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.

GOLDFISH ARE BARELY MENTIONED

Every once in a while, a book comes along that is like a perfectly wrapped present. THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH by Jennifer L. Holm is the big box wrapped in shiny paper with a fancy bow placed right in the center - full of anticipation of good things! Ellie is going through the usual middle school changes, with her best friend being super busy with volleyball, a cute, mysterious boy in a few of her classes, oh and of course her grandfather coming to live with her as a teenage boy! Ellie learns quite a lot about love, family, friends, and the intricate web that weaves it all together. It's a quick read that will appeal to boys and girls in the 4th-8th grades, especially those readers that like a lot of dialog.

OCTOBER 2014

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE

Picture yourself lying on the beach one day, a breeze swishing across your face, and the sun shining down on you as you lay in the sand. All of a sudden twenty wild hairy ponies come galloping by at top speed, whinnying and snorting their way down the beach. That's what it's like on the Island of Chincoteague, and every year the people on the mainland try to catch a few wild ponies and tame them. Some become work horses, some become show horses, and some get to race. Paul and Maureen Beebe are determined to get themselves one of these beautiful wild ponies to raise and care for, and hopefully someday race! MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE by Marguerite Henry was written a long time ago, but the story is full of excitement and adventure. The best part about this book is that it is based on a real place and a real pony! For 3rd - 6th grades.

MAY 2014

READING IS DELICIOUS... WHEN IT'S CINNAMON SLICES AND PIZZA DREAMS

A review from Mr. B.  at the Grandview Branch: 

Seventh grader Louise changes her name to Thumbelina (small and mighty like herself). She then resigns as star of the school’s gymnastics team, partly in response to a series of threatening notes from less qualified team members.  Recently re-named, now free from team sports, Thumbelina has received her first “mash note.”  Her best female friend Reni and her best male friend Henderson (Reni’s older brother) spend the bulk of the charming and delightful top plot trying to discover the source of the mash notes.  The most likely suspect seems to be the even older pizza delivery guy, Benny, The Boy on Cinnamon Street. 

Cleverly woven beneath, around, and through these funny, warm, well written episodes, we find the deeper real plot.  Thumbelina lives with her grandparents.  She has few memories of Dad, and fewer still of her seemingly distant Mom.  While pizza delivery guy Benny isn’t the source of the mash notes after all (sorry for the Spoiler), he IS the key that unlocks Louise’s trauma-rattled brain, revealing the blocked memory of her mother’s suicide.  Once the harrowing memories have been confronted, Louise/Thumbelina returns to the sport she loves, supported by the author of the mash notes (and his sister), her grandparents, and a new inner peace.  Phoebe Stone has constructed a readable tale about likable youngsters who face a real-world personal tragedy in a realistic manner. She knows her subject well – when she was eleven, her father committed suicide.

  

AGE: 11-14

A FIRST CRUSH

From Vivian, Children's Librarian at the Casa Verdugo Branch Library:

The Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe Stone

Louise (a.k.a. Thumbelina) is not your average sized seventh grader. Although small in size, she’s strong in character- thanks to her grandparents and best friends.  When she’s not around her loved ones, Louise has feelings that she can’t seem to understand.  Then, an intriguing letter from an admirer helps to distract her and discover her first crush.

Phoebe Stone’s main characters are simply charming.  The story is filled with laugh-out-loud situations, and Louise’s feelings for her first crush are humorous and memorable.  Although written in poetic prose, Ms. Stone handles Louise’s major issues, such as hopelessness, grief and memory loss delicately.  The Boy on Cinnamon Street is a moving story about the acceptance of loss.