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.