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.