Wonder

Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Alfred A. Knopf. Published 2012.

This book was much talked about last year and for good reason. It is not the usual coming-of-age novel where a student starts his first day of school at a new school dealing with bullies and pressing middle school matters. That stuff is there, but this character is very different than any characters before. August, or Auggie, has a rare genetic disorder that has made his face look like that of a B-Movie monster. He has been home schooled his whole life due to continued illness, but his parents have decided that it is time for him to go to a real school at the start of middle school. This time period would be hard enough for anyone, but it is especially hard for Auggie as he has to deal with the reactions of all the students around him while trying to decide who he is as a person as well.

The author uses multiple perspectives to tell this story. This opens up the book to see the reactions of everyone around Auggie and letting us understand how they really feel and how actions and thoughts can actually be two different things. This was a great story for learning about being in the shoes of other people and how to accept people for who they are and not how they look.

Intended reading level: Grades 4-8
Genre: Realistic Fiction, School fiction

Questions to the Readers: Have you ever felt like an outsider? If so, how did that make you feel? In what ways has Auggie always stayed true to himself? How has he changed over the course of the novel?

Read-alikes: The Misfits by James Howe, The Giant-Slayer by Iain Lawrence

Skim

Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. Published 2010 by Groundwood books.

This was a superb graphic novel. Having won the Best Illustrated Children's Book Award by the New York Times, its already proven its caliber. The artwork is so filled with fluid and delicate dark lines that it reminds me of calligraphy. The backgrounds are extremely detailed and the way panels will be placed above them in a smaller space makes it feel like poetry in images. There are a lot of close-ups and variety of angles used by the illustrator. These  aspect to aspect and moment to moment shots slow the action down and let us feel what the characters are feeling.
The story is about a girl, Kim, known by Skim to the girls at her school, and her friendships and budding love affair. Like all good teen stories, it is a novel about identity and finding our true selves and our true friendships as well as what love means and how it can so easily tear our heart apart.

While the below image might ruin part of the story, I just have to share it because I think it is so beautiful. It reminds me of two flowers blooming inside a patch of thorns, a briar rose, if you will:

Interest level: YA - because of smoking, drinking and adult concepts I would say Grades 8-12

Questions to Readers:

What choices did Ms. Archer make, bad or good? Would you have done anything differently? What changed between Lisa and Kim? Why do you think Lisa was so angry all the time? What different things do you think Katie was feeling over the course of the novel? Why was Kim able to sympathize? 

Read-alikes: Page by Paige, Friends with Boys

The Wednesday Wars

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Published 2007. Newbery Honor Book.

This one had another slow start for me but once I got into it I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. At first it was reminding me of Leon and the Spitting Image with the protagonist mistrusting and not liking the teacher, but while that one stayed very superficial, this book got into territory with a lot more emotional depth. The use of the Shakespeare plays shape the story in a way that students may not understand at first, but is really smart and a great frame for the story of Holling Hoodhood wihout having to be hit over the head with it. I was disappointed some times in how perfectly things worked out for Holling in certain situations, but by the end, some of this trope had mellowed out and the emotional stuff took precedence. I wished some of this was present in the beginning, but it all came together in the end.

The book takes place during the Vietnam war. Holling is from a Presbyterian family in a town divided by Catholics and Jews. He finds he is alone with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, every Wednesday when the rest of his class leaves for their religious studies. She decides to have him read Shakespeare plays to occupy his time and soon Holling takes on a sort of mentorship with his teacher that removes him from the confines of his strict, conservative father's plans for his life and allows him to blossom and find a friend in his teacher.

Interest level: Grades 5-8 Reading level: Grade 5 (though I might argue for a little older with all the Shakespearean quotes)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Coming-of-age

Comparable Titles: Maniac Magee, One Crazy Summer

Book Connections: The Civil Rights Movement, Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign, Shakespeare, Vietnam War, cream puffs, Track, Melbourne Olympics, New York Yankees, architecture

The Goats

The Goats by Brock Cole. Published 1987.

I just read a post about this book still being a classic and full of suspense and surprises on another website, so I thought I would give it a try. Based on the super cheesy 80s cover that my copy has, I was surprised by this book, but not necessarily sure it it was a good surprise.

As a practical joke, a boy and a girl are left stranded on an island completely naked. Instead of waiting for their humiliation in the morning, they decide to swim to shore and disappear. This leads to their becoming closer through their trauma and causing worry both for the camp and the girl's mother. It's a survival tale of two kids on their own trying not to get discovered by the police or anyone else.

For the most part, that description matches with that on the book cover except for the survival bit. I was expecting more of them to haunt around the camp ground and watch as everyone worried over them. I thought it would be a more guilt-based book with them torturing these that tortured them with worry over their possible death by drowning. Instead it was an odd survival tale with extreme hints at sexualization and coming-of-age in strange ways. Also its a bit dated with the segregated camp for Black kids and how they hide out there with a little bit of fear and awe. I was surprised that the girl's period played such a large role in the story and that they kept hinting at the two kids being put together to possibly have sex. From the narration and the description of the kids, I expected them to be much younger and the sex stuff kinda threw me for a loop.

It was an intriguing read and I did wonder what was going to happen to them and I was satisfied with the ending, but it was also a very odd tale of survival.

Interest level: Grades 5-8 Reading level: Grade 4 (from content I would say Grade 6 or higher)
Genre: Coming-of-age, Survival, Realistic fiction

Comparable titles: Hatchet, Are you there God, It's me Margaret?

Book Connections: bullying, the reality of practical jokes, how to survive on your own, what to do in emergencies

Eleven

Eleven by Lauren Myracle. Published 2004.

After hearing about the award drama surrounding Myracle and learning about the newest in this series release, I decided I should read one of her books. Having grown up with all males and being a girl who tended to have only one good female friend, I found this book to be really interesting because I realized I never read chick lit when I was younger nor do I tend to gravitate towards it now. It was a good learning experience for me because while I couldn't relate to everything, some things will always be the same in female friendships no matter how many girls you are friends with over the years. Maybe I should have been reading these all along because I would have understood female relationships better.

The book starts on Winnie's eleventh birthday (which coinky-dink, is the second book I've read this semester where the main character shares a birthday with me. Yay March 11th!). From the get-go we see that Winnie is struggling with the dynamics of her friendships. Her best friend Amanda seems to be maturing faster than she is and because of this they are moving apart. It only becomes worse when a new girl moves to town and takes all of Amanda's attention away. Winnie must conform and feel distant or find a new friend in Dinah Devine.

The book showcases strong characters, keen observations about growing up and friendship and a strong story arch that moves from one birthday to the next.

Interest level: Grades 3-6 Reading level: Grade 4
Genre: friendship, coming-of-age
First in series (with a prequel)

Comparable titles: Sweet Treats and Secret Crushes

Book Connections: Birthday celebrations, snow days, Calendars, Chinese jump rope

The Popularity Papers

The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow. Published 2010.

This book should be added to the list of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate fan favorites. It's interesting because it takes the journal/drawing genre to a new level because the whole thing is one photo-copied layout of the author's actual work. It gives it the feel that real children actually created the thing. For one thing, this makes it feel slightly less real or as if a student actually created it, which takes away its credibility from an actual book stand point, but on the other hand it also makes it feel much more genuine. The one issue I had with this frame was that to differentiate the two girls creating it, the author uses cursive writing for Lydia's character and I think this will hinder some readers from being able to access the book if they can't read cursive yet. For the case of advanced reading 2nd graders who often go towards the diary style books because of their use of pictures, it makes it so they can't read it.

Now for the story...Lydia and Julie are best friends and have decided to observe and note all the of popular girl's doings so that they may become popular themselves. There are a number of mishaps on their journey, but what really gives the book its literary credibility is where their friendship fails in their striving to become popular. It cleverly addresses real issues with Middle School girls and shows that popularity isn't the number one goal when you have real friendship.

Interest level: Grades 3-6 Reading level: Grade 4
Genre: Friendship, Coming-of-age, Diary style
First in series

Comparable Titles: Big Nate, Dork Diaries, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Book Connections: Musicals, Knitting, Observation Journals, Poster Making/Drawing, Norway

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Published 2006. Michael L. Printz Award winner.

This is a popular book in our school and the author will be at the public library this weekend, so I thought I should check it out. I really enjoyed it, which didn't surprise me as I'm a fan of graphic novels, but I wasn't expecting the way the author formed it so it went up a few notches in my assessment.

The story is told in three different formats, or as I thought of them, episodes, that interweave as if I were flipping through channels with my remote. First, there is the story of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American living in the suburbs of San Francisco and coming to terms with his identity in a mostly white neighborhood. Next, the story of the Monkey King who is dishonored at a party of the gods and through meditative kung-fu training tries to transform himself into The Great Sage Equal of Heaven, who must take the long way to learn his lesson and his identity. And then there is the "sitcom" story of Chin-kee, a Chinese cousin who comes to stay with a white family, played out in overt stereotypes and leading to the continued embarrassment of Cousin Danny. It seems these tales have nothing, potentially, to do with one another, but they are all connected by the search for acceptance, identity and the power to transform and what comes with that power, good or bad.

I was surprised by how all the stories connected in the end and they all became powerful, layered metaphors for one another. Awesome read.

Interest level: YA Reading level: Grade 5 (this is marketed as YA, but the content wasn't anything that Grades 5-8 couldn't handle)
Genre: Graphic novel, Coming-of-age

Comparable titles: Smile, Page by Paige

Book Connections: Chinatown in San Francisco, a study on stereotypes, Transformers, Kung-fu, Chinese mythology/deities

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. Published 2011.

This book has been getting rave reviews and with retellings of Fairy Tales the hottest thing right now, I had to see if the hype was true. While not disappointing, I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to pitch this one to my kids.

In Breadcrumbs Hazel is best friends with her next door neighbor Jack. After Jack gets a sliver of a bewitched mirror in his eyes, his heart turns to ice and he disappears with a mysterious Ice Queen who appears out of the forest. While his male friends have been vying for his attention all year, it is only Hazel who will venture into the forest to save him from the evil queen and discover for herself the desire to return home and not be willed away by her own dark wishes.

Now while this all sounds thrilling and mysterious, all of that takes place in the second half of the book and the second half doesn't even start until a hundred pages in. The first half is setting up how Hazel is isolated in her new school and feels very separate from everyone else. It sets up the problems in her and Jack's lives and makes quite a few comparisons to other novels. In fact, at one moment, I couldn't help being reminded of When You Reach Me only to have the author mention that Hazel was reading that book and couldn't help also being reminded of her situation within it. This made it feel a little cheap to me, especially when the second half was a re-telling (or borrowing) of the Snow Queen or Narnia story. If you boiled down all the excess, you really just had a re-hashing of other people's books.

Now this sentiment might make it sound like I didn't like the book. I did. I especially enjoyed the second half mainly because there was tension and scariness and a quicker pace, but the first half seems to be too introspective. This makes it hard to sell to the kids. Do they want to read a book about a girl having trouble fitting in or a book about a fairy tale world? There isn't really too much fairy tale in the beginning to get most kids to get to the second half for the pay off. This makes me sad.

Also...I didn't like the illustrations or the color choice for the cover. I think the cover is fantastic looking but again with the Disney princess pink and blues that will prevent boys from picking it up. The illustrations look like computer rendered drawings in the style of Disney cartoons which makes them look too sweet to me. I would have loved some dark and mysterious pen and ink style drawings to give in an eery feel instead.

Interest level: Grades 3-6 Intended reading level: Grade 5
Genre: fantasy (fairy/folk tale), coming-of-age

Comparable titles: Noah Barleywater Runs Away, The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, When You Reach Me

Book Connections: Snow Queen tales, wolves, winter, new kids experiences

When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Published 2009.

Since winning the Newbery Medal last year, I've been curious to read this book. I can see how it fits in the Newbery category as it has an intriguing narrator with a quirky/interesting story, but at the same time not much happens until the end of the book. Though some could argue, that the nuances of the little things friends deal with in school are monumental things happening and that the strange letter frame keeps the mystery moving it along, but really its a string of incidents that are compiled together until the grand finale. This is not to say I did not like the book. On the contrary, I enjoy books of this nature.

Some spoilers: Miranda lives in New York in 1978 and she has just discovered the loss of her best friend after he chooses to ignore her after a "bully" punches him in the stomach in front of her. She spends the year helping her mom study for the 20,000 Pyramid Game Show and trying to figure out why Sal no longer wants to be friends with her. Not one to just sit by, she finds two new friends in Colin and Annemarie. But sooner than later, mysterious notes start to appear in her life and these notes know things that a person can't possibly know yet because they haven't happened yet. Based on her obsession with Madeleine L'Engle's a Wrinkle in Time, a coming-of-age story quickly melds into a sci-fi bender of time travel.

I thought the strange sci-fi twist is what elevated this story...but as Marcus questions L'Engles' Time Travel premise, I couldn't help but question Stead's as she based the story in 1978 so thirty or so years later wasn't far enough in the future to imagine someone was capable of time travel or that there was a giant dome that protects future humans from the sun, after all, we are reading this book in 2009 supposedly. But that's a small thing to pick at. Secondly, my only other issue was that her friendship with Sal wasn't established enough in the beginning, so every time she pines after her loss, I can't feel it because Sal still feels like a stranger to me.

Intended reading level: Grades 5-8 Interest level: Grade 4
Genre: coming-of-age, friendship, (sci-fi sort of)

Comparable Titles: A Wrinkle in Time, Ida B. and her plans to maximize fun, avoid disaster and possibly save the world

Book Connections: time travel movies, Madeleine L'Engle, Game Shows, two dollar bills, deli sandwiches

The Misfits

The Misfits by James Howe. Published 2001.

The Gang of Five, which really consists of four: Skeezie, Addie, Joe and Bobby, are all misfits who have been called names their whole life and will never be part of the popular crowd at their middle school. After Addie decides to take a stand for minorities and those that "Justice for All" don't apply to, the gang creates a third political party to run for Student Counsel whether or not the teachers approve of it. When the gang finds their emerging hormones raging and crushes forming, their love triangles may start to get in the way, but their political message becomes clear when Bobby creates the No-Name Party and runs on a platform of no more name calling.

This was a great, quick read about the difficulties of Middle School and how hard it is to not be part of the crowd and what finding your identity is all about as you leave childhood. I started crying when Bobby gave his speech for the No-Name Party and it was well-deserved tears, not sloppy, heavy-handed, pulling my heart string tears (though I'm not going to say that wasn't part of it). The voices of the characters were fun and real and asked the sort of questions about life that kids this age are really starting to ponder for themselves. Plus it grappled with issues of homosexuality and race without making either of these things the sole focus of the novel.

Intended reading level: Grades 5-8 Interest level: Grade 5
Genre: coming-of-age, realistic fiction
First in a series of companion books

Comparable titles: Stargirl, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, The Absolutely-True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Book connetions: political pins with bad names crossed out, neckties, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches

Book Trailer:
Glogster link-http://www.glogster.com/egoode/the-misfits-by-james-howe/g-6lsolig5squfdadejignca0

Aliens on Vacation

Aliens on Vacation by Clete Barrett Smith. Published 2011.

This book is the Men in Black for this generation and age group. What would you do if you were shipped off to the Northwest to your Grandmother's Intergalactic Bed and Breakfast just to find out that her clientele were Tourists from other planets? This is Scrub's problem when he arrives in a taxi cab without knowing what the summer and the Bed and Breakfast have in store for him.

The story is your regular adventure/sci-fi/coming-of-age tale where a boy learns how to be a leader and problem solve only his problems deal with visiting aliens and not wanting the local authorities to find out who his Grandmother's visitors are. The story doesn't drag and you do care to see Scrub save the hotel from any danger it might get itself into. A sequel is due out next summer and while this tale wraps up nicely, I think the narrator and the setting warrants another story.

Interest level: Grades 3-6 Intended reading level: 4th Grade
Genre: Sci-fi, fiction, coming-of-age
First in a series--not yet released

Comparable titles: Nerd Camp, Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Book connections: intergalactic passport, bed and breakfast pamphlet, vegan cookbook, camping guide