Book+Reviews

 Isabel is a slave during the Revolutionary War whose owner has died. She and her mentally disabled younger sister Ruth were promised freedom in the will of the previous owner but are instead sold to fierce slave owners in New York City. Isabel seeks to navigate between supporters of slavery on both sides of the war in this novel. The Revolutionaries offer her a chance to spy on her owners. We received the sequel this month from our Junior Library Guild order.
 * Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (New York: Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008) **

//**Elvis & Olive: Super Detectives **//** by Stephanie Watson (New York: Scholastic Press, 2010) **  The reader first meets Elvis (Annie) and Olive (Natalie -- nicknames they developed for each other as they played growing up together) the summer Natalie Wallis decides to run for Student Council Secretary at her private academy. Both are ten years old, which makes the book a target best suited for young 7th grade readers, but the topics discussed are family oriented and rather sad at times -- best suited for even an 8th grader (the Lexile is 620L: //Twilight //'s Lexile is 720L). The lead boy character Steven is in the 8th grade. Annie's mom has left Natalie alone, and the reader does not know why until later in the novel: We only know that Annie is being raised as a foster child by a kind grandmotherly neighbor. Natalie is an independent personality intermingling with Annie rather than with Trina, the neighborhood personality who rather boastfully succeeds at everything and is in Steven's grade. While the story has serious overtones, the tale itself is lighthearted and charming.  Elvis and Olive run a detective agency because Natalie needs a service project to run for office, and Annie wants to find her mom. In their neighborhood, an equivalent of the female lead in the 1960s //Perry Mason // television show lives, and the two girls are inspired by this woman's television career when creating their detective agency (as opposed to a lawyer firm in Perry Mason -- but they solve "crimes").. For instance, a James Taylor equivalent songwriter also lives in the neighborhood and the girls "solve" a mystery by finding some lyrics for the writer. The neighborhood's colorful kindnesses add beauty to a book that will ring true for kids who have known someone who has lost a parent in the fashion shown at the end of the novel (a tragedy) or who has lost a parent in this fashion. The story has a happy ending. It's the not the ending Annie wants, but the reader is left satisfied that good happens in the world.

//**Crunch **//** by Leslie Connor (New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2010) **  Leslie Connor's book //Crunch // is lovable. Dewey Marriss, our perhaps 15-year-old narrator, tells us the story of the U.S. during an oil crunch. The Marriss family fun a bike repair shop in New England, and the oil crunch hits right as their parents are out of town leaving Dewey and his older sister Lil to take take care of their younger siblings Vince and the twins Angus and Eva along with the home and the Marriss Bike Barn. Adventure awaits as conflicts arise. I loved it. Ms. Connor surprised me twice at the end of the novel.

//**The Red Pyramid **//** by Rick Riordan (New York: Disney, 2010) **  My first few chapters of Rick Riordan's //The Red Pyramid //, the first book in a new series by celebrated author of the Percy Jackson series, has our protagonist Carter Kane orally narrating his story with his sister Sadie who has lived apart from him with his grandparents (after a family incident with a spatula in which Carter's grandparents deemed Julius Kane, Carter's dad, an unfit father). We, as readers, get a fun transcribed version. So far, two chapters have been orated by Carter and one by Sadie -- mind you, Sadie's a bit more sassy as a narrator. Sadie and Carter are uncovering a mystery surrounding their dad and then later their mom. We go with them as readers. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> Carter describes his dad as this: "Go into a bookstore, find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Julius Kane. You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built the pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb? My dad is your man." Carter and his dad have moved around a lot previous to the book's beginning because of Mr. Kane's job with Egyptian artifacts. . . and. . . a secret. If you've never heard of the Rosetta Stone and the Eye of Horus, you will in the first two chapters. An adventure awaits in only the fun way that Mr. Riordan can tell it. Come check it out!

Riley and his friends go to a summer camp where boys spend their days playing water polo, basketball, and more. At night, the guys stage practical jokes on other cabins and start legends about ghosts the following days. Girls might like this novel just to see what happens at summer camp. Boys might like this novel because it is written to a boy middle school audience. Parents should know that the boys do smoke homemade cigarettes in two scenes that I've read (noticed -- I'm skimming a bit) so far -- not in a //That Seventies Show// fashion -- more along the lines of boys in //Dead Poet's Society// movie from a decade or so ago. The Loch Ness Monster chapter looks good. . ..
 * //Sports Camp: A Novel// by Rich Wallace (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010)**

Check out some student reviews at Mrs. Jensen's language arts blog! [|Mrs. Jensen's Classes' Book Reviews] Have you ever heard of Senator John McCain from Arizona? Senator McCain was the Republican candidate for the President of the United States in 2008. Here at Eastmont Middle School, we have a couple of books about him in the library. This biography of John McCain starts by introducing the reader to his childhood, the son and grandson of two U.S. Navy admirals. Senator McCain attended high school at an elite institution called Episcopal High School, where students and instructors were all male. Would you like going to a high school that consisted of only girl students for girls or only boy students for boys? Fiercely strict, students at EHS spent a lot of time learning discipline in addition to learning their core subjects. One of WWII's famous generals, General Patton, worked with an officer who later taught English to John McCain at EHS. Can you imagine learning Shakespeare from Miss Stone if she had also been a solider in Iraq in fierce battles? After attending EHS, Senator McCain was accepted to the Naval Academy, the college where many future U.S. Navy officers go. John McCain's family had long wanted him to attend the Naval Academy. He was well-known for speaking his mind both in high school and while attending the Naval Academy. Once, while eating, a worker was being harrassed by an upperclassman. The biographer Gail Stewart reports, "He said, 'Hey, Mister, why don't you pick on someone your own size?'" Senator McCain's willingness to defend those weaker than himself is a great example of good behavior. After the Naval Academy, Senator McCain attended flight school in Pensacola, Florida. Biography Gail Stewart shares some dangerous stories about Senator McCain's experiences as a pilot. Did you know that Senator McCain was a prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam, for five years? He was tortured. We owe all of our veterans a great deal of respect. John McCain's biography by Gail Stewart is an interesting read. I think you'll like it. Also, our library has biographer Robert Timberg's John McCain: An American Odyssey. As our library is closing just for the summer, perhaps you can check the public library for these titles. Come get these books next fall!
 * //John McCain: People in the News// (a series for teenagers) by Gail Stewart (Detroit: GALE, Cengage Learning, 2008)**

Tico and the Golden Wings by Leo Lionni tells the story of a little wingless bird who magically obtains golden wings from a wishingbird (the book makes this word one). Tico is then rejected by his community for being different. "Was it bad to be different?" the narrator wonders for his readers on behalf of Tico. One day, Tico helps a man whose son is ill by giving him a golden feather. Tico then helps other by eventually giving away all of his golden feathers. Each time he performs a charitable act, his golden wing turns to a black wing. His return to his own community comes with a lesson about being diverse in a seemingly same society. This book is great for Utah where many of our students look the same but sometimes feel deep differences inside. I enjoyed it! The illustrations have a lovely geometric collage look to them reminiscent of Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
 * //Tico and the Golden Wings// by Leo Lionni (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007)**

The story is a window into a world middle school boys will love. In the tradition of //Ender's Game (//Orson Scott Card), the genre of //The Hunger Games// (Suzanne Collins), and a more benign character setting reminiscent of //The Lord of the Flies// (William Golding), Dashner sets a group of seemingly marooned boys in a fierce world of mystery and competition, all seeking to survive in a labyrinth of dangerous machines and other fears along with the mystery of why there are there in the first place and i"if the grass is actually greener" outside the maze. The lead character Thomas seeks to find his place in the Glade, a space adjacent to the mysterious maze where the isolated boys live; however, he is drawn to the maze, solving the mysteries and conquering its challenges before time runs out.
 * //The Maze Runner// by James Dashner (New York: Delcorte Press, Random House, Inc., 2009): Author of //The 13th Reality// series**

Beloved young adult author Gary Paulsen, author of the well-read //Hatchet// and sequels, has produced a historical fiction novel in which protagonist 13-year-old Samuel must navigate through British soldiers, Native American warriors, German Hessian hired soldiers, and kindness given to him from American patriots to save his parents' lives. Samuel's parents have been taken captive by the English army during the Revolutionary War. After the capture of his parents, Samuel survives in the woods by himself until he meets a family where he gains a companion -- young Annie -- whose life he must save. Together with a Scottish peddler and the peddler's friends, all whom author Paulsen later reveals to be more than minor characters in the Rebels' cause, Samuel sets out to accomplish his heroic goal of protecting family. Fun characterizations and the coming of age of a thirteen-year-old who realizes that he must become a man in war make this a great read. (Miss Anderson)
 * //Woods Runner// by Gary Paulsen (New York: Wendy Lamb Books, Random House, Inc., 2010)**