Rescue & Jessica A Life-Changing Friendship by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes

Rescue & Jessica A Life-Changing Friendship is based on the real-life story of Jessica Kensky who was injured in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The bombing resulted in the eventual amputation of both of her legs. Rescue, a lab trained as a service dog by the NEADS program, literally came to Jessica's rescue and became her very own personal assistant. More importantly than that, Rescue became her loyal friend at a time in her life when she desperately needed one.

This picture book won one of my favorite book awards...the Schneider Family Book Award. I recommend it to any reader who values canines and the wonderful ways they can enrich human life.

Mrs. N.

Because by Mo Willems

If you know Mo Willems books, Mo Willems's books are FUNNY! Think of the Elephant and Piggie series, the Don't Let the Pigeon series, and the Knuffle Bunny trilogy.

Because is nothing like Mo Willems's previous books. Because traces the history of how a little girl develops and achieves her dream of composing a symphony. It is a serious and beautiful story of how those who come before inspire those who come after to envision ways we can contribute something beautiful to the world. It is also the story of how no one can accomplish his/her dreams alone. We truly need one another.

I love the book's perfectly simple title. The illustrations are vibrant and fill every page. I especially like the ribbon of music that floats through the air ready to touch and change those who are open to its power. This book is quiet, deep, and inspiring.

I recommend it to any age student who can appreciate the fact that picture books can be powerful tools for communicating important ideas.

Mrs. N.

Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson

Invisible Emmie is Terri Libenson's debut novel. (That means her very first book.) It is a graphic novel about a severely shy, artistic middle schooler named Emmie who fantasizes about being outgoing, athletic, and popular. The story alternates between Emmie and her alter ego Katie. Emmie's pages are written in a neat, thin handwriting style, and pastel colors are used for the illustrations which appear on a plain white background. In contrast, Katie's pages are written in bold, all caps handwriting, and the illustrations are brightly colored with a contrasting brightly colored background. I liked how the illustrations cleverly help communicate the difference between Emmie and Katie's personalities.

The main action revolves around the note Emmie writes while playing the love note game with her best friend Bri. Emmie writes a note to Tyler, the boy she has a crush on. Find out what happens when the note falls into the wrong hands, and Emmie's true feelings go public at her middle school! What follows is every bit as humiliating as you might imagine. Fortunately, though, Emmie (and the readers) learn that truth, however embarrassing, sometimes sets you free!

I recommend this book to 4th-6th graders who enjoy well-illustrated graphic novels that speak important truths about life in middle school.

Mrs. N.

Stolen Girl by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

You may remember Stolen Girl from last year's Spring Book Fair. (It was featured on the Scholastic promotional video, and many of us really wanted to read it!) Stolen Girl is actually part of a trilogy of WWII books written by Marsha Skrypuch. When this story begins, the war is over and the main character Nadia is moving from a Displaced Persons camp in Europe to Canada. Nadia is not her real name, and Marusia and Ivan, the Ukrainian couple who are moving with her, are only pretending to be her parents. No one knows who Nadia really is, including Nadia! The trauma she endured during the war caused her to suppress her memories. As Nadia adjusts to a new country, a new language, and a new family, her memories slowly begin to come back to her, usually in the form of nightmares. But she is determined to face her past; otherwise, she realizes she will never be able to build a new future.

One thing I like about historical fiction is that it is inspired by true events. At the end of the book, the author explains some of the facts that gave her the idea for the story. For example, the Lebensborn Program was part of the Nazi's attempt to expand the Aryan race. Their method was to steal blond, blue-eyed Eastern European children who looked Aryan. This is what happened to the character Nadia.

If you like historical fiction and want to learn facts about WWII that are not typically taught in school, you need to read Stolen Girl. The book reads like a mystery, so mystery-lovers will also be happy with this title. I recommend it for 3rd-6th graders.

Mrs. N. 

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

Harbor Me is an engaging and important book by award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson. The story takes place in Brooklyn, New York over the course of one school year. The main characters are six 5th and 6th grade students who have been pulled together into Ms. Laverne's class because they learn differently from the other students. Haley, one of the students, narrates the powerful story.

The main action takes place in what the students call the ARTT ("A Room To Talk") room. This space is a former art classroom where Ms. Laverne sends them for the last hour of each day. She provides this space so that they can talk among themselves and get to know "the unfamiliar"...each other. Each student is quite different from the other: Esteban is an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic; Tiago is a Puerto Rican boy who feels torn between two different cultures; Ashton is a new kid, the only white student at the school, who is being bullied for being different; Amari is a black boy who is awakening to what it means to be a black man in the world; Holly is a black girl who stands out both because her parents have money and because she cannot sit still; and Haley is a bi-racial girl whose mother is dead and whose father is in prison.

Like the students, readers get to know each person intimately throughout the course of the book. In the end Jacqueline Woodson reminds us that while we are each different from the other, we are also very much the same.

I highly recommend this book to 4th-6th graders. It is a short, quick read that leaves a tremendous impression and challenges readers to "harbor" one another.

Mrs. N.

Treasure Hunters by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

Fans of James Patterson's Middle School, iFunny, and House of Robots series will welcome the addition of his Treasure Hunters series to our library!  In this first volume readers are introduced to the treasure-hunting Kidd family, which is made up of Professor Tom Kidd (world famous oceanographer), Mom, Tommy, Storm, and twins Bick and Beck. Each kid in the Kidd family contributes to the family business in his/her own unique way. Tommy, the oldest, is valued for his physical strength and experience sailing the family ship. Storm has a photographic memory. Beck is the artist who not only illustrates the tale but also lends her expertise when it comes to finding valuable works of art. Finally, Bick is excellent at words, which is a skill that always comes in handy, and results in him serving as the story's narrator.

As the story begins a raging storm at sea leads to the disappearance and supposed death of the children's dad. Readers learn that Mom went missing 3 months earlier in a treasure hunt trade gone bad in Cyprus. This leaves the Kidd kids on their own to carry on the family's treasure hunting business--sailing around the world, searching for valuable artifacts, and being chased by bad guys.

Don't let the size of the book scare you. It is long (451 pages with 70 chapters), but the chapters are very short and are filled with illustrations. In addition, the story is packed with nonstop action and adventure. Treasure Hunters is part of James Patterson's Jimmy books, "books written to be so good that when you're finished, you'll say 'PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER BOOK!'" I recommend this series to 3rd-5th graders who enjoy the action/adventure genre and are looking to start a new series.

Mrs. N.

Can I Touch Your Hair? by Irene Latham and Charles Waters

Irene Latham is an excellent poet who lives in Alabama. Depending on how old you are, you may have met her when she visited our school a few years ago. Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship is her new collection of poetry for children. It is a collaboration between Latham (who is white) and another poet named Charles Waters (who is black). The book is based on a fictional setup in which both authors are 5th grade students working together on a poetry project. Their poems about topics such as hair, church, the beach, and dinnertime alternate, creating a sort of conversation about race. Also, worth mentioning, are the book's illustrations which, like the text, are a collaboration between two artists: Sean Qualls (who is black) and Selina Alko (who is white). In keeping with the book's subject matter, the illustrations are a clever mix of different materials such as paint, colored pencil, and collage.

I highly recommend this picture book to everyone. It is one of those books with the power to change the world for the better!

Mrs. N.

Cake Pop Crush by Suzanne Nelson

In an attempt to find wholesome chapter books for upper elementary girls interested in the romance genre, I found just the thing in a Scholastic series by Suzanne Nelson. The books are a part of Scholastic's Wish series for tweens. New to the library are the foodie books by Suzanne Nelson: Cake Pop Crush, Hot Cocoa Hearts, Shake it Off, I Only Have Pies for You, Donut Go Breaking My Heart, Macarons at Midnight, Sundae My Prince Will Come, and You're Bacon Me Crazy.

In Cake Pop Crush, Ali Ramirez, her dad, and her abuelita run a small family bakery called Say It With Flour. Their business takes a hit when Perk Up, a new bakery/coffee shop (think Starbucks) moves into town and forces Ali's family to compete for the town's business. Ali tries to open her dad's mind to new ideas and strategies, such as adding her delicious cake pops to the bakery menu. Things get even more complicated when Ali discovers that Dane, the really cute new boy at school, is the owner of Perk Up's son and quite a baker himself.

The plot comes to a climax when Ali and Dane engage in a bake-off that could determine not only the future of Say It With Flour but also the future of Ali and Dane.

I recommend this book to 5th-6th grade girls who are interested in reading stories about middle school girls' lives, especially their friendships and crushes.

Mrs. N.

The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet by Carmen Agra Deedy

Yesterday I had the pleasure of re-meeting author Carmen Agra Deedy at a storytelling program at the Auburn Public Library. (I first met her years ago when she visited my children's elementary school.) Mrs. Deedy is a gifted and entertaining storyteller who makes me laugh! After hearing her, I decided to finish reading all of her books.

Today's review is on one of her picture books...The Rooster Who Would not Be Quiet. The story was inspired by Deedy's love for Cuban folklore. (She is a refugee from Cuba who lives in Georgia.) It takes place in the happy, noisy city of La Paz where everyone is always singing, that is until a new mayor silences the town with an ever-increasing number of new rules designed to bring peace and quiet to the town. This is where the rooster comes in. He refuses to stop singing even when, one by one, the happy circumstances that make him sing are taken away.  While young students will enjoy the vibrant illustrations and the surface story, older students will be able to appreciate it as an allegory and may come away with an important life lesson. Deedy's sprinkling of Spanish words throughout the text make it a great choice for a read-aloud.

Mrs. N.

The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon

The Season of Styx Malone is a story of the extraordinary friendship between three boys: Styx Malone, a 16-year-old foster child, and Bobby Gene and Caleb Franklin, two brothers. The story takes place in a small town in Indiana over the course of one summer. From the beginning, Bobby Gene and Caleb are intrigued by the worldly and experienced Styx. They envy the freedom and autonomy he seems to have, especially compared to their own "ordinary" existence. Despite their Mom and Dad's concern over Styx's negative influence, the boys grow closer and closer to him and enjoy a summer filled with adventures they never dreamed possible. However, true friendship is more than fun and games; true friendship requires trust. Styx's reluctance to talk about his past coupled with his tendency to promise things too good to be true leave the brothers wondering if Styx is the friend they thought he was.

This book was a quick read for me. The mystery surrounding Styx kept me motivated throughout the story. In the end, I realized a truth I had almost forgotten...people are more complicated than "good" or "bad." I was also reminded that while we all envy things about other people's lives, we need to step back, take an honest look at our own lives, and appreciate what we have.

I recommend this book to 3rd-6th graders. It is a fun and engaging read that delivers important messages.

WARNING: Contains 2-3 curse words

Mrs. N.

The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu

The Lost Girl is a mix of realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery. The story's realistic plot revolves around Iris and Lark, twin sisters beginning 5th grade in different classrooms for the first time. (The decision to split the sisters up is made with their "best interests at heart" by their parents and their principal.) Both girls are outraged and terrified by the decision, as they are each other's best friends and togetherness is all they have ever known.

Elements of fantasy enter in with the story's subplot. First a mysterious antiques shop called Treasure Hunters opens across the street from the library. Next an odd assortment of things start to go missing from items such as Lark's cherished bracelet to famous works of art from the town museum. Then crows, one in particular, begin to show up on a regular basis.

As for mystery, the narrator is not revealed until the end of the book, so I was constantly wondering who was telling the story. Also, shortly after the antique shop's opening a sign is posted outside the door asking, "Alice, Where Are You? (Who is Alice? Where did she go? Who wants to know?)

As an identical twin myself, I was particularly interested in reading The Lost Girl. Even though my parents never allowed my sister and I to be in the same class, I could still understand how much safer Iris and Lark felt being together.  Early on I assumed "the lost girl" in the story's title was Alice; however, after finishing the book, I am pretty sure that Iris was "the lost girl" who fortunately finally begins to finds herself. Perhaps Iris and Lark's parents truly had their best interests at heart after all.

I recommend this book to 4th-6th graders who enjoy magical stories and don't mind thinking while they read. The book holds a deeper meaning than that on the surface. It is a read that will leave you pondering what kind of "magic" you possess.

Mrs. N.