The Wednesday Wars

By Gary D. Schmidt

LOVED this book.  The main character is 13 year old Holling.  I'm linking to a review HERE.

One of the problems that I often have with literature geared towards middle- and high-schoolers is  the amount of inappropriate content.  Not EVERY middle-schooler is obsessed with sex and using bad language.

The Wednesday Wars does not have any of that!  Go Mr. Schmidt!

Elantris

I read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson on the recommendation of Nathan and Jelaire. It was Jelaire's first fantasy novel and she really liked it. I completely agree with her. It's a very well-written story with a couple of great storylines interwoven. It's basically the story of a fallen city called Elantris that was populated by people who had, at random, been taken by the shaod. This would just happen to people of all sorts and then they would move to Elantris where they would learn to manipulate different symbols in mid-air to accomplish different acts of magic. About 10 years before the story takes place, Elantris is completely transformed overnight and now enemy kingdoms are seeking to fill the void left by the lack of protection that Elantris used to guarantee. Great book and I was able to read it in a few days.

The Chosen

I just finished reading The Chosen by Chaim Potok for the second time and I have to say that this is one of my favorite books. I had forgotten how much I love it. It's the story of two Jewish boys who come from distinctly different religious backgrounds but share a common Jewish identity. Their friendship is akin to David and Jonathan of the Bible. The story takes them through the challenges that result from one of the boys' hardline orthodox father, their intensive schooling in the Torah, the impact of Hitler's holocaust, and the fear of breaking faith with family. I nearly started crying as I came to the end of the story. This story would probably be best appreciated by 12+.

A House of Many Rooms

Humorous story of a large Mormon family growing up at the turn of the century.  It made me laugh out loud, cry, and I didn't want to put it down.

Mrs. Mike

This was a great book!  It was billed as a romance which wasn't exactly what I wanted.  But it turns out, it is a classic romance about sacrifice and devotion and surviving hardship side by side with the one you love.  This is a wonderful example of a good marriage.  The story is fascinating.  It's set in the Canadian wilderness at the turn of the century.  I labeled the book as 12+ because of the very real struggles that are faced  by the characters that include varying sicknesses and deaths.  There was nothing inappropriate, it is just tough sometimes, to read about the struggles of others.
The adventures of "Mrs. Mike"  and her family are worth your time!

The Fablehaven Series

I found this to be a fun series overall. It's the story of Seth and Kendra Sorensen, siblings who find out that their grandparents are actually caretakers of a reserve for magical creatures. Through the course of the series they deal with an escalating conspiracy to unravel the treaties that keep the magical world in order. They are faced with tough decisions, consequences for bad choices, the aftermath of betrayals, the loss of loved ones and other compelling plot twists. I liked the series. Kelly got kind of tired of Seth's bravado and so she stopped reading around book 3. These would make great read-aloud books. The books in order are:
Fablehaven
Rise of the Evening Star
Grip of the Shadow Plague
Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
Keys to the Demon Prison

The Sign of the Beaver

Kelly recommended The Sign of the Beaver to me and I just finished reading it. It's the story of a young boy who is left to care for his family's house in the deep woods of Maine in the early days of this country. It is a tale of his developing relationship with local Indians. The description of the relationships rings true without getting sentimental. It's a great coming-of-age story for kids, particularly boys, to read.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Because of Kelly's recommendation I recently read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and I really enjoyed it. It is part illustration and part prose. There are frequently many pages in a row that are just pictures and no dialogue. It's a little like a movie inside a book. It's a quick read. I think it took about 2 or 3 hours. It's a story about a boy, Hugo Cabret who attempts to take up his dead father's project of restoring an automaton that Hugo comes to believe will provide him some form of guidance from his father. After reading the book, or even before it, you need to see the video of a functioning automaton. I was amazed to find out that people had constructed what is essentially a robot that performs the complicated task of drawing several different complex drawings. Reading this book was an enjoyable way to spend my Saturday afternoon.

A Long Way From Chicago - Richard Peck

You know you've got a winner when you chuckle throughout the length of a book, sometimes even laugh out loud, but tears prick your eyes as you finish the final paragraph.

Each summer over the nine years of the depression Grandma Dowdel's Chicago-bred grandchildren spend one week visiting Grandma in her sleepy Illinois town. They discover a Grandma they didn't know existed - and experience a few other things along the way including seeing their first dead body!

I don't want to give too much away, because this book is definitely better if you don't know what to expect. Just trust me, it's one you'll want to read

Someone Named Eva - Joan M. Wolf

Wow! This was an intense novel based on actual events that occurred during WWII. It is the story of a Czech girl who is taken to her family to be "repurposed" to become a "good German girl" and adopted by a German family. It is not light reading and if you want someone under the age of 12 to read it, I would pre-read it just to be sure they can handle the idea of concentration camps and other horrors of Nazi Germany.

But like other books such as Diary of Anne Frank, it is important to remember the difficult events in world history so we can prevent them from ever happening again.

Little Brother

Cory Doctorow's Little Brother is a modern-day 1984 where Winston wins. It's a pretty simplistic book and obviously aimed at 14-20 year olds with the language and several gratuitous makeout scenes (2 ending in premarital relations). If the author could have stuck to the point it would have been a better book. It's about losing our rights in a society where government keeps telling people that the protection of life is more important than protecting liberty or the pursuit of happiness. It's got some really neat information on protecting yourself from intrusive government monitoring, but it's not worth bothering with. I had a professor who once said that even though there is plenty of good food that gets thrown away, we don't have to go to the garbage to eat well. I would not let kids read this.

The Graveyard Book

I first read Neil Gaiman's work in high school when he had a comic called Sandman so I was already predisposed to liking him. However, I believe I would have really liked The Graveyard Book anyway. It's really a modern telling of Kipling's The Jungle Book and he readily admits it in his acknowledgments. It's a story of a boy whose family gets murdered in the first pages of the book and as a toddler he escapes to the nearby graveyard by chance. He is taken in by the local ghosts and the mysterious caretaker of the graveyard. The rest of the story is his growing up and learning about his family's murder. The ghosts want to keep him safe in the graveyard; he wants to explore the outside world and avenge his family.

I really enjoyed the book. The beginning is a little tense. The murders aren't described but it is obvious what happened. It's a great coming-of-age story and a fun read. There is no foul language that I can recall. It's one the tweens and older would enjoy.

The Hunger Games

Kelly told me about The Hunger Games a few months ago because she read it and couldn't put it down. I have since heard about it from about dozen people and without exception they all liked it. So, of course, I thought I'd better read this book. I finished it in a day and a half and I have to agree, this book is compelling. I have a weak spot for dystopian-future novels so I may not be the most objective judge.

The main character, Katniss, is forced to be a participant in the annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are a fight to the death forced on the 12 districts by the Capitol to keep the people in line and remind them that any revolution will be quickly and brutally put down. The story exposes how different people either maintain or give up their humanity in the quest to win the Games and a life of riches. It also portrays the lack of human empathy that can come from the quest for entertainment.

All-in-all I found it a great story. Due to the subject matter you may want to save this for your older teenagers. The story does involve the deaths of 12-18 year old kids at the hands of other kids. It's not a shiny, happy story but it does have valuable lessons to teach.

The Golden Compass

When it was first announced that a movie was being made based on The Golden Compass I saw a trailer that intrigued me and I thought that it would be something that I could watch with the kids. So, being a reader, I decided to check out the book. This was long before the controversy erupted about it being an anti-christian book. I can't honestly speak to that controversy because I was so distracted by the mediocrity of the writing and the complete lack of sympathetic or interesting characters that I couldn't even finish it. I found it boring and think that the author was so overly impressed with the world he had created that he forgot to create characters that had any depth beyond being declared a good guy or a bad guy. I know there are plenty of people out there who disagree with my assessment but I think there are plenty of books in the genre that are going to give you characters and stories that you will grow to love that there's no point in messing with this trilogy.

Mrs. Tim books and others by D.E. Stevenson

Dorothy Emily Stevenson wrote about 40 books in the 1930s and 40s. Her first books were novels based on her own diaries as a military wife. They are sweet, funny little vignettes set in Scotland and England. There isn't so much a plot or a story to tell, as it is a little glimpse into life during that time period just prior to, during, and following WWII.

These books will take you to a world of small-town life and basically good people. You get people who are really happily married, have morals that they adhere to, and children that they love. The books are simple, one-day reads.
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment is the first of four Mrs. Tim books (the main character is Mrs. Hester Christie - her husband is Captain Tim Christie and she is always referred to as Mrs. Tim). Other books are set in the same locales and are usually about neighbors, or refer to people that are mentioned in other books. Thus, they are all sort of interconnected without actually being about the same people over and over again.

The Graveyard Book

Talk about a ghost story! I was a little concerned about the beginning. It starts off pretty creepy and intense. I put 8+, but I would preview it if your child is younger than 10.

This has a similar general plot to "The Jungle Book", about boy growing up in a Graveyard. A humorous cast of characters from different historical periods are Bod's (short for Nobody, his name) adopted family. I pretty much gobbled this book up in one sitting (shush, Mommy's reading). I don't want to give too much away, but I highly recommend this growing-up story!

Princess Ben

This book was a chance library grab. In general, I liked it. The plot was formulaic and predictable, but there are a couple things that made it different from other princess stories that makes it worth the read.
First, the main character, Princess Benevolence, is very real. She doesn't think she's a particular beauty, she's rather stout (chubby?), and she doesn't get along with the adult who's responsible for her. Pretty normal behavior.
Second, the adult that Princess Ben doesn't get along with doesn't have to be killed off, or put into jail. Instead, you find that the Princess Ben's perception of her has changed. The princess goes through a little journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

I thought the romantic part of the story was a little rushed at the end and not well done, but it was entirely appropriate for young adults and pre-teens. Nothing untoward here. In short, a simple, fairly enjoyable story for a young girl!

Graceling

I liked this book, but it had some scenes that I would not want my child reading. Gracelings are people born with particular talents, whether it be cooking, holding your breath, fighting or any number of other superhuman skills. Katsa is a feared and respected Graceling for her talent to kill. She meets another Graceling who begins to change her perception of herself and they are put up against a ruler who may be able to kill them both.

There is a scene of extramarital sex that is ...more I liked Graceling, but it had some scenes that I would not want my child reading. Gracelings are people born with particular talents, whether it be cooking, holding your breath, fighting or any number of other superhuman skills. Katsa is a feared and respected Graceling for her talent to kill. She meets another Graceling who begins to challenge her perception of herself and they are put up against a ruler who may be able to kill them both.

There is a scene of premarital consensual sex that is neither explicit nor titillating but also not difficult to discern what happened. The main character, Katsa, also has no interest in marriage and that comes up frequently in the book. Also, the bad guy is a sociopath and his behavior is disturbing. Definitely not for children.

Alas, Babylon

I recently reread Alas, Babylon for the second time and I liked it even more the second time around. It is the story of a small town in Florida and what happens after a nuclear holocaust. Too many of the post-apocalyptic authors make these scenarios into a purely anarcho-hedonistic society, but Pat Frank (pseudonym for journalist Harry Hart) wrote this in the 1950's when nuclear annihilation was a real concern and he shows an underlying faith in humanity's ability to fight for the things that define civilization.

It is an easy read. It took me about two days and I have added it to my Personal Classics list. Because of the nature of the subject and some scenes in the book I would recommend this for 16 and older.

When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me pays direct homage to Madeleine L'engle's "A Wrinkle in Time". It is a quick read and a simple story that involves middle school kids. The main character, Miranda, begins to receive mysterious notes that appear to be preparing her for something that will take place in the future. The author of the notes is attempting to elicit her help in doing one thing and it seems like an odd request.

The story takes place in New York City and some of the surrounding characters are strange but there isn't anything particularly disturbing. One character, a homeless man, appears to be mentally unstable but doesn't do anything that would frighten a young reader.

I enjoyed the story. It's not a classic in the sense that I would take it with me to an island but it's a 3 star time-filler read if your child is looking for something to read.