LIFE IS JUST CRUEL SOMETIMES

Being grounded by her mother saved Daralynn's life. Her brother, sister and father die in a plane crash the day Daralynn is forced to stay home because she doesn't listen. And now, even though she still lives with her mother, who's angry all the time, and her grandmother, who's just crazy, Daralynn feels completely alone. She helps her mother do hair for the local townspeople, and comes up with some inspiring ideas to keep the town lively, but a shady character comes to town and disrupts the lives of a family already disrupted, and a gullible town looking for progress. GROUNDED by Kate Klise is historical, sad, quirky, and creative, with a little mystery thrown in to boot! For 5th-8th grade.

SURVIVING GIRL DRAMA

From Vivian at the Casa Verdugo Branch:
When two sets of best friends (Ida and Stacy; Jenna and Brooke) struggle for attention, the harmony of the entire class is disrupted. It isn't until the most humble girl, Ida, finds the courage to forgive that the class begins to heal.

My Forever Friends by Julie Bowie

A PAULSEN PAIR

Two companion stories by Gary Paulsen, Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception and Flat Broke: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Greed, tell the story of Kevin who tell a pile of lies in order to win the heart of a girl. He lies to everyone: his family, his best friends, his acquaintances. He couldn't lie to a little boy though and that's when the pile of lies came tumbling down. If you like Liar Liar, then you must read Flat Broke.

Two very short novels for readers in 6th-8th grade about the questionable act of lying and making amends in order to win back everyone's trusts and friendships.

DEADLY WATERS

Want to read something adventures but at the same time mysterious?
Get ready to solve one situational problem after another and find yourself deeply lost in the story that you might even forget you’re reading a book.Going on a vacation with parents and friends is usually fun ; however going into the wild without your parents and without a map can become a challenge, especially in a huge forest. Now imagine all the things that can go wrong and multiply that by hundred... Than the unexpected happens, and not only now your need to find your way back, you also need to solve few great mysteries...DEADLY WATERS by GLORIA SKURZYNSKI.

For grades 5th and up.

IRENA SENDLER AND THE CHILDREN OF THE WARSAW GHETTO

This is an inspiring story of courage of Irena Sendler, a young Polish Catholic social worker that smuggled hundreds of children out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

When the Nazis invaded Poland during World War II, Irena joined the resistance movement to fight the German occupation and worked tirelessly to save the lives of hundreds of Jews, mostly children. She joined Zegota, the code name for the Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland. Working undercover as a nurse, she used a medical pass to enter the Warsaw Ghetto to bring Jewish children to safety. She constantly moved the children from one home to another or placed them into Roman Catholic convents and orphanages, hiding the little ones in trunks, suitcases, or sacks under the ambulance back-seat. Sendler also arranged for babies and children to be sedated and smuggled out with merchants in potato sacks, under their loads of goods. Sometimes, she even sneaked sedated children out in body bags, telling the guards that they were dead.
She buried jars containing the children’s real names in a friend’s garden, so that they could one day, learn the names of their biological families after the war.

Called the female Oskar Schindler for her courage and daring in smuggling over 2,500 children from the Holocaust, This is an amazing story of bravery and compassion. Ages 8-9. Written by Susan Goldman Rubin, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth.

A NEW SPY ADVENTURE

Q, short for Quest, and his newly minted stepsister are quickly thrown into a world of spies and lies when their parents' honeymoon/music tour turn into an adventure in dodging agents from the Mossad, the Israeli spy agency. Angela has been led to believe that her mother, a secret Service agent, died protecting the United States. All that is being questioned now as foreign spies follow them in order to track down her mother, believed to be still alive and one of the world's most deadly terrorist.

I.Q.: Book One: Independence Hall by Roland Smith is a fast pace thrilling spy adventure for readers in 7th-9th grade. A new spy series.

NOT JUST FOR CRAZY PEOPLE

If you hear the word "asylum" it's most often preceded with the word "insane." But in the early 20th century, asylums were not just for the insane, but were also there for depressed or out-of-sorts people. Verna and Carlie, and their widowed father come to live upon the grounds of an asylum, where he serves as a resident psychiatrist. Also in tow is their dead mother's sister, Aunt Maude, who is strict and unpleasant. When one of the depressed patients, Eleanor, comes to work as their maid, the girls are whisked into the world of mental health and experience all sorts of factors contributing to what might make a person end up in an asylum. THE LOCKED GARDEN by Gloria Whelan tells a beautifully sad story about different kinds of loss and how people recover from such sadness. For 5th-8th grades.

DANCING HOME

Margie is the only child living with her Mexican-Americans parents in California. Mexico is the country of their parents, but not for Margie. She was born in Texas, feels proud to be an American and tries to convince the other kids at school that she is one hundred percent American, just like them. But all of that changes when Lupe her Mexican cousin arrives from Mexico to live with Margie’s family. Margie thinks that it would be fun to have her cousin there as she doesn’t have any brother and sisters, but she finds herself embarrassed by Lupe in school and jealous of her at home. Even though Margie’s parents were born in Mexico and speak Spanish at home, Margie has been speaking mainly English since preschool. At school the Principal insists that Lupe should join Margie in her 5th grade class. Margie tries to tell her teacher that she doesn’t really know much Spanish and will not be able to translate for Lupe, but the teacher doesn’t seem to understand the situation. From that moment the image that Margie has created for herself starts falling apart. On the other hand, Lupe situation is not easy either. She feels her home is in Mexico and learning a new language in a new school represents a great challenge for her. Lupe realizes the dilemma that Margie is living and try to find ways to help her rediscovery her heritage. Nice story about family values and friendship and the experience that the immigrant has to go through to retain its own identity. Ages 8-9.

Dancing Home by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel Zubizarreta.

THIS TIME IT'S OKAY TO SPY!

Did you know that squirrels can deliver some very top-secret messages?

Or that way back when there were no phones, birds were used to carry important messages?

From THE BIG BOOK OF SPY STUFF by BART KING, you are going to learn how to write in codes, how to tie your shoelaces in codes and also how to break codes...

Additionally, the book has tons of information on spies, secret agents and such.

For example, did you know of the confusion agents? They are spies who do not spy. Instead, they spread misinformation to confuse enemy agents.

For grades 5th and up.

WHO DOESN'T LOVE TO READ?

From Mr. B at the Grandview:

Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide To Not Reading, written by Tommy Greenwald / Illustrated by J.P. Coovert

Middle-schooler Charlie Joe Jackson does not read books. He is so good at not reading books, he is now sharing his techniques in this great self-help send-up. Along with his techniques, Charlie Joe shares his background and experience in not reading books (which seem to stem from the year he got only books for Christmas, including the dreaded Complete Mark Twain). The intentionally short chaptered narrative (who wants to read long chapters?) includes details of his grandest scheme to avoid reading books: the successful all-school research project that he completed without reading a single book, but that cost him his girl-friend and his summer vacation. I’d reveal more, but Charlie Joe insists you read the book in order to learn how not to have to read any more books in the future. For grades 5 through 8.

FICTION SET IN THE FIFTIES

From Mr. B at the Grandview Branch: LUNCH-BOX DREAM Tony Abbott.

A prejudiced White Northern family touring Southern Civil War sites and a prejudiced Southern Black family traveling north looking for a lost child converge in the Black section at the back of a Greyhound bus. Set in 1959, the chapters use alternate voices to illustrate Jim Crow with cinematic intensity; but too many alternating voices may confuse and discourage middle school readers. It might be best read with an adult willing to discuss the nuances of Jim Crow and discrimination on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line in 20th Century America. For grades 6-8.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY...

In life, we all have probably apologized to our loved once after hurting them with words or actions. However, how cool would it be if next time, we apologize with poems? I know this might sound too boring or too weird. But you know, after reading this great book about forgiveness and apology. I am starting to think that since evidently we all find ourselves asking for forgiveness, than why not do it in a unique way which will hopefully increase the chances of you being forgiven. The book is divided into two parts, one part is the apologetic poems, and the second part is the responses to these poems. It also has has tons of cute and hilarious illustrations. THIS IS JUST TO SAY: POEMS OF APOLOGY AND FORGIVENESS is by JOYCE SIDMAN and the illustrations are by PAMELA ZAGARENSKI.

For grades 3rd and up.

FAIRIES AND FIGHTING IN ENGLAND

A plague is threatening North America, and the Morgans ship their children off to England so they won't be exposed. It is here that Rowan, Meg, Silly (short for Priscilla), and James, along with friend Dickie Rhys and foe Finn Fachan (other plague-threatened children) learn all about the wonderful world of fairies. Only it's not so wonderful. The Morgan's Aunt Phyllida Ash turns out to be the ancestral protector of the fairy kingdom, and does everything in her power to prevent the children from encountering fairy life. But it doesn't take long for the Morgan children to be sucked into the Midsummer War between good and bad fairies. UNDER THE GREEN HILL by Laura L. Sullivan is a good tale of heroic gestures, a glimpse at fairy-dom, contains some moral undertones, and includes a lot of great vocabulary words! For grades 6 and up.

MYSTERY, SUSPENSE, GHOST PIRATES, MAYONNAISE !

Misty discovers that her new old glasses allows ghosts. You see her dad owns an antique store and with these special glasses, she now sees them in every item in the shop. The more she and her best friend dig into the history of the glasses' previous owner, more mysterious and frigtening things begin to happen. She discovers that the descendants of the town's founders are after three gold statues believe to hold the ultimate power and will bring their dead ancestors back to life and rule forever.

Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirates by Kim Kennedy is a fun and slightly spooky ghost story for readers in 4th-6th grade.

LIBRARY LILY

Lily loves to read. when Lily learns to read, her mother takes her to the library and since then all Lily wants to do is read, read.... up to the point she forgets to do anything else. She is fascinated by the stories in her books and read wherever she goes, that's why everybody calls her "Library Lily".

Her mother keeps insisting she should be involved in other interests but Lily doesn't see this as a problem.

One day at the park, Lily meets Milly. Milly is a girl who loves climbing the trees and doesn't like to read. Milly shows Lily how to enjoy life beyond a book and Lily shows Milly how to discover adventure through reading. The girls form a friendship that creates a perfect balance between reading and playing.

Great book for the kids taht don't enjoy reading. Written by Gillian Shields, illustrated by Francesca Chessa. Ages 4-8.

ONE BOOK / ONE GLENDALE...for younger readers

Twelve-year-old Derek has his entire summer planned out. He plans to devote the entire time to water balloon wars, tennis ball tosses and other boyish pursuits. But suddenly when his mother tells him that he is going to Learning Camp instead, the summer looks bleak as the last thing he wants to do is to spend the summer improving his vocabulary and reading skills. Lucky for him though he makes some new friends, has some adventures, solves a mystery and even learns a few things during the summer in MY LIFE AS A BOOK by Janet Tashjian chosen for this year's community-wide reading book for younger readers. Copies of the book are available at all of the Glendale Libraries except the Brand Library to check out this enjoyable read and be sure to look at the illustrations drawn by the author's fourteen-year-old son Jake. For grades 4 and older.

The author will be speaking about this book and others that she has written, answering questions as well as signing books on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at the Central Library, 222 East Harvard Street, Glendale, CA 91205. For more information, please call (818) 548-2035.