Absolutely Almost, Lisa Graff. Albie is a fifth grader in a new school because his parents felt he needed a fresh start, but he is no longer at the same school as his best friend, Erlan, who lives down the hall in their apartment building. In his first day of school, he sits next to Betsy who likes bugs; however, she is bullied because of her stutter. Albie is an ordinary, average boy who never quite measures up to be who the adults around him want him to be, or at least, in his mind. His parents insist on him having a "babysitter" to watch out for him until they get home from work. But Calista, a young twenty-something girl, wins over his heart. She loves to sketch and they spend time sketching, reviewing spelling words, visiting museums, and  to the donut shop. One day when they meet up with Darren, the "cool" kid in school and his father playing basketball, Darren warms up to Albie. Yet, Calista warns him to be careful and rightfully so. Darren hopes to cozy up to Erlan, who is one of triplets, along with his triplet sisters, and their reality tv show. Darren initiates Albie into the "cool" club and the first thing he has to do is ditch Betsy, the stutterer. Along with losing the red gummy bears that she always gave him, he loses her as a friend, even when he realizes he was duped by Darren.

One day, everything is just plain going wrong. His mother sends in two dozen beautiful mini cupcakes for his birthday, forgetting that there is an egg allergy in the classroom, making cupcakes not allowed. Darren is asked to take them to the kitchen and when Albie goes to pick them up at the end of the day, there is a thumbprint in each and every cupcake. He doesn't understand why he is no longer "cool" and Betsy ignores him. When he finally shares his thoughts with Calista, she decides he needs a sad day and they spend it at the zoo where they see a python completely inhale a pig. When his mom finds out about Calista's stunt, she is let go, despite Albie's protests.

Lisa Graff is the author of A Tangle of Knots (look for a review within this blog) and she firmly grasps the hardships of young minds needing reassurance. Albie is an innocent boy, one with a kind heart who means well. He makes mistakes, learns lessons, and moves on. With short, easy to bite chapters, this will be a sure win with readers, young and old.

Mrs. Bixby's Last Day, John David Anderson. Mrs. Bixby, "one of the good ones" with the pink stripe in her hair and a Bixbyism quote for everything in her fifth grade class has cancer. Her last day party before leaving for treatments doesn't happen so Topher, Steve, (best friends) and Brand, (the new boy in town) set out to give her the party anyway at the hospital, but they have one day before she is transferred to a bigger hospital farther away. They combine their money, call the school pretending to be their parents excusing them from class that day, hop the city bus, and agonizingly make their way to see her.

With each new chapter, told from the three viewpoints, we laugh at the hilarity of purchasing, preserving, and protecting a white-chocolate raspberry supreme cheesecake, seethe at the angst of losing their money to George Nelson, who was to help them buy a bottle of wine, and tear up at their unfolding childhood stories. We learn the reasons why each boy, especially Brand, must see Mrs. Bixby again, "one of the good ones." You will find yourself rooting for them, experiencing every set back with them, and anxiously worrying about them. Topher, Steve, and Brand are unforgettable characters with the mischievousness of fifth grade boys, but the hearts of three golden puppies. They do finally make it to the hospital with their cheesecake, a bottle of whiskey, cold McDonald's French fries and a nearly dead cell phone. It doesn't turn out to be a good-bye party, but rather an Au revoir, or 'till we see each other again party.

This is a lovely, lovely story.

 

The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt. The year is 1967 and the Viet Nam war is full on. Holling Hoodhood, a seventh grader in Long Island must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, because half his class attends temple and the other half attends Catechism and being Presbyterian, Holling attends neither. He is convinced Mrs. Baker does not like him because she forces him to read Shakespeare plays. One Wednesday afternoon, hoping to clean the erasers like he normally does, Mrs. Baker asks him to clean Sycorex and Caliban's cages (the two white rats that her husband gave her, who is now stationed in Viet Nam) instead. Things don't go smoothly and the two rodents end up loose and make their way into the ceiling. As Holling reads the works of Shakespeare, he finds himself enjoying his words, yet isn't too excited to be performing in the holiday Shakespeare extravaganza that Mr. Goldman, the baker, bribes him into. He must wear bright yellow tights with white tail feathers, causing him to be the "butt" of many jokes and pranks. As luck would have it, the same night as his performance, Yankee player, Mickey Mantle is scheduled to sign autographs at the Baker Sporting Emporium. At the end of his performance, Holling gets locked out of his dressing room and his dad fails to show up as planned to rush him to the Emporium for an autograph. He grabs a bus, makes it in time, only to have Mantle not sign for him because of his outlandish yellow tights. Days later, Mrs. Baker has a sweet surprise for him that he won't soon forget. 

The story progresses through the months of the 1967-68 school year when Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated, as is Bobby Kennedy, his older sister's idol. We worry about Mrs. Baker's husband, MIA in Viet Nam, and others that have lost loved ones in the war. We delight in the budding romance of Holling with Meryl Lee, whose father is also an architect, like Holling's father. Tension brews when Meryl's father, in a bidding competition with Holling's father for designing the new middle school, presents the identical floor plans to the school board as Holling's father was going to present. This Newbery Honor book is a delightful read that will not disappoint. Be sure to catch up with some of the same characters in Okay For Now by the same author.

Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal, Margarita Engle. Told in verse, this important story will shed light on the many Caribbean islanders that built the ever important Panama Canal in the early 1900s. Told in alternating voices between Mateo from Cuba, Henry from Jamaica, the young, beautiful, Native Anita, and the rain forest itself, we learn the perils of how this canal came to be. Immigrants earned silver coins for their backbreaking work, while the locals were paid in gold. The harsh working conditions, unfair treatment and blistering hours wake us up to the realities of how the two Americas were joined together.

This is a beautifully written book and important to understand an untold part of our history.

Raymie Nightingale, Kate DeCamillo. Raymie plans to enter the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition, win, and get her picture in the newspaper so her father will leave the dental hygienist he ran away with and come home. She decides to learn baton twirling from Ida Nee, along with Louisiana Elefante, who also plans to win the contest and Beverly Tapinski, who plans to sabotage the contest. Along with baton twirling, Raymie needs to do some good deeds, so she decides to go to the Golden Glen nursing home and read to the patients. She chooses to read A Bright and Shining Path: The Life of Florence NIghtingale, a favorite book given to her by one of her teachers. When Alice, the screamer, frightens Raymie, she accidentally leaves the book under the bed. She convinces Beverly, not afraid of anything, to go back with her to retrieve it.e three girls arrive for baton twirling lessons, only to find Ida Nee not there. Beverly, the quick lock picker, steals them into her house, where they find her snoring away to country music, hugging her baton. Beverly sneakily swipes it from her hands and they continue on to The Very Friendly Animal Shelter to get Archie, Louisiana's lost cat, only to be told they don't have him. On their way back home, they see police outside Ida's house, who reported the theft of her beloved baton.

The girls become the Three Rancheroos and Raymie soon finds out how very much she is like Florence Nightingale, the heroic savior of sad souls, including her own.

Wake Up Missing, Kate Messner. Cat had a concussion, leaving her with headaches and dizziness. When her parents come across a scientific experiment that she can be a part of, they jump at it. She is flown to a remote region to begin the trial with two doctors: Dr. Ames and Dr. Gunther. Once there, she meets up with other kids there for the same reason. Phase one gives her instant relief, which includes oxygenation, walking on a treadmill to re-calibrate her system and new medicines. Early in her stay, she ventures out of her room only to overhear a conversation between the two doctors that leaves her suspicious and uncomfortable. One of the other girls, Sarah, already has her suspicions because the boy she liked, Trent, is changing and not for the better. Cat begins to agree with her. Her fears are confirmed by Molly, the woman that transported the kids by boat to the island, so they plan to meet up with her that night and escape back to the mainland. When she doesn't show up, Dr. Ames finds them and gets suspicious and stays outside Cat's room all night. The next morning, the kids are told the trial is over and that all parents have been called to come and pick them up.

The truth is that the doctors aren't planning on sending them home but somewhere else to further their experiment. Their plan it to take DNA from famous dead scientists, like Albert Einstein, Marie Curry and Robert Oppenheimer, to recreate their genius. The kids finally find a way to escape but not before Cat insists on sneaking into Dr. Ames' office to grab his computer. While traveling through the swamps, they must hide from Ames and his henchmen. They soon learn why Molly didn't meet them that night.

Readers will be on the edge of their seat as they traverse swampy terrain where alligators roam, escaping men with guns and a mad doctor on the loose.

Pax, Sara Pennypacker. Peter, a young boy and Pax, his pet fox are inseparable. Peter's mother died on her way to the grocery store and his unfeeling father must leave for war, meaning Peter must go to live with his grandfather. On their way, they stop by the edge of a woods to drop Pax off, who has never had to fend for himself. Realizing he made a terrible mistake, Peter runs away from his grandfather's to go back to hopefully find Pax in the same spot. He trips. He breaks his leg. He wakes up in the home of Vola, a reclusive woman who has her own demons to work through. She insists Peter stay with her so his leg can be casted and healed. Despite his protests, he stays; however, itching to leave and make his way back to Pax. She gives him three conditions and then she will let him go. When he senses he must leave, she says she can take him into town to catch a bus that will take him two-thirds of the way there. He consents; however, he has his own three conditions for her.

Told in alternate chapters by Peter and Pax. the reader follows the two as they make their way through war torn lands, coyote attacks and uncertain futures, back to one another. This is an emotional story sure to tug at the heartstrings as they realize they may not be able to go back to the way things once were.

The Boy on the Wooden Box, Leon Leyson. This is a memoir written by a man that survived the Holocaust due to Oskar Schindler, the very man renowned for saving hundreds of Jews during WWII. Leon and his family moved from rural Narewka, Poland to the bigger city of Krakow when his father got a new job. When the Nazis conquered Poland, Leon, his parents, three brothers and sister were taken away by train to live in the ghetto behind the barbed wire fence. From there, they were transported to work camps where their hope was tested over and over. Beatings, starvation, sickness, fatigue and separation were a constant. Gas chambers, massacres, massive graves were all around. Sunken eyes, caved in bodies, hollow souls. Leon remembers the day his older brother Tsalig was taken away by train and never seen again.

Leon's father, good with locks, happened to impress a Nazi soldier who allowed him to stay in his employ. It was none other than Schindler himself.  Despite the horror of the camps, the family had an angel looking out for them. Little did they realize how much Schindler himself was going out on a limb to protect his Jewish employees.

When the allies came to Poland, capturing the German soldiers and releasing the Jews, Leon, his parents, one brother and his sister lived to tell their stories. Leon followed his parents to Los Angeles where he closed himself off from his past and made a new life. His experiences remained silent, until others encouraged him to tell the world his story. Here it is. Read it. Be moved. Never forget.

The War that Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Young Ada, living in England at the start of WWII, has never left the rat-and-roach-infested apartment where she lives with her younger brother, Jamie and her Mam. Ada has a club foot and her Mam deems it too embarrassing to let her outside. Her only connection with the world is looking out a window and waving. She gets around by crawling, until she forces herself up on her feet, painfully learning to walk. One night, when all the children are leaving on trains for the countryside, Ada and her brother sneak out, joining the evacuation. Upon arriving to the outskirts of England, when all the children are provided a home, Ada and Jamie are forced upon Susan, the local spinster, who doesn't want them either. However, through Ada's nightmares and Jamie's bed wetting, Susan warms to them, despite their resistance. She encourages Ada to go outside, getting her a pair of crutches to get around. Butter, the pony, becomes her first friend, whom she learns to ride like the little girl she saw from the train window. Wanting to get Ada the surgery she needs to correct her foot, Susan consistently sends letters to Mam asking for permission, only to be met with silence. Despite feelings of unworthiness, Susan is persistent and shows Ada she is smart, capable and lovable. Ada makes friends, Jamie goes to school and life takes on a routine until the air raid sirens go off, forcing them to below ground shelters. Susan is encouraged to send them further away, but she holds tight, maintaining they will stay together.

One day, on her trek to help Fred with the horses, she notices an unusual sighting: a man rowing ashore, burying something in the ground and walking toward the road. Told that any suspicious behavior should be reported to the authorities, she races to the police station, only to be met with chuckles. Standing strong and waiting to tell someone that will listen, they soon find out that the man was, indeed, a spy.

As war is getting closer and closer, Ada and Jamie arrive home one afternoon to find Mam standing outside the house. She forces them to go home with her and there is nothing Susan can do, but try to give Jamie his cherished copy of The Swiss Family Robinson. The stench, the rats, the lack of food, the hatred all come rushing back to them both. With Mam having taken Ada's shoes and crutches and air raid sirens going off, they hold each other tight, wanting to go "home."

This is beautiful and I couldn't stop reading it. The reader will be right next to Ada as she continues to triumph over the hand life dealt her. She learns to love and accept and believe and hang on. She is a character with grit and fortitude and fingernails to hang on. Read it and be moved.

All the Answers, Kate Messner. When Ava fumbled through a desk drawer, looking for a pencil, she never would have thought the ups and downs that pencil would give her. While taking a test at school, she learns that the blue pencil gives her answers to questions she writes down. She shares it with her best friend, Sophie, who also hears the voice. Through giggles and laughter, they ask all kinds of benign questions and get answers to almost everything. They use the pencil for good when they find out what the elder residents truly want when they visit the home where Ava's grandfather lives. Some are easy to acquire, like an old baseball or a pair of wool socks. Others are more challenging, like her grandfather wanting Ava's mother's forgiveness. The pencil brings Ava anxiety when she learns her mother has cancer but doesn't yet know it. She convinces her mom to keep her mammogram appointment instead of chaperoning on her field trip to the nature center high ropes course. To keep her mind off her mom's day, she forces herself to fret through each obstacle despite her wretched anxiety. She ends up being only one of ten kids to complete all ten obstacles.

One day in school, she learns her grandfather is not doing well. She leaves school, walking to the home, hoping to convince her mom to forgive her father. But, she also learns more about the voice behind the pencil.

This is a moving story that, at first, appears lighthearted and magical, yet has so much depth. It goes far beyond a talking pencil, but latches onto loss, life and acceptance. It wraps its arms around you, hugs you and stays with you. Don't miss out on this moving story.

Circus Mirandus, Cassie Beasley. Micah is on a quest to save his grandfather, Ephraim Tuttle, who lies in bed waiting to die. His great aunt Gertrudis, come to help out, is strict and won't let Micah spend too much time with his grandfather and his crazy circus stories, but on his rare visits with him, Grandfather Ephraim tells Micah that the stories are true and that Micah has to find the get the Lightbender to come and fulfill his long ago promise to Ephraim when he offered him one miracle. Along with his new best friend, Jenny Mendoza, she and Micah, sneak out, find their way to the awesome Circus Mirandus, but without a ticket, they are denied, until Micah realizes he has his quipo, a school project full of perfect knots, that it is accepted as an invitation - much better than a ticket. Making their way through all the dizzying circus acts, they finally find the Lightbender, begging him to come save his grandfather, but it is not as easy as Micah thought. He is directed to Rosebud's little wagon where she gives him a potion to give his Ephraim, which Micah does. Miraculously, he is up and out of bed and he and Micah spend the entire day and night together, much to the chagrin of Aunt Gertrudis. It is a night of enchantment, story telling and memory building. When Ephraim goes to his bed again, Micah learns more about the miracle and who it was truly intended for.

This is a wonderful story by a first time writer. Reminiscent of The Polar Express, written by Chris van Allsburg, this is a story for those that truly believe. Read it and be enchanted.

A Handful of Stars, Cynthia Lord. Lucy's dog, Lucky, is blind, so she hopes to raise $2000 for her to have cataract surgery. One day, when Lucky runs away and can't hear Lily calling her, she is stopped by Salma, a migrant worker who picks blueberries for the summer. Lily and Salma become friends and go into business together painting and selling birdhouses, raising money for the surgery. Lily realizes that people love Salma's whimsical painting style and despite Lily's envy she comes to appreciate her talent. Hannah, Lily's former best friend, who is more interested in boys than playing paper dolls, takes an interest in Salma and encourages her to enter the Downeast Blueberry Queen contest. Lily is worried that the judges will not accept her migrant status because all previous contestants, including her mom and Hannah, have been local blondes. Hannah loans Salma her dress from the previous year and they practice responding to questions she could be asked.

Lord, the author of Rules, writes another charming story of an unexpected friendship. The handful of characters are likable and the story will leave you wanting to try a blueberry enchilada.

The Marvels, Brian Selznick. Most definitely, Selznick has created a new style of writing. With the first 386 pages all strikingly beautiful pencil drawings, a story unfolds that takes us back to 1766. When two brothers escape the sinking Kraken, and land on an island with their dog, Tar, one brother is buried. The surviving brother, Billy Marvel, stumbles upon the Shakespearean Royal Theater stage as an actor, leaving his mark. His future heirs follow in his footsteps, until Leo seeks a different path and goes in search of the sea. When a fire blazes through the theater, Leo rushes back, hoping to save his grandfather. There, the pictures stop, leaving us to wonder.

Following is the written story of Joseph, a boarding school runaway, on a quest to find his uncle, Alfred Nightingale (his mom's brother), in the small village of Spitalfields at 18 Folgate Street, London. Once he finds him and is reluctantly invited into the house, he is transported back years and years to fancy chandeliers, crystal tea cups and china dishware, all laid out with a detailed precision. Trying to piece together the story of his family and convinced A. Nightingale has the answers, he and Frankie, or Frances, his new found friend, steal a box of cassette tapes that tells  it all, which correlates exactly with the illustrated story. Glued to his uncle's every word, the story unfolds until it just stops . . . like the drawings. Joseph will not quit until he gets answers.

The reader will be as surprised as Joseph when he learns the truth. What commences is a relationship that endures. Pick up this book and get immersed in the story within a story within a story. I dare you to put it down before you finish.

Lost in the Sun, Lisa Graff. While playing hockey, Trent shot a puck right into the chest of Jared Richards, killing him. No one knew he had a heart defect. Trent's life takes a downward spin from there: friends distance themselves, grades spiral downward, behavior takes a negative turn. Fallon Little, a girl with her own hidden story leading to a noticeable scar on her face, sees something in Trent that draws her to him. They eat lunch together, and form the after school movie club, watching baseball movies. Not wanting to spend time with his distant father, whose new wife is expecting a baby, he lands himself in after school detention with Ms. Emerson, his homeroom teacher. She gives him the chore of watering her plants each day. Baseball is his love; however the coach for whom he must try out, is also his gym teacher and Trent prefers hanging out in the stands than participate in PE class.

Despite his mom's and brothers' attempts at encouraging him to spend time with their dad, he's not interested. And when Jeremiah Jacobson, his arch nemesis, picks a fight with him, Trent pummels him badly. Unbeknownst to him, Fallon saw it all and begins to withdraw from him. Her parents don't want him around anymore. It takes quite a bit of work for him to earn her trust back again.

When you try to catch a fly ball, it can get lost in the sun. Trent got lost in the sun. With the help of a friendless girl, Fallon is the one able to help him find his way again. This is a story of forgiveness and friendship . . . and one that will stay with you for quite some time.

Orbiting Jupiter, Gary D. Schmidt. Joseph, a messed up kid, is taken from his father and brought to his foster family, the Strouds, and their son, Jack. They are told he tried to kill his teacher and that he had a child when he was 13 years old. Having to learn how to milk a cow, Joseph, and Rosie, one of the cows, become attached. Not getting off on the right foot for their first bus ride to school together, Joseph and Jack choose to walk the miles to school in below freezing temperatures and continue to do so. Along the way, they throw snowballs at the church bell and begin to build a trust. Despite his poor reputation, some of the teachers realize how bright Joseph is and encourage him.

Sharing a room with Joseph, Jack often watches him staring into space, screaming out the name Maddie, and looking for his favorite planet, Jupiter. Slowly, with the patience of the Strouds, the story comes out about his past. Going on a job site with his abusive father, he meets Maddie and a close friendship begins. They fall in love, despite attempts by the nanny to shoo him away. Maddie goes to school far away and he walks seven miles to see her on holidays. When the nanny catches them under a blanket, he never sees Maddie again, but learns she has a baby that she named Jupiter. Maddie dies and he is forced to sign his rights away by his manipulative father who shows up occasionally only to cause grief.

Schmidt, the author of Okay for Now, winner of many awards, continues to write powerful stories with depth and sincerity. A slim book with precise words that will have the reader aching inside for the hurt that some must endure.

The Truth About Twinkie Pie, Kat Yeh. DiDi (Delta Dawn II) and GiGi (Galileo Galilee), sisters, move from the poverty of South Carolina to Long Island, New York to begin again after their mother died. With the million dollar winnings from a cooking contest, Gigi attends a new school and DiDi, a high school drop out, becomes a hairstylist. At their old school, they were given the nicknames Double D and Double G, bra sizes, so GiGi now wants to be called Leia, to go along with her fresh start. The first day of school, GiGi bumps into the cutest boy in the school, Trip, and lands on her rear. From that moment on, they become best friends, much to the dismay of Mace, who might be feeling a bit threatened, because she keeps sending GiGi tagger looks.

Even though they have a million dollars in the bank, DiDi keeps the purse strings tight, insisting GiGi study every minute so can go to college and become the scientist she wants to be. One night while having a sleepover with Haven and Allie, she tells them all about Cherries in the Snow lipstick, the one lipstick her mother wore but is now discontinued. They laugh and giggle, while making phone calls searching for a distributor with a special reissue of the brand. When they stumble upon a voice saying they have it available, GiGi turns serious and Allie gives her credit card information to purchase two tubes, one for her and one for her sister as a surprise birthday present. When asked for her name, she gives Delta Dawn Barnes, her mother's name, the service rep asks if she wants it shipped to the Red Cedar Road address? GiGi hangs up the phone and needs to go home.

GiGi's life takes an abrupt turn. She has questions and won't talk to DiDi, who has become unknown to her, because of her seemingly new relationship with arch enemy, Mace. She asks Trip to run away with her to her childhood home on Red Cedar Road, in search of answers. With the plans all set, meeting at the train station in place, it is not Trip that meets her there, but Mace, who takes complete control of getting them to her birth place, including paying for hotel and food. When she finally makes her way to Red Cedar Road, her life takes another abrupt turn. Thankfully, Mace doesn't push for answers as they make the long way back home in silence. Once home, DiDi explains the past, but GiGi is not listening.

Sprinkled throughout the book are recipes, including Twinkie Pie, that Delta Dawn once had the talent for making until Delta Dawn II, or DiDi, stole the recipe box and now makes herself.

Brace yourself for heartache as GiGi comes of age under less than desirable circumstances. Her sister is not who she thought she was, Trip is not the boy she thought he was and Mace is not the girl she thought she was. And yet, all will be ok.

Paper Things, Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Ari, age 11, and Gage, her brother, age 19, are on their own and homeless. Being orphans, the home they had with Janna is not working for Gage and he insists he can take care of his younger sister on his own. Shuffling from couch to couch, floor to floor, or when necessity calls, the homeless shelter, they trudge with their few belongings from place to place. Lack of food, wrinkled clothes, disheveled hair, and a hungry stomach get to be too much for Ari to hide from her best friend, Sasha, and others suspecting things are not going so well. Her comfort is her years of "paper things" she has cut from catalogs to make families and homes and comforts that she, herself, does not have.

Reggie and his dog, Amelia who make their home in a rented storage unit, offers them a night of respite and he makes Ari a paper airplane using a Jiffy Lube advertisement. Coincidentally Gage lands his first job at Jiffy Lube . . . leading Ari to believe his planes make wishes come true. With Sashi pulling away and making new friends, Ari finds a new friend in Daniel, the weird kid with a bucket list of things to do before moving on from Eastland Elementary.

With the growing concern of more and more students living in poverty and without homes, this is such a story and how well some students can hide their situation. It gives us a glimpse into the life of one girl trying to remain true to her home with her brother doing his best and the one with Janna that may not include Gage.

Full Cicada Moon, Marilyn Hilton. It is 1969 and Mimi Yoshiko Oliver, half-black and half-Japanese has her dream of being an astronaut. Apollo 11 is preparing for its take off and Mimi and her parents move from California to Vermont, next door to Mr. Dell, who doesn't take too kindly to her family, along with most of the local people. She is tired of the question, "Where do you come from." Mr. Dell's nephew, Timothy, often stays with him and likes to play with Pattress, the dog, outside. Mimi learns there is a telescope in Mr. Dell's garage and Timothy lets her look through it when Mr. Dell is gone.

As a school project, Mimi is building one on the moon phases; however, girls are not allowed in the shop class. Timothy helps her get access to Mr. Dell's tools, in exchange for her dad teaching him how to bake bread. In 1969, girls took home economics and boys took shop and neither needed to learn the opposite trade.  However, with Mimi's perseverance, she continues to dog Mr. MacDougall, the principal, to make a change, although a small one.

When Mimi and her mother realize Pattress, self proclaimed watchdog to their turkeys, is missing, along with one of the nine turkeys, they go looking, only to find him hurt and alone. Reluctantly, Mimi goes to get Mr. Dell for help.

Mimi's grit and determination keep her moving forward and thinking of her waxing future, which will include the moon.

Some Kind of Courage, Dan Gemeinhart. The newest book from this talented author had me racing along with Joseph, the main character, in his gut wrenching run to reclaim Sarah, his beloved horse. Set in 1890, young Joseph has lost his dad to a freak wagon accident and his mother and little sister to typhoid. All he has is Sarah, sweet Sarah, who was sold out from under him by the very man his father asked to take responsibility for him. But Ezra Bishop, a mean spirited, conniving bullish man, now has his horse and is headed off to Wenatchee. When Joseph arrives, too late to meet up with Bishop, he finds a young Chinese boy outside the trading post, starving and thirsty. With his mother's warm words nestled in his soul, he kindly feeds him and encourages him to tag along. Although they can't understand one another, they learn to communicate in other ways and Joseph soon learns his name is Ah-Kee. They continue onto Walla Walla, where Bishop is next headed. Along the way, they come across a momma grizzly and Joseph and Ah-Kee barely make it up a rock when the grizzly stands tall enough to scrape Joseph's leg. About to shoot her point blank in the eye with the gun he took from the drunkard who sold Sarah, Ah-Kee, forces the gun down, climbs down the rock and . . . talks to the bear. And that momma took her cubs and wondered off. This is only the first of many hair raising adventures these two will have and the reader will be right there with them, gasping, choking, chugging.

Town after town finds Sarah just out of Joseph's reach, yet she is the only family he has and he will not give up. The two boys run across wickedly mean men, as well as tender hearted, generous folk that clothe and feed them. Joseph does finally rescue Sarah, sweet Sarah, from Caleb Fawney, the outlaw on the run, only to have her shot in the neck while riding her bareback from the dying Fawney. They both go down and they go down hard.

Oh, the tears flowed. You won't escape this story without shedding some tears and thinking of this story long after the pages come to an end.

13 Gifts, Wendy Mass. Tara Brennan, in order to win friends, is caught when she accepts the challenge to break into the principal's office to steal his goat, only to get caught. Because it is near the end of the school year, her parents ship her off to Willow Falls to spend the summer with her aunt while they travel to Madagascar researching lemurs. On the train ride, her money and phone are stolen. Trying to cover up not having money, she steals one of her uncle's valuable comic books to pawn, only to be found out by the proprietor, Angelina, who actually sold it to her uncle. To avoid further embarrassment, Angelina tells her to find 13 items on a list by her fast approaching thirteenth birthday and all debts will be repaid. With the help of new found friends, they set out on the scavenger hunt to find the odd items, such as: one brass candlestick in the shape of a fish, one black steamer trunk with gold latch, and one wooden cane, handle shaped like a duck's beak.

As the items are found, Tara finds a playbill at the bottom of the new found trunk for Fiddler on the Roof, which was set to perform 35 years earlier, but was abruptly cancelled. Having found all the items and given them to Angelina, she know tells Tara she must produce and put on the musical. Reluctantly, with the help of friends, young and old, the singing part of the musical alone is set to go on.to an appreciative audience.

While on summer break, Tara is made to write an essay of what she learned from her goat stealing days. As stories merge together and Tara learns quite a bit about her parents hometown, she also learns about friendship and duty.

Took, Mary Downing Hahn. Daniel and Erica are forced to leave their home in Connecticut for Brewster's Hill, Massachusetts because their dad lost his job. They move into a beaten down old farm house with no neighbors or friends near by. The school kids do not welcome them, except to tell them scary stories about the old witch, called Old Auntie and her pet, Bloody Bones, that "took" a girl 50 years ago. Now, they say, it is time for a new girl. Erica begins to grow reclusive and talks to her doll more and more, causing concern. Daniel gets worried when Erica disappears and knows she has been "took." He must find Old Auntie himself, confront her in the deep dark woods and save his sister.

Mary Downing Hahn is the queen of scare and this book will not disappoint her fans. This is her latest ghost story sure to keep readers pinned to their seat.

Death by Toilet Paper, Donna Gephart. Benjamin has a flair for jingles and slogans so much that he often wins contests for free stuff, like toilet paper. His dad died and his mom puts in extra hours to make ends meet. However, rent is due and time is running out. Mr. Katz, the landlord, can no longer delay their eviction, Zeyde, his grandfather, unexpectedly comes to stay, making his mother more strapped. Trying to help out, taking $50 he won from a contest, Benjamin begins selling candy bars at school, earning a couple hundred dollars, only to get in trouble with the principal. He is forced to work on the sly, only to have $300 stolen by Angus Andrews, his personal bully. Telling anyone will further his troubles. His last hope is to win the Royal-T Bathroom Tissue slogan contest prize money of $1500. With the help of his best friend, Toothpick, they have a plan to use Royal-T's toilet paper to dress him a zombie bride.

This is a cute story with facts about toilet paper leading each chapter. Benjamin is a character well worth getting to know.

House Arrest, K.A. Holt. What a story. Timothy has been court ordered to keep a journal for 52 weeks. He is under a house arrest, with a tracking device, only able to go to school, and to see his probation officer and counselor. The reason? He stole a wallet, hoping to buy medicine for his baby brother, Levi, who was born with health issues. He has a tracheotomy and efforts to avoid germs and infections is always a concern. His dad skipped town, leaving him and his mom to care for Levi by themselves. James, his probation officer and Miss Bainbridge, his therapist, are key characters in helping him get through the year. Told in verse, this story is one that you won't put down easily.

The Port Chicago 50, Steve Sheinkin. During WWII, in San Francisco sat Port Chicago, a navy base. Bombs were being made and put onto navy ships by mostly teenage black boys to be sent to the fighting troops. At the height of the war, an explosion occurred killing and wounding hundreds of men. The young black men were ordered to go back to doing the exact same work, but they refused, wondering why their white counterparts weren't also ordered to work the Port. When the Navy cried mutiny, most of the men went back to work, with the exception of 50 men. Their strong stance set history in motion and tells the story not often heard before.

Sheinkin, author of Bomb, (look for a book review in this blog) in his masterful way, tells yet another gripping story not to be missed. If you are a history buff, pick this book up and be transformed. Photographs of the key figures are sprinkled throughout, bringing this heroic read even more to life.

The Fourteenth Goldfish, Jennifer Holm. Science is powerful, learns 11-year old Ellie when her grandfather comes to visit. However, her grandfather doesn't exactly show up as himself, but a teenage version of himself, diguised as her cousin, Melvin. He attends school with her, serves detention and makes a friend in Raj, who discredits the Sagarsky theory. Melvin Sagarsky, the scientist that doesn't make it into any textbooks, is always on the search for the fountain of youth. "Melvin" believes in Ellie and her future as a scientist. The day comes, however, when he must move on, leaving Ellie with a a sense of discovery and possibility.

Okay for Now, Gary Schmidt. It is the 1960s and Doug Switeck's abusive dad informs the family they are moving to Marysville, upstate New York, because Ernie Eco can get him a job at the Ballard Paper Mill. Upon exploring the new small town, Doug finds his way to the Marysville Free Public Library where he lifts a card of the Arctic Tern, drawn by John James Audubon. He meets Lil, who gives him a cold Coke when she finds him sitting on the library steps waiting for it to open, not realizing it only opens on Saturdays. Lil's dad owns Spicer's Deli, and he gets a job delivering groceries to local customers. Between meeting his weekly customers and getting to know them, including Mrs. Windemere, and spending time with Mr. Powell, one of the librarians who helps him draw the Audubon paintings, he copes with living in "stupid" Marysville, while avoiding his drunk father and spiteful brother. One of his teachers, Mr. Ferris, realizes he can't read and connects him with another teacher, Mrs. Cowper, to quickly learn. As Doug spends more time at the library, he realizes several of Audubon's paintings are missing, being sold to various buyers to get out of debt. His quest is to get them back. Mr. Ballard, of the Ballard Paper Mill hosts an annual picnic, and with the hope of winning the Babe Ruth contest, Doug's father takes the family. While wandering over to the horseshoe pit, unknowingly, Doug meets Mr. Ballard himself, who takes him under his wing.

There is so much more to this fabulous story. It needs to be read to be appreciated and probably reread over and over. It is a National Book Award Finalist and well worth the honor. Pick up this book soon.