THE STARS GUIDE YOUR WAY

THE DRINKING GOURD by F. N. Monjo is a little bit of history with a twist of doing the right thing. Tommy Fuller gets in trouble at church one Sunday and is sent home, only to find a family of runaway slaves hiding in his barn. The Drinking Gourd, also known as the Big Dipper, contains the North Star which is leading Big Jeff and his family to Canada, and Tommy’s father is hiding them. Tommy’s father states that laws should not be broken, but there are exceptions to every rule. There aren't many historical fiction stories for the early reader, much less one that deals with the Underground Railroad. This is a great book to get younger readers into the historical fiction genre. For Kindergarten - 3rd grades.

BASHO AND THE RIVER STONES

The fox is a very tricky character indeed, and one can only expect certain tomfoolery and hijinks from the fox in this picture book for older readers. A poor poet lives near some delicious cherry trees that he shares with the foxes in the woods. It isn't long before one fox gets greedy and is surprised by the poet's reaction to his greed. BASHO AND THE RIVER STONES by Tim Myers was nominated for the 2007-2008 California Young Reader Award, and is bound to be a great rendition of a classic story. For 3rd grade and up.

SHORT STORIES

While the characters have a connection and some reappear in subsequent chapters, CLICK is a work of ten very different authors who each have written a chapter that takes the story in far flung directions. The first chapter introduces Gee, a famous photojournalist, and it is basically his story that is told here but not necessarily in order as the stories tend to jump around in time and are told by different narrators. Many of your favorite authors (Linda Sue Park, David Almond, Tim Wynne-Jones) have written a chapter for this unusual book that tries to solve the mystery that surrounds one man's life.

This is best for readers in grade 6 and older.

A DOG'S CRAZY LIFE

You'll probably never meet a dog this crazy, or maybe you own a dog who does some of the things that Marley, a huge yellow Labrador Retriever does. He chews through walls, runs away from home, rips pillows into tiny pieces! What a mess! But he is also one of the most loyal, loving dogs you'll ever hear about. Make sure you pick up MARLEY: A DOG LIKE NO OTHER by John Grogan. It's a non-fiction book, which means that all the things that Marley does REALLY HAPPENED! For 5th grade and older.

WANT TO BE THE BEST AT EVERYTHING?

1. 1. Wait for a rainy day. Pour paper confetti into your mom's closed umbrella and wait for her to go outside and open it.

2. Chew on some small white mints, then pretend to bump into a wall. Moan and spit the mints out. Your dad will think you are spitting out your broken teeth.

3. Or, want to make an icy-cold milk shake without a blender or ice cream? Than you need to check out this book that is full of so many fun and exciting activities that you would want to have a copy of this book for your own library at home.

Check out THE GIRLS BOOK: HOW TO BE THE BEST AT EVERYTHING. The author is JULIANA FOSTER and the illustrations are by AMANDA ENRIGHT.

For ages 9 and up.

GEORGIA

Georgia, begins to make sense of her mother's death and her father's grief, as her artistic talents and interests develops after she receives an anonymous gift membership to the local Brandywine river Museum.
"I started to draw on the top of my binder,
like it seems I always do
when I don't know what else to do, so I
didn't notice that she was trying to hand me
a red leather notebook (this very one i'm writing in),
and she said: "Georgia, why don' we make
a deal? I will excuse you
from coming to Guidance for a while, provided-
you promise to write down your thoughts and feelings
at least a few times a week
in this diary. You don't have to show it to me, or to anybody,
unless you want to,
and it might be a good idea if you tried-sometimes , or
all the time if you want-
to write down what you might tell, or what you might ask,
your mother
if she were here."

Pieces of Georgia: A Novel by Jen Bryant is a heart wrenching story of a girl coping with the loss by piecing herself, family and friends back together one piece at a time.
For readers in 4th and up.