Fiesta Babies by Carmen Tafolla Illustrated by Amy Cordova

Fiesta Babies is a picture book about several cute babies of all races coming together to celebrate the parade as well as what they do with their families. It mixes several simple spanish words into the text and then includes a glossary at the end. However, it's really the illustrator whose pictures really make the story come to life. She uses very hard strokes of brightly colored paint to make the pictures pop and to make the history of the Mexican culture come to life.

Grandma's Gift by Eric Velazquez

Eric goes to visit his grandmother from Puerto Rico in New York for his Christmas break. Together they cook and go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art so that Eric can complete his project over the painting Juan de Pareja by the artist Diego Velazquez. This is actaully based on the author Mr. Velazquez's memories of going to visit his grandmother in El Barrio in Harlem when he was younger. It also has spanish phrases peppered in throughout the text as well as the meaning of each.

Lafayette and The American Revolution by Russell Freedman

Marquis de Lafayette left his family and came over to fight with the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He quickly proved himself in all of his posts and was eventually given more difficult missions by General Washington. This is the biography of Marquis de Lafayette from the time he was nineteen years old to his part at the Battle at Yorktown, told in such a way that even middle schoolers will enjoy it. The illustrations chosen by the author consist of drawings, photgraphs or paintings. He also utilizes footnotes.

Ballet for Martha by Jan Greenberg

Choreographer Martha Graham, composer Aaron Copland and artist Isamu Noguchi were the mastermind collaborators behind the ballet and compostion known around the world. This book tells how these three people spent over a year collaborating to create the final masterpiece. Written in the present tense, this is a story for young people and gives a good message about how collaboration takes place and shows them that it doesn't happen over night. It also includes alot of additional resources that looks like a program for the ballet.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

Little Red Chicken is supposed to go to sleep, but Papa Rooster needs to read her a bedtime story first. Papa warns her not to interrupt, but she can't help herself with trying to help out the fairy tale characters in the book, eventually Papa has an idea and they both fall asleep. This was the type of book that both parents and teachers can relate to because many kids no matter what age like to interrupt when you're trying to talk or read something to them. The chickens were bright and really stuck out against the duller backdrop. I would recommend this book to teachers and students .

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip C. Stead

Amos goes to work everyday at the zoo and pays special attention to the animals. One day Amos wakes up with a cold and doesn't go to work. His animal friends are worried so they decide to go visit their friend. This was a charming picture book and the author used a special technique called woodblock printing to achieve the effect of the illustrations. This is definitely for younger elementary and has a good message about kindness and friendship.

The Buddy Files: The case of the Lost Boy by Dorti Hillestad Butler

King (aka Buddy) was put into the after his family disappeared. He's now been adopted by a new family who named him Buddy. However, when his new owner Conner disappears suddenly when they are on a walk he sees an opportunity to solve a case like he used to with his previous owner. This was a very quick read and would be a very good book to introduce younger students to Chapter books. It has bigger font than most books, the chapters are short and the writing is very straightfoward and easy to understand. Please check out a special message from Buddy at the following site http://blabberize.com/view/id/468511

One Crazy Summer by Rita-Williams Garcia

Delphine, Vonetta and Fern are three sisters who are shipped off to Oakland, CA for the summer to visit there mother. who had abandoned them several years before. There mother Cecile wants nothing to do with her daughters and is not motherly towards them at all, she's more concerned about her writing for the Black Panthers. The three sisters learn to cope with their situation by sticking together. Set in 1968, right after Martin Luther King was assasinated and the Black Panthers were gaining a following this piece of historical fiction was extremely well written. You genuinely loath the mother at times and love the girls strong voices. Plus, the ending was a nice touch. I will be recommending this to my students and history teachers.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Twelve year old Abilene Tucker has lived her entire riding the rails, but one summer her father sends her to Manifest, Missouri where he lived many years before to stay with an old friend of his named Shady. Abilene is curious to see what it was like when her father lived here and realizes there is a lot of mystery surrounding the towns past. She sets out on a journey with some new friends and a diviner named Miss Sadie to figure it out. This book does a very good job of mixing history with fiction. The story switches back and forth from 1936 to 1917-1918. It weaves in the great depression, the KKK, prohibition, etc. Abilene is a very matter of fact straighfoward person who is used to looking out for herself and it definitely comes across in this book. I would recommend this book to any of my students.

The Duchess of Whimsy by Randall de Seve

The Duchess of Whimsy is always the life of the party and doesn't like boring which she equates to normal. The Earl of Norm was in love with the Duchess, but she wouldn't give him the time of day because he was plain and normal. He jumps through hoops to impress her to no avail, yet in the end he introduces her to soemthing that makes her wonder if normal isn't okay sometimes. I thought this was a very cleverly written story, reminded me of the old addage that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Since the Duchess was so flamboyant, she thought everyone around her should be too. This would be a good lesson to teach kids. It also lends itself to being a great vocabulary builder and exploring the meaning of new words as well as the significance of the characters names.

Art and Max by David Wiesner

Art can draw and his Friend Max wants to learn, but Art realizes he has his work cut out for him. Max proceeds in a comedy of errors, yet in the end everything works out all right. I thought this was a beautiful picture book and it had a good message about how everyone views art and even the world differently. As usual Mr. Weisner doesn't disappoint with his attention to detail with multi dimensional characters and setting. Another neat feature is the font, both Art and Max have different ways of speaking and that comes out in his writing with the differnt type and color of their words. I think this would be a good book to incorporate into an art class.

Witch and Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson

Whit and Wisty are a brother an sister duo, who also happen to be a wizard and a witch. The world has been taken over by a New Order government lead by The One, who controls all aspects of life. He is trying to rid the world of everything, including magic, in other words trying to catch and destroy Whit and Wisty and anyone else like them. This is the second book in the Witch and Wizard series by James Patterson and just like the first one it is full of action. The chapters are alternating between Whit's point of view and Wisty's point of view, which in the beginning was a little confusing, but once you get past the first several chapters you become immune to it an djust got into the story. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but I will be reading the next book in the series. I would recommend this book to kids who like the suspense filled drama.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer is a teenager whose job is to strip copper wiring from old oil tankers. It's a dangerous dirty job and when he's done he has to go home to a drug addicted, alcoholic father who beats him. He would liek a different life and one day he finds an expensive clipper stranded by a hurricane. He goes to strip it, but finds a rich girl as the lone survivor. The decisions he makes will affect his future and take him on a dangerous, yet exhilerating adventure. I read this book in one sitting, it was that good. The charcters were so well written and had so much depth, that even after I'd finished I wondered what I would have done if faced with the same decisions that Nailer and the other characters had to make. The setting also plays a role in the story because it's set in the future after many hurricanes had destroyed the Gulf Coast to where it is practicly uninhabitable. It talks about the crumbling buildings and houses that used to stand as well as the jungle that has grown over the streets, so you couldn't hardly tell they ever existed. I would definitely recommend this book, but due to the extreme violence and vivid descriptions of mutilation I probably wouldn't suggest it to anyone under 13 at the youngest.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Turtle is an eleven year old girl, who is sent to Florida for a couple months to live with a part of her family that she's never met. It takes a little time, but eventually she adjusts to being the only girl living in a small house with her male cousins and Aunt. While in Florida Turtle discovers things about herself and her mothers past. This book was written in such a straighfoward manner that it was refreshing. Though it was kind of predictable in places the personalities of the people who live there as well as the crazy nicknames everyone has for each other make the book very believable. I also thought that Turtle's love-hate relationship with the Shirley Temple character added a whole new dimension to her personality. I would definitely recommend this book to my students.

Kakapo Rescue by Sy Montgomery

This is the extrodinary expedition taken by Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop to a small island off the tip of New Zealand called Codfish Island, where scientists are working around the clock to save the "largest parrot" in the world called the Kakapo. They were becoming extinct so they were put on this secluded island to keep them safe and breed. THe pictures in this book are amazing. I've used alot of Nic Bishop's books in the classroom, with his awesome eye for detail I was definitely not disappointed with this book. Also the writing of Mr. Montgomery was very detailed and scientific, but he managed to do a wonderful job of making it interesting and giving it a more personal touch, with the dialogue between the scientists, himself and Mr. Bishop. His writing coupled with the photography makes this book a stunning resource for any classroom or science teacher and I can see why it was awarded the Siebert Medal.

Dave the Potter Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill

Dave was a pottery maker who wrote poems on all of the pots he created, while working as a slave on a plantation back in the 1800s. This short picture book walks you through the process of creating one of these pots. Though very little is known about Dave the author Mr. Hill wrote a peom about his work and that poem was the premise for this book. What makes this book unique is the illustrations, they are multi faceted, with a lot of detail. You also find out in the end that no one knows what Dave actually looked like, so the illustrator Bryan Collier said, "I based my illustrations on a model who I felt reflected the spirit of Dave."

The Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Lanesha is twelve years old and able to see and communicate with ghosts. She lives in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, LA with Mama Ya-Ya who has the ability to predict the future. Mama Ya-Ya senses the hurricaine coming and when the city orders a mandatory evactuation of the city Mama Ya-Ya and Lanesha decide to ride it out because they don't have a car or much money. They prepare for Katrina and it's due to Mama Ya-Ya's warnings and Lanseha's determination to survive that drives the story. Lanesha was so beautifully written, she had no friends because of Mama Ya-Ya's abilities as well as her own. Her best friend was Mama Ya-Ya and she loved math. Even though we all know the outcome of Hurricaine Katrina, Rhodes did a wonderful job of making the apprehension and survivl strategies of the ordeal real, so it didn't come off as a predictable Katrina story.

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Fire is a human monster who has been hidden away for years because she is so beautiful that most people who see her go out of their mind. Plus, she has the ability to be able to take control of people's minds and make them do whatever she likes. Her father was an evil ruler in the kingdom of the Dells, but after he dies and with an impending war she is brought back to the kingdom. Along the way she has to fight off monster raptors, men who try to do her harm, her best friend Archer who wants to marry her and her budding feelings for one of the princes. This was a book that was so full of plot twists, characters, suprises, romance and set against a fantasy type backdrop that I found it consuming my life for two days even at work because I couldn't put it down. For the sake of comparison think of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, where you have multiple kingdoms and creatures. Some of the content might be questionable for anyone under 14 because it does make overt, but not detailed references to sex and rape. I have to say that I will be reading a lot more of Cashore's books in the near future.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3508755/Fire_by_Kristin_Cashore

Candor by Pam Bachorz

Candor, FL is an exclusive new comunity attracting new families all the time because of it's promise of a small town feel as well as being good for troubled teens. In actuality it's a town that once you move in it's almost impossible to get out because of it's hidden secrets, which are everywhere. The main characters are Oscar and Nia. Oscar is the creator of the communities son, who isn't affected by his fathers sumbliminal messages because he's trained himself not to be, but his father doesn't know it. Oscar is the model teen in the the town and has seen the changes that his peers go through after a couple weeks in the town. He's even helped several escape. He meets Nia and decides he doesn't want to see her succumb to the messages, so he vows to help her without her knowledge. Definitely a lot of action and typical teen behavior. This reminded me of the Stepford Wives, yet for teens. This book does make you question whether it is possible to control people's minds and also about lost love and opportunities. I was disappointed with the ending because I wanted to see it turn out different and I thought it left a lot of unanswered questions.

The Firefly Letters by Margarita Engle

This is the story of Fredricka, Cecelia and Elena. It's based on the true story of a Swedish suffragist Fredricka Bremer, who spent three months in Cuba back in 1851. It is told in a a prose format, each chapter focuses on one of the three characters. Fredricka remembers what it was like growing up in Sweden, Cecelia remembers being taken from her home and brought to Cuba to be a slave, yet she has also been assigned as Fredricka's translator. Elena is the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, whom owns Cecelia. Due to the prose format this was a very quick read and you were still able to connect with the characters based on the beautiful language used in the poems. In the end you find out that this book was written based on diaries and letters that Fredricka kept on her travels and that Cecelia was real, but the Elena character was created to add the sense of sacrifice to the story.

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

Netfali Reyes is a shy Chilean boy who loves words, writing and daydreaming. To his father this is unaccepatble and his father works to try and have him get his head out of the clouds and into the real world. Though his father disapproves he had allies in his uncle and stepmother. His uncle is a big supporter of the local Mapuche indians, who owned the land first but are being driven out by townspeople like his father. This influences Netfali and his writing and after years of suffering his father disappointment and losing everything he'd ever written he goes off to the university and writes about the plight of the Mapuche indians. However he changes his name to Pablo Neruda so that his father doesn't know it's him writing the articles. I didn't realize it until the end in the author's notes, but this was a fictional biography based on a true story of a Nobel winning poet Pablo Neruda. The writing was beautiful, but combined with Peter Sis and his drawings between chapters, which are meant to capture the imagination of both the reader and Netfali adds to the feeling that the book leaves with you.

Tales From A Not So Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell

Nikki Maxwell is trying to adjust to her new middle school, but seventh grade is just plain hard. THis is especially true when the most popular girl in school decides to make it her mission to make NIkki miserable. Due to unforessen curcumstances and hilarious antics, Nikki ends up overextending herself to her friends, her little sister, and her crush. Just like any people pleaser she doesn't want to let anyone down, so she attempts to do it all at the same time. Obviously it's a recipe for disaster. This is the second book in the Dork Diaries series and it's written in a journal format, with handdrawn pictures and such. It's like a Diary of a Wimpy Kid for girls. Though some of the antics are a over the top, it was a hilarious read and though Nikki is generally nice she has some very good comebacks for Mackenzie. I have suggested this book to several of the girls at my school.

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

Reese has been sentencesd to 18 months in a juvenile facility named Progress for breaking the law one to many times. He would like to be relased early for good behavior, but things just keep happening, others keep trying to kill his friend Toon, he's being accused as being part of a bigger crime that took place two years ago and he feels that the warden's at the facility don't care about him and his family life sucks, with the exception of his little sister. As usual Myer's way with words strikes a chord with his readers, even though Reese has made poor decisions to end up where he is, you really feel that he is trying, so much so that you start rooting for him. I have never read anything by Walter DEan Myer's that wasn't good and this book was no exception.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is the name of a prison that was created to help control the chaos of men. HOwver, over several decades it has become a self sustaining prison that is alive and makes it's own rules. Rumor has it that only one person has ever escaped and Finn is determined that he will follow in that mans footsteps. Along the way he comes to possess a crystal key, which he finds out is a link to the outside world and he starts communicating with Claudia, who is the prison warden's daughter. The whole premise of this book was such a crazy fantastic notion, that it made you wonder. It had alot of twists and turns, which kept you guessing till the very end. This was another book in which I was a little disappointed in the ending simply because it to was a continuation.

How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart

David Greenberg is getting ready to start the 6th grade and is nervous, but he has his best friend Elliot by his side as well as his passsion for for uploading videos to YouTube, which star him and his hamster Hammy imitating the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, whom David idolizes. Then things fall apart his best friend becomes his enemy, his only friend becomes a new kid at school who happens to be a girl, he's tortured by bullies, etc. THis book made me laugh so hard, yet feel so bad for David. Middle School in general is hard for anyone and Gephart wrote such a believable character in David that he's completerly relatable. This would be a great book for a reluctant reader because the chapters are short, but manage to convey so much meaning.

Matched by Ally Condie

Cassia lives in a perfect society, where everything such as what you eat, who you marry and even your job are determined by The Society. The match cermony happens on a person's 17th birthday and she is matched with her best friend Xander. Howver, when she goes to read the microchip to learn more about him, someone else's face appears another guy she knows named Ky. After this things start to unravel because she starts questioning The Society. This book reminded me of a modern day Giver by Lois Lowry. I liked the fact that the whole book was told from the point of view of Cassia. Though it had brief moments of action it was very much about Cassias struggling internally with her thoughts and feelings and the consequences of them. I really enjoyed this book, but didn't like the end strictly because it was a to be continued in the next book Crossed, which doesn't come out till November 1 of this year.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Set during the Cold War this was a very powerful book and Wiles did a great job of combining history with fiction. The threat of a nuclear bomb has everyone on edge. This book set during the Cold War era tells about a little girl and her family. However, Wiles manages to incorporate real pictures, newspaper clippings, ads and quotes from that era betwen each chapter, that in someway are tied to what is going on in the story. Though the story itself is a work of fiction, the characters are realistic enough that it doesn't matter what age you are you can relate. This is a good example of historical fiction and anyone interested in this genre would definitely enjoy it. Also, after reading the book, you see how appropriate the title is becuase the whole book was like a countdown to the end.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

This would be a great book for anyone who is a Star Wars fan or for our kids in intermediate school, specifically fifth or sixth grade. Dwight is in sixth grade and known as the weird kid at school, who walks around with an Origami Yoda on his finger. He makes Yoda talk and a lot of people believe that Yoda can tell the future and help you out of complicated situations. Tommy doesn't whether to believe it or not, so he decides to start a "case file" (journal) and have everyone who has interacted with Dwight and his Yoda character write down their experience. That's when you really get tp see what is going on in the young lives at this middle school. Each chapter of the book is written by a different character. Also all of the pages have the effect of looking like old crumpled pieces of paper, plus pictures the characters have drawn to emphasize their story. One of my favorite features was that at the very end it gives you explicit instructions on how to properly fold your own origami Yoda. I thought this was a well written book and feel that kids would really relate to the experiences of the characters.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is one of those books that really makes you wonder, especially when you see and interact with kids who have cerebral palsy. Melody is in the 5th grade and has a photographic memory, but no one knows this. She finally gets a computer to help her vocalize and life as she nows it changes. This is one of those heart warming books in which Sharon Draper allows the reader to make a connection with Melody on such a personal level that you can feel her triumphs and tribulations and get really happy or angry. At one point I wanted to jump in the book and tell some of the other characters my thoughts! This is a wonderful book for all ages and I haven't read a lot of Sharon Draper books, but because of this one I'm now a fan. Check out my video on Animoto at http://animoto.com/play/lJx0x5r0XKkGJzSnJS15cg

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

Set during the Goldrush in the early 20th century Revolver is definitely a book that makes you think. Sig is fourteen years old and trapped in a cabin with a deranged maniac who has a gun and a score to settle with Sig's dead father! This is a book that is definitely geared more towards boys based on some of the underlying themes of what makes you a man and survival. It also uses the flashback method to help explain why the man has shown up on Sig's doorstep ten years after the fact. Also, between sections it includes quotes from old magazine articles and ads. I thought this was a well written book and I would definitely read another book by Marcus Sedgwick.