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Gone Fishing.  by Tamera Will Wissinger. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 978047820118

Sam is really looking forward to fishing with his dad, just the two of them. When his sister, Lucy, decides she wants to join in, he’s sure the trip will be ruined with all her twirling, jumping, and playing. On the trip itself, though, Lucy and Sam surprise each other with their fishing abilities, and the bond they form as siblings. This book is told entirely in different forms of verse, in the voices of Lucy, Sam, and their dad.


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The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. by Kate Messner. September 1, 2009. Walker Children's. 208 pages. ISBN: 9780802798428

Gianna is a procrastinator. She knows she has to collect 25 leaves for her science project to avoid being kicked off the cross-country team, but as the deadline approaches, she finds herself becoming more and more distracted and less and less prepared to complete the assignment. To make matters worse, her grandmother has started to become very forgetful, to the point that she gets lost in familiar places and forgets the names for household objects. Gianna’s mom doesn’t want to admit that anything is wrong, which makes Gianna even more anxious and even more distracted. There’s also a mean girl at school who seems determined to sabotage any progress Gianna makes. It’s a good thing Gianna has a great friend like Zig to help her get through the tough times - he might be her only hope for things to work out!

I enjoy Kate Messner’s Marty McGuire books, and her mystery-adventure books about the Jaguar Society, and I was curious to see what her early middle grade novels are like. Though I couldn’t get into Sugar and Ice, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. grabbed my attention from the very start. Gianna is a likeable girl whose flaws seem very real to me. It seems like I have read a lot of books about girls who are really bookish, responsible, and focused, but not as many about sports-minded athletes who struggle to finish homework assignments and whose lives are somewhat up in the air. I like that Gianna doesn’t have it all together, but that her heart is in the right place, and she never stops trying.

I also enjoyed the relationships Gianna has with the supporting characters. Gianna’s mom, grandma, and best friend, Zig, each came strongly to life, and I loved the gentle ways they supported Gianna even when she was driving them crazy with her disorganization. It was also very satisfying to see Gianna eventually forge her own path where she gets her assignment done in her way, with her own style, instead of in a traditional format that might work for more traditional thinkers.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. is a great middle grade novel about a very real girl. Readers will easily empathize with Gianna as she struggles to conquer her homework assignment, and they will fully understand her frustrations and triumphs on the road to success. I would recommend this book to girls who have enjoyed Ann M. Martin’s Ten Rules for Living with My Sister and Tricia Rayburn’s Maggie Bean books. It’s a perfect choice for middle school girls, especially those who might not relate to more picture-perfect fictional heroines.

I borrowed The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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The Pinballs. by Betsy Byars. 1977. Harper Collins. 144 pages. ISBN: 9780060209186

On the same day, three kids arrive at the same foster home: Thomas J. who has been raised by elderly twins after being abandoned by his birth mother, Harvey, whose own father ran over his legs with the family car, and Carlie, who has been removed from her home because of an abusive stepdad. Though they are supposedly just pinballs, existing together in one space without any particular regard for one another, these three kids form a bond that helps all three of them look hopefully toward the future.

I have known of this book for years because it was assigned reading in my own sixth grade language arts class, back in 1993, but the only thing that sounded at all familiar about it when I picked it up again was the name Thomas J. Otherwise, this may have been my first reading of the book. It was a much quicker and more engaging read than I remember. As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t tolerate sadness very well as a kid, and knowing that kids were treated badly by their parents would have automatically kept me from investing myself too much in the story. As an adult, though, with lots more books under my belt, I can really appreciate the value of this book, and its continued relevance more than 35 years after its publication.

I think what makes this book stand the test of time more than anything else is its honesty about how the characters feel. As they settle into their new foster home, two of the characters cope by making lists about their lives. Harvey writes “Bad Things That Have Happened To Me” while Carlie starts one entitled “Big Events and How I Got Cheated Out of Them.” Carlie asks pointed questions of her foster mother, revealing her fears and confusion about why this woman wants her to live in her home. Harvey expresses real disappointment when he is promised Kentucky Fried Chicken and his foster father forgets to bring it home. Thomas J. worries about his inability to express love because the elderly twins who cared for him never really demonstrated their feelings. These anecdotes from the lives of the three foster kids are very real, and they help kids relate to the difficulties the characters face, even if they have never had the same experiences. There are some really dated pop culture expressions and references that might put off some contemporary readers, but beyond those are three well-developed characters with three-dimensional personalities and distinct identities.

This is the third book I have reviewed on this blog that depicts children in the foster care system. One for the Murphys describes an almost sugary-sweet situation in which a young girl slowly acclimates to her completely loving and perfect foster family. The Story of Tracy Beaker focuses on a more difficult little girl, who has been left at the children’s home for a long time, with little hope for a foster family to take her in. The Pinballs strikes a balance between these two more extreme scenarios and focuses on the friendships formed among the kids rather than their relationships to the adults who try to improve their lives. Though there are positive things to be said for all three books, I think The Pinballs is the one that is most likely to stick with me. For me, it’s the most real, and in some ways, the most hopeful, because it empowers the kids to take control of their own destiny and to focus on themselves instead of the adults who let them down.

I would recommend the The Pinballs to readers in grades 4 to 8 who prefer realistic fiction and character-driven stories, and who are ready to grapple with heavier issues.

I borrowed The Pinballs from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Kelsey Green, Reading Queen. by Claudia Mills. June 4, 2013. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780374374884

Kelsey Green is great at reading. Her best friends are good at math and running. In this first of three books exploring each of the girls' special talents, Kelsey's class learns that they will be entering a school-wide reading competition, with prizes for the best readers in each class as well as the best class of readers in the entire school. Kelsey desperately wants to beat her class's other star reader, Simon, but she always seem to be a book or two behind, even when she reads the skinniest books she can find on her reading level. To make matters worse, the fifth grade's star readers are carrying their class ever-closer to first place. The only thing Kelsey can do now is try to motivate the reluctant readers in her class to read more books, even if it means being a little bit bossy in the process.

Claudia Mills consistently writes wonderfully relevant school stories at both the chapter book level and the middle grade level. In this story for the early elementary audience, she demonstrates her keen understanding of how children compete with one another, and how acutely aware kids are of reading levels, both their own and those of their classmates. Most elementary school students I know are at least slightly obsessed with reading levels, so for me, this book has its finger firmly on the pulse of what is happening right now. Since kids like to see themselves in the books they read, especially when they are just learning, this feeling that the story is happening right now is really important. I also think Mills does a nice job of creating a flawed character. Kelsey might be the reading queen, but she has a lot to learn about compassion, patience, and good sportsmanship, including how not to be a sore loser.

Interestingly, it's not completely clear from the story itself whether Kelsey herself learns a lesson, but I think the reader definitely does. Through Kelsey's behavior as she tries to teach her classmate, Cody, to love reading, kids learn how to be understanding of the differences between themselves and their classmates, and how to use their strengths to help others, not to show them up in front of everyone in order to be the best.

This book and its companions have a place in every elementary school classroom, and they might be especially useful in those where heavy competition among students of differing abilities has become a problem. Read-alikes for this series include the Polk Street School Kids books and the Clementine series.

I borrowed Kelsey Green, Reading Queen from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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The Story of Tracy Beaker. by Jacqueline Wilson. 1991; 2006. Yearling. 224 pages. ISBN: 9780440867579

 Tracy Beaker lives in a children's home. She has had two failed attempts at making things work with a foster family, but because she is an older child and a bit unruly, she has had trouble making a long-term connection. When she begins writing her life story in a book given to her by the home, she discovers some writing talent, and even has the chance to meet a real-life author, but when it seems like she and the author might just hit it off, she finds that her behavior might keep her from truly enjoying this new friendship.

Tracy is the plucky kind of character kids love to read about, whether they have anything in common with her or not. She is smart-mouthed, funny, sarcastic, and authentic, and her difficult situation gives kids a lot of reasons to root for her right off the bat. She is not always a reliable narrator, but her lies and half-truths are always obvious to the reader, and I think the reader can easily understand that they arise from a desire to protect herself. Even her misbehavior – getting into fights, breaking others' belongings, having angry outbursts – is presented in a realistic way that presents things for what they are, without glorifying disobedience or immediately passing judgment on Tracy as a “bad” kid.

Though this book was originally published in the UK in 1991, it didn't make it to the United States until 2006. Though I suspect the publisher probably could have updated some things to bring the story up to date, there is no obvious evidence that this has been done in the US edition that I read. I recall no references to cell phones or other gadgets, and honestly, I'm not sure Tracy or her friends would realistically have those things even if this book were written today. Everything in the story felt very contemporary, and I think most middle grade readers would feel the same way.

Last year, when I reviewed One for the Murphys, I criticized it for its overly happy ending, which to me, felt forced and unrealistic. The Story of Tracy Beaker seems much more in tune with what a real-life foster care experience might be like, and I think anyone who reads One for the Murphys should read this book as well to ensure a more balanced look inside the lives of kids who are in the foster care system.

There are several other titles about Tracy Beaker, and though they don't seem to be available in the US, I'd definitely like to read them. They include: The Dare Game, Starring Tracy Beaker, Tracy Beaker's Thumping Heart, and Ask Tracy Beaker and Friends.

I borrowed The Story of Tracy Beaker from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure. by Stephanie Greene. February 21, 2013. Putnam Juvenile. 96 pages. ISBN: 9780399257117

There is a rule in Miss Lee’s classroom that students are not allowed to play with their treasures from home during class time. Toys are only permitted at recess, and the rest of the time, they need to stay in desks and backpacks. Posey knows this rule, and she wants to follow it, but when Grandpa buys her a tiny pink pig named Poinky, she just can’t keep him to herself. When Miss Lee sees Posey with Poinky, she takes him away and locks him up inside her desk, without even given Posey a warning like she is supposed to! It’s a good thing Posey’s tutu can help her turn into Princess Posey, so she will have the strength to ask for Poinky back.

Amazingly, this is already the fifth book about Princess Posey. Though the series has been around for a while now, the stories continue to feel fresh and true to life in the first grade. Stephanie Greene continually does a wonderful job of tackling those issues that, to first graders, feel like life and death situations. I can definitely remember having teachers in elementary school who would take things away from students when they became distractions, and reading Posey’s reaction when it happens to her took me right back to the feeling of powerlessness I had when a fellow classmate lost a prized possession to the teacher’s desk. I also remembered how scary it was to approach the teacher with a question, or with my side of the story when I hadn’t been treated fairly, and I was impressed that Posey handled the situation so well!

Learning to navigate the world on one’s own is part of life for every child who attends school outside of the home, and Stephanie Greene gives kids a great road map and a great role model to help them figure things out. This book reminds kids that there are consquences when rules are broken, but also that adults can be fair when mistakes are made and kids calmly explain their positions. I really loved this book, and I continue to believe that this is one of the best and most realistic early chapter book series out there.

Keep an eye out for yet another Princess Posey book, Princess Posey and the New First Grader, which came out on June 27th.

I borrowed from Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Toppling. by Sally Murphy. 2012. Candlewick. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780763659219

John is in fifth grade, and he loves dominoes. He doesn't play games with them; instead, he likes to line them up in complicated patterns, then knock them over to watch how they topple. His hobby becomes a metaphor for a precarious situation in his best friend, Dom's life, when John and his classmates learn that Dom has cancer and may die.

This book is very nicely done. It looks at a serious situation from the masculine point of view, and portrays all the complex emotions associated with childhood cancer without becoming maudlin. Though John worries about his friend's future, he remains hopeful and positive in a way that I think shows the resilience of real kids. He and "the guys" show real compassion for Dom, and the ending, though uncertain, sounds a real chord of hope and happiness. 

Kids are naturally curious about serious situations, and I think this book will appeal to that curiosity. Though the main focus is how John reacts to Dom's diagnosis, there are also plenty of great details about classrooms and childhood interactions that make the entire world of the story very vivid. I was reminded, at certain points, of the Calvin Coconut series, where Calvin's classmates and classroom also come to life in unique ways. I think kids will also appreciate the open-ended ending to the story, which allows them to decide for themselves whether Dom will beat his illness.

I enjoyed Toppling much more than Murphy's previous book, Pearl Verses the World. While Pearl's story left me feeling very sad, this book infused a sad situation with enough good humor to make me want to keep reading. This book was originally published in Australia in 2010 by Walker Books with a slightly different cover illustration. Readers who enjoy Toppling might also like Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie and Like Bug Juice on a Burger and Eileen Spinelli's The Dancing Pancake and Summerhouse Time. Though these books are not about cancer, they focus on kids dealing with difficult emotions and finding ways to cope. 

I borrowed Toppling from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Where the Steps Were. by Andrea Cheng. 2008. Wordsong. 143 pages. ISBN: 9781932425888

In this novel in verse by Andrea Cheng, third graders at an underperforming elementary school move through their final year in the school before the building is torn down. The kids have a variety of family situations and personal problems, but they all love their teacher, who is a stable and loving presence in their lives.  

Though the book refers frequently to the fact that the school will be torn down, this story is more of a portrait of an inner city school than a story about saying goodbye to a beloved school. The characters, though interesting, are not very three-dimensional. Rather, each one is defined according to the situation he or she lives in, making them all seem like stereotypical representations of the author's impressions of this type of school. The emotions do ring true. I felt terrible for the kids in the scene where they are thrown out of a theater on a field trip for spitting, when none of them actually spit. The things the kids worry about - their parents' health, their own futures, their weight, etc. - are also realistic, but the characters who have these worries do not have distinct personalities.

Where the Steps Were is definitely timely, but I question whether the intended audience is really children. To me, it felt like the story was trying to convince adults that keeping schools like this open is important because of kids' attachments to their teachers and because kids like these have a lot of disappointments in their lives already. I think that is a perfectly fine message to send, but I wished the story was more focused on the development of individual characters than on this almost clinical analysis of what is lost when a school closes. I think teachers might be able to use this book as a read-aloud to prompt discussions about school community and fairness, but overall, it doesn't strike me as especially kid-friendly.

Andrea Cheng is a talented writer, and I see hints in this book of the style that made me fall in love with last year's The Year of the Book, which is written in prose, but with very lyrical and poetic language. This book is not my favorite of hers, but for kids who attend a school in danger of closing, this might be the story that will help them cope with their feelings of confusion and loss.


I borrowed Where the Steps Were from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Gone-Away Lake. by Elizabeth Enright. 1957. Harcourt. 272 pages. ISBN:  9780152022723

 Portia is excited to spend the summer with her cousin, Julian, but she never expects that they will discover an abandoned lakeside community, or that they will make friends with a pair of elderly siblings who still inhabit two of the rundown houses. At Gone-Away Lake, as their friends Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pindar call it, Portia and Julian discover life as it was 50 years ago, while having their own summer of modern-day adventures they will never forget.

In this book, as in The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright celebrates childhood independence. Whereas the Melendy kids explore New York City unsupervised, with just their allowance to pay their way, Portia and Julian are given free rein in the country, where they can enjoy the secret of a forgotten village, and make new friends without sharing them with their parents or with Portia's little brother, Foster. Especially interesting about this story are the connections Portia and Julian feel to Minnehaha and Pindar as children. They never tire of hearing about their friends' fights, friendships, and adventures, and they engage with those stories so fully that they are inspired to create a club of their own in the hopes of recapturing some of that fun and excitement.

Some things about this book bothered me. I couldn't quite buy into the notion that an entire group of fairly wealthy families would abandon not just their homes, but all the contents of those homes, and never return for them. I thought this might be explained at some point, but it never was, and I was distracted by the feeling that there should have been some big reveal of the "truth" about Gone-Away. I also couldn't help but feel that Minnehaha and Pindar  were living like Miss Havisham - waiting for the return of a day that would never be again. Perhaps this was intentional, as I think Portia and Julian breathe some fresh air into the lives of the two older people. Still, I wanted the characters in the story to feel disturbed as I did, and instead they were almost too accepting of the whole strange scenario.

That said, this is a well-written book full of interesting situations, well-described characters and settings, and everything a child wants in a summer story. I am not surprised that it was a Newbery Honor book in 1958, and I think, of the Newberys I've read, it's one of the older ones that still holds up well enough for contemporary audiences. It is similar in some ways to Miracles on Maple Hill - both books are even illustrated by the same artists, Joe and Beth Krush - and I think it also compares well to the Swallows and Amazons books, A Lemon and a Star, and The Railway Children. There is also a sequel, Return to Gone-Away, published in 1961.

I borrowed Gone-Away Lake from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Seasons: A Book of Poems. by Charlotte Zolotow. 2002. Harper Collins. 64 pages. ISBN: 9780060266996

In this easy-to-read poetry collection, prolific children's author Charlotte Zolotow shares her impressions of the four seasons. The book is divided into four parts. Winter Bits talks of snow, wind, and warm clothes.  Spring Things focuses on birds, plants, and breezes. In Summer Thoughts, Zolotow describes butterflies, flowers, and bugs. Finally, in The Feel of Fall, the year winds down with Halloween, falling leaves, and golden fields.

I was surprised when I read the jacket of this book and found out that this collection, written just 11 years ago, was Zolotow's first book for beginning readers! She has done so many wonderful picture books that I guess I just figured she must also have written a few titles for kids who are learning how to read. Also amazing is the fact that she is still living, at age 97, and that this book was published in the year that she turned 87.

This book shares much in common with Zolotow's quiet, thoughtful picture book texts. Many of the poems consist of just one sentence, but those single sentences are filled with truth and beauty. Though her poems are very much about real things, mostly in nature, she has a lot of fun with language, making up words like "windrushing," "funnytime" and "beez." Her poems rarely rhyme, but each one has a distinct rhythm that shows how thoughtful she is about the placement of each word. She is also a very economical writer, using the most appropriate word for each sentiment, and no extras.

Zolotow has a lovely way of getting inside the mindset of a child. She articulates thoughts that children have in a way that makes them easy to understand, even if her child readers could not have put them into words themselves. In a poem called "Grown-ups" she poses questions: "Do mothers ever feel lonely? / Do fathers ever feel sad?" In "Birthdays", which is on the very next page, she takes note that mothers enjoy flowers more than the birthday cake preferred by kids. These wonderings and observations resonate very strongly with children who are just figuring out how the world works.

Though her poetry, Zolotow also compels kids to think differently about their worlds. In a poem called "Me" the speaker points out that if she were someone else, "there would be other things / to hear and see / for I'd be someone else / not me." This short sentence seems obvious to adults, but for children this might be a startling thought, and the beginning of empathy for people in circumstances unlike their own. In "My Cat" the speaker wonders about what her cat might think about. "Some Days"  talks about how things might have been different in a child's day if he or she had not "done something mean."

Though these poems claim to be about the seasons, they are about many things: emotions, family, friendship, solitude, nature, home, and happiness. Zolotow captures each of these things on just the right level for an early reader and provides lots of food for thought, something lacking in many readers for beginners. I recommend this book very highly, especially for teaching poetry in kindergarten and first grade classrooms and library programs.


I borrowed Seasons from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Seeing Emily. by Joyce Lee Wong. 2007. Abrams. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780810992580

Emily is a Chinese-American  teenager who is an artist, a good student, and a hard worker in her parents' Chinese restaurant. Though her immigrant parents don't approve of her dating, wearing lipstick, or defying their rules, when Emily meets Nick, she begins trying on different identities and getting a feel for life as Nick's girlfriend. She likes how it feels when he kisses her, until she realizes Nick only sees her ethnicity, not who she truly is. 

The book jacket makes it sound like this is a story about a prim and proper young woman who throws caution to the wind and becomes a rebel in order to impress her boyfriend. The story inside the cover is quite different. This is not a wild romance, or a tale of teenage rebellion. Rather, it is a story about identity, and about coming of age as one's true self. At the start of the book, Emily is struggling to create an "interior self-portrait" for her art class. She is meant to draw an interior space that represents who she is, but everything she draws comes out darker than she expects. As the story progresses, Emily explores that darker side of her personality, not as a meaningless demonstration of her independence in the face of strict parents,  but as a personal journey of discovery. Emily ends up exactly where she belongs, in the end, but not until she has satisfied her curiosity about those sides of her personality she has not yet uncovered.  

I appreciate the subtlely of Wong's style. She addresses many issues in the three sections that comprise Emily's story, but she doesn't draw clear conclusions for the reader. Nick's behavior toward Emily - and his father's reception of her - are certainly examples of pretty egregious racism, but the author lets the reader figure that out based on context clues. She lets us understand, from Nick's words and Emily's reaction to them, that she is uncomfortable in the relationship, and that his behavior is unacceptable, but she doesn't give a lecture to the reader. This kind of open-endedness makes this a great book for discussion about cultural identity, and about the subtleties of human relationships that sometimes make it hard for girls to realize when they're in a bad one. Some readers might be turned off by the uncertainty of not being told what to think about various events. Myself, I had some trouble with the ending, which, while happy, does not tie things up that neatly or satisfyingly. Still, I can't imagine a different ending working better. Wong remains true to her style all the way through her book, and what emerges is a portrait of one girl doing her best to grow up into the person she is meant to be. 

Seeing Emily will appeal to female young adult readers from all backgrounds, especially those who feel at odds with their parents' ideals, and those who have been in relationships with boys who don't really see their true selves. It would also make a great addition to high school poetry lessons. There is a lot of beautiful figurative language throughout the book that would provide interesting opportunities for analysis, while also allowing students to enjoy a relevant and interesting story.

I borrowed Seeing Emily from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Where I Live. by Eileen Spinelli. 2007. Dial. 112 pages. ISBN: 9780803731226

Diana loves where she lives. A family of birds has a nest over the back door, and her best friend, Rose, lives close enough that they can wave to each other from their windows. When Diana's dad loses his job, and the family decides to move in with Diana's grandpa, Diana just can't imagine what it will be like to live somewhere else. It is only after she says goodbye to her old house and old friends that she realizes that change brings happy things along with the sad.

This short chapter book in verse covers very familiar ground. There are countless children's books about moving, and many of them repeat the same events and emotions over and over again. This story is different, though, because it's not just about the moving process. About half of the book actually occurs before the move, so the reader gets a sense of Diana's life in her old house. Because the reader is invested in her old life, he or she is able to sympathize that much more with Diana when she learns she is moving. This means that Diana's feelings about where she lives - not the move - become the central focus of the story. The book becomes less of a "moving" book and more of a presentation of how our lives are affected by where we live.

The unique language of Spinelli's verse is another notable feature of this book. I picked out several lines and phrases that struck me as particularly evocative and interesting. One such phrase was "purpy flopple," which is the nickname Rose has given to the floppy purple hat she allows Diana to keep as a going away present. This is such a small, silly phrase, yet it's one of the most memorable in the book. I also thought Spinelli did a lovely job writing the moment at which Diana and her family drive away from their old house and Diana watches as Rose gets further and further away.

I watch her from the back window
until she is a tiny speck -
the hardest goodbye of all.
There is also a wonderful description of Diana's little sister, Twink, that sums up her personality perfectly.

Twink's tub water
turn blue...
dark...
dreamy...
like a lake
after midnight.
Twink is always
making stuff like this happen.
Accidentally.

I love these specific moments of insight into the characters. I also enjoyed the friendship between Diana and Rose, where they share each other's diaries and manage to get along despite their major differences of opinion about subjects like astronomy. I also like that, when Diana does make a friend at her new house who likes things that Rose does not like, she does not feel guilty or assume that she is replacing her best friend. This is yet another plot point that separates this book from others on the same subject.

Where I Live is similar to Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, and its tone also reminds me of Lulu and the Duck in the Park and Lulu and the Dog from the Sea. Though it is written in verse, I think it will appeal mainly to girls in grades 2 to 4, especially those with little sisters and fun best friends of their own.

I borrowed Where I Live from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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A Lemon and a Star. by E.C. Spykman. 1955. Harcourt Brace. 214 pages. ISBN: : 9780152447137

A few weeks ago, after reading Miracles on Maple Hill, I realized that while I enjoy children's novels from the 1950s, I have read very few. This inspired a visit to my local library with the specific goal of choosing some Old School Sunday reading material published in the 50s. A Lemon and a Star was a particularly exciting discovery both because I had never heard of it before, and because it ended up being such a great story.

A Lemon and a Star is about the four Cares children - Theodore (Ted), Hubert, Jane, and Edith (Edie), who live with their widower father and his household staff in Summerton, Massachusetts in the early 1900s. Because they have no mother, and because they are each mischievous little people, the Cares kids run rampant around the countryside, getting into fights, falling into the reservoir, capturing foxes, wallowing in mud and even occasionally sneaking into the city by train. Much of their time is spent bribing each other into keeping information from their dad, and in trying to keep Edie happy so she doesn't spoil all their plans before they even get off the ground. They have their own codes of loyalty and friendship, and their own ideas about how the world works, and they employ these rules as they look after themselves and each other.

Like Swallows and Amazons and The Boxcar Children, this book is appealing because it shows kids on their own doing things for themselves. The Cares children are not as responsible as John and Susan Walker, or as Henry and Jessie Alden, but that just adds to the fun of the reading experience. Most kids - whether they grow up in the early 1900s, the mid 1950s, or the early 2010s - will never have the freedom given to the Cares kids, and it's a lot of fun to live vicariously through them as their adventures unfold. I also think kids like to be shocked by the bad behavior of other kids, even if it the behaviors are not something they would do themselves. My husband and I read this book within a few days of each other, and as we discussed it, we just kept laughing and saying, "They're so bad!" Our enjoyment of their behavior reminded me a lot of reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Nobody wants to act like the Herdmans, but everyone wants to know what they'll do next. The same is true for Ted, Hubert, Jane, and Edie.

For a book about so much mischief, the writing is very beautiful. Images of the red house where the family lives, the reservoirs full of sparkling water, and Ted's black eye after a fight are just a few of the moments in this book that bring it fully to life and make it so easy to imagine really being in Summerton watching these kids playing. The personalities of the four kids come across very well. Ted is portrayed as the frustrated oldest child who is stubborn and annoyed by his younger siblings. Edie is the spoiled baby of the family who can be bought but not controlled. Hubert and Jane fall somewhere in the middle, trying to do the right thing and keep their father happy, but also endlessly fascinated by thir older brother and filled with concern for him when he is in danger. Every child reader can find a character to sympathize with in every scene.

Like many books for kids published in the 1950s, A Lemon and a Star is a great celebration of the adventures kids can have in their own backyards. It makes a nice read-alike for The Moffats, The Railway Children, and Swallows and Amazons, as well as for books by Carolyn Haywood and Beverly Cleary. Though I think they will be somewhat hard to find, I hope to track down and read the other three books in this series: The Wild Angel, Terrible, Horrible Edie and Edie on the Warpath, all of which sound wonderful.

I borrowed A Lemon and a Star from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Something Sleeping in the Hall. by Karla Kuskin. 1985. HarperCollins. 64 pages. ISBN:  9780060236342

Though the title at first suggests something sinister, Something Sleeping in the Hall is a collection of poems about a child's desire to have a pet. Short, easy-to-read poems celebrate birds, cats, pigs, dogs, dragons, elephants, and every other kind of animal imaginable. Some poems are sweet, others funny, but they all relate to that universal wish kids have for a pet to love and care for.

The poems in this collection are untitled, and visual cues are used instead to mark where one poem ends  and the next begins. I missed the cues at first, because  I tend to look more closely at text than images, but kids who are just learning to read are more likely to do the opposite, so they would probably be tuned into those cues much more closely than I was. I'm not sure it wouldn't have been more effective to just name the poems, but the tiny illustrations marking when the poem is about a bird, when it is about a pig, when it is about multiple animals, etc. are a distinctive feature of  this book that I think kids will like.

Kids will  also like some of the dark humor in a few of  the poems. For example, there is a hog in one poem who eats both a dog and a frog. The end of that poem says, "And then he lay down / bang - / and died." Other poems joke about a cat eating mice and a bear who walks down the street greeting and eating every creature he meets.  Early elementary schoolers love to be grossed out, and they love to be surprised, and these poems really deliver those two key components.

This collection is a great introduction to poetry for the youngest readers. It shows that poems can be playful, and that they can talk about everyday things in interesting ways. Some of the poems in this collection are only one or two sentences long, such as "It makes me squirm / to watch a worm." Even older kids who are intimidated by poetry might find relief in the fact that such a short and simple sentiment is actually a complete poem. I also like the way some of  the poems toy with the conventions of early reader books, such as the one on pages 14 and 15 that talks about a "blue bird on a branch," a "wild bird on a wig," and a "third bird in a bunch." The illustrations for that poem are almost like a rebus and they help kids decode the words while also letting them laugh over the silliness of the text.

Though Something Sleeping in the Hall is almost as old as I am, it still holds up for today's beginning  reader audience. The book is out of print, but my library system still has a copy and I suspect many others will as well. I plan to use at least two of the poems at my beginning  reader story time - either as rebuses or flannel boards. Share this book with animal lovers who are learning to read and watch them enjoy their first experiences with poetry.

I borrowed Something Sleeping in the Hall from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Make Lemonade. by Virginia Euwer Wolff. 1993. Henry Holt and Co. 200 pages. ISBN: 9780805080704

This distinctive novel in verse tells of two young women - LaVaughn and Jolly- whose lives intersect when fourteen-year-old LaVaughn answers seventeen-year-old Jolly's ad for a babysitter. LaVaughn needs to make as much money as she can so she will be able to get out of this neighborhood and go to college. Jolly needs a babysitter because though she is not yet eighteen, she has two little ones at home. What starts out as a mutually beneficial employment situation evolves slowly into much more, as LaVaughn helps Jolly to see herself in a new way and to seek the help she needs to make a life for herself and her children.

There is no other book in all of YA literature like this one. Each of the characters is fully three-dimensional. Jolly, in particular, comes to life as a person, rather than just a statistic, and the reader is able to really empathize with her and understand her worries and suspicions about welfare and going back to school. Though LaVaughn is an outside observer for much of what happens to Jolly, she, too, is remarkable, because she goes above and beyond a babysitter's call of duty. Even though her mother - herself a presence looming large on the edges of the story - suggests time and again that LaVaughn would be better off away from Jolly, LaVaughn feels such sympathy for her she can't let go until she knows she  will be okay.

Books like this often have the misfortune of being "issue" books. It's easy for an author to become preachy and start using his or her books to caution kids against the dangers of pre-marital sex and teen pregnancy. Though this book certainly didn't make me want Jolly's life, it also didn't read like a cautionary tale. This book isn't just about the path down which our mistakes can send us. It's also about the unlikely people who can make differences in each other's lives, through the most unusual of circumstances.

This book is amazingly well written. Not only is the language beautiful, but I think the poetry makes it easier to get lost in the world of the story. Poetry gets at the heart of LaVaughn's feelings for Jolly, and also captures the rhythm and flow of how  each of the characters sounds to LaVaughn. There is also a beautiful metaphor of a lemon tree that is mentioned many times throughout the story.  LaVaughn tries to help Jeremy plant a lemon tree, but no matter what they do, it just can't bloom until, finally, his mother gets her life together.

The story also doesn't draw any easy conclusions, making it a great one to discuss in high school English classes or in book discussion groups. Does LaVaughn take advantage of Jolly when she takes the babysitting job? Is it wrong for Jolly   to place such heavy burdens on  LaVaughn? Would the average teen have the strength and courage to help someone like Jolly? The author provides no answers, but the readers' love for the characters prompts them to consider the morality of the entire story, and to consider what the truth is for them.

Make Lemonade is one of the best young adult books I have ever read, and I recommend it very highly. I loved it so much, I am almost afraid to read the sequels - True Believer and This Full House - because I'm afraid they might not measure up. Still, I care so much about these characters now, I think I will have to take the risk just to find out what happens to them going forward. Make Lemonade contains mature content and will be best appreciated by readers who are prepared to grapple with difficult questions and who can maturely respond to discussions of sexual violence, poverty, and teen parenthood.

I borrowed Make Lemonade from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Anastasia Krupnik. by Lois Lowry. 1978. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780395286296

Anastasia Krupnik keeps an ever-changing list of things she likes and hates. Sometimes she hates her grandmother for losing her memory and not knowing who she is. Other times, she loves the opportunity to sit down and get to know her better. Sometimes she loves Washburn Cummings, an older boy in her neighborhood, and other times, he makes her so unhappy she adds him to the hate list. Her teacher, her parents, and even her soon-to-be-born baby brother all jump back and forth between the lists as Anastasia navigates life as a ten-year-old.

I remember the Anastasia books from childhood, but I couldn't swear that I've ever read one. As a kid, I tended to be turned  off by older books, and I think this series has always had an unfortunate set of covers that make the stories seem even older than they actually are. Reading it now, as an adult, this book was a surprise. I was surprised by the fresh writing and the main character's strong voice, and I was surprised by how quickly  the story moves, and how easy it was to get lost in it. There isn't much of a plot, really, but what makes the book stand out are all the great details Lowry uses to paint the Krupniks as real people. I loved learning about Anastasia's father, Myron, through the dedication pages in each of the poetry books he has written. I loved Anastasia's brief flirtation with the idea of becoming Catholic, and her impression of what that would mean. Anastasia's family life reminds me of many other families from middle grade series, including the Clementine,  Ramona Quimby, and Alice McKinley books. Somehow I've never thought of the Anastasia books as being in the same class with these "classics" - but I should have guessed that Lowry would write just as well in the realistic fiction genre  as she does in science fiction. 

Anastasia Krupnik will appeal to fans of the books I just mentioned, as well as to readers who like Johanna Hurwitz, Ann M. Martin, and Megan McDonald. It's tricky for me to promote books to kids when their covers look so old and strange, but it's worth giving them a great book talk - or even reading one aloud to a group in order to get kids excited about reading them once again. Very little stands between Anastasia and 21st century girls, and I'm not even sure anyone could tell just from the text that this book is older than I am! If you missed these in childhood, as I did, give them a try now - you won't be disappointed.


I borrowed Anastasia Krupnik from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.  

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The All-Of-A-Kind Family. by Sydney Taylor. 1951. Follett Publishing Company. 189 pages. ISBN: 0929093089

Mama has five girls: Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie, and because there are no boys, they call themselves an “all-of-a-kind family.” The family doesn’t have very much money, but they still have lots to be happy about. The girls visit the library regularly, where they are always glad to see their friend, the library lady. They have a wonderful relationship with their father’s best friend, Charlie, who gives them treats when they are sick and often comes around for dinner on holidays. They even get a little bit of money now and then to spend on secret candy to eat in bed, and to buy gifts for their father’s birthday. Throughout the year, the girls keep busy and make the best of what they do have - wonderful friends, and each other.

This first book in the All-of-a-Kind-Family series was written in the 1950s, but it takes place during the year 1912. Despite the age of the story and the fact that it is historical fiction, it is a fresh and accessible book, even today. Though the girls in the story are poor and living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, they have many experiences that can be universally appreciated by children from all backgrounds, living in urban and rural environments. Each chapter consists of a particularly memorable episode in the family’s life, including things like the loss of a library book, the discovery of old books in their father’s warehouse, and missing out on the Passover seder because of scarlet fever. Readers learn not only what life was like for immigrants living in early 20th century New York, but also all about Jewish tradition and celebrations throughout the year. Though the girls in the story lived 100 years ago, they have many qualities, interests, and worries that contemporary kids undoubtedly share.

The All-of-a-Kind Family is a great fictional representation of growing up in a Jewish family, as well as a sweet celebration of sisterhood. There are some surprise twists at the end of the book that bring together details and characters from earlier chapters, and I didn’t see any of those coming, so I was very pleased by that. I also like how quickly the story moves, and the upbeat tone that provides a sense of hope in difficult circumstances without becoming overly sentimental about city living or poverty. Readers who are anxiously awaiting another installment in the Penderwicks series might enjoy reading about the All-of-a-Kind Family - a series with six books in all - while they wait. It might also appeal to fans of Megan McDonald’s Sisters Club books, and to readers who enjoy The Boxcar Children, The Bobbsey Twins, and Betsy-Tacy.

I borrowed The All-of-a-Kind Family from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Iris and Walter. by Elissa Haden Guest. 2000. Harcourt Children's Books. 44 pages. ISBN: 9780152021221

When I arrived at my current library two years ago, the first question I received that stumped me was a request for the Iris and Walter books. I knew a lot of kids’ books, even then, but somehow none of the libraries I’d worked in prior to my current position had this series, so I had to admit to the nanny who asked for them that I didn’t know what they were. In the intervening two years, I have read a couple of the later books about this pair of best friends, and I have come to love Christine Davenier’s illustration style. Today, I’m spotlighting the very first Iris and Walter book, published in 2000.

Iris has just moved to the country, and she misses everything about her life in the big city. Her parents try to cheer her up by asking her to play all her favorite games, but Iris doesn’t feel like it. Her problem, she complains to her grandfather, is that the country doesn’t have any kids. Grandpa is sure this can’t be true, so he takes Iris on a walk around her neighborhood. Up a ladder, in a tree, behind the door of a little treehouse, Iris finds Walter, and suddenly life in the country is much, much better.

Lots of children’s books deal with moving to a new place and searching for friends, and the plot of this story doesn’t really add anything that previous books haven’t covered. What stands out about Iris and Walter is the way the story is written, and the specific details Guest uses to evoke Iris’s memories of the city, and her feelings about moving and meeting Walter. For example, Iris doesn’t just miss the city, she misses “playing baseball after supper until it was too dark to see the ball.” She’s not just nervous about the country, she thinks it’s “as lonely as Mars.” And when Iris and Walter finally meet and explore the country together, Guest even takes a few moments to reflect on the natural beauty of Iris’s new home, telling us of “red-tailed hawks and starry skies” and “pale roses” and “cool grass.”

The writing is descriptive and yet accessible for newly independent readers. The vocabulary is rich, but not overwhelming, and the story manages to be literature without being obscure or boring. Kids can relate to the happiness of finding a new friend and to the coziness of spending time with that friend day after day. Walter doesn’t have much to say in this book, so it’s not necessarily the most balanced introduction to a series that stars two characters, but as “how they met” stories go, it works nicely, and it sets us up for all the future fun Iris and Walter will have together.

Iris and Walter reminds me of the sweetness of the Frog and Toad books and the humor of Mr. Putter and Tabby or Henry and Mudge. Recommend it to kids who like the Freckleface Strawberry picture books, the Pinky and Rex series, and the George and Martha series. Learn more about the rest of the Iris and Walter books at the author’s website, http://www.elissahadenguest.com/

I borrowed Iris and Walter from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Homesick. by Kate Klise. 2012. Feiwel & Friends. 192 pages. ISBN: 9781250008428

It is 1983 in Dennis Acres, Missouri, and Beignet “Benny” Summer is 12 years old. His dad, Calvin, who hoards junk and goes on and on about a future worldwide computer network, keeps the house in a state of utter filth, which has driven Benny’s mom away. Various people - from Calvin’s best friend Myron to Benny’s own teacher - try to help Benny get things cleaned up, but the more help is offered, the more resistant Benny’s dad becomes. Then the worst happens - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce names Dennis Acres America’s Most Charming Small Town. Representatives of the government will be coming to town to install a computer in every household. Now everyone in town is looking to Calvin to clean up his act, and Benny feels torn between his love for his dad and his loyalty to his town.

The first book I ever read by Kate Klise was one of her collaborations with her sister, M. Sarah Klise, entitled Regarding the Fountain. While I loved that one, future books of theirs, such as 43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You didn’t resonate with me as much. I do like their picture books, such as Why Do You Cry? and Shall I Knit You a Hat?, but until now, I had never read any of Kate Klise’s middle grade novels, because I wasn’t sure I would like her writing style on its own, without her sister’s illustrations. The fact is, I could not have been more wrong. Homesick is the strongest book I have read by this author to date.

I wouldn’t say that Klise’s writing is especially flowery, but her words are very evocative. Dennis Acres is similar to a lot of other small towns I have read about, but her descriptions give it a very specific look and feel. As I read, I could picture each house and each business. I could imagine Benny’s dad’s leaning tower of moldy pizza boxes, and the rats living in the root cellar. I could picture Myron sitting behind the microphone at his radio station, and Benny blushing as the kids on his school bus teased him for sharing his seat with a teacher. Best of all, during the tornado that occurs at the book’s climax, I felt like I was there as Benny’s whole world fell apart. There are so many beautiful images throughout the story that just stuck with me and will stay with me for a long time.

I suppose some readers might complain that the resolution to Benny’s home situation is resolved too easily by an act of God. Other staunch realists might argue that the story isn’t believable because the events are so unlikely and contrived. I think the quality of Klise’s writing cancels out these concerns, however. The plot is important, and the characters are important, but what makes this book unique is the way the story is told. The emotions of what happens in this book are so vivid that the events of the story seem significant and possible, even if they might never happen in real life. I also think it’s neat that this book, set in the 1980s, foreshadows the Internet, and gives young readers a taste of what life was like when their parents were kids.

I recommend Homesick to fans of The Higher Power of Lucky and Susan Patron’s other books about Hard Pan, as well as to fans of the 2013 Newbery Honor book, Three Times Lucky. I also think libraries and bookstores should display Homesick face-out whenever possible. It has a great cover that is sure to attract interested readers!

I borrowed Homesick from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Afternoon of the Elves. by Janet Taylor Lisle. 1989. Orchard Books. 122 pages. ISBN: 9780531084373

Sara-Kate Connolly is in fifth grade for the second time, and everyone, including fourth graders, like Hillary, knows to stay away from her. Her house is dark and dilapidated, and the yard is overgrown with brush. Plus, Mrs. Connolly never comes out of the house. It’s not safe to play at the Connollys’ house, and Hillary’s mom would prefer that she didn’t. The only thing is, Sara-Kate has an elf village in her backyard. She invites Hillary over to help her maintain it, and from that first afternoon Hillary is hooked - not just on elves, but on Sara-Kate herself. As their friendship grows, Hillary becomes convinced that Sara-Kate herself might be an elf. She also learns, over time, and quite by accident, the horrible truth of Sara-Kate’s sad and mysterious life.

This is one of the creepiest children’s books I have ever read. I am so thankful I did not discover it when I was a kid, because I’m not sure I could have handled its eerie tone and unresolved ending. Though this is a realistic fiction book, it’s also something of a psychological thriller. Hillary believes in Sara-Kate’s well-constructed fantasy so thoroughly that she becomes almost blind to the fact that Sara-Kate and her mother are nearly starving to death. She becomes obsessed with the elves to the point that she continues visiting them after Sara-Kate is gone, and she becomes distant from her own friends and rebellious towards her mother. Sara-Kate’s house is described using details one would attribute to a haunted house, and a little shiver of fear and anticipation went up my spine each time Hillary thought she saw Sara-Kate’s mom appear in the window. When Hillary finally makes her way into that house and sees the state of things inside, I felt like I was watching a horror movie, just waiting for something to jump right out at me. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it - the whole story actually really freaked me out.

This book was published in 1989, and received a Newbery Honor in 1990, but though it is more than 20 years old, it reads as though it could happen any time. Despite it creepiness, the story does raise a lot of important issues that seem relevant to almost any time period. It shows the way poor families, or families in need of serious help, can sometimes fall through the cracks. It questions whether the help given to such families is adequate or truly helpful. It shows the ways in which traumatized children can cope through fantasies, and even helps Hillary to become her own person, in a very weird way. What makes the book so unsettling is that nothing is neatly resolved. The reader is left to grapple with difficult questions on her own, and to come to her own conclusions, whatever they may be.

Kids can read this book on their own, but I think this is one of those stories that really needs to be shared and discussed so kids can process what they have read. After finishing the book, I didn’t even want to walk around my own house in the dark. It’s that kind of disturbing and eye-opening story, and I think kids who read it will have a lot of their own questions and worried thoughts upon finishing it. It’s a beautifully written novel, and in some ways quite similar to my favorite book by E.L. Konigsburg, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, but a feel-good beach read it is not. Recommend it to those strong upper elementary readers looking for a challenge, and to fans of horror stories. Also check out this discussion between the author and a group of students, at her website, which sheds at least a little bit of light on the story. 

I borrowed Afternoon of the Elves from my local public library. A new edition is also available from Open Road Media via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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The Candy Smash. by Jacqueline Davies. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. 240 pages. ISBN: 9780544022089
The Candy Smash is the fourth book in the Lemonade War series about Jessie and Evan Treski, siblings who are in the same fourth grade class. It is February and Valentine’s Day approaches. Inspired by his teacher’s presentation of a poem of the day, Evan starts writing love poems, first about his grandmother and later about Megan Moriarty, on whom he has a crush. In the meantime, Jessie works on her extra credit project, a class newspaper. She hopes to find out not only who is delivering secret forbidden candy to the whole class, but also who in her class has a crush on someone else and how her classmates think crushes should be revealed. As in the other books of the series, Jessie fails to understand basic social cues, while Evan loses patience with his sister when she violates his privacy.

So far, in this series, Jacqueline Davies has taught readers about economics, law, and maps. In The Candy Smash, she focuses on journalism and poetry. Each chapter opens with the definition of a term associated with either newspapers or creative writing, and through Jessie and Evan’s experiences, the reader learns the proper use of these terms. The educational aspect of the story is certainly subtle and does not overpower the plot, but there are lots of great opportunities for classroom teachers to connect this book to their curricula.

This is a largely character driven story, which provides a lot of insight into the personalities of both Jessie and Evan. Only Evan’s character truly seems to develop, though; I keep wondering with each new book when Jessie is going to begin to mature a little bit as well. True, she is a year younger than her classmates, but even so, there should be some changes happening in her worldview and relationships that I haven’t really seen yet. Davies does a great job of depicting Jessie’s innocence and lack of experience, but it’s becoming less believable as she gets older. I was also surprised by how little their grandmother appears in this story. After the events of The Bell Bandit, she has moved in with the Treskis, but we don’t see much of her, even though her presence looms large in Evan’s poetic mind. Also notable is Jessie and Evan’s teacher, who is invested in her students and dedicated to helping them improve as students and as possible. I love the way she uses her cat, Langston, as her class mascot and displays pictures of him around her classroom. I’d put her in the same category as Clementine’s wonderful teacher, Mr. D’Matz.

My favorite thing about this book, overall, is how well it handles the romance theme. Many books for younger middle grade readers introduce dating into their fourth grade characters’ lives as though it is a perfectly natural thing for nine-year-olds to pair off into couples. In my experiences with kids, they are not into dating at that young an age, and this book reflects reality much more closely than a lot of others of this same reading level and genre. Sure, the characters have crushes, but they are still figuring out what that means and how it will impact their friendships. I especially like the way Evan’s crush on Megan is resolved - sweetly, but without tons of adult commitments and middle school-esque drama.

The Candy Smash doesn’t really stand on its own, so I’d recommend starting with The Lemonade War and reading the books in order. Parents should feel comfortable giving this series to their second- and third-graders who are strong readers, and I think even fifth graders can still enjoy the stories. Budding journalists and poets will love the back matter showing the class newspaper and some of the poems the students have written. Though Valentine’s Day has passed for this year, there is lots in this book that’s worth reading any time!

I borrowed The Candy Smash from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Miracles on Maple Hill. by Virginia Sorenson. 1956. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 180 pages. ISBN: 9780152545581

Miracles on Maple Hill was published in 1956, and it was the winner of the 1957 Newbery Medal. As the book opens, Marly and her family are headed to Maple Hill, a rural area of Pennsylvania where Marly’s mother spent her childhood summers. Though at first it appears to be a happy family vacation, the truth is that Marly’s father is suffering the psychological effects of the time he spent as a prisoner of war. At home in the city, he is angry and irritable, jumping at every little thing and sometimes even mistreating his children. The family is coming to Maple Hill in the hopes that the country lifestyle will help Marly’s dad start to heal. Over the next year, Marly gets to know wonderful people - Mr. and Mrs. Chris, Harry the Hermit, and Margie - and she experiences all the miracles Maple Hill can offer, from maple syrup and wildflowers to the slow recovery of her father’s mental strength.

In contemporary children’s books, there is a tendency to dwell more heavily on the darker side of life. Nowadays, for better or for worse, we trust kids to deal with the harsh truths of life - abuse, poverty, divorce, death - and many books describe these situations in detail, evoking empathy from readers and encouraging them to feel all the associated emotions, good and bad. This book handles the pain of Marly’s dad’s experiences in a more detached way, which I think is an interesting and effective approach.

Marly is about ten years old, and what we know of her dad’s condition is filtered through her point of view. It seems likely, given the personality of her mother, that Marly would be protected as much as possible from the darkness of her father’s experiences. Because of this, the reader is really only shown those few frightening moments of anger that Marly has actually witnessed. Throughout the book, both Marly and her brother react to their father nervously, with lots of concern over how he will respond to them, but the reader isn’t subjected to the experiences that made them feel that way. I can only assume this was a conscious decision on the part of the author, and my guess is that it was a decision made to protect young readers. Though some kids do certainly like to read the gory details, or maybe even need to read them to feel validated, other kids are more sheltered, like I was, and this book strikes a great compromise between perfect happiness and interesting storytelling.

The other remarkable thing about this book is its descriptions of country living. I borrowed this book from my urban library system, where kids don’t often run into wildflowers, wild mushrooms, or sap from maple trees. If they read this book, though, they will feel as though they have spent a year on Maple Hill right alongside Marly. The descriptions of everything Marly sees, feels, and tastes during her year of visits to Maple Hill are beautiful, and the author uses just the right details to transport the reader through the beauty of the different seasons. She ties all of this wonderful information about the natural world in with Marly’s relationship with her brother, Joe, and both kids’ relationships to their Maple Hill neighbors, and it is the combination of character and setting that drives the story forward.

This is very much of a book of the 1950s. There are lots of references to very rigidly defined gender roles, where Joe is permitted many freedoms, but Marly must stick close to home, and where it is surprising when Marly’s father learns to cook, or when her mother drives the family car. At one point, Marly’s mother actually apologizes to Marly’s teacher because Marly is more of a tomboy than the other girls at her one-room schoolhouse. These references are among the few moments in the story that make it seem more historical than contemporary. There are also a lot of references to Marly’s father’s time in World War II, which could date the book, but given that our country is also at war today, it is possible that contemporary kids could have a parent in a similar situation to Marly’s father and find some hope and meaning in his recovery.

I really enjoyed this book, though it’s probably best enjoyed when we think of it as “old” realistic fiction rather than historical fiction. The story reflects the values of the time, but they have not been filtered through contemporary thinking. Two very recent novels about similar subjects that might draw interesting comparisons are The Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances O’Roark Dowell and The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies.

I borrowed Miracles on Maple Hill from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Words of Stone. by Kevin Henkes. 1992. Greenwillow Books. 160 pages. ISBN:  9780688113568

Every summer since his mother died of cancer, Blaze Werla has created an imaginary friend and subsequently buried him in the backyard. This summer, after the yearly burial, someone begins leaving messages made of stones on the hill behind Blaze's house. First, he sees his mother's name. Later, the messages become more personal. He suspects his father's new girlfriend, in whom he has confided, might be the one leaving the words of stone, but while he decides what to do about it, he surprises himself by making friends with Joselle Stark. Joselle herself is troubled by her own absent mother, and as she and Blaze grow closer, she realizes she must tell Blaze an important truth if they are to be true friends.

Like Henkes's more recent novels such as Olive's Ocean and Junonia, Words of Stone is a quiet, introspective story. Blaze and Joselle are both sensitive kids who have endured their share of pain and confusion, and because of this, much of the story takes place inside their heads. (Though the narration is all in the third person, the chapters alternate between the two characters so we know both of their thoughts.) Outside events do influence their internal struggles and triumphs, but there is very little physical action. This is definitely a literary novel, where the language and word choice are the most prominent features. It reads like a lot of the serious fiction (The Cay, The Lottery Rose) I was assigned in late elementary school. The writing is lyrical and at times, almost eerie, as Blaze reflects on his mother's death and on the accident he had on a ferris wheel.  His toy Noah's Ark and the graves of his imaginary friends are powerful images that represent his pain and his loss, and it is Henkes's use of these symbolic objects that makes the book stand out.

I would be surprised if this book had ever become super popular, because it dwells so much on the emotions of its main characters. There are readers, though, who are not satisfied by fast-paced action novels, like the Percy Jackson series, or by cruelty thinly veiled in humor, like the Wimpy Kid books, and I think it is those more serious readers who appreciate Henkes's style. Kids who mourned the loss of a parent, or who have trouble making and trusting new friends will empathize strongly with Blaze's loneliness. Those who have grown up reading Henkes's picture books will be pleased to see that his writing for older children continues to provide validation and support for the myriad challenges of growing up.

Words of Stone was published in 1992, and it is still in print. The cover of the most recent edition is much better suited to the story than the cover of the edition I read (shown at the top of this post), and I think kids would be interested in picking it up. It is a great read-alike for As Simple As It Seems by Sarah Weeks, Remembering Mrs. Rossi by Amy Hest, and The Last Best Days of Summer by Valerie Hobbs.

I borrowed Words of Stone from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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A Ring of Endless Light. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1980. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 324 pages. ISBN:  9780374362997

My feelings about the last three Madeleine L'Engle books that I have read have ranged from lukewarm disinterest to all-out hatred, so I was almost nervous to pick up another one. Thankfully, though, A Ring of Endless Light, published in 1980, made me fall in love with L'Engle's writing all over again. Vicky Austin is almost sixteen, and she is struggling to make sense of death. A family friend, Commander Rodney, has died trying to save a drowing teen, and Vicky's own grandfather is dying of leukemia. Vicky also spends time with Zachary Grey, the troubled young man she first met in The Moon By Night, Adam Eddington, who works with her brother John at a marine biology research station, and Leo Rodney, whose feelings for Vicky are far more romantic than hers for him. As her grandfather's condition deteriorates, Vicky comes to terms with the idea of death and works to sort out her feelings for each of the young men who desire her affections.

Because I have such an affinity for realistic fiction, it comes as no surprise that my favorites among the L'Engle books I've read have been the ones about Vicky Austin and her family. My love for this particular book, though, extends beyond just a genre preference. There is plenty of science fiction in A Ring of Endless Light, including references to farandola, discussions of Adam's role in Dr. O'Keefe's regeneration research, and the discovery that people can communicate with dolphins telepathically. The difference between this book and A Swiftly Tilting Planet or A Wind in the Door is that I connect better with Vicky's emotions than with Meg's or Charles Wallace's. Meg and Charles Wallace always feel like characters, whereas Vicky sometimes feels like a real person who has the experiences of a real teen.

There were moments in this book where I felt it was necessary to suspend my disbelief a little bit. It seemed unlikely to me that several people connected to one family would die or come so near to death in such a short time. I also thought the way Zachary Grey was brought into the story was maybe a bit too coincidental, and I wondered if it was necessary to create a connection between him and Commander Rodney's death. Even so, the way these events are described, and the way they work together to further the plot, is exceptional. Whereas in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, I felt that L'Engle made all the connections between the characters too obvious, A Ring of Endless Light is written with more subtlety, and even if the events of the story are unlikely, the overall narrative is more believable.

I am nearly finished reading L'Engle's Murry/O'Keefe and Austin books. Next up is A House Like a Lotus, and after that, only Many Waters, An Acceptable Time, and Troubling A Star are left.  I'm hoping these last few books will be as enjoyable as A Ring of Endless Light, or at least not as dismal as A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

I borrowed A Ring of Endless Light from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Dump Days. by Jerry Spinelli. 1988. Little, Brown and Company. 159 pages. ISBN: 9780316807067

Best friends JD and Duke spend their summer days digging in the dump for possible treasures, terrorizing rats and dodging bullies, interacting with various quirky neighbors, and wishing for enough money for a zeppoli, an Italian ice, or a comic book. One lazy afternoon, the boys map out a perfect day, filled with all the things they love. They’ll save every penny, look for ways to make extra cash, and by the end of the summer that perfect day will be theirs. With parents, bullies, siblings, and neighbors to contend with, however, their best laid plans go swiftly awry, making them question not just their plans but even their faith in each other.

Jerry Spinelli’s books are about very different subjects and use very different tones of voice, but they all have one thing in common: heart. Spinelli understands his characters and their relationships in such a fundamental way that these fictional kids seem very real, and they stick with the reader long after the story ends. In the case of JD and Duke, it is their friendship that comes so vividly to life. The two boys are different - one is Protestant, one is Catholic, one has a big family, one has a small one, one has more permissive parents, one’s parents have stricter rules - and yet what brings them together is a desire for simple things that are just out of a kid’s grasp - snacks, comics, and video games. Though the journey toward the perfect day is the focus of the plot, the real story is in the interactions between the two boys, and in how they relate to one another with regards to their goal.

Another strength of Spinelli’s writing is how he portrays setting. Not only could I imagine the dump and the neighborhood where JD and Duke spend their time, I could also picture and hear their neighbors and family members. In this book, as in Jake and Lily and Loser, Spinelli evokes a whole world of childhood that feels very real and believable. The boys’ issues with bullies and interactions with their own siblings are some of the most memorable portions of the book. I especially like the way Spinelli gives characters little quirks, like the toddler who likes to go outside without clothes and the bully who has to wear a special shoe because one leg is shorter than the other. These are the kinds of things notice about each other, and the tiny details that resonate with readers.

Dump Days is the rare book on the shelf at my library that looks old and outdated, but is checked out almost all the time, especially in the summer. Though it is out of print right now, I don’t see any reason why a contemporary reader couldn’t pick it up and enjoy it. Readers who loved Maniac Magee will want to read this one, too, because it is set in the same town, and the legend of Maniac Magee is mentioned in passing by JD as he narrates the story. Like most Spinelli stories, this is also a great one for dealing with bullying and discriminations, as both issues become important to the story.

I borrowed Dump Days from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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