather. He's been wrongly accused and convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers that were meant to be auctioned off at a fundraiser for a homeless shelter and sent to Camp Green Lake. There, he has to dig holes, five feet deep and five feet wide and to report anything of interest.
Stanley is a decent kid, with loving parents who are a bit down on their luck as well. The book is filled with moments where the reader doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Secondary stories about Stanley's great great grandfather and the infamous "Kissing Kate" Barlow are seamlessly woven to a satisfying end.
|
| Sanchez, Alex |
So Hard to Say
I adored this book. Frederick,
not Fred, moves from Wisconsin to Southern California. He is
shy but friendly and immediately adopted by outgoing Xio, a chocoholic
Hispanic girl whose gang is called the "sexies." Frederick
is also picked to be on Victor's pick-up soccer team and is thrilled
because Victor is a popular jock. As he settles into his new
surroundings, things become a little confusing for Frederick
as Xio begins to set her sights on him as a boyfriend and he
begins to have feelings for Victor.
All the characters are realistic and likeable.
Frederick comes from an intact functional family and Xio from
a single-parent, yet very functional family. So Hard to Say
is a very honest, non-threatening exploration of identy, friendship
and first love.
|
| Scieszka, Jon Ed. |
Guys Write for Guys Read
Jon Scieszka is a man with
a mission. He wants guys to read and has written many books that
guys (and gals) like to read, such as The Time Warp series, The
Stinky Cheese Man, Squids Will be Squids, among others. He has
also sponsored a web site called guysread.com, featuring a searchable
index of books organized by author or genre where guys can find
books that they like to read.
This collection of stories has something
for everyone and is meant to be browsed. Find your favorite author
or illustrator in the table of contents and read his offering.
There are funny stories, sad ones, poems, advice and illustrations.
|
| Shreve, Susan |
Blister
There is a lot of sadness in
Alyssa Reed's life. Her baby sister was stillborn. Her mother
is in a deep depression over it, her father is nearly absent.
Thankfully, she has a loving grandmother to help her through.
But suddenly, her father is moving out to a new apartment and
so is she and her mother. She has to deal with her mother's deepening
depression and start at a new school and learns that her father
is lying about his temporary separation from their family. She
decides to take control of her life by renaming herself, Blister.
This is a sad-funny book about a brave little girl who is left
to figure too much out by herself. |
| Shreve, Susan |
Kiss Me Tomorrow
Blister is back. She's in about to enter junior high school and looking forward to it as long as she has her best friend, Jonah by her side. She doesn't see her grandma, Daisy G nearly enough, her dad is still unreliable and wrapped around Tamara's finger and now her mom has a man in her life. Blister really does not want to like Frank.
When Jonah abandons her and begins trying to hang around the popular Jakob Cutter, Blister is angry but when she reads about "a local boy who was apprehended for shoplifting," Blister just knows that the local boy is Jonah and that Jakob has something to do with it.
This book is not nearly as sad as Blister but every bit as good. Blister is a complex character and the supporting characters are memorable as well.
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| Shreve, Susan |
Under the Watsons' Porch
Ellie Tremont turns twelve
alone thanks to the fact that Rosie O'Leary is having a party
for her own birthday and Ellie hasn't been invited. She is facing
a summer which promises to be boring with a capital B, even though
she is leaving for camp in three weeks. She wants some excitement
in her life. When fourteen-year-old Tommy Bowers moves in next
door with his floppy bangs, good looks and mysterious past, life
suddenly seems filled with possibility for Ellie who decides
there is no way she's going off to boring old camp with Tommy
around. |
| Sonnenblick, Jordan |
Notes from the Midnight Driver
Another winner from the author who brought us Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie. In this companion novel, we meet sixteen-year-old Alex who is just furious with his parents over their break-up. After his mom goes out for the evening, he gets drunk, decides to give his dad a piece of his mind and takes the car to get to his dad's place. Alex doesn't have a driver's license aside from the fact that he is also under-age and driving while impaired. So after he crashes the car, throws up on the arresting officer and suffers a wicked hang-over, he must face the judge and the consequences - a hundred hours of community service at a nursing home in the company of Sol, a cantankerous resident.
Alex is hysterical, Sol is endearing as well as exasperating. Be prepared to laugh a lot before having a good cry.
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| Spinelli, Jerry |
Wringer
For Palmer LaRue, his tenth
birthday is something he dreads because that is the age at which
all the boys in town become wringers in the annual pigeon shoot.
He does not want to wring the necks of pigeons, he actually likes
pigeons. But the annual event raises enough money for the recreational
fields in town and Palmer feels like he is facing this decision
alone. This is not an easy book to read and it seems to me that
people either love or hate this book. |
| Tarshis, Lauren |
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree
Seventh grader Emma-Jean is not your typical middle school student. Super-brilliant and very analytical, she views the drama of middle school with the detatchment of a scientist and chooses not to get involved. Her classmates, in return think Emma-Jean "strange" and leave her alone. All this changes when Emma-Jean discovers Colleen, one of the nicest girls in the school, sobbing in the girls' bathroom. When Colleen confides that the resident mean girl, Laura, is horning in on her relationship with her best friend, Emma-Jean sees a logical solution to the problem and solves the problem without telling Colleen about it. Pleased with this success, Emma-Jean sets about solving other problems at home and at school with varying degrees of success, many improbable.
Emma-Jean is an endearing misfit, socially inept and severely missing her brilliant and doting father who died in a car accident when she was ten. There are times in the book when middle school drama and dialogue are so spot on that it makes the somewhat unbelieveable plot arc easier to take.
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| Townsend, Wendy |
Lizard Love
Lizard Love is Grace’s coming of age story. She is thirteen and trying to cope with living away from nature after being transplanted to NYC from her grandparents’ home in the rural midwest. She adores nature, in general, but reptiles and amphibians in particular and paints them all over a jacket she wears all the time. She transferred to a private school after she was beaten up and is befriended by Cathy and eventually by Walter, whose father owns The Fang and Claw pet store in lower Manhattan. She finds solace in spending time in the shop but when everything begins to change, from her body to her grandparents to Cathy, Grace has some decisions to make.
Herpetology is an unusual obsession for a thirteen-year-old girl, but her fears and angst about change are universal. This is a quiet story for a special reader.
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| Wittlinger, Ellen |
Zig Zag
Robin is bummed because her
boyfriend has just graduated from high school and his rich parents
are sending him out east to attend Georgetown. Robin still has
a year to go at her Iowa high school. Several days after Chris'
graduation, Robin discovers that she won't even get a "last
summer" with Chris because his parents decide to send him
to Italy for the summer to attend a special program. Faced with
a summer alone and working at a local Tastee-Freeze store, Robin
agrees to ride shotgun, zig-zagging across the US to California
with her aunt and her bratty cousins. They recently lost their
father in an accident. Needless to say, the trip is quite eventful
and events do not proceed as planned. |
| Yee, Lisa |
So Totally Emily Ebers
This is book three in a trilogy of parallel novels beginning with Millicent Min Girl Genius but seems to be able to stand alone as I have not yet read either of the other two. It is a rather adorable, fun read. Emily tells her story through a diary which is really a series of letters to her dad, who is making a comeback tour with his rock band. Emily is furious with her mom over the fact that she has to move from Allendale, NJ clear across the country to California. To add insult to injury, her mom signed her up for volleyball camp when she hates sports.
At volleyball camp, she befriends Millicent Min and disarms queen bee, Julia by countering Julia's cattiness with a sunny, positive demeanor. Her mother, Alice, on the other hand, receives none of this positivity as Emily takes her anger at her parents' divorce out on Alice.
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| Yee, Lisa |
Millicent Min, Girl Genius
I figured that I ought to read Yee's companion novels to So Totally Emily Ebers. Poor Millicent Min is an eleven-year-old genius who has just completed eleventh grade and is so looking forward to her college summer class where she can mingle with her intellectual peers. Unfortunately, she discovers that college is a lot like high school, "only bigger" and her parents have signed her up for a volleyball camp to make her more well-rounded. To complete the ruination of her summer, Millicent also learns that she is to tutor the dreaded Stanford Wong, aka Stan-turd and her beloved grandmother is moving to London.
The book was clever and Millicent is such an earnest and clueless character- ya just gotta love her.
|
| Yee, Lisa |
Stanford Wong Flunks Big - Time
Stanford gets his turn to tell his side of the story and while the events in all three novels overlap, it is rather fun to read the differing points of view. Stanford Wong discovers that he has flunked English and now, instead of attending a prestigious basketball camp as befits the wondrousness of his being the only seventh grader in Rancho Rosetta history to make the A - team, he will be attending summer school with Mr. Glick - the very same teacher who flunked him in the first place! His father, who seems terminally disappointed in him and constantly compares him to his older sister, is absent more than usual and fighting with Stanford's mom more that usual. His parents have also put Yin Yin, his grandmother in a retirement home. So Stanford is feeling a lot of pressure. |
| Ziegler, Jennifer |
How Not to be Popular
This is a fun, humorous read about a teenaged girl named Maggie, which is short for Sugar Magnolia Dempsey. She is growing tired of pulling up roots and moving every time the spirit moves her hippy, New Age parents. She loves her parents, but really, she wants to stay somewhere long enough to keep a boyfriend. She knows this won't happen and she is particularly bummed about leaving Trevor behind so she concocts a scheme to prevent anyone from liking her in her new school and goes to great lengths to be completely uncool. This, of course, makes her a trendsetter. |
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