ALA Awards Announced!

Guess what book received the Newbery Award for 2012?  Yes, my current "Oh my gosh, this book is great - Dead End in Norvelt". I'm telling you - don't miss this one.  I'll order more.

Another favorite of many of you - The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen- received the Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.

Click here to see the complete list of this year's award winners.

Scott O'Dell Award

Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

In 1982, Scott O'Dell established The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The annual award of $5,000 goes to an author for a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults.  Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers--particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction. He hoped in this way to increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped to shape their country and their world. 

If you read my previous post, I told you this was one not to miss.  I love when I am right.

Potpourri

Potpourri - noun \ˌpō-pu̇-ˈrē\ 2. : a miscellaneous collection (Merriam-Webster online)


The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane is the story of 8th grade Molly.  Her father has recently died in an auto accident, her mother is going through the motions of living, and she is just trying to figure out things and cope day to day. To overcome some of her problems, she decides to join the baseball team - the boys baseball team since baseball helps her feel connected to her dad. She only hopes the knuckleball she can throw will help her earn the position. Realistic and memorable.


Legend by Marie Lu is the first novel for this art director of a video game company.  (I can visualize the characters and settings in a game.)  Set in a post-apocalyptic United States, Day is from the slums and is the most wanted criminal in the Republic.  June is a member of the elite, a military prodigy,with nothing but a bright future ahead of her. However, when June's brother is murdered, Day's and June's paths cross when Day becomes the prime suspect.  June sets out to apprehend him and bring him to justice.  But all is not what it seems.  If you like dystopian novels, this is for you. Action, thriller with a sprinkle of romance.


Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt made me laugh out loud. Really. I know many of you (OK, most of you) avoid historical fiction like the plague.  Even though this is historical fiction/non-fiction - because the character's name is Jack Gantos - don't miss this one.  Jack does some pretty dumb things and suffers an summer of grounding for his actions.  One thing that gets him out of the house/yard is helping an elderly lady write the obituaries for the local paper.  His summer is filled with death, gore, fire, Hell's Angels, and nosebleeds. If you think your hometown is weird, you have never been to Norvelt.  Don't miss this one!

Action-Adventure

The Doomsday Box: A Shadow Project Adventure by Herbie Brennan is a Junior Library Guild selection. Somehow the books from JLG either become award winners or are just really good reads. The jury is out on whether this will be an award winner, but my verdict is in - it is a good read!

Four teenage spies - Opal, Danny, Michael, and Fuchsia - are members of the Shadow Project. These teens have supernatural abilities which are desperately needed to stop an undercover agent, Cobra. Agent Cobra has time-traveled to the Middle Ages and returned with a small box containing vials. When the box is opened, a deadly plague is unleashed in the world today that could lead to millions of people dying. The Shadow Project members are needed to go back in time, meet up with Agent Cobra, and stop him from unleashing this horror on the world. And, so they are headed to Moscow. . . in 1962.

If you like Alex Rider, you will enjoy this. If you like spies, you will enjoy this. You can even learn a bit of history in this book too.

Four and Five: Discoveries and Decisions

Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl is the story of Ida Mae Jones. Ever since her father went to Chicago to aeronautics school and returned home with his own plane, all Ida Mae has wanted to do is fly. There are a few problems with this given it is the 1940's. First, most females don't fly airplanes. Second, Ida Mae is an African American. As far as her mother sees it, that is "two strikes against her" even if her skin color is much lighter than most. When the U.S. Army forms a group of women pilots - WASP - Women Airforce Service Pilots - Ida Mae sees an opportunity. However, to be a WASP (It seems as though the W could have stood for white too) Ida Mae pretends to be someone she isn't and along the way discovers who she really is.

Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings takes place in Maryland, along the Chesapeake Bay. Brady, and his best friends J.T. and Digger, are in middle school and love to go fishing, crabbing, boating and swimming. The crabbing industry is suffering and times are lean for many families. But the land is valuable since the area is beautiful; rich families buy and build and move into their very exclusive homes built on the land that Brady, T.J. and Digger used to call their own. They bring their fancy cars, their motor boats, and even a kayak. However, one day tragedy strikes one family - the DiAngelos - when their kayak overturns in the bay. The tragedy is difficult for Brady to deal with, and when he discovers the truth, he must make a decision that could impact the lives of many.

Both books make you think and examine your own actions. I love when literature does that.

8th Grade Book Talks

A bit Depressing, but Good

In the mood for a historical adventure, filled with rich details about what life would be like in a Communist state? Read Anne Fine's The Road of Bones. This novel is a tale of survival by a young teen that is marked as "an enemy of the state" for a few muttered words. Yuri is on the run, leaving his family, to avoid the beating and eventual imprisonment for his crime that is not really a crime as we know it.

Terry Trueman's Hurricane: A Novel is based on Hurricane Mitch, one of the worst storms to ever hit the Caribbean. Jose is fourteen and lives in a small village with his parents, brothers, and sisters. Life is good for his family and him, as he goes to the International School and is learning to speak English, he plays soccer with his friends, and his village is filled with friendly, kind neighbors. But then, one night the hurricane arrives and life changes in a few short hours.

If you have read Ben Mikaelsen's Touching Spirit Bear, don't miss the sequel Ghost of Spirit Bear. Cole and Peter are leaving the island and going home and to the high school where it all started. Neither is sure they can handle the gangs, the taunts, and violence every day at their urban school. Has their time on the island been successful? How do they handle the new bullies that are just like Cole once was? Can they make changes?

Off the Hook - Twilight Update

Well, I finished the series...on Friday the 13th, no less. Ironic, maybe? As I said before, the story was good, and I guess I am not sorry that I spent the time reading the books. But NO one should have to read that many sentences about him tracing her jawline with his finger and blowing his cool breath in her hair. (I am rolling my eyes here.)

If you want to continue reading about an annoying heroine and a romantic hero- read Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. It is not quite as many pages as the whole Twilight series. And you might learn some Civil War history in the process.

Student Review

Here is Em W.'s thirty second Movie Maker production to promote The Book Thief.

Interesting Reads

Check out the NEW books on the library tables, both fiction and non-fiction. Here are three for you to consider:

• The Seance by Iain Lawrence (author of The Convicts, Cannibals, and Castaways, among others) This novel takes place in the Roaring Twenties, an interesting era. Scooter King’s mother conducts seances and he is her trusted assistant working behind the scenes to ensure that his mother’s contact with the spirit world is successful. Considering all of the fraud behind those that conduct seances, Harry Houdini is in town to expose the phonies. Harry Houdini will also be performing his magical act of escaping the Burmese Torture Tank. However, before Scooter even has the opportunity to see the act, he discovers a dead body in the water tank. No one is persumed innocent, no one is entirely honest, and Scooter needs to act quickly or he may be the next dead body.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (author of Coraline) - OK, this one is strange, but oh so good. The story starts with the murder of a family - mother, father, daughter. The murderer is looking for the toddler son, except the son has wandered off to the graveyard. The spirits in the graveyard agree to take care of the boy and name him “Nobody”, with ghostly parents, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, and a guardian who belongs to neither the living or spirit world. This book is filled with exciting adventure, dangerous situations, and even fantastically humorous moments.

NEWS! The Graveyard Book has been awarded the Newbery Medal.

• Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve - This is the story of Camelot told by Gwyna, who is rescued by Myrddin (usually known as Merlin the Magician). Myrddin uses Gwyna’s excellent swimming skills to have her present to Arthur the sword from the Lady in the Lake. Myrddin then spins his tales about Arthur’s greatness to all. Gwyna is transformed into a boy warrior, Myrddin’s servant, and she is present as she witnesses what really occured in the time of Arthur. Intrigue. Murder. Deceit.

8th Grade Only - Law and Disorder Literature Circles

8th Grade Only - Stirring Up Justice Literature Circles