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1 Grade 7 Summer Reading: Students are to read three books this summerDrums Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick and two others from this list. If you find it helpful, you may listen to the book while you read. Please answer the Reader’s Response Questions and be prepared to discuss/write about your reading in September . Check the website for more Information about each title to help you select your summer reading. TITLE AUTHOR PAGE 11 Birthdays Mass, Wendy Becoming Naomi Leon Ryan, Pam Munoz Cracker! The best dog in Vietnam Kadohata, Cynthia Crash Spinelli, Jerry Define “normal” Peters, Julianne Elsewhere Zevin, Gabrielle Eragon Paolini, Christopher Esperanza Rising Ryan, Pam Munoz Firegirl Abbott, Tony Flipped Van Draanen, Wendelin Flush Hiaasen, Carl Homeless bird Whelan, Gloria Hope was here Bauer, Joan Kick Myers, Walter Dean No more dead dogs Korman, Gordon Offsides Esckilsen, Erik E. Punished Lubar, David Skellig Almond, David Stargirl Spinelli, Jerry Tangerine Bloor, Edward The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Brashares, Ann The truth about forever Dessen, Sarah The one and only Ivan Kathryn Applegate Stormbreaker Anthony Horowits Ungifted Gordon Korman

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Page 1: Grade 7 Summer Reading - Hampton School Districthampton.nhvweb.net/Summer_Reading/2015/Gr 7 Summer reading Revised.pdfGrade 7 Summer Reading: ... Reader’s Response Questions and

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Grade 7 Summer Reading: Students are to read three books this summer—Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick and two others from this list. If you find it helpful, you may listen to the book while you read. Please answer the Reader’s Response Questions and be prepared to discuss/write about your reading in September. Check the website for more Information about each title to help you select your summer reading.

TITLE AUTHOR PAGE

11 Birthdays Mass, Wendy

Becoming Naomi Leon Ryan, Pam Munoz

Cracker! The best dog in Vietnam Kadohata, Cynthia

Crash Spinelli, Jerry

Define “normal” Peters, Julianne

Elsewhere Zevin, Gabrielle

Eragon Paolini, Christopher

Esperanza Rising Ryan, Pam Munoz

Firegirl Abbott, Tony

Flipped Van Draanen, Wendelin

Flush Hiaasen, Carl

Homeless bird Whelan, Gloria

Hope was here Bauer, Joan

Kick Myers, Walter Dean

No more dead dogs Korman, Gordon

Offsides Esckilsen, Erik E.

Punished Lubar, David

Skellig Almond, David

Stargirl Spinelli, Jerry

Tangerine Bloor, Edward

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Brashares, Ann

The truth about forever Dessen, Sarah

The one and only Ivan Kathryn Applegate

Stormbreaker Anthony Horowits

Ungifted Gordon Korman

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READERS RESPONSE QUESTIONS:

--Are the characters realistic (do they seem like they could be read people)? Why or why not?

— Describe the similarities and differences between the main character and you.

— Describe the most important event. Give at least three reasons why you think it is the most important event.

— Select a quote from your reading that you liked. What made you pick it? How does it make you pause and think?

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BOOK: 11 BIRTHDAYS (JAN 2009) AUTHOR: MASS, WENDY, 1967-

Description: After celebrating their first nine same-day birthdays together, Amanda and Leo, having fallen out on their tenth and not speaking to each other for the last year, prepare to celebrate their eleventh birthday separately but peculiar things begin to happen. The day of their birthday begins to repeat itself over and over again.

Publishers Weekly: /* Starred Review */ Like a Groundhog Day for middle grade readers, Mass's (Every Soul a Star ) winning story features a girl seemingly trapped in her 11th birthday. Amanda seems doomed to relive her failed try-out for the gymnastics team, her mother being fired from her job and, worst of all, the party that even her best friend leaves early—to go to the party hosted by her former friend, Leo. The two have celebrated every previous birthday together (they were born on the same day), but a misunderstanding on their 10th has gone unresolved. After several repeats of the day, Amanda and Leo realize they are in this mess together and must work as a team. Girls will relate to Amanda's insecurities, and the confidence and insights she gains will resonate with them. Mass's expertise with pacing keeps the story moving at a lively clip, and her understanding of this age group is as finely honed as ever. Ages 9–12. (Jan.) --Staff (Reviewed December 22, 2008) (Publishers Weekly, vol 255, issue 51, p50)

Kirkus: In this slow-paced middle-school friendship saga, mildly spiced with a bit of fantasy, readers meet Amanda and Leo, best friends who have spent every birthday together since day one. That is, until their tenth birthday party, at which Amanda happens to overhear Leo talking her down to some classmates. In an extreme overreaction, she flees the party and cuts Leo out of her life. Implausibly, Amanda's grudge endures for an entire year, and she finds herself, stubborn and miserable, celebrating her 11th birthday alone. She muddles through a rotten day only to discover that she has to relive it, literally, over and over. When Amanda learns that Leo is likewise stuck, the former friends join forces, learning that dramatic consequences result from their smallest actions and discovering, in a somewhat contrived conclusion, what an old feud, an enchantment and the apple grove long since replaced by the town mall have to do with their extraordinary friendship. The commendable focus on a boy/girl friendship is somewhat offset by the flatness of the individual characters, particularly Leo. (Fiction. 8-12) (Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2008)

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BOOK: BECOMING NAOMI LEON (JAN 2004) AUTHOR: RYAN, PAM MUNOZ

Description: When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.

BookList: Gr. 4-7. Half-Mexican Naomi Soledad, 11, and her younger disabled brother, Owen, have been brought up by their tough, loving great-grandmother in a California trailer park, and they feel at home in the multiracial community. Then their alcoholic mom reappears after seven years with her slimy boyfriend, hoping to take Naomi (not Owen) back and collect the welfare check. Determined not to let that happen, Gram drives the trailer across the border to a barrio in Oaxaca to search for the children’s dad at the city’s annual Christmas arts festival. In true mythic tradition, Ryan, the author of the award-winning Esperanza Rising (2000), makes Naomi’s search for her dad a search for identity, and both are exciting. Mom is demonized, but the other characters are more complex, and the quest is heartbreaking. The dense factual detail about the festival sometimes slows the story, but it’s an effective tool for dramatizing Naomi’s discovery of her Mexican roots and the artist inside herself. -- Hazel Rochman (BookList, 09-15-2004, p245)

School Library Journal: Gr 5-8 –Gram, Naomi, and Owen are happy at Avocado Acres Trailer Rancho until the day the children's mother arrives. After being gone so long that they don't recognize her, Skyla enters their lives, lavishing attention and presents on fifth-grade Naomi; however, she never seems to include Owen. After several weeks, the truth about her reappearance becomes apparent. Clive, her new boyfriend, wants Naomi to live with them and become the permanent baby-sitter for his daughter. The ensuing custody battle forces Gram, Naomi, Owen and a neighbor couple to make a hasty trip to Mexico to look for Santiago, the children's biological father and a well-known wood-carver. After a physically and emotionally exhausting search, they finally find him at the annual Christmas festival in their ancestral village. Even though the children will continue to live with their great-grandmother, this reunion gives them the reassurance of their father's love and support. Ryan has written a moving book about family dynamics. While she explores the youngsters' Mexican heritage and gives a vivid picture of life in and the art of Oaxaca, her story is universal, showing the strong bonds and love that make up an extended family. All of the characters are well drawn, and readers will share Naomi's fear until the judge makes the final decision about her future.–Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK --Sharon Morrison (Reviewed September 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 9, p216)

Publishers Weekly: /* Starred Review */ Fifth-grader Naomi's great-grandmother has been a loving guardian for Naomi and Owen, her handicapped brother, since their mother divorced their father and abandoned them in Lemon Tree, Calif., seven years before. When the children's mother, Skyla, makes a sudden reappearance, she wants Naomi to leave Gram and Owen to move to Las Vegas—and Gram fears that Skyla and her new boyfriend have ulterior motives. "What locked the possibility of catastrophe in my mind, was that Gram and Fabiola were going to miss Wheel of Fortune , and that was going to mess up their 744 nights-in-a-row record," Naomi thinks. Feisty Gram takes action: she and Fabiola and her husband, who hail from Oaxaca City, Mexico, and who knew the children's father, take the children and embark on an odyssey of sorts, in search of their father at Oaxaca's annual radish-carving festival. Once again, Ryan (Esperanza Rising ) crystallizes the essence of settings and characters through potent, economic prose. Through Naomi's first-person narration, the author gently captures the girl's simultaneous attraction to and wariness of her mother with Naomi's first impression: "I couldn't take my eyes off her lipstick. It was the exact same color as her hair and went up and down in a perfect rounded M on her top lip." And the heroine's skill with carving connects her to her father long before they finally meet. Sharing her protagonist's love of language, artistic sensibility and keen sensitivity, Ryan creates a tender tale about family love and loyalty. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) --Staff (Reviewed September 13, 2004) (Publishers Weekly, vol 251, issue 37, p79)

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BOOK: CRACKER!: THE BEST DOG IN VIETNAM (FEB 2007) AUTHOR: KADOHATA, CYNTHIA

Description: A young soldier in Vietnam bonds with his bomb-sniffing dog.

BookList: *Starred Review*/ The author of Kira-Kira (2004) and Weedflower (2006) tells a stirring, realistic story of America's war in Vietnam, using the alternating viewpoints of an army dog named Cracker and her 17-year-old handler, Rick Hanski, who enlists to «whip the world» and avoid a routine job. From their training at a base in the U.S, complete with mean sergeant and close buddies, to their stalking the enemy, the heartfelt tale explores the close bond of the scout-dog team, relating how it detects booby traps and mines, finds the enemy, rescues POWs, and returns home to a heroes' welcome. Throughout the struggle, the dog and the teenager care for one another. There's no background on the conflict («he didn't and couldn't understand what he was doing here in Vietnam»). Rather, the focus is on how Cracker uses her senses to help the team accomplish its goals, and on her physical bond with Rick, who understands Cracker's every movement. Add this to books in the «Core List: The Vietnam War in Youth Fiction» (2006). Also give it to readers who liked Gary Paulsen's Woodsong (1990). -- Hazel Rochman (Reviewed 02-15-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 12, p76)

School Library Journal: Gr 5–8— Bred as a show dog, Magnificent Dawn of Venus von Braun was a German shepherd destined for greatness until a broken leg took her out of contention and into the arms of a boy named Willie. Reminded of the landlord's no-pet policy, the heartbroken boy answers a newspaper ad and Venus, now "Cracker," is accepted into a military canine unit to help soldiers sniff out booby traps in Vietnam. She and her handler, Rick Hanski, quickly bond and head to the front lines. Cracker and Rick's successful missions lead to more dangerous operations and they are ultimately separated during a siege. Critically wounded, Rick is sent home, not knowing what has become of Cracker, and it is a heart-wrenching wait for word on her whereabouts. Kadohata shifts point of view from Willie to Cracker and Rick. While the dog's thoughts and feelings supply the crucial visceral elements associated with her job and her relationship to Willie and Rick, she competes with Rick for top billing as main character. Willie is the story's casualty, as he realizes that Cracker now belongs to Rick. Divided reader empathy aside, the story is filled with action and accurately re-creates the experience of the military canine program, from aspects of training to the battlefield. It's likely to spark readers' interest in this little-known area of military history.—Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY --Vicki Reutter (Reviewed February 1, 2007) (School Library Journal, vol 53, issue 2, p120)

Kirkus: "But she and Rick had . . . something bigger. She wasn't sure what it was. All she knew was that when he came to her in the morning, she had no choice but to twirl around and chase her tail before sitting down in front of him." Cracker is a German shepherd, owned by the US Army, who sniffs out booby traps in Vietnam with her handler, Rick. Kadohata has deftly intertwined a classic dog story with that of a soldier's by writing from both points of view, remarkably well, though her talents with realistic voice and immediacy of setting that garnered her the Newbery Medal are put to the test here. Rick's colloquialisms are essential to his character, but sometimes fall flat on the page: "The more Rick trained, the more he started to feel that Cracker was kind of like reading his mind or something." The narrative is slow to engage, starting with Cracker's previous owner, and plenty of saccharine. There's not much information on the war, nor do Rick's internal dilemmas reach beyond the surface. Despite thin spots, the story succeeds on the strength of its characters, their struggles and their relationship, reaching a readership that doesn't get enough quality writing in this genre. (Fiction. 9-13) (Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2006)

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BOOK: CRASH (MAR 1996) AUTHOR: SPINELLI, JERRY

Description: Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.

BookList: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: Gr. 5-7. Seventh-grader Crash Coogan is a jock, a jokester, and a tormenter of dweeb Penn Webb. The book gets off to a hilarious start as Crash recalls his first meeting with Penn at age six. Penn, recently arrived from North Dakota, wears a button honoring that state's bird, which proclaims, "I'm a Flickertale." Let the hassling begin. From there, the plot becomes rather predictable. Crash's beloved grandfather comes to live with the Coogans, and when he suffers a stroke, Crash finds himself with a vein of empathy that wasn't evident before. At the book's conclusion, Crash and Penn are pitted against each other in a big race, but Crash, knowing that Penn's great-grandfather is there to watch, makes the ultimate sacrifice of compassion over competition. Spinelli's writing style is great for kids in this age-group, fast-paced and funny. And while it's plain where events are leading Crash, the strongly drawn characters, rather than the plot, become the focal point. Even though girls will read this, too, here's one for the boys. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 1996)) -- Ilene Cooper

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BOOK: DEFINE 'NORMAL' (APR 2000) AUTHOR: PETERS, JULIE ANNE

Description: When she agrees to meet with Jasmine as a peer counselor at their middle school, Antonia never dreams that this girl with the black lipstick and pierced eyebrow will end up helping her deal with the serious problems she faces at home and become a good friend.

School Library Journal: Gr 7-10-When Antonia is assigned to Jazz as a peer counselor, she figures there is no way she can help this tattooed, pierced, incorrigible girl. They are complete opposites. Antonia is a straight-A student whose parents are divorced and she is struggling to keep what's left of her family together as her mother battles depression. Jazz's family is wealthy and seemingly perfect. As they continue through the 15 hours of peer counseling, it becomes clear that both girls have issues they need to work through. They go from wary classmates to friends who support and help one another. As Antonia's mother is hospitalized for her depression, Jazz battles her own mother's need to control by quitting the one thing she loves most-playing classical piano. Both girls deal with their losses by finding new ways to look at their problems and to resume life as "normally" as possible. This believable book is well written and readers will feel that they know both Jazz and Antonia, and they will want to see them triumph over the frustrations in their lives.-Kimberly A. Ault, Lewisburg Area High School, PA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly: In this middle-school drama, two seeming opposites become friends and discover they are not such opposites after all. Peters (How Do You Spell G-E-E-K?) does little to update this well-trod theme, and while there are touching moments in her book, it's generally bland. Nerdy Antonia is assigned to peer-counsel Jazz, whom Antonia assumes is "hopeless. A punker. A druggie. A gang hanger." After a few agonizing sessions, Antonia begins to realize how much she needs someone to talk to. Her dad has split (as readers learn midway through), her mom's so depressed she can't get out of bed and Antonia's overwhelmed with responsibility and pain. Not only does Jazz literally intervene to get her family back on the road to recovery, but by offering her friendship, Antonia learns to depend on someone besides herself. In turn, she helps Jazz learn to talk to her parents and to compromise on arguments without compromising herself. They both learn that judging people by their outside appearance can be misleading. Occasionally, Peters captures a feeling perfectly, like Antonia's loneliness. "That's how I feel, I thought. Like a star...," she says, looking at the sky. "Distant. Detached. Blinking. On-off. On-off." Mostly, though, the exposition depends more on telling than showing. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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BOOK: ELSEWHERE (SEP 2005) AUTHOR: ZEVIN, GABRIELLE

Description: After fifteen-year-old Liz Hall is hit by a taxi and killed, she finds herself in a place that is both like and unlike Earth, where she must adjust to her new status and figure out how to "live.".

BookList: /*Starred Review*/ Narration from beyond the grave has been cropping up with some frequency in YA novels this year, including Chris Crutcher's The Sledding Hill and Adele Griffin's Where I Want to Be (both 2005). But this example, Zevin's second novel and her first for the YA audience, is a work of powerful beauty that merits judgment independent of any larger trend. The setting is an elaborately conceived afterlife called Elsewhere, a distinctly secular island realm of surprising physical solidity (no cottony clouds or pearly gates here), where the dead exist much as they once did--except that no one dies or is born, and aging occurs in reverse, culminating when the departed are returned to Earth as infants to start the life cycle again. Having sailed into Elsewhere's port aboard a cruise ship populated by mostly elderly passengers, 15-year-old head-trauma victim Liz Hall does not go gently into Elsewhere's endless summer. She is despairing, intractable, sullen, and understandably furious: "You mean I'll never go to college or get married or get big boobs or live on my own or get my driver's license or fall in love?" She rejects her new existence, spending endless hours keeping tabs on surviving family and friends through magical coin-operated telescopes, and refusing to take the suggestions offered by a well-meaning Office of Acclimation. Eventually, though, she begins to listen. She takes a job counseling deceased pets, forges an unexpected romance with a young man struggling with heartbreaks, and finds simple joy in the awareness that "a life is a good story . . . even a crazy, backward life like hers." Periodic visits with an increasingly youthful Liz, concluding with her journey down the "River" to be reborn, bring the novel to a graceful, seamless close. Although the book may prove too philosophical for some, Zevin offers readers more than a gimmick-driven novel of ideas: the world of Elsewhere is too tangible for that. "A human's life is a beautiful mess," reflects Liz, and the observation is reinforced with strikingly conceived examples: a newly dead thirty-something falls in love with Liz's grandmother, who is biologically similar in age but experientially generations older; fresh arrivals reunite with spouses long since departed, creating incongruous May-December marriages and awkward love triangles (as Liz experiences when her boyfriend's wife suddenly appears). At one poignant moment, four-year-old Liz loses the ability to read. The passage she attempts to decipher, which comes from Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting, is another meditation on the march of time and change.Although Zevin's conception of the afterlife will inevitably ruffle many theological feathers, the comfort it offers readers grieving for lost loved ones, as well as the simple, thrilling satisfaction derived from its bold engagement with basic, provocative questions of human existence, will far outweigh any offense its metaphysical perspective might give. Far more than just a vehicle for a cosmology, this inventive novel slices right to the bone of human yearning, offering up an indelible vision of life and death as equally rich sides of the same coin. -- Jennifer Mattson (BookList, 08-01-2005, p2017)

School Library Journal: /* Starred Review */ Gr 7-10 –What happens when you die? Where do you go? What do you do? Zevin provides answers to these questions in this intriguing novel, centering on the death of Liz Hall, almost 16 years old and looking forward to all that lies ahead: learning to drive, helping her best friend prepare for the prom, going to college, falling in love. Killed in a hit-and-run accident, Liz struggles to understand what has happened to her, grief-stricken at all she has lost, and incapable of seeing the benefits of the Elsewhere in which she finds herself. Refusing to participate in this new life, Liz spends her time looking longingly down at the family and friends back on Earth who go on without her. But the new environment pulls her into its own rhythms. Liz meets the grandmother she never knew, makes friends, takes a job, and falls in love as she and the other inhabitants of Elsewhere age backward one year for each year that they are there. Zevin's third-person narrative calmly, but surely guides readers through the bumpy landscape of strongly delineated characters dealing with the most difficult issue that faces all of us. A quiet book that provides much to think about and discuss.–Sharon Grover, Arlington County Department of Libraries, VA --Sharon Grover (Reviewed October 1, 2005) (School Library Journal, vol 51, issue 10, p180)

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BOOK: ERAGON (AUG 2003) AUTHOR: PAOLINI, CHRISTOPHER

Description: In Alagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.

BookList: /*Starred Review*/ Gr. 7-12. Was the mysterious blue stone that appears out of nowhere sent by accident or is teenage Eragon meant to have it? When a dragon, Saphira, hatches from it, beast and boy connect (in much the same way dragons and riders do in Anne McCaffrey’s popular Pern series) and face danger together. In this story, Eragon is thrust into a new role as the first Dragon Rider in more than 100 years who is not under the evil king’s control. After the king’s ghastly minions kill Eragon’s uncle as they search for the teen, Eragon and Saphira, mentored by the village’s aged “storyteller,” hunt for the killers and, in turn, find themselves being hunted. This unusual, powerful tale, begun when Paolini was 15 (he’s now 19) and self-published in 2002 before being picked up by Knopf, is the first book in the planned Inheritance trilogy. It’s obvious that Paolini knows the genre well--his lush tale is full of recognizable fantasy elements and conventions. But the telling remains constantly fresh and fluid, and he has done a fine job of creating an appealing and convincing relationship between the youth and the dragon. It’s an impressive start to a writing career that’s sure to flourish. (Reviewed August 1, 2003) -- Sally Estes

School Library Journal: Gr 5 Up–Eragon, 15, is hunting for wild game when he witnesses a mysterious explosion. At the center of the blast radius he finds a polished blue stone marked with white veins. Brom, the village storyteller, has shown interest in it, so it is to him that Eragon turns when it starts squeaking, then wobbling, and then hatches into a majestic sapphire blue dragon. His decision to keep and raise Saphira starts him on an epic journey of Tolkienesque proportions that is only partially told in the 500 pages of this book. Eragon learns that the Empire's cruel and oppressive king will stop at nothing to get Eragon and Saphira to serve him. Training and traveling with Brom, the teen and dragon learn to work together in war and peace, using a combination of traditional fighting arts and magic. They encounter massive humanoid warriors with savage intentions and are befriended by Murtagh, a human warrior with mysterious ties to the Varden and the Empire. Eventually, they seek refuge with dwarves who harbor the Varden, who exist to free the Empire. Eragon does not approach the depth, uniqueness, or mastery of J. R. R. Tolkien's works, and sometimes the magic solutions are just too convenient for getting out of difficult situations. However, the empathetic characters and interesting plot twists will appeal to the legions of readers who have been captivated by the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and are looking for more books like it.–Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA (Reviewed September 1, 2003) (School Library Journal, vol 49, issue 9, p218)

Kirkus: This solid, sweeping epic fantasy crosses vast geography as it follows 15-year-old Eragon from anonymous farm boy to sword-wielding icon on whose shoulders may rest the fate of Alagaësia. Dragon Riders have died out over the years, leaving the Empire under the iron fist of King Galbatorix; but hunting in the forest one day, Eragon finds a blue stone that soon hatches into his very own dragon. The next months find him learning magic, sword skills, and bits of his land's history. A slight tone of arrogance running through the narrative voice will hardly bother readers busily enjoying the reliable motifs of elegant immortal elves, mining dwarves, a wise elderly man, and a hero of mysterious birth. Replete with histories, names, and languages, this high fantasy with visible Tolkien influence ends with Eragon's first battle and a tempting pointer towards the second installment, when Eragon will visit the unseen elven city and plunge headlong into his destiny. (map, pronunciation key, glossaries of three created languages) (Fantasy. YA) (Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2003)

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BOOK: ESPERANZA RISING (OCT 2000) AUTHOR: RYAN, PAM MUNOZ

Description: Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

BookList: Gr. 5-8. Moving from a Mexican ranch to the company labor camps of California, Ryan's lyrical novel manages the contradictory: a story of migration and movement deeply rooted in the earth. When 14-year-old Esperanza's father is killed, she and her mother must emigrate to the U.S., where a family of former ranch workers has helped them find jobs in the agricultural labor camps. Coming from such privilege, Esperanza is ill prepared for the hard work and difficult conditions she now faces. She quickly learns household chores, though, and when her mother falls ill, she works packing produce until she makes enough money to bring her beloved abuelita to the U.S.. Set during the Great Depression, the story weaves cultural, economic, and political unrest into Esperanza's poignant tale of growing up: she witnesses strikes, government sweeps, and deep injustice while finding strength and love in her family and romance with a childhood friend. The symbolism is heavy-handed, as when Esperanza ominously pricks her finger on a rose thorne just before her father is killed. But Ryan writes movingly in clear, poetic language that children will sink into, and the books offers excellent opportunities for discussion and curriculum support. (Reviewed December 1, 2000) -- Gillian Engberg

School Library Journal: Gr 6-9-Ryan uses the experiences of her own Mexican grandmother as the basis for this compelling story of immigration and assimilation, not only to a new country but also into a different social class. Esperanza's expectation that her 13th birthday will be celebrated with all the material pleasures and folk elements of her previous years is shattered when her father is murdered by bandits. His powerful stepbrothers then hold her mother as a social and economic hostage, wanting to force her remarriage to one of them, and go so far as to burn down the family home. Esperanza's mother then decides to join the cook and gardener and their son as they move to the United States and work in California's agricultural industry. They embark on a new way of life, away from the uncles, and Esperanza unwillingly enters a world where she is no longer a princess but a worker. Set against the multiethnic, labor-organizing era of the Depression, the story of Esperanza remaking herself is satisfyingly complete, including dire illness and a difficult romance. Except for the evil uncles, all of the characters are rounded, their motives genuine, with class issues honestly portrayed. Easy to booktalk, useful in classroom discussions, and accessible as pleasure reading, this well-written novel belongs in all collections.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus: The author of Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride (1999) and Riding Freedom (1997) again approaches historical fiction, this time using her own grandmother as source material. In 1930, Esperanza lives a privileged life on a ranch in Aguascalientes, Mexico. But when her father dies, the post-Revolutionary culture and politics force her to leave with her mother for California. Now they are indebted to the family who previously worked for them, for securing them work on a farm in the San Joaquin valley. Esperanza balks at her new situation, but eventually becomes as accustomed to it as she was in her previous home, and comes to realize that she is still relatively privileged to be on a year-round farm with a strong community. She sees migrant workers forced from their jobs by families arriving from the Dust Bowl, and camps of strikers—many of them US citizens—deported in the "voluntary repatriation" that sent at least 450,000 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans back to Mexico in the early 1930s. Ryan's narrative has an epic tone, characters that develop little and predictably, and a romantic patina that often undercuts the harshness of her story. But her style is engaging, her characters appealing, and her story is one that—though a deep-rooted part of the history of California, the Depression, and thus the nation—is little heard in children's fiction. It bears telling to a wider audience. (author's note) (Fiction. 9-15) (Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2000)

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BOOK: FIREGIRL (JUN 2006) AUTHOR: ABBOTT, TONY

Description: A middle school boy's life is changed when Jessica, a girl disfigured by burns, starts attending his Catholic school while receiving treatment at a local hospital.

BookList: Gr. 5-8. Describing his encounters with Jessica Feeney, seventh-grader Tom Bender reflects, On the outside it doesn’t look like very much happened. A burned girl was in my class for a while. Once I brought her some homework. Then she was gone. The remainder of Firegirl considers the way outside appearances fail to portray the real story. Tom is overweight and unnoticed. Jessica Feeney, however, is impossible to ignore; a tragic fire has left horrible burns all over her body. The students at St. Catherine's avoid her, and they spread wild gossip about her. Tom's friend Jeff refuses to hold her hand during prayers. Yet Tom finds that from certain angles, Jessica almost looks like a regular girl, and by supporting her, however tentatively, he sacrifices everything he thought he wanted. In this poignant story, readers will recognize the insecurities of junior high and discover that even by doing small acts of kindness people stand to gain more than they lose. -- Nancy Kim (Reviewed 07-01-2006) (Booklist, vol 102, number 21, p54)

School Library Journal: Gr 5-7 –Tom, a seventh grader, tells about the arrival of Jessica, a new student who was badly burned in a fire and is attending St. Catherine’s while she gets treatments at a local hospital. The students in Tom’s class are afraid of her because of her appearance but little by little he develops a friendship with her that changes his life. Through realistic settings and dialogue, and believable characters, readers will be able to relate to the social dynamics of these adolescents who are trying to handle a difficult situation. The students who shy away from Jessica are at a loss as to what to say. Tom begins to look beyond her exterior and realizes that his life will not be the same after she leaves, just three weeks later. The theme of acceptance is presented in a touching story of friendship that is easy to read yet hard to forget.–Denise Moore, O’Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD --Denise Moore (Reviewed July 1, 2006) (School Library Journal, vol 52, issue 7, p97)

Publishers Weekly: /* Starred Review */ Abbott's (the Secrets of Droon series) stirring novel centers on Tom Bender, who describes himself as a "sweaty, fat kid" who feels invisible much of the time. ("People don't really talk to me much in school or notice me.... My mother says it's because I don't 'get out there.' ") The seventh-grade narrator's only friend is Jeff, who seems angry quite often since his father moved out. Tom has a crush on Courtney, a beautiful and popular classmate, and he imagines himself as a superhero who can rescue her from danger. But it isn't Courtney who needs rescuing. Jessica, who has been badly burned in a fire, joins their class at St. Catherine's when she moves to town to undergo skin grafts at a nearby hospital. "I remember wondering how someone looking like that could even be alive," Tom says the first time he sees her. None of the students attempts to get to know Jessica. Tom, too, initially keeps his distance, though he (unlike Jeff) holds her hand during class prayer time. When he brings Jessica her homework on a day she is absent, the girl poignantly opens up to him and he, in turn, shares his secret thoughts and superhero fantasies with her. Though fleeting and fragile, Tom's connection to Jessica changes his perspective on himself, his peers and friendship, and underscores the reward of reaching out to another—of getting "out there." This novel may be brief, but it leaves a big impact. Ages 8-12. (June) --Staff (Reviewed May 22, 2006) (Publishers Weekly, vol 253, issue 21, p52)

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BOOK: FLIPPED (OCT 2001) AUTHOR: VAN DRAANEN, WENDELIN

Description: In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

BookList: Gr. 5-8. The author of the popular Sammy Keyes mysteries proves herself just as good at writing a charming romance. From the moment seven-year-old Bryce moves into the neighborhood, Julianna is enthralled: “It’s his eyes . . . they’re dazzling.” Bryce, on the other hand, is horrified. In typical second-grade boy fashion, he believes that “All I’ve ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone.” Six years later, however, the two have flipped: now Bryce is enthralled with Juli’s uniqueness, and Juli is repulsed by Bryce’s selfish immaturity. Told in alternate chapters from each teen’s perspective, this is a wry character study, a romance with substance and subtlety. Juli gradually learns the painful lesson that she must look beyond gorgeous eyes and popularity. Bryce slowly realizes his grandfather’s wisdom: “Every once in a while you’ll find someone iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.” Both teens realize that standing up for what--and whom--they believe can be a difficult challenge, one faced best with true friends and close family. (Reviewed December 15, 2001) -- Frances Bradburn

School Library Journal: Gr 6-9 –Fresh, funny, yet full of truth, this story told in alternating voices follows the love-hate relationship between Bryce and Juli from second grade to eighth. A look at the fickle nature of infatuation and the constancy of enduring affection. (Nov.) --Trev Jones, Luann Toth, Marlene Charnizon, Daryl Grabarek, and Joy Fleishhacker (Reviewed December 1, 2001) (School Library Journal, vol 47, issue 12, p44)

Publishers Weekly: /* Starred Review */ Two distinct, thoroughly likable voices emerge in Van Draanen's (the Sammy Keyes series) enticing story, relayed alternately by eighth graders Bryce and Juli. When Juli moved in across the street from Bryce, just before second grade, he found the feisty, friendly girl overwhelming and off-putting, and tried to distance himself from her—but then eighth grade rolls around. Within the framework of their complex, intermittently antagonistic and affectionate rapport, the author shapes insightful portraits of their dissimilar families. Among the most affecting supporting characters are Bryce's grandfather, who helps Juli spruce up her family's eyesore of a yard after Bryce makes an unkind remark about the property, and Juli's father, a deep-feeling artist who tries to explain to his daughter how a painting becomes more than the sum of its parts. Juli finally understands this notion after she discovers the exhilaration of sitting high in a beloved tree in her neighborhood ("The view from my sycamore was more than rooftops and clouds and wind and colors combined"). Although the relationship between Bryce's grandfather and his own family remains a bit sketchy, his growing bond with Juli is credibly and poignantly developed. A couple of coincidences are a bit convenient, but Van Draanen succeeds in presenting two entirely authentic perspectives on the same incidents without becoming repetitious. With a charismatic leading lady kids will flip over, a compelling dynamic between the two narrators and a resonant ending (including a clever double entendre on the title), this novel is a great deal larger than the sum of its parts. Ages 10-14. (Oct .) --Staff (Reviewed September 10, 2001) (Publishers Weekly, vol 248, issue 37, p93)

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BOOK: FLUSH (SEP 2005) AUTHOR: HIAASEN, CARL

Description: With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood 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.

BookList: Gr. 5-8. Hiaasens second novel exhibits some of the same elements found in his 2003 Newbery Honor Book: Florida local color, oddball adults (buxom and brawny), and a delightful quirkiness. But the sparkle that catapulted Hoot into the limelight isn't quite as brilliant here. Even so, there's plenty to like in this yarn, which, once again, drops an environmental issue into the lap of a kid. Righteous indignation, usually resulting from some sabotage of Florida's natural resources, has gotten Noah Underwood's dad in trouble before. This time, however, Dad's gone too far: he sunk a floating casino. Why? Its owner is dumping human waste in the water. Unfortunately, Dad can't prove it, and that's where Noah and his younger sister, Abbey, come in. The amateur sleuthing puts the sibs into some mildly suspenseful, occasionally amusing, situations, which, as in the previous book, share space with run-ins with a local bully (Noah takes some lumps but gets sweet revenge). An old-fashioned dues- ex-machina interrupts an otherwise believable setup, but Hiaasen still succeeds at relating an entertaining story while getting across a serious message about conservation and the results of just plain greed. -- Stephanie Zvirin (BookList, 08-01-2005, p2028)

School Library Journal: Gr 5-8 –Noah and his sister, Abbey, are more understanding of their volatile dad's latest arrest than their mother, who begins talking of divorce. Dad sank the Coral Queen , a casino boat on a Florida Key because, he alleges, its owner, Dusty Muleman, has been illegally dumping raw sewage into the local waters. Soon enough the kids begin trying to gather proof that will vindicate their father and put the casino out of business. The colorful cast includes a drunken lout named Lice who disappears before he can be persuaded to testify against Dusty, his former boss. His rough-around-the-edges girlfriend, Shelly, comes through, though, helping the siblings dump dye in the boat's holding tanks, which finally brings the matter to court. Dusty's son, Jasper, is a chip off the old block, threatening and beating Noah on several occasions until he and, later, Abbey are rescued by a mysterious stranger who turns out to be their grandfather, long ago thought to have died in South America, probably while involved in drug smuggling. As the tale ends, he's back to Colombia to settle old scores. The plot would practically disappear if any one of the major characters had a cell phone, but the environmental story is front and center and readers will be hooked as the good guys try to do the right thing. This quick-reading, fun, family adventure harkens back to the Hardy Boys in its simplicity and quirky characters.–Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA --Joel Shoemaker (Reviewed September 1, 2005) (School Library Journal, vol 51, issue 9, p204)

Publishers Weekly: Hiaasen's (Hoot ) action-packed mystery set in the Florida Keys offers a colorful cast of dastardly villains and eccentric heroes, along with his signature environmental themes. Noah would be the first to admit that his father, Paine Underwood, "sometimes goes too far" in his campaign to save the environment, especially when he single-handedly sinks the Coral Queen , a gambling boat that he believes has been dumping human waste just offshore. This feat leads to a jail sentence, and while Mr. Underwood is behind bars, it is up to Noah to prove that his father had good reason to put the floating casino out of action. Noah's mission—to catch owner Dusty Muleman "red-handed" as he drains his boat's sewage—is not an easy task. Dusty employs a burly watchman and has connections with the Coast Guard and the police. Yet Noah finds some unusual adversaries in Lice Peeking, Dusty's former employee, who is willing to testify against his ex-boss for a price; Shelly, Dusty's blond, buxom ex-girlfriend; and an unnamed "old pirate," who conveniently appears whenever Noah needs help out of a tight fix. While much of this adventure (including the identity of the "old pirate") is predictable, Hiaasen creates enough interesting plot twists to keep the pages turning. Budding environmentalists especially will delight in the ingenious way that Noah beats Dusty at his game. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) --Staff (Reviewed June 27, 2005) (Publishers Weekly, vol 252, issue 26, p64)

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BOOK: HOMELESS BIRD (APR 2000) AUTHOR: WHELAN, GLORIA

Description: Kali discovers that the husband her parents have chosen for her is sickly.

BookList: Books for Youth, Older Readers: /*Starred Review*/ Gr. 6-9. Thirteen-year-old Koly is getting married, not uncommon for girls her age in India. Although apprehensive, she knows this will lessen the financial burden on her family, and hopes for the best. Unfortunately, her husband is younger than promised, and sickly. Soon she is a homeless widow, deprived of her pension and abandoned by her selfish mother-in-law. She finds unexpected support in a widow's home, self-sufficiency in her gift of embroidery, and, ultimately, love and a new, rewarding life. This beautifully told, inspiring story takes readers on a fascinating journey through modern India and the universal intricacies of a young woman's heart. Whelan's lyrical, poetic prose, interwoven with Hindi words and terms, eloquently conveys Koly's tragedies and triumphs, while providing a descriptive, well-researched introduction to India's customs, peoples, and daily life. Koly is an appealing, admirable character, portrayed with sympathy and depth, who learns that art, heart, dreams, and perseverance can bring unexpected joy. Hindi terms are defined in an extensive glossary at book's end. An insightful, beautifully written, culturally illuminating tale of universal feelings in which riches are measured not in monetary wealth but in happiness and personal fulfillment. ((Reviewed March 1, 2000)) -- Shelle Rosenfeld

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BOOK: HOPE WAS HERE (OCT 2000) AUTHOR: BAUER, JOAN, 1951-

Description: When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor.

School Library Journal: Gr 8 Up-When it comes to creating strong, independent, and funny teenaged female characters, Bauer is in a class by herself and the 16-year-old waitress in this book is no exception. Hope Yancey and her Aunt Addie, a much-sought-after diner cook, have toured the country, one diner at a time. With each move, the teen leaves her mark, "HOPE WAS HERE," in ballpoint pen somewhere on the premises. Now in Mulhoney, WI, she has no idea that the residents of this small town will make their mark on her. G. T. Stoop, the Quaker owner of the Welcome Stairways, has leukemia, and while the disease can keep him from running the diner he loves, it can't keep him from running for mayor against a corrupt incumbent. Taking part in his campaign allows Hope to get to know Braverman, a fellow worker at the Welcome Stairways and G. T.'s greatest supporter. The mix of dealing with illness, small-town politics, and budding romance for both Hope and Addie is one that will entertain and inspire readers. Bauer tells a fast-paced, multilayered story with humor but does not gloss over the struggle of someone who is unable to trust, someone who has been left before, and who avoids getting close to anyone for fear of being left again. Teens who have come to expect witty, realistic characters and atypical (but very funny) story lines from Bauer's previous books will not be disappointed and new readers will be sure to come back for seconds.-Tracey Firestone, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly: Bauer (Rules of the Road; Squashed) serves up agreeable fare in this tale of a teenage waitress's search for a sense of belonging. Sixteen-year-old Hope has grown used to the nomadic life she has built with her aunt Addie, a talented diner cook. She doesn't mind the hard work it takes to make a diner hum; she seems to have inherited a knack for waiting tables from the free-spirit mom (Addie's younger sister) who abandoned her years ago. But Hope would gladly give up always having to say good-bye to friends and places she loves. When Addie accepts a new job that takes the pair from Brooklyn to the Welcome Stairways diner in Mulhoney, Wis., Hope never could have imagined the big changes ahead of her. She and Addie shine in the small-town milieu and gladly offer to help diner owner G.T. Stoop, who is battling leukemia, run for mayor. Along the way, Addie and Hope both find love, and Hope discovers the father figure she has so desperately wanted. Readers will recognize many of Bauer's hallmarks here--a strong female protagonist on the road to self-discovery, quirky characters, dysfunctional families, a swiftly moving story, moments of bright humor. Her vivid prose, often rich in metaphor (e.g., Hope's description of the Brooklyn diner: "The big, oval counter... sat in the middle of the place like the center ring in a circus"), brings Hope's surroundings and her emotions to life. The author resolves a few of her plot points a bit too tidily, but her fans won't mind. They're likely to gobble this up like so much comfort food. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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BOOK: KICK (FEB 2011) AUTHOR: MYERS, WALTER DEAN, 1937-

Description: Told in their separate voices, thirteen-year-old soccer star Kevin and police sergeant Brown, who knew his father, try to keep Kevin out of juvenile hall after he is arrested on very serious charges.

School Library Journal: Gr 6 – 9 — In an interesting joint effort, Myers teamed with high school student Workman to produce this novel about a soccer player who runs into trouble helping a friend. Veteran police sergeant Jerry Brown is asked to look into the case of a 13-year-old boy who crashed a car belonging to his friend's father. Brown takes a special interest in the case when he is informed that the boy, Kevin Johnson, is the son of an officer who was killed in the line of duty. As Brown delves more deeply, he begins to suspect that the friend's family has something to hide. He also develops a bond with Kevin, who, although angry and troubled, is basically kindhearted and well-intentioned. Workman wrote the chapters narrated by the boy, and Myers wrote those narrated by Brown. This approach works quite well in terms of narrative voice, as Myers's more polished style reflects an adult perspective, while Workman's less-refined prose seems appropriate to his character's outlook and experience. There is some exciting soccer action, and the interaction between Brown and Kevin is heartwarming, yet natural and unforced. While some may feel that the denouement falls a little flat, the novel should have wide appeal to soccer fans, aspiring writers, and boys from difficult family circumstances who are trying to figure out how to make their way in the world.—Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT --Richard Luzer (Reviewed February 1, 2011) (School Library Journal, vol 57, issue 2, p115)

Publishers Weekly: This book has an intriguing concept: veteran author Myers paired with a teenage fan to write the story of a soccer player in trouble with the law. In their story, Kevin—the 13-year-old son of a police officer killed on duty—was arrested after crashing his friend's father's car. Gerald Brown, a good-hearted sergeant, agrees to look into the case, finding in Kevin "a young man stumbling toward an uncertain future with a boldness that sometimes wasn't even clear to him." Both Brown's and Kevin's voices are convincing and sympathetic, with Kevin struggling to succeed in soccer and Brown dealing with a touchy stomach. However, a far-fetched phone call for help from Kevin's friend's father to Sgt. Brown and a confusing side story about an investigation into possibly exploited workers strain the plot. Even Kevin's ultimate confession about what happened that fateful night feels anticlimactic. Still, readers may find a gratifying parallel between the authors' creative collaboration (the back cover features their first email exchange) and the mutual respect that evolves between the well-developed characters. Ages 14–up. (Feb.) --Staff (Reviewed March 7, 2011) (Publishers Weekly, vol 258, issue 10, p)

Kirkus: The police spot a Ford Taurus with no headlights on weaving down a street, and when the officer puts his lights on, the driver of the Ford brakes, speeds up and drives into a light pole. The driver is 13-year-old Kevin Johnson, with passenger Christy McNamara, a girl his age. Officer Evans takes Christy home and Kevin to the Bedford County Juvenile Detention Center on a stolen-car rap, driving without a license, damaging city property and kidnapping—serious charges that will strike readers as blown out of proportion. Indeed, the case never really is the point of the story, nor is the back story about the abuse of illegal immigrants. It's the relationship between Kevin and Sgt. Brown, the officer asked to take the case, that's central.? The story is told in the alternating voices of Kevin and the sergeant—written by veteran Myers and a 17-year-old fan he asked to write with him—a narrative structure that works well for developing the two sides of the relationship, and plenty of soccer action will keep readers interested.??(Fiction. 12 & up)??(Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2010)

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BOOK: NO MORE DEAD DOGS (JUL 2000) AUTHOR: KORMAN, GORDON

Description: Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.

BookList: Gr. 5-7. Here’s one for every reader weary of being assigned novels in which the dog dies. For expressing his true views of Old Shep, My Pal, eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace earns a detention that takes him off the team and plunks him down in the auditorium, where his almost equally stubborn English teacher is directing a theatrical version of--you guessed it. To the delight of some cast members, but the loud outrage of Drama Club President, Rachel Turner, Wallace Wallace makes a few suggestions to punch up the production; by the end, it’s a rock musical and the (stuffed) pooch actually pulls through. At least, that’s the plan. Briskly stirring in complications and snappy dialog, Korman adds mystery to the fun with an unknown saboteur, caps the wildly popular play with an explosive (literally) climax, and finishes with Rachel and Wallace Wallace finally realizing that they were made for each other. Except for Old Shep, everyone, even the teacher, comes out a winner. (Reviewed October 1, 2001) -- John Peters

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BOOK: OFFSIDES (OCT 2004) AUTHOR: ESCKILSEN, ERIK E.

Description: Tom Gray, a Mohawk Indian and star soccer player, moves to a new high school and refuses to play for the Warriors with their insulting mascot.

BookList: Gr. 6-10. The controversy over sports mascots that stereotype Native Americans is effectively explored here within the rubric of high-school soccer. Star player Tom Gray, whose family has moved off the reservation, is new at Southwind High. His activist mother is working to have Southwind’s name for its athletic team, the Warriors, changed, and Tom feels caught in the middle when Southwind’s hidebound coach pushes hard for him to join the team. Tom’s struggles are realistically portrayed; he loves soccer, but the mascot makes him uncomfortable. When a group of kids rallies around Tom as leader of a neighborhood soccer team, Tom rashly bets his soccer future on the outcome of a game against Southwind. Fast-paced game scenes alternating with thoughtful passages focusing on Tom’s developing maturity make for a balanced, enjoyable read. (BookList, 09-01-2004, p110)

School Library Journal: Gr 8 Up –Tom Gray, Mohawk 11th grader and soccer player, was the star of his high school team in Tin River, NY. Now, however, having moved away after his father's death, he is not even on the soccer team at Southwind High School, despite his clearly superlative skills and Coach Dempsey's high-pressure invitation. Tom chooses not to play for the Warriors because they, and especially the coach, insist on keeping their stereotypical Indian mascot. Instead, he heads up a team of homeschooled, self-proclaimed geeks, coached by a Russian immigrant shopkeeper, that seems to be his salvation until Dempsey draws him into a no-win bet. Add some believable romantic tension between the teen and the shopkeeper's granddaughter and a little mystery about her secretive brother for an enjoyable sports story with characters and plot that extend well off the field. Some might argue that the ending is a bit too predictable, but sometimes fiction should give readers a happy ending. The author includes enough detail in the soccer sequences to keep sports fans hooked, but not so much that others will get tired of them. This is a much-needed contemporary Native American story that scores nearest to Joseph Bruchac's The Warriors (Darby Creek, 2004) for slightly older readers.–Sean George, Memphis-Shelby County Public Library & Information Center, Memphis, TN --Sean George (Reviewed January 1, 2005) (School Library Journal, vol 51, issue 1, p126)

Kirkus: The Hood, Goatee, Blue Hair, a smoker who plays goalie so he won't have to run as much, and Katya, a Russian girl—not your usual soccer team. In fact, Katya says, "Is there a kid on our team who isn't a freak?" Tom Gray has just moved to town. He's the best high-school center striker in the league, but he refuses to play for Coach Dempsey's Southwind Warriors as long as their mascot is an Indian. Tom, a Mohawk, assembles a team of geeks and freaks, misfits and defectors to play Dempsey's talented squad. As in Esckilsen's debut, The Last Mall Rat (2003), this is a bit overwritten in spots, but it's the moral tone that sets it apart from other David and Goliath sports stories. Tom is a young man who is bound to honor what he believes in. The culminating soccer game with the Warriors is a rousing model of sports-writing for young readers—even those who don't know much about soccer will be drawn in. (Fiction. 10+) (Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2004)

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BOOK: PUNISHED! (DEC 2005) AUTHOR: LUBAR, DAVID

Description: After Logan receives a face full of magic dust from a man in the reference section of the library, he finds the only way to stop his incessant punning is to find oxymorons, anagrams, and palindromes to fulfill the requirements of three quests.

BookList: Gr. 4-7. Wordplay is at the heart of this funny, surreal adventure in which even the title is a pun. While roughhousing at the library with his friend Benedict, Logan literally runs into an elderly patron, who, as a punishment, saddles Logan with an unusual curse: everything he tries to say comes out as a pun. After a day in which even his dog groans at his tedious jokes, Logan is desperate to lift the curse. The cure, according to the elderly spell caster, involves more wordplay: Logan must hunt down examples of oxymorons, anagrams, and palindromes. Younger kids may need help with a few of the more sophisticated puns (I was jest doing wit you asked), but with an appealing mix of magic and silliness, Lubar captures Logans frustrations when he is unjustly accused of disobedience, his urgency to solve his dilemma, and the linguistic fun: I realized I had two palindromes living at home . . . Mom and Dad. Teachers will find plenty of uses for this. -- Gillian Engberg (Reviewed 05-01-2006) (Booklist, vol 102, number 17, p85)

School Library Journal: /* Starred Review */ Gr 3-5 –Logan knows he shouldn’t have been playing tag in the library reference stacks and he’s sorry that he crashed into Professor Wordsworth. But what did the strange old man mean when he said that Logan should be “punished?” Suddenly, the boy starts speaking in puns–really awful puns–and he can’t stop. His family and friends think he’s just smarting off, but Logan quickly realizes that he is under a curse. According to the professor, there is only one way to break the spell. Logan has three days to collect seven oxymorons, seven anagrams, and seven palindromes–or the “pun”-ishment will continue forever. This lighthearted fantasy would be an excellent classroom read-aloud. The language concepts are deftly explained and the clever, wordplay-filled dialogue provides numerous examples. There is an emphasis on problem-solving and self-reliance as well. Logan uses the dictionary and experiments with Scrabble™ tiles as he races against the clock to find the required answers. The short text and lively cover art will attract young readers, who will howl at the atrocious puns–and repeat them at the earliest opportunity. Be prepared for an epidemic of juvenile punsters.–Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL --Elaine E. Knight (Reviewed May 1, 2006) (School Library Journal, vol 52, issue 5, p92)

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BOOK: SKELLIG (APR 1999) AUTHOR: ALMOND, DAVID, 1951-

Description: Unhappy about his baby sister's illness and the chaos of moving into a dilapidated old house, Michael retreats to the garage and finds a mysterious stranger who is something like a bird and something like an angel.

BookList: Books for Youth, Middle Readers: /*Starred Review*/ Gr. 5-8. Who is Skellig? Or, more correctly, what? When Michael discovers the ragged, dusty man existing on dead flies in the garage, he is shocked. But the riddle of Skellig must compete with Michael's constant worry about his baby sister, who can't seem to get well. British writer Almond, in his first book for young people, weaves a story that is part mystery, part dream, part anxious everyday life. Michael, who has moved to a new house that is sadly in need of repair, finds friendship with a girl next door, with whom he shares the secret of Skellig. It is Mina, with her authoritative knowledge of birds, who shows Michael the secret lives of owls and other birds in the area. The children's discovery that Skellig, too, has wings growing from his shoulder blades, though an extraordinary revelation, seems quite fitting as the children embark on the difficult mission of keeping Skellig alive. In many ways, this novel raises more questions than it answers. Readers are not given any definitive answers about who Skellig is, and this may bother younger readers who have the skill to read the book without the sophistication of knowing how to plumb for its deeper meanings. Accomplished readers, however, will find this an amazing work. Some of the writing takes one's breath away, especially the scenes in which Almond, without flinching, describes the beauty and the horror that is Skellig. Almond is also wise enough to root the plot in the family's reaction to baby Joy's illness, thus keeping the story earthbound where it needs to be before it soars and flies away. ((Reviewed February 1, 1999)) -- Ilene Cooper

Publishers Weekly: British novelist Almond makes a triumphant debut in the field of children's literature with prose that is at once eerie, magical and poignant. Broken down into 46 succinct, eloquent chapters, the story begins in medias res with narrator Michael recounting his discovery of a mysterious stranger living in an old shed on the rundown property the boy's family has just purchased: "He was lying there in the darkness behind the tea chests, in the dust and dirt. It was as if he'd been there forever.... I'd soon begin to see the truth about him, that there'd never been another creature like him in the world." With that first description of Skellig, the author creates a tantalizing tension between the dank and dusty here-and-now and an aura of other-worldliness that permeates the rest of the novel. The magnetism of Skellig's ethereal world grows markedly stronger when Michael, brushing his hand across Skellig's back, detects what appears to be a pair of wings. Soon after Michael's discovery in the shed, he meets his new neighbor, Mina, a home-schooled girl with a passion for William Blake's poetry and an imagination as large as her vast knowledge of birds. Unable to take his mind off Skellig, Michael is temporarily distracted from other pressing concerns about his new surroundings, his gravely ill baby sister and his parents. Determined to nurse Skellig back to health, Michael enlists Mina's help. Besides providing Skellig with more comfortable accommodations and nourishing food, the two children offer him companionship. In response, Skellig undergoes a remarkable metamorphosis that profoundly affects the narrator's (and audience members') first impression of the curious creature, and opens the way to an examination of the subtle line between life and death. The author adroitly interconnects the threads of the story--Michael's difficult adjustment to a new neighborhood, his growing friendship with Mina, the baby's decline--to Skellig, whose history and reason for being are open to readers' interpretations. Although some foreshadowing suggests that Skellig has been sent to Earth on a grim mission, the dark, almost gothic tone of the story brightens dramatically as Michael's loving, life-affirming spirit begins to work miracles. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)

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BOOK: STARGIRL (AUG 2000) AUTHOR: SPINELLI, JERRY

Description: In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

School Library Journal: Gr 6-10-High school is a time of great conformity, when being just like everybody else is of paramount importance. So it is no surprise that Stargirl Caraway causes such excitement and confusion when she arrives at Mica High in Arizona. Initially, everyone is charmed by her unconventional behavior- she wears unusual clothing, she serenades the lunchroom with her ukulele, she practices random acts of kindness, she is cheerleader extraordinaire in a place with no school spirit. Naturally, this cannot last and eventually her individuality is reviled. The story is told by Leo, who falls in love with Stargirl's zany originality, but who then finds himself unable to let go of the need to be conventional. Spinelli's use of a narrator allows readers the distance necessary to appreciate Stargirl's eccentricity and Leo's need to belong to the group, without removing them from the immediacy of the story. That makes the ending all the more disappointing-to discover that Leo is looking back imposes an unnecessary adult perspective on what happened in high school. The prose lapses into occasionally unfortunate flowery flights, but this will not bother those readers-girls especially-who will understand how it feels to not quite fit the mold and who attempt to exult in their differences.-Sharon Grover, Arlington County Department of Libraries, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus: /* Starred Review */ Newbery-winning Spinelli spins a magical and heartbreaking tale from the stuff of high school. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock cannot quite believe the new student who calls herself Stargirl. Formerly home-schooled, Stargirl comes to their Arizona high school with a pet rat and a ukulele, wild clothes and amazing habits. She sings "Happy Birthday" to classmates in the lunchroom, props a small glass vase with a daisy on her desk each class, and reenergizes the cheerleading squad with her boundless enthusiasm. But Stargirl even cheers for the opposing team. She's so threatening to the regular ways of her fellows that she's shunned. No one will touch her or speak to her—or applaud her success when she wins a state speech tournament. Leo's in love with her, but finds that if he's with her, he's shunned, too. She loves him enough to try to fit in, but when that fails spectacularly, she illuminates the spring school dance like a Roman candle and disappears. The desert—old bones, flowering cactus, scented silence—is a living presence here. So is the demon of conformity, a teen monster of what's normal, a demon no less hideous because it's so well internalized in us all. Leo chooses normalcy over star stuff, but looking back as an adult he finds Stargirl's presence in a hundred different ways in his own and in his former classmates' lives. Once again Spinelli takes his readers on a journey where choices between the self and the group must be made, and he is wise enough to show how hard they are, even when sweet. (Fiction. 11-14) (Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2000)

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BOOK: TANGERINE (APR 1997) AUTHOR: BLOOR, EDWARD, 1950-

Description: Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

School Library Journal: Gr 6-8--Paul starts seventh grade after moving from Houston to a ritzy new development in Tangerine County, FL. Legally blind following some repressed childhood incident, he nonetheless sees familial, environmental, and social anomalies of the local landscape with greater acuity than the adults around him. His intense mother quickly assumes a leadership role in the Homeowner's Association. His civil engineer father is obsessed with his older brother Erik's football career. Lurking beneath their suburban veneer are real dangers that deepen the disquieting atmosphere: smoke from an unquenchable muck fire casts a pall over the area; lightning kills a football player during practice; a sinkhole swallows the school's portable classrooms; and Paul's conflicts with Erik, a truly nasty, probably psychotic kid. Paul is determined to do whatever it takes to make it on the soccer field, in the classroom, and with his peers. The difference between local people with knowledge of the land and ignorant newcomers who are perplexed by it is powerfully portrayed. Equally clear is that class consciousness and racism have built fences through which Paul chooses to blast holes. Mix a sensitive male protagonist reminiscent of Asa in Bruce Brooks's What Hearts (HarperCollins, 1992), ratchet the soccer scenes from Joseph Cottonwood's The Adventures of Boone Barnaby (Scholastic, 1990) up several degrees of intensity, and enjoy this satisfying family/healing, coming-of-age struggle in which everyone takes some licks, but Paul keeps on kicking.--Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA

Kirkus: /* Starred Review */ A legally blind seventh-grader with clearer vision than most wins acceptance in a new Florida school as his football-hero older brother self-destructs in this absorbing, multi-stranded debut. Paul's thick lenses don't keep him from being a first-rate soccer goalie, but they do make him, willy-nilly, a "handicapped" student and thus, according to his new coach, ineligible to play. After a giant sinkhole swallows much of his ramshackle school, Paul is able to transfer to another school where, with some parental collusion, he can keep his legal status a secret. It turns out to be a rough place, where "minorities are in the majority," but Paul fits himself in, playing on the superb soccer team (as a substitute for one of the female stars of the group) and pitching in when a freeze threatens the citrus groves. Bloor fills in the setting with authority and broad irony: In Tangerine County, Florida, groves are being replaced by poorly designed housing developments through which drift clouds of mosquitoes and smoke from unquenchable "muck fires." Football is so big that not even the death of a player struck by lightning during practice gets in the way of NFL dreams; no one, including Paul's parents, sees how vicious and amoral his brother, Erik, is off the field. Smart, adaptable, and anchored by a strong sense of self-worth, Paul makes a memorable protagonist in a cast of vividly drawn characters; multiple yet taut plotlines lead to a series of gripping climaxes and revelations. Readers are going to want more from this author. (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 1997)

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BOOK: THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS (SEP 2001) AUTHOR: BRASHARES, ANN

Description: Four best girlfriends spend the biggest summer of their lives enchanted by a magical pair of pants.

School Library Journal: /* Starred Review */ Gr 9 Up –Best friends Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen are preparing to spend their first summer apart since they were born. Before leaving to visit her father, Carmen buys a pair of second-hand jeans on a whim, and when the others discover that the pants fit all of them, they create the sisterhood of the traveling pants. Each teen gets them for a few weeks before sending them on, and thus they travel from Washington, DC, to Greece to Baja California to South Carolina, linking the friends even as they are apart. The summer and the pants come to represent more than any of them can ever anticipate in this four-part coming-of-age story. Before the season ends, each teen must deal with some unpleasant problem, reach a real low, then confront her personal flaws and pull herself back up again. Brashares deftly moves from narrative to narrative, weaving together themes from the mundane to the profoundly important, from death to raging hormones, from stepfamilies to dead-end minimum-wage jobs. The endings aren't pat, yet each story line comes to a satisfying conclusion. All four girls are completely realistic, and even the secondary and adult characters are fully drawn. The result is a complex book about a solid group of friends, with each one a strong and courageous individual in her own right. They form a true sisterhood of acceptance and support, resulting in a believable and inviting world.–Linda Bindner, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO --Linda Bindner (Reviewed August 1, 2001) (School Library Journal, vol 47, issue 8, p175)

Kirkus: /* Starred Review */ In this feel-good novel with substance, four teenage girls, friends since they were all born just weeks apart, are about to embark on their first summer as separate young women. Carmen, half-Hispanic, has a knack for math; Lena, the beauty of the group and self-conscious about her appearance, demonstrates artistic talent; Bridget is the tall soccer star; and Tibby, the rebel, sports a nose ring. Visiting grandparents for the first time in Greece, attending soccer camp in Mexico, spending the summer with dad in South Carolina, or working at home, how will these girls survive their time alone? Leave it to a pair of secondhand jeans, which, despite their various body shapes, fits all four perfectly. These magical jeans, dubbed the Traveling Pants, span the world, one week at a time, lending their mystical powers wherever they go. The pants become a metaphor for the young women finding their own strength in the face of new love, unexpected friendships and death, a father's remarriage, and a reckless relationship—and without their best friends. Debut novelist Brashares renders each girl individual and lovable in her own right, emphasizing growing up without growing apart. Move over, Ya Ya Sisters. (Fiction. YA) (Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001)

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BOOK: THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER (MAY 2004) AUTHOR: DESSEN, SARAH

Description: The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

BookList: Gr. 9-12. Dessen returns to a familiar theme and recognizable characters: the “perfect” girl at odds with a controlling mother and keeping boys at arm’s length because of father issues. Here the girl is Macy Queen. Her father has died, her mother can’t grieve, and every time Macy tries to break out of the automaton state in which she is trapped, Mrs. Queen reels her back. Macy gets a job with a catering company, whose employees mirror and mask similar emotions to her own--among them, a girl who is scarred on the outside, but not on the inside, and two motherless brothers, the older of whom, Wes, helps Macy break through. As is often the case with Dessen, the novel is a mixed bag. Much of it is wonderful. At its purest, the writing reaches directly into the hearts of teenage girls: Macy’s games of “truth” with Wes are unerringly conceived, sharply focused on both characters and issues. Yet a subplot about Macy’s job at the library features cardboard characters and unbelievable situations. This seesawing between spot-on observations and superfluous scenes slows the pace and makes readers wait too long for the book’s best moments. -- Ilene Cooper (BookList, 04-15-2004, p1437)

School Library Journal: /* Starred Review */ Gr 7 Up –Macy, 16, witnessed her father's death, but has never figured out how to mourn. Instead, she stays in control–good grades, perfect boyfriend, always neat and tidy–and tries to fake her way to normal. Then she gets a job at Wish Catering. It is run by pregnant, forgetful Delia and staffed by her nephews, Bert and Wes, and her neighbors Kristy and Monica. "Wish" was named for Delia's late sister, the boys' mother. Working and eventually hanging out with her new friends, Macy sees what it's like to live an unprescripted lifestyle, from dealing with kitchen fires to sneaking out at night, and slowly realizes it's not so bad to be human. Wes and Macy play an ongoing game of Truth and share everything from gross-outs to what it feels like to watch someone you love die. They fall in love by talking, and the author sculpts them to full dimension this way. All of Dessen's characters, from Macy, who narrates to the bone, to Kristy, whose every word has life and attitude, to Monica, who says almost nothing but oozes nuance, are fully and beautifully drawn. Their dialogue is natural and believable, and their care for one another is palpable. The prose is fueled with humor–the descriptions of Macy's dad's home-shopping addiction are priceless, as is the goofy bedlam of catering gigs gone bad–and as many good comedians do, Dessen uses it to throw light onto darker subjects. Grief, fear, and love set the novel's pace, and Macy's crescendo from time-bomb perfection to fallible, emotional humanity is, for the right readers, as gripping as any action adventure.–Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library --Johanna Lewis (Reviewed June 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 6, p138)

Kirkus: Macy declined Dad's early-morning invitation to jog, changed her mind, and ran out to catch him, only to see him die of a heart attack before her eyes. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt, she sets about guaranteeing that every aspect of her life is controlled, perfect, safe—from her academically ambitious but unaffectionate boyfriend, to her tidiness, to her boring summer job at the library information desk. When Macy's cautious self-discipline collides with Wish Catering, its offbeat staff, and its wacky crisis management, readers can pretty much predict the outcome. Macy will be teased out of her cocoon and grief by a new job with the caterer and new friends (including romantic hunk Wes) into their messy, lively, creative world. The plot is too conventional, some secondary characters are stock, the storm that brings everyone together at the end is too handy, but the Wish team is lovable, the romance clicks, and readers will be entertained. (Fiction. 12-14) (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2004)