Home of the Brave

by Katherine Applegate
PRMS paperback, 253 pages

Written in prose poetry, this book was very thought-provoking. Kek is a refuge from Sudan. When he comes to Minnesota to live with his cousin and aunt, there is so much he doesn't understand about his new home. But when he asks Lou if he can work for her, taking care of her cow, he knows just what he's doing.

One of the MHL nominees, I don't really see many kids getting into this book. I really liked it, though. It gives another great look into an immigrant's perspective. It would be interesting to do a book club with this and La Linnea.

Hormone Jungle: Coming of Age in Middle School

by Brod Bagert
PRMS, paperback, 120 pages

Interesting that a man wrote this book of a girl's middle school scrapbook. Mary Verbick shared this with me last year. Christina Curtis is heading to college and she unearths her middle school journal, filled with poetry. It all began with a poetry war between Thor (Steven Gilley) and Athena (Christina). A fun, quick, "real" story. It made me cry at the end . . . and I had a hispanic student help me translate some phrases. Enjoyable.

The Orphan of Ellis Island

by Elvira Woodruff
my personal collection, paperback, 174 pages

Before donating this to PRMS, I decided to re-read it. Dominic Cantori is an orphan who has gone from one foster home to the next because "things just don't work out." On a school trip to Ellis Island, he falls asleep and has a "conversation" with an Italian man on one of the museum's phones. Then Dominic travels back in time and meets a trio of Italian brothers.

Sweet story. A bit young - the protagonist is a fifth grader and it reads like an elementary book. Nice historical fiction for young readers, though. It really captures aspects of the immigrant experience, like the crowded passage on the ships and names being changed for convenience.

A Christmas Beginning

by Anne Perry
audioCD, Hennepin County Library, 4 hours & 7 minutes
read by Terrence Hardiman

Runcorn has gone to Anglesey on vacation but he stumbles upon Melisande and a murder. Victorian mystery that just doesn't work for me.

Runcorn is too easily cowed by the gentry. The narrator did a lovely job, but I found myself not able to empathize with the main character. The ending surprised and pleased me, but overall I wish I hadn't spent my time on this one. And of course, I'm now racking my brain trying to figure out which other story I've read by this author and if I liked that one any better . .. .

Amazons Attack!

by Will Pfeifer (writer) and Pete Woods (artist)
Hennepin County Library hardcover, unpaged

What a disappointment! This Wonder Woman sequel was filled with senseless violence, a questionable message about war's futility, and a weird twist at the end to set up the next story in the series. Clearly, the author had a different vision than Piccoult did in the first book. This took me forever to read because I just wasn't enjoying it. So ultimately, was Circe the "bad guy" controlling queen Hippolyta's actions? Or was Granny Goodness at the helm the whole time? The ending tag line, "The war has ended . . . but the apocalypse has just begun." doesn't make me want to continue reading the comic book saga. It tells me I'm done with this.

The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer

by Gary Paulsen
PRMS hardcover, 160 pages

I had never seen this Gary Paulsen title before! I enjoyed it even though it doesn't flow as smoothly as some of his other stories. Paulsen shares his memories of this time in his life in a painfully honest manner. It makes me so sad for the childhood he never had. My favorite part was when he worked with the migrant laborers and felt connected to them. This book might appeal to some of the same kids who like Harris and Me, even though it isn't funny like that book.


Added 11/25/12:
Rather than create a new entry for this re-read, I decided to edit the old. This seems to me to be extremely autobiographical . . . but it's also very raw and personal. The narrator is describing events from the summer of when he was fifteen going on sixteen. Running away from home after his drunken mother makes a pass at him, working the beet fields with migrant workers, falling in love (but never actually talking to the object of his affection), getting ripped off by a deputy, joining a carnival . . . . this is for my older, more mature readers.

Goddess of the Night

part of the "Daughters of the Moon" series
by Lynne Ewing
PRMS, hardcover, 294 pages

I read this because one of my eighth graders has been raving about this series. As I expected, it was filled with darkness - tarot cards, creatures of the night, etc. The thing I didn't anticipate was the flavor of California panache. The combination of too-hip girly stuff along with the darkness just didn't work for me. I thought the story was vapid and pointless. There was some suspense, and some minor romantic pull between Vanessa and Michael.

Interesting how the author distinguishes between the daughters of the moon being "of the light" and the evil of the Atrox. It makes me wonder if the author has ever read Scripture and how she reconciles that with the philosophy put forth in her books.

Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days

by Judith Viorst
Hennepin County Library, audio CDs, 3.5 hours
read by Laurel Merlington

The title caught my attention, since the Alexander book of childhood fame is one of my favorites. This one is about Viorst and her husband hosting their adult son, his wife, and their three young children for three months while their house is being remodeled. I'm not sure if it was her writing or the reader's narration, but this came across mostly as a whiny diatribe of a person who has control issues. Parts of it were funny (and there were times I could see myself in her perspective), but it simply wasn't as enjoyable as I anticipated. I definitely "felt" for her family members!

Redwall

by Brian Jacques
personal collection, paperback, 351 pages

I've read this before, but it's been a while. Delightful story about Matthias "I - am that is" who emulates Martin the Warrior so he can save the Abbey from Cluny the Scourge. "Peopled" with delightful characters (Basil Stag Hare, Silent Sam, Methuselah, and others), this is a great adventure story for smart kids. I can see why Nick enjoyed this series so much when he was younger.

Once Upon a Curse

by E.D. Baker
PRMS, paperback, 244 pages

Book three - Emma wants to find a way to stop the family curse before her sixteenth birthday. She has already witnessed her beloved Aunt Grassina turn into an ugly and mean witch when flowers touched her.

It's odd that I read all three of these books in just over 24 hours when I didn't even really like them very well . . . but I had the set with me on the way to the lake. And I'm a compulsive reader.

Some kids will love these. It's nice now that I know what they're about.

Dragon's Breath

by E.D. Baker
PRMS, paperback, 292 pages

Book two - (I had the first three with me, so I read them all). Still a bit stilted, in terms of writing style, but now that I'm familiar with the characters, I just enjoyed the story.

Emma and Eadric need to track down ingredients to change Grassina's beloved Haywood from an otter back into a man. Emma also needs to convince her parents that she really doesn't want to marry Jorge. They befriend a dragon and have many adventures.

The Frog Princess

by E.D. Baker
PRMS, paperback, 214 pages

Cute fairy tale (of the fractured variety) about Emma and Eadric. She turns into a frog when kissing him to turn him back to a prince.

Based on my students' rave reviews, I expected to love it. Not so much. It was okay. Nothing at all like Gail Carson Levine's stuff, which is clever and delightful.