-
Boston Jane: An Adventure
Posted on October 9, 2009 by Jennifer in Adventure, Family Read-Aloud, Historical Fiction, My Favorite, Romanceby Jennifer L. Holm This is one of my favorite historical fiction novels because it is so fun to read. It is an exciting adventure with lots of humor and a fascinating storyline, and you learn about life in the 1840′s at the same time. Jane Peck is a carefree tomboy of a girl until [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Tracktown Summer
Posted on October 9, 2009 by Victoria in Realistic Fiction, social issuesby Elizabeth Holmes Tracktown Summer is a powerful book dealing with the loss of childhood security through parents’ failures. Twelve-year-old Jake doesn’t understand how his father could leave his family and move away to a new life. Jake longs to re-establish the security he felt when his parents were still happy together. Spending the summer [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Miss Spitfire
Posted on October 9, 2009 by Children's Department Staff in Historical Fiction, William Allen Whiteby Sarah Miller This first-person account of the relationship between Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller is told from Annie’s point of view. It follows her from the train ride south to Helen’s break-through at the water pump. While the facts of the story are well-known to most people, this book focuses more on the emotions [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
January 1905
Posted on October 7, 2009 by Victoria in Historical Fictionby Katharine Boling January 1905 is the story of ten-year-old twins, Pauline and Arlene. The girls are born into a family that works in a textile mill in 1905. Arlene is born with a club foot and stays home to do the family’s cooking and cleaning, while Pauline works 12 hour shifts in the mill. [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Iron Thunder
Posted on October 7, 2009 by Victoria in Historical Fiction, William Allen Whiteby Avi Iron Thunder: the Battle Between the Monitor and the Merrimac is the first book in the I Witness series. Avi describes the I Witness series as “exciting stories about fictional young people during real events in history.” The narrator’s character is loosely based on Tom Carroll, a real boy who served on the [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Wings
Posted on October 7, 2009 by Children's Department Staff in Uncategorizedby William Loizeaux Ten-year-old Nick finds a baby bird – hardly more than a ball of fluff – and is determined to save it. He and his friend Mate raise the mockingbird, Marcy, and hundreds of worms later, she takes flight. Marcy follows Nick everywhere and is a comfort in changing times – Nick’s mom [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Orangutan Tongs
Posted on October 2, 2009 by Children's Department Staff in Humorous Stories, Poetryby Jon Agee Test your tongue-twister skills with this humorous, illustrated poetry book by Jon Agee. Some are longer and harder to say than your typical “she sells sea shells by the sea shore,” but many are easy too. Agee was inspired by classic English-language tongue twisters and made new ones about things like purple-paper [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
The Girl Who Saw Lions
Posted on September 29, 2009 by Victoria in social issues, world culturesby Berlie Doherty The Girl Who Saw Lions tells the story of Abela, a young girl who has been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in her African village. Her uncle smuggles her to England planning to sell her as a domestic servant. Abandoned by everyone, Abela dreams of escaping back to Africa. She cherishes a [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Shakespeare’s Secret
Posted on September 29, 2009 by Children's Department Staff in Mysteriesby Elise Broach Hero, named after Shakespeare’s character, always has a hard time fitting in at new schools and is tired of moving around. This time, however, her neighbor tells her that there is a pricelss diamond hidden in her new house. Hero unexpectedly gets attention and help from the most popular boy in school [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading... -
Utterly Me, Clarice Bean
Posted on September 27, 2009 by Children's Department Staff in Mysteriesby Lauren Child Clarice Bean has to do a report about what she has learned from a book. She chooses her favorite mystery books for the report, but she isn’t sure what she learned – until she sets out to solve a couple of mysteries herself. What has happened to the trophy for the best [...]
No Comments. Continue Reading...