24 Hours In Nowhere

This book was on the NH Great Stone Face list last year, but it evaded me somehow.  Dusti Bowling is the author, and I enjoyed her Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus very much.  Like that one, this is a realistic fiction story set in Arizona.  Gus is a small 13 year old who often gets picked on by the town bully, Bo.  When a girl named Rossi sacrifices her beloved dirtbike to save him from Bo's torments, Gus feels horribly and vows to make amends.  Bo demands he go into the local abandoned mine and retrieve a piece of gold to get the bike back.  What follows is an exciting, funny and heartwarming story of discovering yourself and others you thought you knew.  (FIC BOW)

Blue Floats Away

 

This beautiful book is about a little iceberg that breaks away from his parents and goes on a journey.  He sees new and exciting things.  He also undergoes a transformation as he goes through the water cycle.  It is a very relatable book for kids about both the stages of the water sycle but also a great launching pad for a lesson on global warming as well.  (PIC JON)

Stargazing

 

This graphic novel was a wonderful story about two very different girls who find each other.  Christine is from a very traditional Chinese-American family.  She is expected to do well in school, take Chinese lessons and play the violin.  Caring about clothes and nail polish and hanging out with friends are not encouraged.  Then Moon moves in to their garage apratment.  She gets in trouble for fighting, paints her nails, goes to concerts and lives a very different life with more freedoms.  Christine is confused that they can have the same cultural background yet live so differently.  When Moon has a health crisis, Christine feels guilt about her behavior towards Moon.  Moon ultimately encourages her to be herself.  (GN WAN)

History Smashers Pearl Harbor

My older students will DEVOUR this nonfiction series, whose goal is to smash the long-held myths about historical events.  Think Pearl Harbor was a complete surprise?  Think again.  Paul Revere rode through Massachusetts warning everyone, "The British are coming!"  Wrong.   Written at an upper-level elementary or middle school level, the book is full of graphic art, images, and primary sources that will sure to engage, excite, and educate students about the real facts surrounding the tragedy at Pearl Harbor.  (940.542 MES)

And Tango Makes Three

 

Based on the real story of two male penguins raising a baby penguin at the Central Park zoo, this was a sweet and beautiful book that kids will love.  Families come in all sizes and shapes.  Love is love - even with penguins!  (PIC RIC)

Prince and Knight

When a prince needs to find a life partner, he scours the kingdom for the right person.  All of the princesses do not seem the right fit.  Until the day, while fighting a battle with a dragon, he meets a knight in shining armor who wins his heart.  ❤🏳‍🌈  (PIC HAA)

Halfway to Harmony

Barbara O'Connor has written some wonderful and sweet realistic fiction stories, like Wish and How To Steal a Dog.  This was another lovely story about a boy named Walter.  His older brother has died and he is grappling with not only that huge loss but the change in his family, especially his mother, since Tank's death.  But a new, feisty girl named Pasey moves in next door.  And a hot air balloon crashed in the woods and its pilot, Banjo, vows to give them a bodacious adventure.  Walter wants to embrace life again like Tank would, but wonders if he can with the weight of his brother's death always on him.  Wonderfully memorable characters abound in this story of loss, friendship and hope. (FIC OCO)

On the Horizon

Lois Lowry is an acclaimed author of such books as The Giver and Number the Stars.  This collection of poems is a biographical memoir of sorts - her reflections of her time in the 1940s during WWII.  It was poignant and haunting at times, as she jumped between short biographical descriptions of some of the soldiers lost on the Arizona, and her happy times on the beach in Hawaii with her grandma.  Alternately, her chapters detailing her experience in Japan after the war chillingly describe life there after the war and the atomic bombs.   But there is hope, and beauty and connections bridging divides there as well.  (BIO LOW)

Red, White, and Whole

This gorgeous novel in verse written by Rajani LaRocca was heavy but beautiful.  Reha's parents are from India, but she was born in America.  She loves her Indian culture and extended family and enjoys her trips to India to see them.  However, she also is American and wants to wear jeans and do what her friends are doing.  That all seems so important to her until her mother gets sick.  Her friends stand by her, even when she isolates herself and tries to prove herself worthy.  It was so authentic and deeply moving.  I also loved the Indian folktale woven through the story.  (FIC LAR)

The Ickabog

This is a beautifully woven tale crafted by genius storyteller, J.K. Rowling.  In the kingdom of Cornucopia, there is legend of a horrific beast.  When an unfortunate event occurs in the fabled marshlands where this Ickabog is said to live, devious and conniving aides to a vain and foolish king lie and twist the event to their benefit.  The lies and crimes snowball, one after the other, until the kingdom is crumbling while the kings' aides' purses get fat.  Two children of the kingdom, Daisy and Bert, suffer greatly from the lies and deception.  But when they travel to the marsh to find answers, the children nearly die of frostbite.  Their savior is a most unlikely hero, and he may be able to save the kingdom.  

There was much debate about whether this is a appropriate for children.  Like Harry Potter, it was written for older children.  It is dark and sometimes has violence (murder, for example) but the murders are not graphic; they are mentioned as part of the plot to cover up the accident.  It is a solid middle-grade novel.  5th grade and up will devour this.  (FIC ROW)

With the Might of Angels

This was a wonderful historical fiction story written by Andrea Davis Pinkney.  Dawnie Rae tells her story in the form of diary entries.  She is a smart, black girl who has earned a spot at a newly integrated school after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education law suit which made school segregation illegal.  She is thrilled to have the opportunity...new books, a beautiful building, a science lab.  This is the only way she will have the opportunity to be a doctor.  But she is not welcome there.  The white students and teachers mock her.  Some of her previous black classmates believe she is causing trouble and being uppity.  It is the story of her struggle, and all of those who broke barriers to gain equality for Black people.  The epilogue provided historical facts to support the story. (FIC PIN)

Show Me A Sign

This historical fiction story written by Ann Clare Lezotte, was very unique.  Its main character is Mary, a deaf girl, living on Martha's Vineyard shortly after the American Revolution.  The community has always had a high deaf population, who have mingled with the society and got aong very well.  Almost everyone signs, even the hearing population. However, when a scientist arrives and wants to study the area to determine what causes the "affliction", the sheltered people of the island see that their world may not be that of other deaf people.  His ignorance, fear and disgust with their "disability" and his relentless passion to find the cure threaten their town but also Mary's safety.  Based on a real town on Martha's Vineyard, the author wove the town's true story into this tale, along with historical information about the struggles of the local Native Americans, displaced by English settlers. (FIC LEZ)

Alone

 

This novel in verse was a survival story, so those of you who like I Survived, or Hatchet, will love this.  I found it engrossing and beautifully written.  However, the reason Maddie was left alone was unclear and really vague.  It bothered me that it didn't make sense.  I wish it had been a tighter part of the storyline...explained more deeply how and why the evacuation could have left her alone like that.  I was not satisfied.  Even at the conclusion.  (FIC FRE)