How to use this Page

Queen (and that is her given name) is the youngest child and the only girl in her family and she is very spoiled.  Her brothers are in college and they and her father all indulge her.  Her mother occasionally tries to keep her feet on the ground.  Her best friend  also plays along with her.  She lets her be the “queen” and pretends to be her subject and waits on her.  Needless to say, Queen has some problems fitting in at school.  She is very bright and always has her hand up but her teacher doesn’t like to call on her and the other children don’t cater to her so she doesn’t have friends.

When Queen’s best friend has to go back to Puerto Rico because her grandmother is sick, Queen is without a playmate.  When a new boy, Leroy,  starts school her parents meet him and become friends with him.  Her father fixes his bike for him and her mother invites him to lunch.  Queen doesn’t like him.  His clothes are ragged, she thinks he smells and he talks about being a prince and having lived in Africa which she thinks is a big lie.  Queen decides to spy on Leroy so she can reveal him as a liar to the kids at school so that they won’t like him and they will like her.

I wouldn’t say that Queen becomes a totally different person in this book but she learns a lot about herself and other people and she comes to appreciate that princes may come in very  different forms than dressed in shining armor and riding a white horse.  This story is a quick read and has interesting characters.  It is a good book to recommend to a child who thinks too much about themselves and not enough about other people or one who sets too much store in material things.  Recommended for boys and girls in 4^th and 5^th grades. 

Posted by: Fran W.

I confess that I enjoy reading about the Civil War.  I find this period of American history particularly interesting.  With this confession in mind, it is no surprise that I very much enjoyed How I Found the Strong.

In the spring of 1861 the men of Smith County, Mississippi are eager and proud to march off to the war with the North.  They plan to defend their beliefs about slavery by quickly defeating their enemies and they expect to be home by Christmas.  Frank, “Shanks”, is the baby of the Russell family and, at 10 years-old, he is too young to join his father and older brother Henry (who is 14 years old) when they enlist in the Confederate army.  He is also too skinny and weak to even look the part of being a soldier.  He is deeply disappointed to be left at home.  He so wants to make his Pa proud.

During the ensuing years of the war, Shanks helps take care of things at home.  He experiences the joy of new life, the sadness of death and desertion, as well as the daily struggles of farming during the war.  He grows bigger and taller and he witnesses many moments that will shape him for the rest of his life.  He also questions his own beliefs about both slavery and the war.

The author based this book on a manuscript by her grandmother’s great uncle.

Posted by: Wendy

Snakehead is the seventh title in the Alex Rider adventure series and it does not disappoint.  In this gem, Alex gets called into duty by the Australian Secret Service.  He only, and reluctantly, agrees to help them because it will allow him to work with his godfather, a man he never before knew existed and from whom Alex desperately wishes to learn more about his deceased parents.  There are terrible secrets associated with all this which Alex only finds out after a most dangerous mission traipsing all over Southeast Asia.  Snakeheads are the violent and morally reprehensible gangs operating in that area who smuggle drugs, weapons, and people. 

Alex’s adventures this time take him into killer boxing rings, into a locked container car on a cargo ship, into a body parts-for-sale business in which Alex’s own are in jeopardy, into a below sea level bomb set to cause massive tsunami destruction plot, and into association with really evil people.  What more can possible happen to this young teen?  I hope we find out someday with book 8.  This series is recommended for 5^th grade and older.

Posted by: Fran D.

Capricorn Anderson is a 13-year-old homeschooled kid from an alternative farm commune. The commune was comprised of several families in the old days, but now there’s only Cap and his 67-year-old grandmother, Rain. That’s the problem. Rain breaks her hip and is hospitalized. Cap needs to go to temporary foster care and public school. Imagine a kid like Cap, with his long, un-groomed hair, hippie beads, hemp clothes, cornhusk sandals, tai chi practice out on the lawn, no familiarity with television, telephones, school lockers, lunchrooms, pizzas, and more, showing up at your middle school all of a sudden. He becomes an immediate target of derision. Zach Powers is “Mr. Popularity” and sets up Cap to become 8^th grade class president — a position always awarded the biggest nerd so that he’d be a school-year-long center of ridicule. All this sounds depressing and sad, but Cap, in his own unique way and his own unique personality comes through smelling like roses. There is humor and sweetness, touching moments, and admiration for a misfit who stands strong for his values. You’ll also find meanness, bullying, cliques, kids judging others by superficial standards, etc., which all makes for good discussion. The ending is a bit of a stretch — that’s why they call it ‘fiction’ — but this is a good story, well-written by an author familiar to kids, and my bet is all will enjoy meeting the unusual and one-of-a-kind Cap Anderson.

Posted by: Wendy

In the author’s second work, after Al Capone Does My Shirts, I had to wonder if the new book would be as entertaining as the first.  Thankfully, it was.  This is the story of Kirsten and Walk (short for Walker).  Walk has just started a preppy, expensive new school where he is the scholarship student.  Kirsten is a rich girl who has just gained tons of weight and seems to have lost her best friend.  Kirsten is white and Walk is black.  Their worlds are in turmoil, and they end up becoming friends.  This story has a major surprise that really looks at what it means to be a family.  The book switches off perspectives between Walk and Kirsten, giving you the varying sides of what life is like for these two middle schoolers. 

Though Walk and Kirsten are the main characters, and it is their stories that intertwine, there are other characters who impact and change their lives as well including Walk’s cousin and  Kirsten’s cute younger sister.  The characters are richly drawn and see about ready to jump off the page.  I can’t wait to see what Gennifer dishes out next.  All her tales get to the heart of people and allow you to see life through their eyes (which may sometimes be a little like yours).

Posted by: Kate

Would you want to be friends with an 11 year old genius who was going to be a senior in high school and was taking a college class in the summer? Maybe not. So you’ll understand why Millicent hid her genius qualities from Emily, the new girl in town. The volleyball class they both hated gave them something in common and Millicent finally had a friend. The fact that it was based on a few lies leads to some funny situations particularly involving Stanford, the boy Millicent has to tutor. After you read about Millicent you’ll want to read more about Stanford in “Stanford Wong Flunks Big-time” and more about Emily in “So Totally Emily Ebers”. Enjoy!

Posted by: Iris

This is a wonderful book that follows the stories of four generations of a Louisiana family.  It all starts and ends with Rose, who eventually becomes the matriarch of the family.  The stories of members of each generation of Rose’s family, starting in 1939 and ending in present day, are woven together through the books they love.  Libraries also play an important part in the story, especially the bookmobile, which Rose drives as a young woman.  The stories pull you in and make you want to find out what happens to these people.  Just as in life, some stories are happy and some sad.  I was really surprised by this story, which was both intriguing and touching.  It was a really good read!

Posted by: Mary

Moxy Maxwell had just one thing she had to do sometime during the summer before 4th grade.  She needed to complete her reading assignment of the book Stuart Little.  Moxy loves to read, but not when someone else tells her what to read.  Thus begins her problem.  She has carried Stuart Little with her everywhere during the summer, but has not managed to read a single page.

Now, it is the last day of summer and Moxy has been told, in no uncertain terms, by her mother that she had better spend the afternoon in her room reading Stuart Little or she won’t be able to attend the Summer Splash party.  Moxie intends to read, she really does, but suddenly her room needs cleaning, she needs to be outside resting in the hammock and her inspirational idea to plant a peach orchard must be set in motion.  Only disaster can follow.

This is an entertaining and humorous story of procrastination.  Maybe some of us can even identify with Moxie.  Be sure to read this to find out if Moxie finally buckles down with Stuart Little.

Posted by: Wendy

A very special fox terrier puppy named Ginger Pye, who disappears on Thanksgiving Day, a colorful family in Cranbury, Connecticut in the 1920’s, mysterious footsteps and a stranger in a mustard yellow hat combine to make this 1952 Newberry Award Winning book still fun to read.

Posted by: Iris

This book is the story of 11-year old Cal Lavender who much to her surprise ends up in a group foster home.  She knows that there must be some mistake, and that this can’t be her REAL life.  She little by little realizes that she is a part of this mixed up, sometimes hurt and troubled, family of girls.  Her guardian, “the knitting lady”, helps Cal and the other girls understand life by telling wonderful stories of life and loss and helps them know that they too can find their way.  This story is full of real life and lots of humor.  I really enjoyed listening to this book on cd, which was read by several characters.

Posted by: Mary