Romeo and Juliet Together (and Alive!) At Last by Avi - This is a laugh out loud book! 

Summary:  Pete Saltz has fallen hard for Anabell Stackpoole, and she likes him too.  But both are much too shy to do anything about it.  It’s Pete’s friend Ed Sitrow to the resuce, as he and other eighth graders at South Orange River School cook up a scheme to give the budding romance a boost.  It’s a school production of Romeo and Juliet, with the bashful pair in the leading roles and everybody’s waiting for the kissing scenes.  What they get is more action than Shakespeare ever imagined, in the funniest, most disastrous and most romantically successful production ever!  You will love this one.  Humor and romance all in one great book!

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix - This teen romance is set in medieval times.  Margaret Peterson Haddix reconstructs the Cinderella legend without the magic.  

Summary:   Overcoming many obstacles, Ella goes to the ball and sweeps Prince Charming off his feet.  While she awaits her marriage, Ella realizes her future would now be full of lessons, restrictions, and boredom.  Breaking her engagement proves to be more difficult and dangerous than escaping her step-mother’s tyranny.  Don’t miss this one!

Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech  This is the same author that wrote Walk Two Moons and The Wanderer. 

Summary:  Mary Lou Finney is less than excited about her assignment to keep a journal over the summer.  Boring!  Then cousin Carl Ray comes to stay with her family, and what starts out as the dull dog days of summer quickly turns into the wildest roller coaster ride of all time.  How was Mary Lou supposed to know what would happen with Carl Ray and the ring?  Or with her boy-crazy best friend Beth Ann?  Suddenly a boring school project becomes a record of the most exciting, incredible, unbelievable summer of Mary Lou’s life.  But what if her teacher actually does read her journal?  This is another great book by Sharon Creech.

Listen For Rachel by Lou Kassem  If you enjoy reading historical fiction and romance, this is a must read. 

Summary:  Rachel wonders if she will ever be happy again.  Her grandparents are loving and wonderful, but the mountains of Tennessee are a strange and lonely place for a young orphaned girl from Nashville.  Would she ever fit in among the people who believe that at fifteen, Rachel should prepare for marriage?  As the Civil War rages in the land, romance comes into Rachel’s life with all the happiness and anguish.  It is then she knows that her heart belongs to both the Yankee soldier she loves and to the people of the beautiful mountains that have become her home. 

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen 

Summary:  In alternating chapters, two teenagers (Eighth graders) describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.  This is a book that I recommend for some seventh and eighth graders.  Great realistic fiction!

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

Guys and girls will enjoy this book.  I would classify the book as realistic fiction.  The environmental aspects found in the book is very timely.  A great read for all!

If you read Hoot and like it, please try Carl Hiaasen’s newest book Flush.  In Flush, Noah’s dad has a little problem with anger control.  He tried to stop the Coral Queen casino boat’s illegal dumping…by sinking the boat.  But his bold protest fizzles:  within days the casino is back in business, and Noah’s dad is behind bars and out of action.  With their father jailed for sinking the boat, Noah and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the protected waters around their Florida Keys home.  This book is full of suspense.  It was hard to put down.

What other books have you read that have been made into movies?

There are so many fiction and non-fiction books written about the different wars in history.  Below are a few fiction titles that I have read.  I would like to know what war books that others have read or enjoyed.  Please leave me your comments.

Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty (Winner of Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction)

Twelve-year-old Charley Quinn is a Bowery Boy.  He feels tough, clever, and ready for adventure.  When he gets a chance to join a New York regiment marching to battle in the Civil War, he is happy to go along.

Charley is too young to be a soldier, so he is trained to be a drummer boy.  No amount of drumming, though, can protect him when the bullets start flying.  Frightened and sickened by the blood, Charley runs.  As he scrambles for safety in the Virginia mountains, he is captured by someone more menacing than any soldier.

Each day, as Charley works for his captor, he hopes that he can prove that he is not a coward.  But what will he do when he is faced with the ultimate test?  Charley Skedaddle tells the story of a boy’s journey toward manhood.  Jeff Woodman’s narration keeps up the swift pace of this historically-accurate work. 

The Clay Marble by Minfong Ho

For years war has touched the Cambodian village where 12-year-old Dara lives.  Bombs have gradually destroyed the huts and temple.  Recently, soldiers marched into town and burned all the rice seed.  Now with nothing to eat, Dara and her family are walking to the border.  They have heard of a refuge camp near Thailand, far away from danger.

The camp is even better than Dara expected.  She has all the food she wants and makes wonderful new friends.  Most of all, she finally feels safe.  But when fighting breaks out near the settlement, she becomes separated from her family.  Suddenly Dara must find new strength from within to go on.

The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

When Hannah opens the door during Passover Seder to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she suddenly finds herself in the unfamiliar world of a Polish village in the 1940s.  Hannah had always complained about listening to her relatives tell the same stories of the Holocaust over and over, but now she finds herself in a terrifying situation.  The Nazi soldiers have come to take the villagers away, and only Hannah can guess where they are going.  This is not your typical Holocaust book.  This book will appeal to historical fiction fans as well as science fiction due to the time travel element.

Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn

In 1944, while her older brother is overseas fighting in World War II, eleven-year-old Margaret gets a new view of the school bully Gordy when she finds him hiding his brother, an army deserter, and decides to help him.

December Stillness by Mary Downing Hahn

This is one of my favorite books about Vietnam Veterans.  Thirteen-year-old Kelly tries to befriend Mr. Weems, a disturbed homeless Vietnam War veteran who spends his days in her surburban library, though the man makes it clear he wants to be left alone. 

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier

All his life, Tim Meeker has looked up to his brother Sam.  Sam’s smart and brave, and always knows the right thing to do.  In fact, everyone in town had admired Sam Meeker.  Until now.  Now Sam is part of the new American Revolutionary Army.  He talks about defeating the British and becoming independent and free.  But now everyone in town wants to be a part of this new America.  Most people are loyal supporters of the English kind–especially Tim and Sam’s father.  The war is raging, and Tim knows he’ll have to make a choice.  But how can he choose–when it means fighting his father on one side, and fighting his brother on the other? 

This book is a Newbery Honor Book.  It is well written and will appeal especially to boys.  A great read!

Summary:  While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.

For all you fantasy fans, this is a must read…especially for girls.  Girls, please let me know what you think.

The Bully by Paul Lagan - This is one of the Bluford Series books.  Great realistic fiction book.

Summary:  A new life.  A new school.  A new bully.  That’s what Darrell Mercer faces when he and his mother move from Philadelphia to California.  After spending months living in fear, Darrell is faced with a big decision.  He can either keep on running from this bully- or find some way to fight back. 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - This book kept me on the edge of my seat.  I could not put it down.  If you love a great fantasy book, you have to read Inkheart.  

Summary:  Meggie loves her father, Mo, and the 12-year-old is happy, even though her mother disappeared nine years ago.  But Mo has a secret power.  A bookbinder by trade, he can bring characters to life if he reads a book alound.  When a stranger appears at Meggie’ s door one night, a journey begins that will send the girl running from Capricorn, once a character in the book Inkheart, who is intent on capturing Meggie and using Mo for his own evil plans. 

The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt - If you have read A Child Called It by David Pelser, you might want to read this book.  You will need your kleenex for this book! 

Summary:  Abused by his mother and her boyfriend, Georgie Burgess learns to hide his hurt.  He withdraws into a safe and secret world of beautiful gardens filled with roses; just like those in the library book he treasures.  When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a grocery store lottery he gives it all the love and caring he has never had.  Georgie’s life begins to open up for him when the courts send him to a home for boys where he will be safe.  Slowly, and not without pain, Georgie learns to give-and to receive love.

August 18, 2006

Amond the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix - This is the first book in the series.  Luke is a “shadow child” - a third son in a society that allows only two children per family- and the penalities for breaking the Population Law are severe.  I love the whole series. 

A Corner of the Universe by An M. Martin.  This is a Newbery Award Honor Book.  Hattie Owen prefers to be steeped in the familiarity of her small-town life than to think about the vast world beyond her own.  Her family’s boarding house is where she feels most at home,  with its eccentric tenants and predictable routines-so different from the controlling and repressive home of her well-to-do grandparents who live nearby.  But during the summer that Hattie turns 12, her world is turned upside down with the startling arrival of her uncle no one has ever spoken about.  This book addresses many issues (family life, people with mental disabilities, friendship).  Ann Martin tells a story of a complicated and fated friendship in which readers will lose a piece of their hearts.  I love this book!  This is a great realistic fiction choice.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt.  This is another 2006 Newbery Award Honor Book.  In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers-and Turner’s want to change into a tourist spot.  The book addresses race relations, moving, and friendships.  It is a historical fiction book that you will enjoy immensely.

Stop by the media center and check these books out.  Keep the comments coming.  Please encourage your friends to leave comments on my blog.

My name is Patti McKoy. I am the school library media specialist at Cedar Ridge Middle School in Decatur, Alabama. This blog is being created to discuss children’s and young adult literature. I will be posting comments about books that I have read as well as books that I am reading.  I would love to have comments about the books I post as well as books others are reading.  Students, parents. school library media specialists and teachers are welcome to join the discussion.  My e-mail address is Patti.McKoy@dcs.edu.