2012 Reviews by Library: Waupaca
Great Sense of Place!
I was totally sucked in by this book and delighted in the feel of the neighborhood surrounding a vacant lot with one remaining valencia orange tree on it. I would be a neighborhood kid that loved this place! Rocklin does a great job of connecting the reader with the characters with minimal text. I could see this book as a classroom read aloud for Grades 3+. There's just enough mystery and suspense interwoven with adventure and action.
Morpurgo Does It Again!
Imagine your family in World War II Germany, missing your father who is fighting the Russians, and fearing the day you know is coming when the Allied Forces will bomb your city. Add in a young elephant who is dependent on your mother... now the story gets intriguing!! Terrific multi-generational story told as a remembering from an elderly confined woman to a young boy and his mother, this book will keep you engaged from page one to the end. I really enjoy historical fiction that has strong ties to particular events, and this story, while the location has been adapted from Belfast, Ireland to Dresen, Germany, is a great example of how to learn history through fiction. Pair it with Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan.
Funny Newbery
This year's Newbery Award winner, Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos, is witty, quirky and downright funny. Autobiographical, Jack tells story after story connecting readers to the people who make up Norvelt, PA (a town started by Eleanor Roosevelt). This book was similar to Richard Peck's Long Way From Chicago and Year Down Yonder as I could imagine it a perfect read aloud for classroom reading. This will have definite appeal to boys - lots of action, guns, planes, blood, etc.
Contentment and Patience
I tried listening to the audiobook, even giving it a couple tries, but reading this book was so worthwhile! Grace Lin weaves in Chinese folktales in a story about a very brave girl, Minli, who sets out to seek a better fortune for her family. Along the way she meets a dragon who is on a quest of his own, a poor boy with a water buffalo, a generous magistrate, a brave family and eventually the Old Man of the Moon who has the Book of Fortunes. When she discovers she can only ask one question, which question or request will it be? The one for herself or for a friend. This book was our Mother-Daughter Book Club selection and I expect it will be a great discussion. I would also suggest it as a classroom read-aloud. 5 stars!
Tormented by Fear
Taking place in a span of only two days, this story is a quick read about Sasha who has been waiting his whole life to be a Young Pioneer. On the eve of the ceremony when he officially receives his red scarf, displaying allegience to Stalin's Communist ideals, his world is turned upside down and inside out. What he always believed to be true, may not be true. Who he trusted before, may not be someone he can trust now. Striking illustrations reinforce the tension and fears of all Russian people during Stalin's regime, and in the author's note, we find out much beyond Stalin's time. This book was named a Newbery Honor Book. I read it because it was recognized by the American Library Association and am glad I did.
The Perplexing Mysteries of Harris Burdick
For over 25 years people have been looking at Chris Van Allsburg's mysterious drawings in The Chronicles of Harris Burdick and have made up their own stories. Now fourteen famous authors have taken on the task of putting their stories to the famous drawings. My favorites were Lois Lowry's The Seven Chairs and Kate DiCamillo's The Third-Floor Bedroom. The final chapter, Stephen King's The House on Maple Street, was really good too. This anthology of short stories definitely has something for everyone!
Who can help you with friend problems?
Suzanne LaFleur writes a story that helps 12 year olds with many of the questions they have and the problems they are experiencing with friends. We all know that something happens to your life in middle school, and often times you don't quite know where to turn. Readers will be satisfied with Eight Keys because it doesn't give you the answers.... you need to discover them for yourself. It does give you lots to think about. Readers who like this book may also like books by Wendy Mass.
And You Thought You Knew About Anne Frank
Did you know that Anne Frank had a pen pal that she wrote to in Iowa? Did you know that Otto Frank, Anne's dad, had been to America and made friends with Nathan Straus, Jr., the head of Macy's Dept. Store? Did you know that this book tells the "behind the scenes" stories of what it was like being a tween in both Europe and America during World War II. I highly recommend this book, especially if you have read Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank.
