I'M ME!

Natsumi is small and everything she does is too much.  But there is one activity for the festival that is perfect for Natsumi.  Her grandfather recognizes her special quality and takes her to a super special and mysterious  after school activity until it's time to reveal it during the festival.  

I'm not giving away the ending so check out  Natsumi! by Susan Lendroth illustrated by Priscilla Burris is for preschoolers and up. 

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF MRS. WHITE RABBIT

Mrs. White Rabbit (wife of that famous White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland) shares her concerns and many household problems in her diary after having just moved to a new home. First on her list is her oldest daughter, who wants to be a housewife one moment and a scuba diver the next. The twins are always up to something and not always a good thing. She is concerned about all of her other children as well as her husband, the White Rabbit. On top of all this, an invisible cat, probably from Cheshire, just suddenly shows up everywhere in the house, too. 

The amazing thing about this is book are the illustrations and the references to Alice in Wonderland and other fairytale characters, if one looks carefully. In one spread Bachelet draws 100 different carrot dishes from the cookbook 100 Ways to Cook Carrots! Fantastic!  Mrs. White Rabbit by Gilles Bachelet is great fun for parent and child from preschool through second grade. 

MIDDLE SCHOOL FRENEMIES AND CRUSHES

There are many roles in middle school that each person assumes. There are athletes, popular kids, nerds, teacher's pets, and over-achievers. Gracie doesn’t buy into any of it. She just goes with her own flow, even with family challenges at home. She is not considered a fashionista or 'big girl on campus;' she’s just a regular middle school girl who is witty, charming, and a good friend. She also happens to have a crush on a boy. The only problem is that her BFF has a crush on the same boy. When her very shy friend asks her for some help, what will Gracie do?

In, Well, That Was Awkward, Rachel Vail skillfully weaves the trials and tribulations of a middle-schooler in a relatable story. Despite her many challenges Gracie is somehow able to bring her strength and courage to the forefront. Rachel Vail's inclusion of middle-schoolers from different ethnic backgrounds is a plus.

For ages 12 and up.

MANGO IS DELIGHTFUL

Mango is such a unique name and this middle-schooler wears it with pride! Mango comes from a loving family and their bond is felt through and through. She’ll need to reach deep down within herself though when she is accused of some wrongdoing at school. It isn’t her BFF that sees her through. Instead, it is a new acquaintance that makes the difference, helping Mango see things in a different way.  

Fracaswell Hyman's story highlights a middle schooler’s dilemma of doing what’s right. Sure there are life’s challenges and school drama, but the love and support from her family in this story are memorable, and Mango’s courage to step up is admirable. Readers just might find Mango a friend they can turn to.  

For ages 9-12

STILL SUNNY

In this graphic novel sequel to Sunny Side Up by siblings Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (reviewed by Cecile here), Sunny Lewin’s surprising summer vacation at Gramp’s retirement community in Florida is over, and she’s ready to start middle school back home. Well, sort of. Things haven’t been the same since her older brother, Dale, was sent away to boarding school for his troubled behavior.

As Sunny goes about her days, there’s a palpable emptiness in all the spaces Dale previously occupied. Memories of the gentle brother he used to be are a distressing specter, pursuing Sunny at home and school. Even when Dale returns home for the holidays, he’s different-- withdrawn and angry. Sunny loves her brother, but she doesn’t love the tense atmosphere and constant fights that his presence brings. How can love be so complicated? How do you love someone, even as you hate the things they do?

Swing it, Sunny is a poignant reflection of a family in crisis, presented in an age-appropriate and compelling format. Set in 1976, the semi-autobiographical story features plenty of contemporary pop-culture snippets within the series of vignettes. And despite its difficult premise, it features a cast of extremely supportive friends and family members. Like life itself, even amidst troubled times this middle grade tale is ultimately filled with joyful moments and always-Sunny optimism.

Grades 5-8

SCIENTIST CHARLOTTE

In Charlotte the Scientist is Squished, Charlotte uses the scientific method to solve her problem ... not enough space in her large rabbit family.  Tired of not having enough space in the bathroom, or anywhere for that matter, Charlotte designs and builds a rocket to fly to the moon where there will be no crowding.  With plenty of room on the moon, she performs all the experiments she could want and take long leisurely baths.  Unfortunately Charlotte experiences an unexpected problem in space by herself and so she decides to tackle one final experiment.  

A fun book for preschoolers through second graders, written by Camille Andros and illustrated by Brianne Farley, about getting what you wish for.  

THE FLETCHER FAMILY VACATION AT ROCK ISLAND

Summer vacation has begun and the Fletcher Family has set off for Rock Island!  One of the main attractions to see is a beloved lighthouse, but once they make their way to it there is something undeniably different about it.  Many changes occur this vacation season, and each of the Fletcher boys experience a memorable summer, but will Jackson, the Fletcher's African-American son's memories be as wonderful as the others?

Dana Alison Levy's The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island adventure is still rich with fun, humor, love, and support of one another. What was surprisingly different in this story and yet, important to note, is that the novel lightly touches upon the treatment of others based on race and ethnicity.  A good read and possibly a discussion starter on racial diversity.  

For 5th grade and up. 

SUMMERLOST

It’s been one year since 12-year old Cedar Lee’s father and autistic younger brother Ben both died in a car accident. Now Cedar, her mother, and youngest brother are spending the summer in the small high desert town of Iron Creek where her mother grew up. It’s a summer where everything is the same, and nothing is the same.

Cedar soon befriends a boy associated with the Summerlost Festival, Iron Creek’s distinguished Shakespearean festival, and becomes preoccupied with the decades old, unexplained death of one of its star actresses. Meanwhile, random trinkets, things that would have caught Ben’s attention, mysteriously appear on Cedar’s windowsill at night. Cedar doesn’t believe in ghosts, but what if Ben is sending her a message?

Summerlost is a middle-grade story of friendship, mystery, grief and healing. Ally Condie beautifully and heartbreakingly captures the complexity of love and guilt experienced by a sibling to a special needs child.

Share with theater lovers and fans of Gary Schmidt, Richard Peck, Cynthia Lord, and Ingrid Law.

Grades 5-8

BEAUTIFUL SCRATCH BOARD ART

Before Morning is a beautifully illustrated story about a hard working mother’s commitment to duty and her family.  After tucking her child into bed, she heads off to the airport to fly passengers to their destinations.  As the night wears on, a wintry storm strengthens, the child longs for her mother's warmth within their cozy home.  What will happen before morning?

Joyce Sidman’s Before Morning is an endearing story about a child's wish.  Although the text is spare, Caldecott award winner Beth Krommes extraordinary art on scratch board and water colors captures the heart of a family's love. 

For readers in K-2nd grades. 

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN A CHILD WANTS MORE!

Henry laughs when he's lifted into the air by his Papa.  He enjoys playing the piano with his Grandma, and he plays fun games with his siblings.  At the end of the day, Henry gets to cuddle up with his Mama and listen to the best stories ever! With all this adventure, it's no wonder why Henry Wants More! He's truly loved by his family.  

Linda Ashman's delightful story about a young child who enjoys a variety of activities, especially with the people he loves the most. Brooke Boynton Hughes adds a sweet touch of color to this very loving family. 

Pre-K- 2nd

READ ALL THINGS STAR WARS IN OCTOBER!

What do a princess, a scoundrel, and a farm boy have in common? There's at least one thing: a desire for adventure.  Unfortunately, deep within the Galaxy an evil Empire is gaining control over different star systems and killing off the galaxy's great peace keepers- the Jedi Knights.  

What roles will the princess, scoundrel, and farm boy play in this struggle?  Will they find ways to get along after their paths merge? Andrea Brackenberg's junior novelization of Star Wars: A New Hope is a welcome addition to the sci-fi genre.  She provides such interesting insight to each of the key characters' thoughts as they move through key scenes in the story.  Both humorous and memorable, this is best for 4th grade and up, or for budding Star Wars fans.  

For 4th grade and up.

EMBRACE WHO YOU TRULY ARE

Nory Horace is a sweet girl who possesses a special, magical talent. Although she has the ability to turn into an animal, she's unable to maintain its shape for very long.  Instead of turning into just a kitten, she'll turn into a 'bitten (beaver plus kitten) or a 'skunkephant' (skunk plus elephant').  What can be the cause of this?  By her father's request, Nory is sent away from home to attend a new school, one that offers a class to those who have upside-down magic.  Nory is frustrated with her abilities, but she soon finds hope when her teacher Ms. Staff shows her the secret to discovering her true self.

Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins are a great team of writers who show that unusual talents can also be quite special in Upside Down Magic.  

For 3rd-5th grade.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND COUNT TO SIXTY

From talented debut author Kathleen Lane comes The Best Worst Thing, an engaging and deeply perceptive novel about what growing up really feels like. Maggie is about to start middle school and is worried about pretty much everything--growing apart from her older sister, not seeing her father as much as she'd like, the fate of the cute little rabbits next door, the threat of the dangerous bully in her neighborhood, and, to top it all off, there's an actual murderer on the loose in her small town. Her helplessness in the face of the chaos of her world drives her to seek control in other ways--saying things twice (saying things twice), only eating an even number of snacks, and holding her breath and counting to 60. It's when she devises a pretty ambitious plan for keeping her and her loved ones safe, though, that things really start get out of hand. Will Maggie ever manage to feel like everything will turn out alright in the end?

Somehow Lane takes her readers into the mind of a preteen with anxiety-driven obsessive-compulsive tendencies and explores some fairly intense topics while managing to keep the tone relatively light and ultimately hopeful. Maggie's voice rings true and will certainly offer assurance to readers trying to find their place in a rapidly-changing world. 

An engrossing read best for 5th to 8th graders. 

ALLIGATORS ALL AROUND

Alan's Big, Scary Teeth by Jarvis
Who has the biggest, snappiest set of teeth?  Alan the alligator that's who!  But someone discovered his secret and stole his set of scary teeth so he wouldn't be able to scare everyone anymore.  Alan makes a promise to only scare during a special hour - the scary story hour!  GRRR.

Hurry Up, Alfie!  by Anna Walker is a new series about Alfie the Alligator who avoids doing things he has to like getting dressed by asking questions and lingering over things as long as possible.  An adorable preschool age book that all parents will understand.

In this last alligator story, Gator Dad by Brian Lies an all male alligator family enjoys the day together doing what normal guys would do together.  This is a really sweet tale of a father and his three boys bonding.  

For readers ages 3 and older.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Thunder Boy Jr., the first picture book from Sherman Alexie, bestselling author of the National Book Award-winning young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian among many others, tells the story of a son and a father and their shared name. In this loving Native-American family of unspecified tribal background, beautifully depicted by Caldecott Honor recipient Yuyi Morales in bold illustrations that seem like they might leap off the page, the titular young boy feels frustration about not having a name of his own and imagines other names for himself based on his own accomplishments and life experiences. But what kind of name can at once affirm the deep love he has for his family and yet assert his own identity in the world? 

Simply but dynamically told, this lively story of identity and family is best shared with children in preschool through second grade. 

CROOKED GRANDMA

The Classy Crooks Club by Alison Cherry stars our soccer fiend, AJ, or Annemarie as her grandmother prefers to call her. She must spend a month with her disapproving wealthy grandmother when her parents have to go to the Amazon for work. She only gets to go to soccer practice, she can't have her dog or sleepovers, or hang out with her best friend, but she does get etiquette lessons.  Whoopee. The only silver lining is that Stanley, grandmother's hunky chauffeur, drives her to soccer practice and she is the envy of all.    

AJ thinks that her grandmother's friends just get together and play bridge, but they are really "liberators".  The ladies liberate lots of things from their undeserving or bad owners like a macaw who doesn't get any love.  Even AJ gets liberated, unwillingly.

There's a mean girl and her crew, a misunderstanding with friends but it's a fun and mostly predictable adventure with a twisted ending. Great for readers who love a good spunky girl story.

For readers in 6th - 8h grades.

LET'S GO TO THE HARDWARE STORE

Need a handyman? Not Flora’s family.  When the family moves into a new house there are endless small projects that need fixing. So Flora, her brother and their father visit the new town’s hardware store to purchase all the necessary tools to repair the new house.  The family dives right in and selects a hammer, ladder, tape measure, screwdriver and other essentials.

Let’s Go to the Hardware Store by Anne Rockwell is the perfect book for young children to read before exploring their town’s hardware store. Children who are captivated with building projects will find this book as the perfect reference source.  Rockwell describes their journey in simply sentences and provides the names of the tools at the bottom of the page which introduces a sophisticated vocabulary.  Melissa Iwai, the illustrator, uses pastel colors and fine details for the images.

Ages 4-7

BLUEBERRY FEVER

Newbery-honor author Cynthia Lord takes readers back to her home state of Maine in her newest middle-grade novel A Handful of Stars. There we meet twelve-year-old Lily, her beloved blind dog, Lucky, and--when Lucky slips his collar to pursue a tasty sandwich--Salma Santiago, whose family are migrant workers only in town for blueberry season. Lily has never gotten to know any migrant workers before, even though they come every summer, but she finds she and Salma have more in common than she ever would have expected, including a love of dogs and painting as well as a personal history of loss. They also both have some lofty goals: Lily yearns to earn enough money to help fix Lucky's eyesight, while Salma is determined to enter the local Blueberry Queen pageant and take home the first-place prize even though no migrant worker has entered before. 

This delightfully heartfelt novel is a true testament to the power of friendship and the love of family, beautifully exploring what it really means to reach for the stars. 

Perfect for readers in 4th grade and up. 

ROLLER GIRL COMING AT YOU!

Fans of Raina Telgemeier will cheer for Roller Girl, a fun and poignant graphic novel by Victoria Jamieson. When twelve-year-old Astrid discovers roller derby, she is instantly enamored. What's not to love about powerful women with cool names playing a tough and exciting sport? Especially the star of the Rose City Rollers, Rainbow Bite. Astrid can't wait to sign up for the summer Junior Derby Camp and assumes her best friend will too, but is in for a rude awakening when Nicole decides she'd rather be at dance camp with Astrid's longtime sworn enemy, Rachel. Roller Derby is a lot harder than she'd ever thought, especially without her best friend there for support. But rather than quit when things get hard, Astrid buckles down and focuses on her dream of becoming a real roller girl, like her idol Rainbow Bite. She faces more than a few embarrassing falls, bumps, bruises, and other assorted humiliations along the way, but she also finds out just how tough she really is. 

Readers will root for Astrid as she learns to skate, experiences her first real bout, picks her roller derby name, and discovers who she really is on her own. This entertaining graphic novel, which boasts relatable characters, exciting action, coming-of-age drama, and plenty of heart, will make a perfect read for fourth graders and up. 

THE MALONEYS' MAGICAL WEATHERBOX

The Maloney siblings Neil, Liz and Owen have a secret: their father is the Weatherbox keeper.  Right outside of the family's house is an old telephone booth.  Now this isn’t just any old telephone booth….this one is MAGICAL!  Mr. Maloney has a tough job.  Four times a year the phone rings and he must answer it to change the season, but when autumn comes and the phone doesn’t ring the Maloneys become anxious.

Will there still be a chance for the Maloneys to save the seasons? Maybe they should turn their attention to their new tourists.  After all, the chaos started after they showed up.  Or, maybe it’s the most mysterious character of all, Mrs. Fitzgerald, their neighbor.  Will the Maloneys and the rest of Midland Ireland be doomed forever?

The Maloneys’ Magical Weatherbox by Nigel Quinlan takes place in Ireland in this engaging tale full of unique characters all tangled up.  The book touches on gender bias, the climate and team work.

For ages 9-12