EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL

A book review by Theresa of the Children's Room: 

Soon to be an official eighth grader with visions of time spent honing her acting skills, Anna McConnell’s summer plans have changed a bit. Instead of hanging out with her friends, she is being sent off to stay with her grandmother Mim while her parents sort out some very serious issues in their marriage. While she enjoys spending time with Mim, Anna worries that spending the summer in a place with a reputation as a sleepy little town will be less than exciting. Fortunately for the budding actress the town’s famous Flower Festival is about to happen and she lands the part of a petunia whose job is to promote the event. Stationed at the Library our girl soon meets kids her age and the summer suddenly perks up and seems to have some very interesting prospects. 

But one day while on Petunia duty at the Library she notices something troubling, what appears to be a young girl being kept against her will by a couple in a van. This brief encounter totally changes everything as Anna becomes very focused on finding the truth out about what she has seen. Convincing the adults to not only believe her but help becomes her passion. The difficulty lies in that there is not much to go on in Joan Bauer’s Tell Me, a very suspenseful, sometimes funny and at all times hopeful story. 

For grades 5-8.

THE LOVE YOU SAVE

NEWBERY WORTHY?

After one crazy summer with their mother, Cecile, in Oakland, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern fly back to Brooklyn and don't make it out of the airport without getting in trouble with Big Ma who is happy to see them but worried about their independence and "power to the people" mindset.  More than the Gaither girls has changed while they were in Oakland, though.  Pa's got a girlfriend, Uncle Darnell isn't the same as when he left for Vietnam, and the political air in Brooklyn and America is rapidly changing.  Not to mention the country is being swept away by this hot new music group, The Jackson Five.  While Delphine loves the tall one, Jermaine, her sisters are in love with the youngest Jackson named Michael.  Delphine tries to be the responsible one and reign the girls in, but no one wants to listen to a bossy older sister anymore.  How will the girls handle all this change?  How will their mother play a role in their lives all the way from Oakland without a telephone or any way to reach her other than letters?

Find out in Rita Williams-Garcia's sequal to One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven, which, through prose and letters tells the story of the Gaither girls growing up in Brooklyn in the late 60s/early 70s and Cecile's reminder to Delphine to stop growing up so fast and just be eleven.  Grades 6 and up.

WANTED: A HOME FOR GABY

Gaby and her mother love animals.  They always took care of the stray and abandoned cats in the neighborhood until Gaby's mother was deported to Honduras.  Now, Gaby's father won't allow her to feed or care for any animals.  He says they can barely afford to feed themselves, let alone a cat.  Their neighbors, the Gomez family, offered to take Gaby in after her mother left, but her father insisted on coming back into her life to "take care" of her.  His version of taking care of her leaves her with an empty stomach and a lonely house.

Things seem to look up, however, when Gaby's class volunteers at the local animal shelter where she writes adoption ads in the hopes of finding families for the animals.  What she doesn't expect, though, is that while waiting for her mother to come home and finding homes for the animals, she finds hope and belonging for herself.

Join Gaby on her journey towards acceptance and a loving family in Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes, for grades 5-7.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

When is it time to put away the toys and stop playing make believe? What happens when the game you thought you were playing turns out not to be a game after all, but is terrifyingly real? Middle schoolers, Zach, Alice, and Poppy, are confronted by these very questions in Doll Bones by Holly Black. The three have been friends for a long time and one of their favorite games is to create elaborate scenarios and quests for their dolls and action figures to act out. They know that they’re getting a little too old to play with dolls, but their stories and games are central to their friendship with each other, especially now, since it seems the changes that come with middle school are starting to drive a wedge between their group.

One night, Poppy has a dream about the antique bone china doll that acts as the Queen in their adventures. The doll is haunted by a ghost of a little girl who suffered a horrific fate and needs Poppy’s help putting her spirit to rest. Suspecting that it might be more than a dream, Poppy finds evidence that the ghost’s story is true and convinces Zach and Alice to help her. Together they embark on a real life quest to uncover the mystery behind the Queen and see if their friendship can stand the test of time even after the games are over.

A fantastic, slightly spooky read by the creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles!

For grades 5 and up.

THE POWER OF THE BEAN

There are so many superheroes that at times; it is really hard to remember who has what power.  And on top of all these superheroes, apparently there is more need to invent new and exciting once. Or at least this is what one of the major comic publication companies is trying to do in this super funny and super cool book called, THE ADVENTURES OF BEANBOY by LISA HARKRADER.

   Tucker MacBean is not a superhero; however he is a boy in middle school whose love for comic books and superheroes exceeds most of the powers that he reads about.  His only true escape in life is to finish reading as many books as he can get his hands on.  In addition, things at home are not going the way Tucker wants, especially when his divorced parents haven’t stopped bickering at each other, his mom who is constantly preoccupied with everything but him and on top of all these, he is being bullied with none other than a girl who can’t even form a proper sentence. 

   So you can imagine the excitement and the thrill he feels when in one of his favorite comic books, the publishers are calling for a contest to create a new comic hero and what is really nice about this contest, is that the winner will receive a full scholarship to attend a university.  Tucker sees this his only way out to have a more exciting life; after all he pretty much knows what makes a true comic book character a superhero…

However, creating a superhero is not as easy as he imagined and not all characters can be as good as he thought…

This is truly a fun and adventures story that will literally put a smile on your face and will make you think twice about the power of beanJ

For  grades 5^th and up.

CRAZY CALVIN COCONUT

Calvin Coconut hears the word "responsibility" a lot.  His mom is always giving him new responsibilities since his dad moved to Las Vegas to become a famous singer and never came back, making Calvin the man of the house.  The problem with all this responsibility is that Calvin gets into trouble - a lot.  The first day of fourth grade arrives and Calvin gets into trouble at every turn.  There's a food fight, an issue with a centipede, and a big bully who won't leave Calvin alone, causing him to forget to pick up his little sister from school.  To top it all off, Calvin's mom tells him that they will have a teenage girl coming to live with them from Texas.  His mom says she'll be nice, but as soon as Calvin meets her, he knows there's going to be more trouble involved.  Especially when she tells him that if he doesn't watch out, she's going to show him what "Texas Nice" really means.

Join Calvin and his friends as they grow up and get into trouble in Hawai'i on the island of O'ahu.  Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury is a great fit for voracious 3rd grade readers and all readers in 4th - 5th grade.

OPPOSITES ATTRACT?

Antonia is excited to be a peer counselor. But when she's paired up with Jazz, she's not so sure it's going to be a very good match. How can Antonia, a "nerdy" over-achiever, have anything that she can relate to with this drugged-out punk-rock girl? As it turns out, Antonia and Jazz have more in common than one would expect, and it turns out they both end up helping each other through some pretty tough situations. The content in DEFINE NORMAL by Julie Anne Peters is more appropriate for middle school, grades 6-8. 

SEPTEMBER 2012