SAMURAI RISING

Yoshitsune was a young boy when his father’s life was taken ruthlessly during the war. This was the way of life for a samurai warrior during 12th Century Japan.   As in any war there are two sides: the winning side, Taira, and the losing side, Minamoto.  Both samurai clans fought to the end.

Afterwards Kiyomori, a Taira leader, allowed baby Yoshitsune to live with the monks rather than have him killed. Young Yoshitsune did not grow up to look like a warrior from a long line of samaurai, but was a frail, unskilled man who  yearned to escape the monastery in order to live up to the Minamoto legacy and overthrow the Taira clan.

It is not often that a reader will find a non-fiction children’s book that captures one's attention like a novel.  This particular book is captivating when describing the characters and the battles in careful detail. The author, Pamela Turner, does not hold back nor does she sugarcoat scenes; instead, she has shared the story in such a way that leaves the reader completely immersed in history. Turner does a noteworthy job providing pronunciations of names in Japanese as well as offering notes for her sources.

Samurai Rising is highly recommended. Find out what became of young Yoshitsune. 

For ages 13 and up.

BETTER OFF FRIENDS

Noah and Macallan have been friends since junior high, after Macallan takes pity on the new boy and invites him to sit with her during lunch. The two discover that they share a favorite TV show, and a new friendship is formed. But when they start high school, things get more complicated. First, things get tricky when Levi starts dating Macallan's other best friend. Then, Levi starts spending more time with the guys and having less and less time for Macallan. And through it all, they have to deal with everyone's automatic (and awkward) assumption that they are dating. Will the two manage to stay friends through the ups and downs of high school, and will they be able to prove that boys and girls can be just friends?

Elizabeth Eulberg's novel perfectly captures the transition from middle school to high school and the friendships that inevitably are made stronger or perish in the aftermath. It is a story of friendship and romance, told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Noah and Macallan that is at times heartbreaking and heartwarming, and definitely a page-turner.

For grades 7 and up.

CRAZY IS AS CRAZY DOES

Twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson's biggest fear is that she's crazy.  Her father doesn't like her to use that word, but Sarah knows what crazy means.  She knows what lots of words mean since she collects like them normal kids collect baseball cards.  She also knows that crazy runs in her family, and if it wasn't for crazy, her life might be a little more normal.  She might hang out with friends and read Harry Potter instead of writing letters to the fictional character Atticus Finch.  She might have a dad who wasn't an alcoholic.  And she might have a mother to take care of her.  Luckily for Sarah, despite all the crazy around her, her summer has some potential for a lot of normal, a lot of growing, and a lot less crazy.

Learn all about crazy in Karen Harrington's book, Sure Signs of Crazy for kids in 7th & 8th grades.