Members of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group continue to savor their favorite chapter books from 2013. If you haven’t read these titles, you might want to add them to your to-read pile.
Carson, Rae. (2013). The bitter kingdom. New York: Greenwillow Books.
In this third and final volume in The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, Rae Carson has concluded the series most satisfactorily. Her strong female lead character, Queen Elisa, learns more about the power of her God-stone and how to wield this power for her country. Fraught with adventure and danger, Elisa faces off with the evil sorcery of the Invierne and travels deep into their enemy territory to save, Hector, the man she loves. Political allegiances are not what they seem so Elisa has to sort out just whom she can trust along the journey. Readers will find a compelling multi-layered story under the strong leadership of Elisa and her band of friends and companions for the arduous travel. Visit the author’s website for more information about the trilogy.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
DiCamillo, Kate. (2013). Flora & Ulysses; the illuminated adventures. Illus. by K.G.Campbell. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Using an interesting illustration style, the author and illustrator work together to create this novel that includes the graphic novel style interspersed throughout this tale of a squirrel that is sucked into the Ulysses Super Suction Multi-Terrain 2000x vacuum cleaner and comes out a different person, rather, squirrel. Next-door-neighbor Flora, a natural-born cynic, rescues the squirrel using CPR, and when he comes around, she names him Ulysses. Comic-book loving Flora soon notices that Ulysses has developed super powers, and the two become friends in spite of the fact that her mother dislikes squirrels and is trying to get rid of Ulysses. Flora and Ulysses embark on adventures as they discover the power of friendship. Teachers can download this conversation with the author about the “story behind the story” at the author’s website.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Engle, Margarita. (2013). The lightning dreamer: Cuba’s greatest abolitionist. New York: Harcourt.
As only Margarita Engle can do, writing in her popular free verse form, this author brings another cultural hero from Cuban history to readers in the United States. Using the voice and life of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda (1814-1873), the author presents thirteen-year-old Tula, as Gertrudis is known, disagreeing with her Mama’s decision to have her enter into a prearranged marriage and settling into a life as wife to a slave owner. Rebelling against this decision as well as the entire concept of slavery, she runs off to the protection of a convent. There, the nuns shelter her and she discovers the writings of the rebel poet Jose Maria de Heredia. She finds within herself that these words have deep meaning and she begins the yearning to become a writer, too. Her mother and grandfather treat her as if she as lost her mind but through a few relationships she builds at this point in her life, including the family house servant, Ceridad, and her love interest, Sab, a former slave, Tula discovers who she really is. Working as a writer, a feminist and an abolitionist, Engle has loosely based this novel in verse on the life of this brave Cuban woman.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Frost, Helen. (2013). Salt: A story of friendship in time of war. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan.
From master novel-in-verse author, Helen Frost, this novel delves into the friendship of two twelve-year old boys in 1812 Indiana Territory. Anikwa is Native American of the Miami tribe, and James Gray is a white settler and the son of a trader. The two boys alternate the poetic narration as the War of 1812 approaches and the Native Americans plan to join with the British forces to fight against the newly organized Americans. The boys’ friendship is strained as the two sides line up against each other. James’ family is dependent on both factions as a trader and supplier of local settlers but trade goods with the local tribes, especially the precious commodity of salt. Entwined between the two boys’ thoughts and fears about the coming war are poems about salt, the necessary substance that both the Miami and the settlers have come to depend upon. In Frost’s unique style of poems take meaningful shape within the story line. Anikwa’s story unfolds through verses in the shape of patterns based on Miami ribbon work while James’ story is told in a more linear style fashioned after the stars and stripes of the American flag. This sensitive and beautifully written story about cross-cultural similarities and differences is an outstanding contribution to this period of history. The author’s website offers more information on the book including a link to the Online Myaamia Dictionary which offers pronunciation help with the Native American words.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Hughes, Shirley. (2013). Hero on a bicycle. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Picture book author Shirley Hughes has ventured into her first novel for middle grade readers. Set in 1944 against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Florence, Italy, teenage brother and sister Paolo and Costanza Crivelli want to do something to assist the resistance movement. Their father is away working with the Partisans, and their English-born mother is under suspicion by occupying German forces. Violating curfew, Paolo often sneaks out at night to ride through the streets of Florence to seek out adventure as well as information, always careful to avoid the soldiers guarding the city. He dreams of ways to become a hero as so many aspects of war surround him. He soon discovers that his mother is aiding the Partisans by hiding Allied POWs in their cellar. As the suspense mounts and the small family group is unsure whom to trust, the realities of war are exposed. The narration moves from one family member to the other so readers discover how each character feels and reacts to the clandestine operations they find themselves a part. This excellent presentation of World War II and the efforts of people involved in resistance is an exciting addition to the list of books during this period of world history. The author has created a wonderful website devoted to the background of this story that includes photos, video, sketches and detailed information.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Kadohata, Cynthia. (2013). The thing about luck. New York: Atheneum.
Careers and jobs start with a work ethic, and Newbery author Cynthia Kadohata has written about just how those ethics are established in children. Set in Kansas, Summer and her Japanese American family have had a year of bad luck. First, Summer comes in contact with a diseased mosquito and contracts malaria. Recovering from that, her parents are called away to Japan to assist with elderly family members. On top of that, Summer’s younger brother, Jaz, has personality problems of his own that include no friends. Summer and Jaz have been sent to live with their grandparents, Obaa-chan and Jii-chan who are forced to come out of retirement to work for the custom harvesting company in order to make their mortgage payment. Summer narrates the story through journal entries, diagrams, and often humorous dialogue with her grandparents. Hard work and love of family are strong themes in this new book from an award-winning author. Visit the author’s website for more information and background on her writing.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Larson, Kirby. (2013). Hattie ever after. New York: Delacorte Press/ Random House.
The sequel to Newbery Honor Book, Hattie Big Sky (2006),Larson’s new book continues Hattie’s story in 1919 as she leaves the Montana homestead to travel to San Francisco. Kirby Larson’s research into the politics and fashions of the time set the tone as Hattie tries to become a newspaper reporter, a job that traditionally has not been for women. Hattie is willing to work her way up to reporter and that includes cleaning the offices at the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper office, which leads to becoming a researcher and a stringer before getting to actual reporting. She is on the search for a big story that will establish her career. With nods to the fame of Nellie Bly and Ida Tarbell, Hattie has her mind made up. She also wants to find out more about her deceased and mysterious Uncle Chester. Though she still questions whether she made the right decision to come to San Francisco and especially her decision to postpone thinking about Charlie Hawley’s marriage proposal and moving to Seattle to settle down with him, she is determined to have a career in journalism. Hattie experiences both the ups and downs of big city life, and her small-town adjustments and interpretations of urban life as she is swindled by a con artist and jostled by the crowds of people. On the other hand, opportunities wait, especially when she is trapped on an elevator with President Woodrow Wilson. For fans of the first Hattie adventure, readers will enjoy reading about Hattie’s next steps. Read more about author Kirby Larson in ""Digging for Details that Make Historical Fiction Delicious".
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Littlewood, Kathryn. (2013). A dash of magic: a Bliss novel. New York: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins.
It’s all about the Bliss Cookery Booke as book two in the Bliss series takes off where book one (Bliss, 2012) ended when Rosemary’s (aka Rose) evil Aunt Lily Le Fey steals the magical cookbook. In this new volume, Rose and her eccentric family dash off to Paris where Rose has challenged Aunt Lily to a bake-off known as the Gala des Greaux Grand and the winner gets the Cookery Book. The trick is that Rose and her family must find all the magical ingredients to make the special recipes. This leads them on a romp around Paris visiting such world famous sites as the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Art Museum, the Catacombs, and more. After the bake-off, conditions are ripe for Book 3.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
McMann, Lisa. (2013). Crash. New York: Simon Pulse/Simon and Schuster.
From the author of the popular Wake trilogy, Crash is Book #1 in her new series titled Visions. This first volume introduces readers to Jules and the DeMarco family. They own an Italian restaurant, and Jules is resigned to the fact that if she wants to drive to school she has to take the double-meatball-shaped food truck. Jules is starting to have visions, and everywhere she turns she is picturing a terrible crash with a snowplow hurtling toward a building; an explosion follows and nine body bags result. Finally, after one vision she recognizes the face on one of the bodies and it is someone she knows and cares about deeply, Sawyer Angotti. With a history of mental illness in her family, Jules is reluctant to tell anyone about her visions. Though the visions are appearing everywhere—billboards, road signs, and television—she has to figure out a way to prevent this horrible accident from happening. McMann adds a bit of levity throughout this suspense-filled action novel as Jules is always creating her lists of five – things she needs to think about and maybe act upon. This supernatural thriller is a great way to begin her new series.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Nazario, Sonia. (2013). Enrique’s journey; the true story of a boy determined to reunite with his mother. New York: Delacorte Press.
This adapted edition from the author’s adult book, Enrique’s Journey (2006), brings the story of a young teen from Honduras as his immigrant journey to the United States to find is mother comes to fruition. Enrique’s mother went to the U.S. to find work, and she left her young son to travel unencumbered because of the many dangers in making her way across the border. Now 17 years old, he wants to find his mother. Mostly traveling on the rooftops of trains, his journey takes four months to cover the 12,000 miles to reunite with his mother. Detailing the dangers from smugglers or gangs and the drug business particularly in Mexico, there are also people who offer kindness, food, and water for illegal immigrants knowing they are trying to find family. Nazario is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and her journalistic quick style of writing provides the fast pace of Enrique’s narrative. Endnotes provide current information about illegal immigration dangers, statistics and legislation that will offer information for compelling discussions in classrooms today.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Parry, Roseanne. (2013). Written in stone. New York: Random House.
As the story opens in 1999, the old Makah Indian woman named Pearl recalls her childhood and the tragedies that sent her life in an unplanned direction. Living on the coast of the Pacific Northwest, it was the flu pandemic of 1918 that took her mother and sister when Pearl was five years old. She and her father survived through his whaling trade. A final whale hunt ended his life when Pearl was thirteen, so she went to live with members of the tribe as her extended family. Difficult times were ahead for the Native Americans as modern technology harvested the whales with steam-powered harpoon cannons, leaving little for the canoe whalers of the Makah. One day a New Yorker arrives at the tribe and wants to purchase Native artifacts and artwork. Pearl is immediately suspicious of this man and discovers that his real agenda is to obtain the mineral rights of their rich oil deposits on Native land. Pearl struggles without her family for guidance and turns to her Aunt Susi who has adopted some of the ways of the new century like driving a car and working at the post office. The author taught school on the Quinault Indian reservation and developed a sincere appreciation of the customs, traditions, and art of the natives of the northwest. A coming of age novel set against an actual historical event will bring this part of the country to readers not familiar with this group of Native Americans. From the author’s website, she links readers to her Pinterest board that extends many of the concepts in her new book.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Phelan, Matt. (2013). Bluffton. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Scott O’Dell Award-winning author (The Storm in the Barn) Matt Phelan brings another historically significant era to the graphic novel format. The star of his new book is Buster Keaton. It opens in the town of Muskegon, Michigan, in 1908 when young Henry Harrison learns that a troupe of vaudeville performers is spending the summer in the small town of Bluffton, just outside of Muskegon. Henry is enthralled with the idea of performing and is in awe of the actors. When he happens to meet young Buster when Buster and his brothers and sisters tumble out of a window, Henry begins a friendship that places him in baseball games, fishing antics, and more trouble and fun than he ever imagined. Buster’s fame is growing, and his nickname “the human mop” comes from the fact he can do the most amazing slapstick routines as his body bends and twists and tumbles in all directions. Phelan’s soft watercolor illustrations, inspired by Winslow Homer and Carl Larsson, make shining in the summer sun and warmth of budding friendships come to life. Read more about the graphic artist and his work at My3Books. Teachers might also like to download this Q & A with creator Matt Phelan for more background information.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Rhodes, Jewell Parker. (2013). Sugar. Little, Brown and Company.
Sugar is a 10-year old girl living on a sugar cane plantation in 1870 Louisiana during post Civil War Reconstruction. Her father was sold away while he was a slave, and her mother died two years ago. The community of former slaves, now sharecroppers living on the same River Road Plantation where they worked as slaves before the war, are now the village that looks after Sugar. She hates her name as it represents too many of the awful aspects of sugar cane work including the razor-sharp leaves that cut and leave scars. As more and more of the sharecropper families move north to find a life in their newly found freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation, Sugar finds herself without young people to play with and loneliness. Though she has been forbidden to play with Billy, the plantation owner’s son, the two become good friends in spite of the ban on their friendship. From Billy, Sugar learns about the new workers that are coming to the plantation to work the cane. They are Chinese immigrants, and author Jewell Parker Rhodes has brought a little-known piece of American history to light as these workers were encouraged to come to America to help with the labor shortages in the South as a result of the freed slaves. Sugar is the one to reach out to these newly arrived people and learn about their seemingly strange customs yet offer friendship and understanding. The author’s website offers numerous resources to accompany the book.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Sheinkin, Steve. (2013). Lincoln’s grave robbers. New York: Scholastic Press.
Author Steve Sheinkin, award-winning author of Bomb (2012), brings another little-known piece of history to intermediate readers. He writes about the 1876 plot to steal President Abraham Lincoln’s body from his burial site in Springfield, Illinois. The facts unfold as a counterfeit ring under the leadership of James Kennally plan to steal Lincoln’s body and hold it for $200,000 ransom and the release of their partner in crime and skilled engraver, Ben Boyd. Counterfeiting is big business after the Civil War, and Sheinkin’s research points out that half the money in circulation at the time was counterfeit. He also discusses how the Secret Service is created and becomes involved, more to capture the counterfeiters than the realization of the grave robbers’ plan. Written as a fast-paced crime thriller, Sheinkin has brought to life an interesting piece of criminal history. A very detailed index and source notes are found at the end of the book. Download this discussion guide from the Scholastic website, and read more about the author in this interview.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Stiefvater, Maggie. (2013). The dream thieves. New York: Scholastic Press.
Ronan, Gansey, Noah, Adam, and Blue are back in the second volume of The Raven Boys story by Maggie Stiefvater. The mysterious energy of the ley line discovered in the first volume is back to haunt the troubled boys, each with their own demons. In this rural Virginia setting of a school for privileged boys, townie Blue has added her mystical presence to their obsessions. Now the Cabeswater forest has disappeared. A strange character they call the Gray Man appears to be stalking them as he searches for the Greywaren, an object of magical power that can steal from dreams. Although their search for the Welsh king Glendower continues, more dark secrets and foreboding accompany the search as the electricity in the community plays havoc with their lives. Ronan’s dark and violent character brings tension to the friendship in this volume. Intriguing and foreboding, this will leave readers hanging as they await the final volume. Visit the author’s website for her playlist and a video on how to graffiti a car.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Vanderpool, Claire. (2013). Navigating Early. New York: Delacorte Press.
World War II has just ended, and thirteen year-old Jack Baker’s mother has recently died. His Navy captain father has to return to service, and so he places Jack in a boarding school in Maine, far from their home in Kansas. Jack has a very rough time accepting all that has happened in addition to the adjustment of boarding school. Early on at Morton Hill Academy for Boys, Jack meets another new misfit named Early Auden. Early is a savant and fascinated with numbers and especially the infinite possibilities of pi. Early is in mourning, too, as his older brother Fisher was reported dead from a battle during the war. Early convinces Jack to leave school and embark on a journey on the Appalachian Trail and the Kennebec River. Their escapade has the boys encounter a great white whale, a volcano, a 100-year-old woman, pirates, caves, bears, and rattlesnakes. The detailed descriptions of Maine in addition to the ways the boys work through their grief and emerging friendship is an adventure that middle readers will enjoy. Enjoy more about the book at this Newbery Award winning (Moon Over Manifest, 2010) author’s website or read an interview with her.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Vawter, Vince. (2013). Paperboy. New York: Delacorte Press.
It is the summer of 1959 in Memphis, Tennessee. Eleven-year-old Little Man has agreed to take over his friend’s paper route for the month of July. This is a brave thing for him to do because he does not talk to people because of his severe stutter. Debut author Vince Vawter tells this story from his own experience and writes directly from the heart as he presents the narrator/character of Little Man. The month of this paper route presents challenges as he has to ask his customers for payment. He meets Mrs. Worthington, who drinks too much, and Mr. Spiro, a retired seaman who likes to talk and ask questions, but Little Man also encounters the scary junk man Ara T, who is also a thief and a bully. Little Man’s parents are often out of town, and so he is left in the care of his beloved housekeeper, Mam. Little Man and Ara T have a confrontation, and both he and Mam are in a position of potential danger. Through his stuttered speech Little Man, who readers find out at the end of the book is Vincent Vollmer III, readers will anguish over this young man and take great pride at how he stands up for Mam and himself. An interesting book trailer is available along with a discussion guide for teachers at the author’s website.
- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online.