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Title: A Crooked Kind of Perfect
Written by: Linda Urban
Hardback: 211 pages
Ages: 8 to 12
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-15-206007-7
Release Date: 2007

Zoe Elias aspires to be a prodigy piano player and holds onto her dreams of Carnegie Hall. She believes that if she can only get a baby grand piano her wishes will come true. She is dismayed that her father buys a Perfectone D-60 electric organ instead of a beautiful piano. Not only does Zoe have to deal with her disappointment, but she is dumped by her best friend Emma. Before she knows it, Zoe accepts an invitation to play in the Perform-O-Rama organ contest. Determined to do well in the contest, Zoe practices after school every day.

Zoe’s family consists of herself, her mom, and her dad. Mom is always at work and Dad is a recluse. His favorite pastime is taking mail diploma courses from Living Room University. The times he does venture out result in chaos. He always gets lost and has to call Eastside Wreck and Tow for directions every time. What’s a girl to do?

Friendship is found in the most unexpected person, Wheeler Diggs. Wheeler is from school and his family life is not exactly what you would call “perfect” either and he develops an endearing friendship with Zoe and her father.

Linda Urban creatively brings Zoe and company alive through their quirks and responsiveness to their circumstances. You will be intrigued from the first words to keep reading this fine novel about perception of families and how everything is not what it seems.

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Reviewed by Donna McDine, Middle Grade Book Reviewer for the National Writing for Children Center

Title: Garden of Eve
Written by: K. L. Going
Hardback: 232 pages
Ages: 8 to 12
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-15-205986-6
Publication: September 2007

Evie and her mom have a very special relationship and are able to bring their imaginations into the world of magic through bedtime stories. But then Evie’s mom becomes ill and Evie longs for the days before her mother’s illness. But soon her mother dies. In hopes of a new start, Evie and her father move to Beaumont, New York where Evie takes a journey into a fairy tale of her own.

At first the dismal apple orchard that her father purchased is too dreary for Evie, and to top it off it’s next door to a cemetery. The events that occur after Evie meets a boy who looks just like a local boy who died, the curse of the farm and the girl who vanished, and the gift of a single seed, are nothing less than spectacular.

Evie’s father has always been a scientific man. To him, anything that cannot be explained cannot be real.

“Evie,” he said at last, “you know I’m a realist. I always have been. I trust what I see with my eyes, and it’s hard to believe anything you’ve told me is true…” “But I can tell you this, I’m not going to make the same mistake again. If you need a seed to find Adam and bring him home, then, by God, we’re going to find a seed.”

Through Evie’s father begins to BELIEVE in the unexpected and unexplainable.

K.L. Going pulls you into the heart and soul of Evie from the start. You’ll feel the beat of your own heart with every word you read. Kudos to Going for such a wonderful heartfelt novel!

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Reviewed by Donna McDine, Middle Grade Book Reviewer for the National Writing for Children Center

Canadian children’s author Laurel Dee Gugler guests on this week’s Book Bites for Kids.

Book Bites for Kids host, Suzanne Lieurance, finds out about Laurel’s new book Catching Forever, and many of her other picture books for young readers.

Listen to the interview HERE.

Find out more about Laurel’s books here.

Listen as children’s author K.C. Dyer talks about her new book, Ms. Zehpyr’s Notebook, to Book Bites for Kids host, Suzanne Lieurance.

Title: Firegirl
Written by: Tony Abbott
Publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-316-01170-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-316-01170-9
Ages: 8-12
Paperback: 145 pages
Publication: 2007 (reprint edition)

The most important thing in Tom Bender’s life at St. Catherine’s School was to gain the attention of Courtney Zisky and to take that long awaited ride in his best friend Jeff’s uncle’s Cobra. However, Tom’s life was about to change in unexpected ways when a new student was introduced by the teacher, Mrs. Tracy.

“I felt as if everyone’s eyes were on me. I must have dropped a gallon of sweat into my shirt. I felt my arms, sides, and waist dripping wet. But with that curled thing held out in the air toward me, I couldn’t not take it. I had to hold it. My hand reached out to hers and took it. I held it lightly, and I think she helped by not squeezing. My hand must have been sweaty. Her palm felt pretty normal. The skin felt cool.”

Firegirl is presented in first person from the events leading up to the introduction of the new classmate, Jessica Feeney, through the small steps that Tom takes in establishing a friendship with Jessica.

This heartwarming novel will inspire you. Share this book with your students and/or children and show them that simple acts of kindness can go a long way in making people feel loved and accepted.

It is no wonder that Firegirl was awarded The Golden Kite Award by the SCBWI.

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Reviewed by Donna McDine

Donna is a 2007 graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature, Writing for Children and Teenagers program. She is also a member of the SCBWI. Donna has published in Stories for Children Magazine, Kid Magazine Writers, and Long Story Short.