The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli

May I begin by saying that Donna jo Napoli is by far one of my FAVORITE authors!! Every book I have read by her so far become my new favorite...and this particular book is no exception.The reviews below, provided by Amazon.com. sum up the book well, but I can just tell you that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book.

From Publishers Weekly
A midwife-cum-sorceress known simply as the Ugly One narrates this riveting tale of how, tricked by the devil's minions, she lost her gifts for healing and was forced to become a witch. Escaping from the stake, where she is about to be burned, she ekes out a solitary existence in an enchanted forest--until she takes in two wandering children named Hansel and Gretel. As she did in The Prince of the Pond , Napoli gives a classic fairy tale an entirely new twist, at the same time incorporating absorbing details about medieval religious beliefs. The witch's "true" history as a devoted mother and pious servant of God renders her a compelling and entirely sympathetic figure, a heroine courageously fighting the evil spirits that have invaded her once-pure life. The Hansel and Gretel motif, carefully woven into the story, emerges as a surprise for the reader, albeit a surprise that has been fully prepared. The author's extraordinary craftsmanship and originality never flag, and even the archetypically fiery ending for the witch acquires a new dimension. A YA novel of genuine magic and suspense, this will captivate adults as well. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
The author of The Prince in the Pond (1992) leaps from that comic take on ``The Frog Prince'' to a dark, deeply thoughtful novel whose gifted, driven, and wholly sympathetic protagonist is Hansel and Gretel's witch. The hunchback known as ``Ugly One'' is a midwife who becomes a healer when she learns to draw, with a blessed object, a magic circle that cannot be invaded by the devil's minions; from safely within it, she can command them to leave their victims. But the demons eventually trick her with a ring she hopes to give her beloved daughter, now of an age to marry. Now the sorceress who has commanded devils becomes a witch subject to their demands; still, with great care, she avoids the potent temptation to devour a child, which would complete her damnation. Hansel and Gretel's arrival, in the novel's last pages, is a cruel test; with extraordinary artistry, Napoli shapes a conclusion in which the witch finds redemption by collaborating with a clever Gretel, who senses the meaning of her fiery death. Writing in a beautifully honed first-person present and summoning splendid imagery well grounded in folklore, psychology, and the natural world, Napoli delves into the mind and heart of a fascinating figure embodying Faust and Marguerite in one--a nurturer and lover of true beauty whose inner being is never truly corrupted by the dangerous knowledge she dares to exert on others' behalf. Richly poetic yet accessible and immediate; pungent and wise; mesmerizing. Splendid jacket by the Dillons. (Fiction. 11+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Puffin (June 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140374396
ISBN-13: 978-0140374391

Mara's Stories by Gary D. Schmidt

From School Library Journal
Gr 5-8-This collection framed as tales told within the concentration camps by a young woman named Mara is not completely successful as a cohesive whole. The book includes holocaust tales as well as traditional rabbinical stories set at that time. The selections range from accounts of escapes from being put into the camps to finding hope within the camps to betrayals and choices. Some are truly transcendent while others are simply filler. The use of Mara as a storyteller seems artificial and takes away from the power of the stories. Most of them could be used in a classroom situation, although they may be more useful in a religious setting than in a secular one. Schmidt includes extensive source notes for each story, giving the origins and explaining how he has changed some of them for this book. Hazel Rochman and Darlene Z. McCampbell's Bearing Witness: Stories of the Holocaust (Orchard, 1995) remains the best collection for children, but libraries with a strong Jewish patronage and a need for additional Holocaust literature may want to add Mara's Stories.

Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-8. In the barracks of a concentration camp, a girl named Mara tells stories at night to the women and children to help push back the darkness. The deceptively simple tellings draw on the Hasidic tradition and range from legends of magical realism and trickster tales of escape to simple prayers. Some are folktales that actually grew up in the camps, with settings that include the roundups, the selections, even the gas chambers. The writing occasionally verges on the sentimental ("And he will always weep, my children. He will always weep"), but Mara's voice keeps things quiet, and for readers who want more background, Schmidt provides many pages of fascinating notes about the history and tradition he is drawing on. A few of the stories are unforgettable, rooted in the Yiddish idiom and in folklore and faith. With dark humor, the story "A Globe," barely two pages long, about the refugees who can't find a country to take them in, will make a powerful read-aloud for the Holocaust curriculum. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult

Library Binding: 154 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439557241
ISBN-13: 978-1439557242

An American Plague by Jim Murphy

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10-If surviving the first 20 years of a new nationhood weren't challenge enough, the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, centering in Philadelphia, was a crisis of monumental proportions. Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories, beginning with the fever's emergence on August 3, when a young French sailor died in Richard Denny's boardinghouse on North Water Street. As church bells rang more and more often, it became horrifyingly clear that the de facto capital was being ravaged by an unknown killer. Largely unsung heroes emerged, most notably the Free African Society, whose members were mistakenly assumed to be immune and volunteered en masse to perform nursing and custodial care for the dying. Black-and-white reproductions of period art, coupled with chapter headings that face full-page copies of newspaper articles of the time, help bring this dreadful episode to life. An afterword explains the yellow fever phenomenon, its causes, and contemporary outbreaks, and source notes are extensive and interesting. Pair this work with Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful novel Fever 1793 (S & S, 2000) and you'll have students hooked on history.
Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-12. History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation's capital more than 200 years ago. Drawing on firsthand accounts, medical and non-medical, Murphy re-creates the fear and panic in the infected city, the social conditions that caused the disease to spread, and the arguments about causes and cures. With archival prints, photos, contemporary newspaper facsimiles that include lists of the dead, and full, chatty source notes, he tells of those who fled and those who stayed--among them, the heroic group of free blacks who nursed the ill and were later vilified for their work. Some readers may skip the daily details of life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia; in fact, the most interesting chapters discuss what is now known of the tiny fever-carrying mosquito and the problems created by over-zealous use of pesticides. The current struggle to contain the SARS epidemic brings the "unshakeable unease" chillingly close. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Clarion Books (June 23, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0395776082
ISBN-13: 978-0395776087

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7–When her parents, the king and queen of Wonderland, are killed by her Aunt Redd, Alyss Heart escapes by jumping into the Pool of Tears. Her jump takes her to Victorian Oxford, where she emerges from a puddle, lives as a street urchin, and is eventually adopted by Reverend and Mrs. Liddell. Unable to make anyone believe her fantastic story, she finally confides in Charles Dodgson, who says he will write a book about her. When she discovers that Alice's Adventures Underground is full of make-believe, and not her story or her real name, she sadly resigns herself to life as a Victorian girl of privilege. Meanwhile, back in Wonderland, the Alyssians form a resistance movement and attempt to overthrow the despotic Redd. For years, Hatter Madigan searches the world for Alyss so she can return to Wonderland as Queen. In the end, the Alyssians prevail, but only after much graphic bloodshed and many brutal battles involving card soldiers who transform into warriors, chessmen, blades that whirl and slash, vicious Jabberwocks, and even carnivorous roses. The tale is clever and flows like an animated film where action is more important than character development. However, it bears little resemblance to Lewis Carroll's original story. Beddor has usurped the characters and setting and changed them for his own purposes, keeping only the story's frame and not much of that. Still, the fantasy will appeal to those readers who like battles and weapons and good vs. evil on and on and on.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, is forced to flee when her vicious aunt Redd murders her parents, the King and Queen of Hearts. She escapes through the Pool of Tears to Victorian London, but she finds she has no way home. Adopted by the Liddells, who christen her Alice Liddell and disapprove of her wild stories about Wonderland, Alyss begs Charles Dodgson to tell her real story. Even though he writes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she knows no one believes her. Years go by, with Alice repressing her memories. Then royal bodyguard Hatter Madigan, determined to start a war for Wonderland's throne, crashes her wedding. Beddor offers some intriguing reimaginings of Dodgson's concepts (such as looking-glass travel) and characters (the cat is an assassin with nine lives), but his transformation of Wonderland's lunacy into a workable world sometimes leads to stilted exposition on history, geography, and government. Even so, his attention has, happily, put Wonderland back on the map again. Krista Hutley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Dial; First Edition edition (September 26, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0803731531
ISBN-13: 978-0803731530

Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7–10—In this sequel to The Schwa Was Here (Dutton, 2004), Brooklynite Antsy Bonano, 14, finds another peculiar friend, a Swedish import named Gunnar Ümlaut. When a balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade gets away, Antsy and his friends Howie and Ira head into Manhattan to follow the debacle. On the way, they run into their classmate Gunnar. Watching the catastrophe unfold, he confides to Antsy that he's been "coming to disasters" lately, and that he's dying of Pulmonary Monoxic Systemia. Gunnar says he has only six months to live, so Antsy gives him one of his own, drawing up a legal-looking document, and, before he knows it, the whole school's giving Gunnar months of their lives. Spending more time at Gunnar's house, Antsy falls for his friend's older sister, and also notices that things seem off. Gunnar's obsession with his presumed imminent death is largely ignored. When Antsy discovers that Gunnar is not going to die, that he was "diagnosed" by a fake online doctor, he wonders why the boy lied. As Antsy uncovers the truth—that Gunnar's dad has gambled away the family's money and they're headed back to Sweden—he learns more about the meaning of the time you have on Earth. This novel is as cleverly plotted and well paced as The Schwa; it is brimming with amusing secondary characters and situations that add depth and interest. Fans won't be disappointed, and newcomers won't have any problem jumping right in.—Jennifer Barnes, Homewood Library, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The wisecracking teenage Brooklynite introduced in Shusterman’s award-winning The Schwa Was Here (2004) takes a second ride on the emotional roller coaster in this equally screwball sequel. When classmate Gunnar Ümlaut announces that he is going to die in six months from a rare disease, Antsy Bonnano prints up a formal contract that signs over a month of his own life to his gloomy buddy. This impulsive gesture of comfort unexpectedly nets Antsy a series of dates with Gunnar’s hot older sister Kjersten—but also takes on a life of its own when everyone who finds out about the good deed wants to get into the act. Meanwhile, Antsy and his closest friend (and ex-girlfriend), blind Lexie, plot to kidnap Lexie’s irascible grandpa “Creepy” Crawley (again), and Antsy’s father works his way toward heart-attack country struggling to get the Bonnano family’s new restaurant on its feet. Featuring a terrific supporting cast led by Antsy’s wise, acerbic mother, an expert blend of comedy and near tragedy, and the wry observations of a narrator whose glib tongue and big heart are as apt to get him into trouble as out of it, this will keep tween readers hooked from start to finish. Grades 6-9. --John Peters

Book Specs:
Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (September 18, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525478256
ISBN-13: 978-0525478256

The Snow Pony by Alison Lester

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-The high plains of Australia have been hit by a severe drought that has brought difficult times to the cattle farmers. Dusty Riley, 14, has always been her father's "right-hand man," but as the situation grows worse her dad begins to withdraw from his family, causing everyone more stress. Her only consolation is her love for her horse, the Snow Pony. The mare was a brumby, and now allows only Dusty to ride and take care of her. When the teen, her younger brother, and her father set out to bring the cattle down from the high country for the winter, they encounter illegal hunters who threaten their lives. Before the roundup is over, a serious snowstorm impedes their progress and Dusty and her pony prove their courage as they go for help. This fast-paced "horse and girl" adventure story has interesting, well-developed characters, and the tension among the family members is well drawn. The dangerous situations are well integrated into the plot, and the upbeat ending is plausible and satisfying.
Carol Schene, Taunton Public Schools, MA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-12. Lester introduces readers to a willful Australian girl in this gripping adventure novel. Fourteen-year-old Dusty Riley (her cattle-farming father's "right-hand man") has "horses in her blood." But when she first spies the gray-and-white brumby she calls the Snow Pony, she knows she's a one-horse girl from that day on. The mare distracts her from the woes of her family, which was once tightly knit but is now fraying under the economic strain brought upon the farm by a three-year drought. Dusty has to grow up fast to deal with her once proud, increasingly troubled father, who relies upon her to win competitions for prize money. Despite her sense of alienation at school, and a spate of near disasters, Dusty shows her fortitude. Horse lovers will certainly revel in Lester's vivid descriptions of cattle farming, peppered with Aussie slang, but this outreaches the average horse story. Tethered to powerful themes of family, faith, and self-reliance, this also captures the beauty and unpredictability of wildness and a family's connection with the land. Karin Snelson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Specs:
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books; 1 edition (April 28, 2003)
ISBN-10: 0618254048
ASIN: B001NXDTE2

Danger Zone by David Klass

From School Library Journal
Grade 7-10-Basketball, racism, and international terrorism are all ingredients in Klass's latest offering. Jimmy Doyle, high school junior and standout guard from Minnesota, is one of 10 players selected to represent the USA in an international tournament to be held in Rome. Upon arriving in Los Angeles for team practices, he's thrown together with ethnic and culturally diverse teammates who quickly open his eyes to a much wider world. He immediately clashes with team star and South-Central L.A. native Augustus LeMay, who feels Jimmy is on the team only because he is white. As the tournament in Rome unfolds, the American team is subjected to verbal abuse by a group of skinhead fans from Germany, which escalates into a physical confrontation, and later results in a death threat against the U.S. squad. The Americans still manage to make it to the championship game, which culminates in a last-second game-winning basket and also a gunshot. Told through Doyle's eyes, the narrative features memorable characters and thought-provoking situations. While the terrorist threat may seem a bit extreme, the racial tension throughout the book rings true, and readers seeking lots of hoop action will be thoroughly satisfied.?Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. In Granham, a small town in Minnesota, Jimmy Doyle is a basketball legend, the one the fans count on to sink the three-pointers and save the game. So when promoters pick an American High School Dream Team for a tournament in Italy, Doyle is offered a starting spot. The problem then becomes persuading himself and the talented African American inner-city kids who make up most of the team that he deserves the opportunity. The pace never lags, and Klass does a convincing job of capturing the feel of the game and depicting Doyle's attempts to be accepted by his teammates, as well as showing what happens when some terrorists add fear to the list of the team's opponents. Candace Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Specs:
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (March 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0590485911
ISBN-13: 978-0590485913

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up–In the measured tones of a Native American storyteller, Bruchac assumes the persona of a Navajo grandfather telling his grandchildren about his World War II experiences. Protagonist Ned Begay starts with his early schooling at an Anglo boarding school, where the Navajo language is forbidden, and continues through his Marine career as a "code talker," explaining his long silence until "de-classified" in 1969. Begay's lifelong journey honors the Navajos and other Native Americans in the military, and fosters respect for their culture. Bruchac's gentle prose presents a clear historical picture of young men in wartime, island hopping across the Pacific, waging war in the hells of Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Iwo Jima. Nonsensational and accurate, Bruchac's tale is quietly inspiring, even for those who have seen Windtalkers, or who have read such nonfiction works as Nathan Aaseng's Navajo Code Talkers (Walker, 1992), Kenji Kawano's Warriors: Navajo Code Talkers (Northland, 1990), or Deanne Durrett's Unsung Heroes of World War II: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers (Facts On File, 1998). For those who've read none of the above, this is an eye-opener.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 6-9. Six-year-old Ned Begay leaves his Navajo home for boarding school, where he learns the English language and American ways. At 16, he enlists in the U.S. Marines during World War II and is trained as a code talker, using his native language to radio battlefield information and commands in a code that was kept secret until 1969. Rooted in his Navajo consciousness and traditions even in dealing with fear, loneliness, and the horrors of the battlefield, Ned tells of his experiences in Hawaii, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The book, addressed to Ned's grandchildren, ends with an author's note about the code talkers as well as lengthy acknowledgments and a bibliography. The narrative pulls no punches about war's brutality and never adopts an avuncular tone. Not every section of the book is riveting, but slowly the succession of scenes, impressions, and remarks build to create a solid, memorable portrayal of Ned Begay. Even when facing complex negative forces within his own country, he is able to reach into his traditional culture to find answers that work for him in a modern context. Readers who choose the book for the attraction of Navajo code talking and the heat of battle will come away with more than they ever expected to find. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Paperback: 231 pages
Publisher: Speak (July 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142405965
ISBN-13: 978-0142405963

Sold by Patricia McCormack

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up – As this heartbreaking story opens, 13-year-old Lakshmi lives an ordinary life in Nepal, going to school and thinking of the boy she is to marry. Then her gambling-addicted stepfather sells her into prostitution in India. Refusing to be with men, she is beaten and starved until she gives in. Written in free verse, the girls first-person narration is horrifying and difficult to read. In between, men come./They crush my bones with their weight./They split me open./Then they disappear. I hurt./I am torn and bleeding where the men have been. The spare, unadorned text matches the barrenness of Lakshmis new life. She is told that if she works off her familys debt, she can leave, but she soon discovers that this is virtually impossible. When a boy who runs errands for the girls and their clients begins to teach her to read, she feels a bit more alive, remembering what it feels like to be the number one girl in class again. When an American comes to the brothel to rescue girls, Lakshmi finally gets a sense of hope. An authors note confirms what readers fear: thousands of girls, like Lakshmi in this story, are sold into prostitution each year. Part of McCormicks research for this novel involved interviewing women in Nepal and India, and her depth of detail makes the characters believable and their misery palpable. This important book was written in their honor.–Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Lakshmi, 13, knows nothing about the world beyond her village shack in the Himalayas of Nepal, and when her family loses the little it has in a monsoon, she grabs a chance to work as a maid in the city so she can send money back home. What she doesn't know is that her stepfather has sold her into prostitution. She ends up in a brothel far across the border in the slums of Calcutta, locked up, beaten, starved, drugged, raped, "torn and bleeding," until she submits. In beautiful clear prose and free verse that remains true to the child's viewpoint, first-person, present-tense vignettes fill in Lakshmi's story. The brutality and cruelty are ever present ("I have been beaten here, / locked away, / violated a hundred times / and a hundred times more"), but not sensationalized. An unexpected act of kindness is heartbreaking ("I do not know a word / big enough to hold my sadness"). One haunting chapter brings home the truth of "Two Worlds": the workers love watching The Bold and the Beautifulon TV though in the real world, the world they know, a desperate prostitute may be approached to sell her own child. An unforgettable account of sexual slavery as it exists now. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786851724
ISBN-13: 978-0786851720

Mississippi Trial 1955 by Chris Crowe

From Publishers Weekly
Basing his promising debut novel on historical events, Crowe adopts the point of view of a white teenager confronting racism in the 1950s South. Hiram Hillburn has resented his civil-rights-minded father ever since the age of nine, when his parents moved him from his adored grandfather's home in Greenwood, Miss., to the more liberal climate of an Arizona college town. Now that he is 16, Hiram has finally been permitted to visit Grampa Hillburn again. Crowe takes a bit too much time before arriving at the central action: the lynching of Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who reputedly made "ugly remarks" to a white woman, and the nationally publicized trial, in which the murderers were acquitted. However, the author takes a nuanced approach to ethical dilemmas and his plotting seems lifelike. Events force Hiram to question his willingness to stand up for his beliefs and to reevaluate his understanding of the animosity between his grandfather and father. The characterizations are sketched with care, from the white lawyers who mock the black witnesses they cross-examine, to R.C., the bully whom Hiram suspects of participating in the crime, to R.C.'s sister, whom Hiram likes. If the conclusion feels a little hasty, Crowe's otherwise measured treatment will get readers thinking. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-While visiting relatives in Mississippi, Emmett Till, 14, spoke "ugly" to a white woman and was subsequently tortured and murdered. Two men were arrested and tried for this heinous crime, but in spite of substantial evidence, were found not guilty. Crowe has woven the plot of his novel around these historical events. Hiram, the fictional main character, had lived with his grandparents in Mississippi as a child. Now 16, he returns to visit his aging grandfather, where he meets Emmett Till. He also renews a childhood acquaintance with R.C. Rydell, a redneck bully. When Emmett's mutilated body is found, Hiram immediately suspects that R.C. was involved. In a predictable twist at the end, he learns that it was his grandfather, not R.C., who helped the murderers. The Deep South setting is well realized. Descriptions of the climate, food, and landscape are vivid and on target. Likewise, Southern racial attitudes from the period are accurately portrayed. Grampa is a racist but Hiram enables readers to see his good qualities as well. Hiram himself seems rather naive. He is unable to fathom the racial prejudice at the root of his father's alienation from his grandfather. Nor does he feel the aura of racial fear and hatred that hangs over the entire region. The novel succeeds in telling Emmett Till's story, but there is an emotional distance that keeps readers from caring as deeply as they should about this crime. Still, it is a story that needs to be told. This book belongs in all collections to show young readers the full range of American history.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Specs:
Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Speak (November 24, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142501921
ISBN-13: 978-0142501924

Breath by Donna Jo Napoli

Grade 8 Up-Legend has it that in 1284 the city of Hameln (or Hamelin) suffered a plague of rats of which they tried to rid themselves by hiring a piper to lead the vermin away. When the residents reneged on their payment to him, he led their children away, as well. This tale has proved fertile ground for a lot of literature, from the 19th-century poem by Robert Browning to a 20th-century novel by Gloria Skurzynski. Now Napoli adds Breath-and breadth-to the canon. She includes the potent elements of ergot poisoning and suspected witchcraft in her plot, which is narrated by 12-year-old Salz-a boy whose frequent, serious illnesses render him almost useless on his family's farm. (An afterword explains that he has cystic fibrosis.) The author vividly describes the frightening conditions facing the townspeople and their increasingly desperate attempts to understand and overcome the torrential rains; the rat infestation; the diseases afflicting their livestock; and the physical, mental, and sexual maladies that beset them. Salz is an intelligent observer who is tried for witchcraft when he doesn't succumb to the same illnesses as the rest of the population. (He doesn't drink the beer made from the infected grain.) Readers unfamiliar with the psychotropic effects of ergot poisoning may be as mystified as these medieval citizens by the events presented here. Salz's illness is likely to be equally puzzling until it is explained in the postscript. The confusion and speculation this ignorance might produce are realistically portrayed, but it's possible that foreknowledge would provide a richer reading experience for teens.
Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Gr. 8-12. It is the late thirteenth century, and Hameln town and its surroundings are overwhelmed by a terrible, incurable illness. Everywhere animals are sick and dying; humans may be next. What can be causing the scourge? Perhaps it's the result of the recent infestation of rats. No one knows for sure, but Salz hopes the piper he meets has the answers. Napoli has written a grotesquely powerful reimagining of the familiar German legend (and Robert Browning poem) about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Seen through the eyes of a boy who himself suffers a mysterious illness, the medieval setting is a world of ignorance, superstition, and cruelty, which owes more to Pieter Bruegel the Elder (one of his paintings is used on the jacket) than to Browning. Relentlessly downbeat and dense with ghastly details and vivid depictions of the fear and despair visited on the illness' victims, this is definitely not for the faint of heart. History buffs, however, and Napoli fans will find it inarguably artful in its unsparing vision of a pre-Enlightenment Europe. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (June 21, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 068986177X
ISBN-13: 978-0689861772

The Day it Snowed Tortillas: Folktales told in English and Spanish by Joe Hayes

Kids of all ages are always asking Joe Hayes, "How can it snow tortillas?" Well, now they’ll know where to find the answer—at long last, Joe’s signature book The Day It Snowed Tortillas is appearing in this new bilingual edition. Bloomsbury Review listed the original English-only edition as one of their fifteen all-time favorite children’s books. Our bilingual edition has all the original stories as they have evolved in the last twenty years of Joe’s storytelling. It also has new illustrations by award-winning artist Antonio Castro. Storytellers have been telling these stories in the villages of New Mexico since the Spanish first came to the New World over four hundred years ago, but Joe always adds his own nuances for modern audiences. The tales are full of magic and fun. In the title story, for instance, a very clever woman saves her silly husband from a band of robbers. She makes the old man believe it snowed tortillas during the night! In another story, a young boy gladly gives up all of his wages for good advice. His parents think he is a fool, but the good advice leads to wealth and a royal marriage. The enchantment continues in story after story—a clever thief tricks a king for his kingdom and a prince finds his beloved in a house full of wicked step-sisters. And of course, we listen again to the ancient tale of the weeping woman, La Llorona, who still searches for her drowned children along the riverbanks.
Joe Hayes is one of America’s premier storytellers. He is especially recognized for his bilingual telling of stories from the Hispanic culture of northern New Mexico. Joe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and travels extensively throughout the United States, visiting schools and storytelling festivals.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2003)
Language: English, Spanish
ISBN-10: 0938317768
ISBN-13: 978-0938317760

What a fun fun book to read. This book contained funny and scary stories. Some that you knew were fake and others that taught a good lesson. I am a little confused as to the reading age: I wouldn't necessarily call this a YA novel, but I was assigned to read it as one, and after the class discussion will probably have more to add. For now, I would recommend this as a fun novel for all ages.

Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos

*Starred Review* In his first novel for young adults, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1987) proves himself to be a powerful, adept storyteller for teens. Rico, a Cuban American teen growing up in Harlem in the late 1960s, is tired—of working extra jobs to help his family; of the chaos and tragedy at school, where students are so inured to violence that, when classes close after a shooting, they behave “like it was suddenly a holiday”; of being hassled for his light skin and hair. When his parents threaten to send him to a military school in Florida, he runs away. Together with his best friend, Jimmy, who has just kicked a heroin habit, Rico hitchhikes to Wisconsin, where Gilberto, an older-brother figure from Harlem, has bought a farm that he shares with several hippie college students. In an unwavering, utterly believable voice, Rico details his midwestern year, in which he adjusts to rural life, falls in love, and pursues his comic-book-writing aspirations. Most of all, though, he searches for a sense of self, ultimately realizing that “where you are doesn’t change who you are.” Frank, gritty, vibrant, and wholly absorbing, Rico’s story will hold teens with its celebration of friendship and its fundamental questions about life purpose, family responsibility, and the profound ways that experience shapes identity. Grades 9-12. --Gillian Engberg

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Atheneum; 1 edition (September 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 141694804X
ISBN-13: 978-1416948049

I read this book as an assignment, and we all know what kind of attitude that can invoke. When I honestly saw the cover I was a little confused. I was a picture of a white kid with his back turned looking at graffiti! And of course, as I read the book I found that I fell into the typical person that makes Rico so upset. (turns out he isn't white) Definetly a book for the older grades - not something you would find me teaching in a 9th or 10th grade classroom.

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Amazon.com Review
Burdened with the pressure of believing she is responsible for her brother's illness, 15-year-old Callie begins a course of self-destruction that leads to her being admitted to Sea Pines, a psychiatric hospital the "guests" refer to as Sick Minds. Although initially she refuses to speak, her individual and group therapy sessions trigger memories and insights. Slowly, she begins emerging from her miserable silence, ultimately understanding the role her dysfunctional family played in her brother's health crisis.
Patricia McCormick's first novel is authentic and deeply moving. Callie suffers from a less familiar teen problem--she cuts herself to relieve her inner frustrations and guilt. The hope and hard-won progress that comes at the conclusion of the novel is believable and heartening for any teen reader who feels alone in her (or his) angst. Along with Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and E.L. Konigsburg's Silent to the Bone, McCormick's Cut expertly tackles an unusual response to harrowing adolescent trouble. (Ages 14 and older) --Emilie Coulter


Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Push; First Edition edition (February 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439324599
ISBN-13: 978-0439324595

Hmm, I think my recommendation for this novel is the same as the one I had for Speak and Distorted. This book covers a hard topic, but in a "nice" way. The author's approach to writing puts the reader in the therapist's seat, which could prove very helpful for someone who is reading this as the loved one and/or friend of a teen suffering from the same problems. A great approach to a tough topic!

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse and Marika Mashburn

Product Description
When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heartwrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring. This award winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental and emotional turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength.

*review from Amazon.com*

Another great book, and a plesing approach to poetry. I am an English Major, but can I be honest and say that poetry and I just don't get along! And I have a feeling that I am not the only one out there. So as a lover/hater of poetry I might Have a connection with my students. This book will be a good way to bridge the gap between students (or yourself) and poetry. Just be prepared, the storyline in this one isn't for the weak!

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Amazon.com Review
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*review taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (September 10, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440237688
ISBN-13: 978-0440237686


I know that this book is read by high school children across the continent...but I don't think I had ever joined the bandwagon until this year. As I read through The Giver it felt so familiar, I knew what was going to happen as I turned the page; but whether that knowledge was my super powers (which I rarely talk about) or the old memories of reading the book, I loved this book! (has there been a book yet that I haven't liked?) I can also see why this is such a popular novel for use in HS - it would make for some great discussions!

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 5-9–Napoli takes the elements of the traditional Chinese version of "Cinderella" and creates a powerful and moving story. Xing Xing is left to the mercy of her stepmother after the death of her father. Focusing on a good marriage for her own big-footed daughter, the woman binds the poor girl's feet even though she is past the usual age for this painful procedure. Xing Xing's only pleasure is her daily contact with a beautiful white carp in the pond where she draws water. To her, the fish seems to be the spirit of her mother helping her endure her difficult life. When the stepmother kills it, the girl is devastated, but she retrieves the bones from the garbage heap and, in the process of hiding them, discovers a green silk gown and gold slippers that belonged to her mother. Dressed in this rich garb, Xing Xing goes to the festival where she loses one slipper in her effort to escape detection. The slipper is eventually bought by an unconventional prince; when he finally finds its owner, Xing Xing considers her options and decides to marry him. Napoli retains the pattern of the traditional Chinese tale with only a few minor changes: she sets the story in the northern province of Shaanxi during the Ming dynasty rather than in a minority community in southern China. She fleshes out and enriches the story with well-rounded characters and with accurate information about a specific time and place in Chinese history; the result is a dramatic and masterful retelling.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-12. Drawing from traditional Chinese Cinderella stories, Napoli sets this tale in a small village during China's Ming period. Since her beloved father's death, Xing Xing has become "hardly more than a slave," serving her acrimonious stepmother and pitiable stepsister, Wei Ping, whose botched, bloody foot binding has left her perilously unwell. A dangerous trip in search of medicine for Wei Ping brings Xing Xing into the wider world, but she returns to find home more treacherous than before. Napoli creates strong, unforgettable characters--particularly talented, sympathetic Xing Xing--and her haunting, sometimes violent tale amplifies themes from well-known Western Cinderella stories, making them fascinating questions: Could ancestors serve as "fairy godmothers"? In a society that so grossly undervalues females, what does "happily ever after" really mean? Teens and teachers will want to discuss the layered themes of freedom, captivity, love, human rights, and creative endeavor within this powerful survival story, which, like the yin and yang forces Xing Xing thinks about, balances between terror and tenderness, and is both subversive and rooted in tradition. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*reviews taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (August 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689861788
ISBN-13: 978-0689861789

What a fun twist on an old fairy tale! One thing that I find so interesting is that no matter what culture you live in, the basis of the fairytale usually exist. We may call a character a Fairy Godmother, others may call that character the Spirit of an ancestor, but either way the spirit of the story stays the same. As the reviews state above, some of the retelling of this story is so vivd that you are actually there. But this was a book that I was able to read in between errands in the course of one day! A quick read and so so good!

Briar Rose - Jane Yolen

From Publishers Weekly
Windling's Fairy Tale series has produced several excellent fantasy novels inspired by classic fairy tales. This is one of the series's most ambitious efforts, and only a writer as good as Yolen ( Sister Light, Sister Dark ) could bring it off. Yolen takes the story of Briar Rose (commonly known as Sleeping Beauty) and links it to the Holocaust--a far-from-obvious connection that she makes perfectly convincing. Rebecca Berlin, a young woman who has grown up hearing her grandmother Gemma tell an unusual and frightening version of the Sleeping Beauty legend, realizes when Gemma dies that the fairy tale offers one of the very few clues she has to her grandmother's past. To discover the facts behind Gemma's story, Rebecca travels to Poland, the setting for the book's most engrossing scenes and its most interesting, best-developed characters. By interpolating Gemma's vivid and imaginative story into the larger narrative, Yolen has created an engrossing novel. She handles a difficult subject with finesse in a book that should be required reading for anyone who is tempted to dismiss fantasy as a frivolous genre.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
A young woman's promise to her dying grandmother leads her on a quest to discover the truth of her own family's mysterious beginnings in this grim retelling of the classic fairy tale "Briar Rose," or "The Sleeping Beauty." In Yolen's modern-day version, the wall of thorns becomes a barbed-wire prison, while the sleeping princess is both victim and heroine. The latest in the "Fairy Tale" series showcases Yolen's skill at transforming the real world into a realm of fantasy. A good selection for adult and YA fantasy collections.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen (March 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765342308
ISBN-13: 978-0765342300


After reading this novel, Bound, and The Witch's Boy, I have become a sucker for fairy tales retold! This book made a startling connection between Sleeping Beauty, (one of my favorite fairy tales) and the Holocaust. And even though I knew that this novel was a "Holocaust" novel, the entire time I read it I was enthralled. I had to know what would happen next, and I remember that the day I read it I was so happy the sun was out. I let my kids play on the playground for the 2 1/2 hours it took me to read the entire novel! Amazing writing and great talent. After reading this novel, I am definetly putting Jane Yolen on my list of must read authors!!

The First Part Last - Angela Johnson

Bobby, the teenage artist and single-parent dad in Johnson's Coretta Scott King Award winner, Heaven (1998), tells his story here. At 16, he's scared to be raising his baby, Feather, but he's totally devoted to caring for her, even as she keeps him up all night, and he knows that his college plans are on hold. In short chapters alternating between "now" and "then," he talks about the baby that now fills his life, and he remembers the pregnancy of his beloved girlfriend, Nia. Yes, the teens' parents were right. The couple should have used birth control; adoption could have meant freedom. But when Nia suffers irreversible postpartum brain damage, Bobby takes their newborn baby home. There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*this summary was pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:
144 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (December 28, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689849230
ISBN-13: 978-0689849237

This book was a really quick read! ANd for being such a quick read I really liked it. The story seems to be well developed in a small amount of space. The thoughts of the character are reflected in the writing: you can read through the exhaustion of Bobby. The plot twist about Nia was a little unexpected, although after I read the book I did some research on her condition and found that the medical condition was described right on and that if you knew what to look for the clues were throughout the entire novel.

Some reviews claim that this book is appropriate for grade 6 and up, others claim it is appropriate for grade 8 and up - personally I wouldn't use this book in a classroom younger than 9th or 10th grade, with 9th grade pushing it.

Some things to be wary of: mild language and one brief scene of intimacy.

Godless - by Pete Hautman

Thoughts from the Author himself!!

A FEW THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...


What sort of book is Godless? It's coming-of-age story, a comedy, a tragedy, a drama, an adventure. I've been told that the title makes it sound like a scary, violent tale about someone or something evil. It is not. My intention was never to equate godlessness with evil. They are not the same thing at all. I was thinking of the temporary godlessness that descends upon a person who is actively searching for his or her faith. Maybe I should have called it "Churchless."
Godless is neither pro- nor anti-religion. The main character. Jason Bock, is Roman Catholic, but he could as easily be Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim.
Godless is not about God. It doesn't weigh in on the existence or nature of a Supreme Being. It is not about which religion is the truest, or the best. It's about how people--teenagers in particular--deal with the questions that arise when their faith has been shaken.
If you strip away the whole religion thing, Godless is about a big fat nerdy kid named Jason Bock who has an excess of smarts and imagination, and his relationship with his even nerdier snail-collecting best friend Shin.
Godless is about the power of ideas--Jason conceives the Chutengodian religion, he sets it in motion, but he is unprepared for the consequences. This is a latch-key teenage moment--our first conscious realization that the expression of our own beliefs can have a huge impact on the beliefs of others--especially our friends. It's about discovering personal power, and the heady experience of plying it.*



WHY I WROTE GODLESS...

Godless was inspired by two events in my life.
First, I read a story about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons. On September 22, 1827, Smith was just another 14-year-old kid who was vaguely dissatisfied with the faith of his fathers. On that day, according to church teachings, the angel Moroni appeared to Smith and revealed the location of golden tablets containing the Book of Mormon. Pretty soon young Joseph had created one of the most successful of the modern-day religions. Reading his story I thought, wow--what an incredible coming-of-age story that is!
Then I remembered something I hadn't thought about for more than 35 years--a brief teenage interlude when I and a few of my friends devised a mock-religion worshipping the St. Louis Park water tower. It was a summer goof, a way to be irreverant and...well, teens are easily bored, y'know? Anyway, we had this whole epistemology, a pantheon of water tower gods in which the towers belonging to other cities were lesser deities, and so forth. It was something I did for a few weeks one summer and then forgot about.
One thing you learn when you write teen books--all those uncomfortable, embarrassing memories you worked so hard to erase, they're still in there. It all came back to me in a rush.
Godless is not a memoir. It's fiction through and through. But the feelings and the questions raised by the characters are quite real. I know. I was there.

*http://www.petehautman.com/godless.html*


Wow! This book was such an interesting book. I liked it, and I liked how it made me think. The underlying story that progresses through the chapter headings was by far one of my most favorite things. I say a big kudos to Mr. Hautman for a job well done on a thought-provoking book!

A teacher's guide to teaching godless
can also be found at www.petehautman.com/godless.html

Book Specs:
Crown Forum; 4th Printing edition (June 6, 2006)
ISBN-10: 1400054206
ISBN-13: 978-1400054206
320 pages

The Witch's Boy - by Michael Gruber

One lovely spring morning, a witch ventures out to collect her daily herbs. Much to her surprise, she finds a baby in a basket outside her door. But this is no ordinary baby; it is the ugliest child anyone has ever seen, and tied to its basket is a note: "the devil's child for the devil's wife." The witch is taken aback: "Witches are supposed to eat babies, not feed them," she says. But she surprises herself by feeling an odd fondness for the ugly child, who she names Lump, and she assembles a sort of family to help her care for the boy: a she-bear, a malevolent demon, and her familiar, a cat named Falance.

As Lump grows, he struggles to find his own magical powers and his relationship to the other humans nearby. In the meantime, his foster mother has the same problems as working mothers everywhere: how to balance her time between tending the Midsummer fires and caring for her child. The witch, who is more powerful than Lump understands, is mystified by motherhood. She thinks, "I have always known what to do; I see the Pattern clear as my own hand, and I follow it and am content. But there is no guide here, and every path I can see leads to some pain. Perhaps this is part of having a child; the Pattern is of no use, and there is this aching in my heart."

Soon enough, disaster strikes, and Lump, the witch, and Falance hit the road. Robbed of her powers when she makes the ultimate sacrifice for her child, the witch must find a new life for herself: "It is the case that I cannot be both a mother and a witch, or not the sort of witch I was." In the meantime, Lump grows more distant, demanding, and hard to love. Fashioning themselves as The Faeryland Outcasts, the three perform magic and meet dozens of characters who will be vaguely familiar to readers from other fairy tales.

THE WITCH'S BOY, though, is far more than a fractured fairy tale. Although many of the characters, settings, and situations are borrowed from folklore, the complexities of plot and theme go far beyond simple fairy stories. The conflicted relationship between mother and son, the psychological pain inflicted on the boy Lump, the ways all the characters must step out of themselves to find friendship and love, the unexpected places where magic is found --- all these elements elevate THE WITCH'S BOY from a simple fairy story to a haunting, fully developed tale of magic, mystery, growth, and love.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

*http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0060761644.asp*

I absolutely loved this novel!! Perfect for those who love fantasy, but also delightful for those who like a good twist on an old favorite. This is a book that I would recommend for grades 6-12.

Book Specs:

HarperTempest
Fantasy/Literary Fairy Tale
ISBN: 0060761644
384 pages

How Joe Succeeded

A 1900s novel about a cross-dressing lumber jack who wear his grandmother's pearls, which he finds inside a turnover. Grandmother put them in there b/c "Joe had always enjoyed them, much more than [his sister] and Grandmother knew he would need them. Life as a limberjack was going to be hard!"


I seriously got a kick out of this one - and it was only something like 70 pages, so it was a very fast, very easy (so long as you could read through the tears caused by laughter) read!

Cherry Aimes Clinic Nurse by Julie Tatham

Well, written in 1952, Cherry Ames Clinic Nurse by Julie Tatham, was most definetly different than any I had read before. The plot line of the book is this:

As she leaves Hilton Clinic one afternoon, Cherry is kidnapped, driven blindfolded to a mysterious location, and forced at gunpoint to help treat a gunshot wound.
(http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/book13.html)

The writing is definetly relfective of the time period, and well, I just couldn't get myself to read all of this one. Maybe because I am spoiled or maybe I am just used to the writing styles of today, but I just couldn't read it all.

If you are one who enjoys "the way things used to be" then this would have to be a book for you!

"Your job," Dr. Joe had told her soberly, "in one respect will be very like that of an office nurse working for a physician in private practice."
--From Cherry Ames,
Clinic Nurse, p. 3

War Is: soldiers, survivors, and storytellers talk about war by Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell

*Starred Review* In his provocatively titled introduction, “People Like War,” Aronson writes: “If we ask people to fight for us—as we always have and always will—we owe them the respect of listening to them.” Though differing (passionately) about war’s inevitability, his coeditor, Campbell, feels likewise, and joins him in presenting a gathering of reminiscences, interviews, letters, published articles, and literary works that brilliantly convey war’s terrible appeal as well as its realities and lasting effects on those whose lives are personally touched by armed conflict. Contributions include Ernie Pyle’s eloquent account of wreckage on a D-Day beach, a Vietnam vet’s nightmarish memories of combat, jokey letters home by Campbell’s naive doughboy father, scathing accounts of sexual harassment in Iraq and elsewhere from several female ex-GIs, and a disturbing indictment of recruiting practices in today’s high schools. Anyone considering enlistment will find these pieces (not to mention the many titles provided in the ample but not indigestible lists of war fiction and nonfiction at the end) to be mesmerizing reading. With this collection, Aronson and Campbell have provided an uncommonly valuable source of hard information and perceptive insight. Grades 10-12. --John Peters --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Marc Aronson thinks war is inevitable. Patty Campbell thinks war is cruel, deceptive, and wrong. But both agree on one thing: that teens need to hear the truthful voices of those who have experienced war firsthand. The result is this dynamic selection of essays, memoirs, letters, and fiction from nearly than twenty contributors, both contemporary and historical — ranging from Christian Bauman's wrenching "Letter to a Young Enlistee" to Chris Hedges's unfl inching look at combat to Fumiko Miura's Nagasaki memoir, "A Survivor's Tale." Whether the speaker is Mark Twain, World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, or a soldier writing a miliblog, these divergent pieces look war straight in the face — and provide an invaluable resource for teenagers today.

*both reviews pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (February 10, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763642312
ISBN-13: 978-0763642310


This book was so very provocative. As I read the opening essay by one of the editors(Aronson) he made a point that I personally didn't agree with, initially. He says we humans like war, we crave war. I thought, he is so wrong, but after reading through the stories and letters and other things contained in this novel, I think I might have begun to agree with him.

This book is listed as being appropriate for grades 10 -12, I definetly agree! The only way I might use this book in a 9th grade class is if the maturity level of my sutdents called for it.

If you want to stretch your mind and are open to thinking about War in a new way, this is definetly the book for you!

The Wee Free Men - Terri Prachett

Grade 5-7-Tiffany, an extremely competent nine-year-old, takes care of her irritating brother, makes good cheese on her father's farm, and knows how to keep secrets. When monsters from Fairyland invade her world and her brother disappears, Tiffany, armed only with her courage, clear-sightedness, a manual of sheep diseases, and an iron frying pan, goes off to find him. Her search leads her to a showdown with the Fairy Queen. It is clear from the beginning that Tiffany is a witch, and a mighty powerful one. The book is full of witty dialogue and a wacky cast of characters, including a toad (formerly a lawyer). Much of the humor is supplied by the alcohol-swilling, sheep-stealing pictsies, the Wee Free Men of the title, who are six-inches high and speak in a broad Scottish brogue. (The fact that readers will not understand some of the dialect won't matter, as Tiffany doesn't understand either, and it is all part of the joke.) These terrors of the fairy world are Tiffany's allies, and she becomes their temporary leader as they help her search for the Fairy Queen. Once the story moves into Fairyland it becomes more complex, with different levels of dream states (or, rather, nightmares) and reality interweaving. Tiffany's witchcraft eschews the flamboyant tricks of wizards; it is quiet, inconspicuous magic, grounded in the earth and tempered with compassion, wisdom, and justice for common folk. Not as outrageous and perhaps not as inventive as The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (HarperCollins, 2001), The Wee Free Men has a deeper, more human interest and is likely to have wider appeal. All in all, this is a funny and thought-provoking fantasy, with powerfully visual scenes and characters that remain with readers. A glorious read.
Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (May 25, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060012382
ISBN-13: 978-0060012380

If you want a book that is hilariously funny and heart-warming all at the same time: Read this! Terry Prachett does an amazing job of building the land of faerie and before you know it you are in love with the Wee Free Men and their Scottish brouge. You feel as surely as Tiffany does and in the end, you feel satisfied with the questions answered, and new ones brewing! This book is suggested for 5th - 7th grade, probably because the protagonist is 9 years old, but I see no reason why you couldn't teach this in a classroom for older students: heck, I am almost 30 and this has got to be one of my most favorite books ever! And, I haven't experienced the book as an audio, but I hear that it is really funny!

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

*Starred Review* Like the author of this breakthrough debut novel, Amal is an Australian-born, Muslim Palestinian "whacked with some seriously confusing identity hyphens." At 16, she loves shopping, watches Sex and the City, and IMs her friends about her crush on a classmate. She also wants to wear the hijab, to be strong enough to show a badge of her deeply held faith, even if she confronts insults from some at her snotty prep school, and she is refused a part-time job in the food court (she is "not hygienic"). Her open-minded observant physician parents support her and so do her friends, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, secular. Her favorite teacher finds her a private space to pray. The first-person present-tense narrative is hilarious about the diversity, and sometimes heartbreaking. For her uncle who wants to assimilate, "foreign" is the f-word, and his overdone Aussie slang and flag-waving is a total embarrassment. On the other hand, her friend Leila nearly breaks down when her ignorant Turkish mom wants only to marry her daughter off ("Why study?") and does not know that it is Leila's Islamic duty "to seek knowledge, to gain an education." Without heavy preaching, the issues of faith and culture are part of the story, from fasting at Ramadan to refusing sex before marriage. More than the usual story of the immigrant teen's conflict with her traditional parents, the funny, touching contemporary narrative will grab teens everywhere. Rochman, Hazel --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 043992233X
ISBN-13: 978-0439922333

I am the Messenger - Markus Zusack

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up - Nineteen-year-old cabbie Ed Kennedy has little in life to be proud of: his dad died of alcoholism, and he and his mom have few prospects for success. He has little to do except share a run-down apartment with his faithful yet smelly dog, drive his taxi, and play cards and drink with his amiable yet similarly washed-up friends. Then, after he stops a bank robbery, Ed begins receiving anonymous messages marked in code on playing cards in the mail, and almost immediately his life begins to swerve off its beaten-down path. Usually the messages instruct him to be at a certain address at a certain time. So with nothing to lose, Ed embarks on a series of missions as random as a toss of dice: sometimes daredevil, sometimes heartwarmingly safe. He rescues a woman from nightly rape by her husband. He brings a congregation to an abandoned parish. The ease with which he achieves results vacillates between facile and dangerous, and Ed's search for meaning drives him to complete every task. But the true driving force behind the novel itself is readers' knowledge that behind every turn looms the unknown presence - either good or evil - of the person or persons sending the messages. Zusak's characters, styling, and conversations are believably unpretentious, well conceived, and appropriately raw. Together, these key elements fuse into an enigmatically dark, almost film-noir atmosphere where unknowingly lost Ed Kennedy stumbles onto a mystery - or series of mysteries - that could very well make or break his life. - Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*taken from amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (May 9, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375836675
ISBN-13: 978-0375836671

The above review casts this as a novel appropriate for 9th grade. I am not entirely sure I am okay with that, I would probably only teach this particular novel in 11th or 12th grade, partially due to the few opening chapters which introduce some language and a few interspersed sexual references. My personal feelings on this book are quite amiable. I enjoyed the book from beginning to end and found myself breezing through the almost 400 pages, just so that I could discover the answer to the mystery. A gripping tale that keeps you turning pages until at last, you find yourself at the back cover.

Distorted: How a Mother and Daughter Unraveled the Truth, the Lies, and the Realities of an Eating Disorder by Lorri Antosz and Taryn Leigh Benson

Mom saw a popular, happy teen, poised to revel in her high school years; her daughter saw a fat, ugly loser, and vowed to take action. One saw glimmers of hope and researched to find the best care; the other had no intentions of getting better and researched new and clever ways to hide her compulsion. Such is the distorted reality in this riveting true account of a teen caught in the grips of an eating disorder and the mother who struggled to help her break free.


Through their gripping dual narrative, Lorri and Taryn Benson take turns chronicling their unique perceptions of events once Taryn was caught in the act of her first purge. With unflinching frankness, they reveal the deceit, the guilt, the shame, and the manipulations that are inherent in this enigmatic disease, unveiling the true picture of what happens to the family dynamic once an eating disorder takes hold. Much more than a cautionary tale, Distorted illustrates the psychological factors that underline the beginning and spread of the disease, the successful and unsuccessful therapies, and the consequences the disease had on themselves and their family.


Triumphantly, the two women share what was ultimately needed to bring the truth to light, providing guidance for anyone struggling with or affected by an eating disorder. Their two stories--woven together as one powerful beacon of hope--will offer insight and comfort to families, spouses, and loved ones who feel helpless and alone.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: HCI (February 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0757305946
ISBN-13: 978-0757305948

This book was gripping, I read it within a 2 hour time span (what with kids needing attention and all) and was totally enthralled! Very graphic,and withholding nothing these two brave women tell a story that allows the reader to experience emotions that both are feeling. A great way to "experience" this type of situation without having to be in the situation. Maybe not a book for everyone, and maybe not one to wholly discuss in a classroom setting, but the thoughts are very real and very realtable to some who may have been there, or are there now.

The White Darkness - Gene Mccaughrean

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up—As with Not the End of the World (HarperTempest, 2005), McCaughrean weaves a tale of obsession and personal growth against the backdrop of nature's unrelenting power. Fourteen-year-old Sym Wates is fascinated with the Antarctic and the men who explored it, even to the point of creating an internal confidante in the form of Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates, who was part of the doomed Scott expedition 90 years earlier. So when her "Uncle" Victor whisks the painfully shy, hearing-impaired teen away on a surprise trip to the South Pole, it seems like a dream come true. But Victor has his own agenda, seeking the legendary Symmes's Hole, portal to the interior of a hollow Earth. The lengths to which the madman pursues this quest provide the book with a dramatic drive and powerful revelations. Sym makes for an engaging (if occasionally melodramatic) narrator, although aspects of her character, such as her hearing loss, are not fully developed. An afterword on Scott's expedition in 1911 is included.—Christi Voth, Parker Library, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Fourteen-year-old Symone's only friend is an imaginary incarnation of Captain Laurence "Titus" Oates, an explorer who accompanied Robert Scott on his failed expedition to the South Pole. Sym is passionate about the Antarctic and her infatuation is fed by Uncle Victor, an eccentric family friend who has cared for Sym and her mother since Sym's father's death. When Victor surprises Sym with a trip to "the Ice," she has some doubts, especially when she discovers that her mother can't come. But her excitement overshadows her initial misgivings--until she realizes that Uncle Victor has an obsession of his own that runs deeper than the glaciers and threatens her life. It's not always clear whether Titus' voice is imagined or if it's meant to be shy, bookish Sym's only link to the outside world, but McCaughrean's lyrical language actively engages the senses, plunging readers into a captivating landscape that challenges the boundaries of reality. Best suited to older, better readers despite the age of the protagonist, this imaginative, intellectually demanding novel offers plenty of action. Jennifer Hubert
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*review pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen; Reprint edition (December 30, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060890371
ISBN-13: 978-0060890377

Wow!this was a good read. I found this book to be thought provoking and relatable to YA adults who struggle with finding their voice. I would caution that the Uncle in this novel is portrayed in such a way that makes him seem creepy in a sexual way, but as it turns out, he is just plain crazy!! A thrilling read that makes a lot of connections that maybe aren't discovered until after a thorough discussion...Frankenstein anyone???

The Smile - by Donna Jo Napoli

The identity of the woman the world calls Mona Lisa has ignited speculation since Leonardo da Vinci created her portrait and left it untitled, unsigned, and undated. In this richly embroidered romance set in Renaissance Florence, Napoli imagines the young life of the woman behind the famous smile. Thirteen-year-old Elisabetta, the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant, is starting to think of marriage when Leonardo da Vinci, a family friend, introduces her to young heir Giuliano de’ Medici. The teenagers share an instant attraction that deepens into friendship and, finally, love. Political turmoil that escalates into war threatens the young romance, though, and Elisabetta is caught between her passionate attachment to Giuliano and her dutiful obligations to her family. Napoli skillfully draws readers into the vibrant settings, from opulent Florentine palaces to rustic hillside villas, with tangible, sensory details that enliven the novel’s intriguing references to history and art. Elisabetta’s strength and individuality, as she grows into marriage and motherhood, will captivate readers, as will her wonderment over love’s complexity. Grades 8-11. --Gillian Engberg

*review pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (October 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525479996
ISBN-13: 978-0525479994

This was the first book I read by Donna Jo Napoli. I really enjoyed the book and thought it to be very well written. As a matter of fact, I can now say that I have read several other books by her (see Bound and Hush) and I really really like Napoli's style of writing. I agree with the age level that is recommended for this book.

I also checked out her website and saw the Napoli writes children's books as well. I have read some of those and found them to be delightful. Some of her other YA novels, I might not use until 10th or 11th grade, but I would definetly use her novels in a classroom setting.

Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen

Imagine being beaten for learning to read, shackled and whipped for learning a few letters of the alphabet. Now, imagine a man brave enough to risk torture in order to teach others how to read; his name is Nightjohn, and he sneaks into the slave camps at night to teach other slaves how to read and write. Celebrated author Gary Paulsen writes a searing meditation on why the ability to read and write is radical, empowering , and so necessary to our freedom. These skills threaten our oppressors because they allow us to communicate--to learn the real status of our slavery and to seek liberation. In this tightly written, painful, joyous little novel is a key that may unlock the power of reading for even the most reluctant teens.

*review taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (January 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440219361
ISBN-13: 978-0440219361

The was a fast read (I read it in 45 mintues) but the lesson that it teches is one that stick with you forever. What does it mean to you to read and write? What would you give up just to learn?

Speak - by Laurie Halse Anderson

In her debut novel, Anderson's main character, fourteen-year-old Melinda Sordino, has essentially stopped speaking. One of the reasons is because the world has stopped listening to her. After calling the police on an end-of-the-summer party, Melinda enters ninth grade as a pariah, ostracized by everyone in the school, including her best friends.

"I am OUTCAST," she thinks on the first day of school as she walks down the hall facing the nasty taunts and sideways sneers with a stony veneer. She weaves through the hyena-like crowd at lunchtime and is greeted with a slap of mashed potatoes in her chest while looking for a seat. Fleeing the scene, Melinda gets in trouble with the hardened track coach and history teacher, Mr. Neck. Her voice dries up in her throat.

"It's easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say."

It's a rough first day without any bright moments until art class when Melinda finally feels a glimmer of hope. The art teacher, Mr. Freedman, explains the year's assignment --- each student will be given one object that she will have to learn about during the school year. By the end of the year, the goal is to transform the object into something that evokes emotion, something that speaks. Melinda's object is a tree. The question is, by the end of the year, will she be able to get her tree to speak if she still cannot?

With no desire to speak about her pain to her friends, family, teachers or even herself, Melinda goes through the motions of living. She breathes, eats, sleeps and observes. Securing an abandoned janitor's room at school as her safe haven, Melinda hangs up pictures, reads books, and hides away from life, and especially IT, the dangerous jock who roams the halls and torments her. IT is the nightmare of her existence, the reason her mouth, body, and mind are scarred and rendered mute.

While reading SPEAK, you spend most of your time harbored in Melinda's mind, a place often filled with pain, and sometimes biting humor. Her reality consists of an ex-bestfriend who mouths the words, "I hate you," on the first day of school --- where her harried parents don't seem to notice that her lips are scabby and raw from biting down on them. Her one and only "friend," new girl Heather, uses her for lack of any other friends. She goes through the motions, and her life is as white and blank as the snow that covers her Syracuse home. However, despite the damage that has occurred, you feel as if Melinda is just waiting, biding her time, until she feels safe enough to emerge from her hardened protective shell. But as the novel progresses, you begin to wonder, will it be too late?

Nominated for a National Book Award for Young People's Literature, SPEAK is a novel that will speak to anyone who is a teenager or was one. You can't help but empathize with Melinda's silent pain or laugh inwardly at the many cliques she describes, or the number of times her school's mascot is changed because it is deemed inappropriate by the principal. It's high school all right, and Melinda is buried in adolescent tundra and emotional strife. You shadow her, waiting until she finds her voice, and when the book draws to its climactic conclusion and the final page is turned, you will miss her.

--- Reviewed by Dana Schwartz

*review pulled from teenreads.com*


Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Speak; 10 Anv edition (March 19, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142414735
ISBN-13: 978-0142414736