TANGLED LIVES

Amedeo Kaplan, same first name as Modigliani, is new in town and befriends William who is helping his mother with the estate sale of his other new neighbor in St. Malo, Florida. He is intrigued by William and by his desire to be a discoverer, and soon they "discover" a sketch by Modigliani that takes them on a journey of the nature of heroism, history of degenerate art & the Nazis. The lives of people in the past and the present are all interwined in this complex story where people aren't just good or bad but are just...people.

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by e. l. Konigsburg is for mature readers in 7th grade and up.

BEOWULF - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

With the recent movie version of this classic tale, it's always nice to read where a story comes from. Beowulf is a brave hero who travels to Denmark to help the King. An evil monster named Grendel has been eating all the king's men, and no one has been able to kill the slimy creature. But Beowulf uses some tricky maneuvers and bloody mayhem to save the day. Beowulf is more than 2000 years old, and was passed down from generation to generation of European ancestors. There are many different versions of the story, but BEOWULF, A HERO'S TALE RETOLD by James Rumford tries to tell the story in a modern equivalent of the Old Ango-Saxon English of it's origin. 3rd grade and up.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD FRIENDS

Annemarie Johansen lives in a Nazi occupied Denmark. While she does not understand why there are soldiers on her streets, she knows they make her feel very uncomfortable. Life takes an interesting turn when Annemarie learns her Jewish friend's family, the Rosens, must go into hiding. This opens her eyes to many things and she learns to be brave and compassionate as she and her family smuggle the Rosens out of Denmark. This is a Newbery Medal winner, and is one of the shortest books to win this award. I wish the book would've told me more about the characters because I didn't feel I got to know them very well. But let me know what you think! Post a response below...
For 4th graders and up.