MURDER MOST FOUL

A review by Theresa from the Children's Room: 

For the seven girls who are students at St. Etheldreda’s School for Young Ladies it was a typical Sunday in the 1890’s at the boarding school. Sunday dinner meant buttered bread and hot beans for the girls and veal and the trimming for the headmistress Mrs. Placket and her brother Mr. Aldous Godding. They had learned to be content with the privilege of watching the two adults consume the meal that the girls had cooked. But on a particular Sunday in May that all changed with both Mrs. Placket and Mr. Godding dropped deal in the midst of the evenings repast. Following the unfortunate event the girl’s (each has a less than desirable nickname and the reader must make sure not to gloss over the brief introduction) quickly decide to hide the crime as no one desires to return home to their families. 

What happens next is a dark comedy full of hidden corpses, investigation worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a great deal of strength and ingenuity on the part of the girls in Julie Berry’s The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place. A tale for mystery lovers in grades 5-8.

KEEP CALM AND TIME TRAVEL

Lee Jones and Joan Lee are opposites in name and personality, but they are also BFFs.  They do everything together - even without knowing.  The night before their 8th grade trip, their parents both tell them they're getting divorced - right after dinner and just before dessert.  After this horrible news, the next morning, they discover that instead of going to California Dreaming, the BEST amusement park ever, their 8th grade trip will take place at a Fort.  The fort sounds like a horrible field trip until they fall asleep in the fort's lighthouse and wake up in past San Francisco - 1863 to be exact.  On their way to trying to figure out how they got to 1863 and how they're going to get home (or if they even want to live in a world with divorced parents and separate high schools), they befriend another time traveler, Samuel Clemens, who teaches them a thing or two about getting around the Wild West.

Lewis Buzbee's middle-grade novel Bridge of Time is perfect for 6th through 8th graders looking for adventure and excitement with a little SciFi and Historical Fiction thrown in.

THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET

Beverly, Madison, and Eston Hemings are all brothers. They have a sister named Harriet and a mother named Sally. They all love the violin and learn how to be carpenters. They also live as slaves at Thomas Jefferson (the guy on the $20 bill's) plantation called Monticello. And, they have a secret. A secret that everyone knows but no one talks about. A secret of who their father is. Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independance, 3rd President of the United States, founder of the University of Virginia, and slave owner - is their father.


An honest look at race and slavery during the 1800s, Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley takes you on a 20 year journey with the Hemings boys as they grow up as slaves on Monticello questioning everything around them and grow up into young free men, loose in a still young country founded by their father.

For lovers of historical fiction and family drama in grades 6-8.
Posted by Lessa

“HE WAS THE BEST OF TOMS. HE WAS THE WORST OF TOMS.”

From former Children's Librarian now manager of the Casa Verdugo and Grandview Branch Librarian, Katherine:

Skilley is a street-wise tom cat looking for a ready meal and a warm bed.  When he hears Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub is overrun with mice, he knows he’s found his home.  An unlikely partnership gives him plenty of food and a good reputation with the pub’s owner and customers, many of them notable 19th century British authors.  It’s the perfect life until Pinch, a vicious tom cat, also comes to live at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.  The Cheshire Cheese Cat; a Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright , though filled with secrets and revenge, is a heartwarming tale of strength in numbers and friendship overcoming adversity.  Barry Moser’s black and white illustrations are a perfect companion to this wonderful story.
For grades 4 and up.