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. 

GUM CHEWING IS A SUPER POWER

Gabby Gomez loves chewing gum and when she gets gum in stuck in her hair her mom put her foot down and said no more!  Gabby can't help herself and breaks her promise when she finds a piece of stray gum t in her room.  This gum turns out to be a special gum, turning her into a superhero.  With her new sticky super power, she saves a woman's purse from a purse snatcher, cat in a tree and even a plane by using her gum to hold the wings together. However, on the other side of town, little does she know that there's a villain lurking in a spatula factory keeping an eye on her.  

The Gumazing Gum Girl!: Chews Your Destiny by Rhode Montijo gives us a new female superhero who sprinkles her speech with Spanish words and exciting gum popping adventures.  

For beginning chapter book readers in 3rd-4th grades. 

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Omakayas lives on an island in Lake Superior in 1850 as a member of the Ojibwe tribe.  Her life is filled with pesky little brothers, loud-mouth cousins, and a grandmother who wants to nurture the healer in Omakayas.  Her older sister teaches her the chimookomanag alphabet – a strange, written language that she knows will help her in her future.  A future that is quickly changing from the life she imagined it would be.  One day, a group of refugees arrive on Omakayas’ island.  This group had been pushed out of their homes by the chimookomanag, or white people, and many of their family members died or were separated along the way.  This is the day that Omakayas realizes her life and the lives of her family will change and that Lake Superior may not be the place she calls home for much longer.

Join Omakayas and her family as she struggles to lead a normal life under an unknown threat in The Game of Silence, the sequel to The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich.  Children in grades four and five who enjoy historical fiction and The Little House books will enjoy this alternate and often unhighlighted part of history. 

For readers in 5th -7th grades.  

THE CASTLE IS ALIVE!

Castle Glower is an unusual castle. It's a magical castle. It can change rooms, add rooms and hallways depending on its mood. It always seems to know when there are changes within the household or special visitors are coming. Princess Celie loves the castle and its many quirks can map all its changes everyday.

When Princess Celie's parents, the King and Queen, are attacked en route to bring home her older brother from school, everyone assumes that they are dead and her oldest brother would become the king. But with no changes from the castle, that can mean only one thing. Her parents are still alive.

The castle loves Celie most of all and would do anything to protect her and do anything she asks. Can the castle help find her parents before the bad guys take over her kingdom? An unusual thrilling and humorous fantasy story where the castle comes alive. Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George is for readers 4th - 6th.