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

ZOOZICAL MUSICAL

Zoozical by Judy Sierra pictures by Marc Brown.

It's winter time and families are staying in their homes and the usual field trips are no longer taking place at the local zoo.  The animals are getting rusty and restless, no one to entertain and no one to take pictures with…”Owls did not give a hoot, pandas quit being cute.”  And so begins the ever fun production of an animal show at the zoo, put together by none other than the animals themselves, hence zoozical…

The illustrations are deep in colors with vibrant and colorful characters that dance, sing and entertain one another until summer arrives.  One of the things that you will learn from this beautifully crafted book is that a person should never feel bored, because no matter what, we can always find ways to entertain us, we just need to look  around us for a little bit of inspiration… Pre-k to 1st grades. 

CAT OF THE THEATER

One cannot imagine the world behind the scenes of the theatre - at least not in the 18th century! Mystery, intrigue, and spectacular performance fill the pages and Cat Royal's life, a young orphan girl left on the steps of the Drury Lane Theater in London. What lurks behind the curtain isn't what you would expect, and Cat leads you through the exciting city life of old England. THE DIAMOND OF DRURY LANE by Julia Golding spins a tale of dangerous adventure and paints a picture of what life was like more than 200 years ago. For 6th grade and up.

A SMALL TOWN MYSTERY

Behind the Curtain: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams.

Everyone sure is acting weird. Her brother is even weirder than usual. Her dad is testy. Her former best friend invites her over for a swim. What gives? Once again, something is amiss in this small town and Ingrid is at the center of it all. In this second Echo Falls Mystery, Ingrid is the target of a kidnapping that no one believes happened but she is determined to find evidence that it did happen and untangle all the strands in the complex web. Her father's job, her grandfather's farm, an old friend, and her soccer coach are all somehow tied in with Ingrid's kidnapping. But how?

A twisted and compelling mystery for middle school readers.