The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin

Berk, Josh. The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin. Borzoi, 2010. Tr. $16.99 ISBN 978-0-375-85699-0

What’s it about?

Will Halpin, a hefty deaf high school student attends a “mainstream” high school. When one of his fellow students, a morally bankrupt son of a casino owner, Pat Chambers, falls to his death on a field trip to the local coal mine where Halpin’s own great-uncle “Dummy” Halpin died, he and his buddy Devon Smiley solve the case.

 Find out more:

Will Halpin, an expert lip-reader and amateur sleuth, whose IM handle is “Hamburger Halpin” is attending a mainstream high school after years of deaf school—and while he is finding the social lives of his fellow students intriguing and rich in irony, he wishes he wasn’t the butt of jokes, along with his new friend Devon Smiley, who is on the bottom of the social heap, so low on the food chain, that “even teachers and C-listers rip on him.” Will begins to fall for a beautiful, popular girl Leigha, who appears to be beaten by her bully boyfriend, the popular and morally bankrupt Pat Chambers. When Will’s class takes a field trip to visit the local coal mines, and Pat falls to his death, there are numerous suspects. Will and Devon team together to solve the crime, and their exploits place them in the thick of the investigation—and under suspicion.

This is one of darker, funnier books I’ve read in the past few years. Will has a self-deprecating sense of humor, and has a keen eye for the social drama in others’ lives and writes his sarcastic observations in a notebook. His humorous IM and text exchanges with Devon further add levity to this black comedy. Will’s narration is strong, and never self-pitying. The reader will find his letter to Leigha both naïve and hilarious.  There are many moment in this book where I cringed and laughed at the same time. This is a timely novel, filled with pop culture and technological references, but the themes of disability, crime, corruption and friendship are timeless.

Genre:  Humor, Mystery, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Reading level: Grades 5-6

Interest level: Grades 6-12

Subjects: Crime, Deafness, Friendship, Popularity, High School

Read alikes:

Edmond’s Happyface

Schmidt’s Okay for Now

Bray’s Going Bovine 

King’s Please Ignore Vera Dietz

Teens Cook: How to Make What You Want to Eat

 

Carle, Megan & Jill Carle (with Judi Carle). Teens Cook: How to Make What You Want to Eat. Ten Speed Press, 2004. Paperback $19.95 ISBN 9781580085847

What’s it about?

Meet Megan and Jill Carle, sisters and whizzes in the kitchen, pass on 75 recipes to novice cooks in a colorful, easy-to-follow cookbook for and by teens.   

Find out more:

Sisters Megan and Jill Carle are a kitchen odd couple. One sister (Megan) is a vegetarian, and prefers ethnic foods. The other, Jill, is a meat-eater who favors all-American “comfort food.”  Together, they’ve created a cookbook that serves a variety of tastes and skill levels. Most recipes are easy to follow for tweens, teens, and beyond, but some are more challenging than others.  The Carles explain any mystifying terminology, such as “blanching” in easy to understand language. There is a healthy sprinkling of humor, as well—one sister tells of the time she made cheese ravioli, and when her back was turned, her sister added spinach to the filling. This made the recipe look better, admits the spinach-hating sister, and “it’s worth it just for the shock value of when you ask your mom to buy spinach.”   

This is a good beginner’s cookbook, with plenty of colorful photos, funny anecdotes (kitchen disasters) about recipes gone awry, kitchen tips and text boxes with kitchen math, kitchen safety and kitchen vocabulary. One slight criticism is that there are no “healthy” substitution suggestions for some of the higher-fat recipes. Some young cooks may want lower fat options for themselves and their family members. Also, there is no indication of the difficulty level of the recipes—some, like Strawberries with Marshmallow Dip and Chili Cheese Dip are “embarrassingly simple,” while others, like the foccaccia, look difficult—certainly not recipes for a first-time cook to attempt alone.  Flaws aside, this is a great book to introduce to tweens and teens who are learning to cook.

Interest level: Grades 6 & up

Genre:  Nonfiction--cookbook

Subjects: Cooking, recipes

Read-alikes:

Sam Stern’s Cooking up a Storm (2005), Real Food Real Fast (2008), and Get Cooking (2009)

Other books by the authors:

Teens Cook Dessert (2006)

College Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends (2007)

College Vegetarian Cooking (2009)

The First Real Kitchen Cookbook: 100 Recipes and Tips for New Cooks (2011)

Creepy Cute Crochet!

Haden, Christen. Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! Quirk Books, 2008. Tr. $14.95 ISBN 978-1-59474-232-3

What’s it about? Creepy Cute Crochet:  Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! contains the crochet patterns needed to create 20 adorably spooky creatures. Make a Chuthlu, a fuzzy alien, a Grim Reaper, and more!

Find out more:

Amigurumi (small knitted or crocheted dolls) creatures are cute, cute, cute. Haden mixes a dash of creepy into the cute before doll makers overdose on kawaii (ultra-cuteness). Patterns range in difficulty from beginner to epic, although people who have never picked up a crochet hook in their lives will need to learn the basics. Haden confesses her soft spot for zombies in her introduction “Becoming Dr. Frankenstein with a Crochet Hook and Yarn.” Her zombie dolls needed companions, so she began crocheting other creatures that go bump in the night—and worthy adversaries, such as knights and ninjas. Haden gives novice crafters plenty of great web resources to learn crochet basics, and shows step-by-step instructions on the different stitches and techniques that will be used in the patterns.   

This is a book for slightly Goth or quirky crafters—and pretty much every tween or teen who can wield a crochet hook. The book has very appealing lay-out, large, full color photos of the creatures, funny asides (for the Queen Vampire pattern, Haden cautions crafters to keep her majesty out of the sun). A small gripe I have with this book is the size—the font and the patterns should be larger; I found myself squinting at the diagrams. Aside from this flaw, this is a fun tween and teen-friendly crochet book perfect for Halloween and Day of the Dead.  

Genre: Non-fiction, Arts & Crafts

Interest level: Grades 6-adult

Read-alikes:

Rimoli’s Amigurumi Toy Box: Cute Crocheted Friends

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi

Pailloux’s Crobots: 20 Amigurumi Robots to Make

http://amigurumiland.net/welcome-to-amigurumi-land/

Subjects: Arts & Crafts, Hobbies, Crochet, Amigurumi, Doll-making

Babysitter's Club Graphic Novel: Kristy's Great Idea

Telgemeier, Raina. The Baby Sitters Club: Kristy’s Great Idea. Graphix, 2006. Paperback $8.99 ISBN-10 0-439-73933-0

What’s it about?

Kristy Thomas and her friends are baby-sitting pros. Kristy gets an idea that will increase their business—forming a Baby-Sitters Club, where parents need to place just one call to find a group of experienced babysitters.

Find out more:

 This graphic novel adaptation of the first Baby-sitter’s Club book (BSC) in the popular, long-lived series which began in the late eighties, is not just about babysitting. Babysitting is the backdrop of the lives of four girls, Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, each with their own private dramas, like divorce, the death of a parent, diabetes, crushes, sibling rivalry and family pressure. This story centers around Kristy’s experiences, with the central drama being her parent’s divorce. Kristy is vehemently opposed to her mother remarrying, and initially refuses to have anything to do with her mother’s fiancé, Watson, and his children Karen and Andrew. When Mary Ann babysits for them (because Kristy won’t), she writes in a Baby-sitter’s Club log that the kids are cute, and that Kristy would like them if she gave them a chance. Eventually, Kristy warms up to the idea of her mother remarrying. Another sub-plot in this graphic novel is the friendship between the four girls, which becomes strained when some girls feel that the jobs aren’t being evenly distributed.

All told, this is a very tween-friendly graphic novel that portrays a group of pre-teen friends starting their own business. The story-telling is light-hearted and humorous, and the darker elements aren’t heavy-handed.  The girls’ response to Stacey’s diabetes is relief that she is not anorexic, a somewhat puzzling reaction, since both are serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. What carries these girls through their struggles, including jealousy and resentment, is the high value place on their friendship. Friendship is a central theme of this graphic novel, as well as the series it is based upon. This is a positive, upbeat book, and while some of the heavier elements are wrapped up a little too neatly in an after-school special sort of manner, the deft, appealing artwork and the fast-paced, readable dialog makes this an enjoyable read for tween girls.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Friendship Fiction, Humor

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-6

Read-alikes:

McDonald’s The Sisters Club

Myracle’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen

Naylor’s Alice series

Subjects: Friendship, Family, Divorce, Baby-sitting, Tween girls, Entrepreners

Series information:

The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacy (BSC Graphix, 2006)

The Baby-Sitters Club: Mary Anne Saves The Day (BSC Graphix, 2007)

 The Baby-Sitters Club: Claudia and Mean Janine (BSC Graphix, 2008)

Characters:

Kristy—tomboyish, impulsive mastermind of the Baby-Sitter’s Club

Claudia—creative and fun-loving, with a phone in her room and a Grammar-Nazi sister

Mary Anne—shy and studious, and being raised by her strict single father

Stacey—new to Stonybrook, a friendly girl recently diagnosed with diabetes

The Skin I'm In

Flake, Sharon. The Skin I’m In. Jump at the Sun, 1998. Paperback $5.99 ISBN-10 0-7868-1307-5

What’s it about?

Maleeka Madison didn’t use to hate the dark skin she was born in—but lately, she has been assaulted with taunts about her blackness. Her disfigured teacher Miss Saunders helps her find her voice through her talent for writing.

Find out more:

Maleeka Madison, a seventh grader being bullied because of her dark skin and because her clothes are hand-sewn by her mother, a very poor seamstress, has a bad feeling inside when she first sees her new English teacher Miss Saunders, who has a large swath of unpigmented skin across her face. Since Maleeka works full time to fit in, the last thing she needs is to be associated with her—which is a danger, since her attracts “strange characters.”  Last year, Maleeka was a good student, a nice kid who flew under the radar—until Caleb, the smartest boy in school began to express interest in her. The girls in her class began to pick on her mercilessly. The bullying escalates until the entire class taunts her. Caleb stops associating with her (which Maleeka finds out later was to protect her, not to insult her), but the torment doesn’t stop. Finally Maleeka takes the initiative to get protection by doing homework for Char, the toughest, meanest girl in her class—who has already flunked seventh grade twice. Char gives her new, stylish clothes, and gives Maleeka a tough-girl confidence. But her attitude begins to rub off on Maleeka, who begins cutting class, getting poor grades and getting in fights. Miss Saunders is undaunted, though, and works patiently with Maleeka, helping her find her voice through her writing, and accept the skin she’s in.

Flake’s debut is stunning in its spare, powerful prose. Maleeka’s voice is realistic, and raw with pain from the death of her father, the depression and grief of her mother, and the constant barrage of insults from her peers. Much of the bullying Maleeka endures is a type of racism, black-on-black racism, which is particularly harsh on women, a topic not often addressed in literature written for the middle school crowd and something that some ethnic groups may be unaware of.  Maleeka makes some incredibly bad choices, but the reader roots for her, just as Miss Saunders does, because she is full of grit, intelligence, and determination.  Her anger at herself for stressing out her mother is particularly poignant. Clearly Maleeka is a very empathic person, despite her tough act.  This book is an amazing character study not only of Maleeka, but of Miss Saunders, a woman so tormented by her disfigurement she feels the need to compensate by being the best dressed, the hardest worker, the most successful person wherever she goes. It’s no wonder this book was awarded the 1999 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent; it is a work of art, and belongs on the shelves of every library serving youth.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Multi-cultural, Problem Novel, Urban Fiction

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 5-9

Read alikes:

Myers’ Autobiography of My Dead Brother

Wolff’s Make Lemonade

Awards:

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent (1999)

Subjects: Bullying, racism, teachers, self-esteem, African-Americans

Characters:

Maleeka Madison: intelligent, troubled protagonist with a talent for writing, bullied mercilessly for her dark skin and unstylish clothing

Miss Saunders: a disfigured, passionate English teacher who patiently works through Maleeka’s tough exterior

Charlese (Char):  a tough, mean girl who lets Maleeka borrow her expensive clothing in exchange for Maleeka doing her homework assignments for her

Caleb: the smartest, most popular guy in school, likes Maleeka great deal 

Tai: a quirky teacher at McClenton Middle School, friend of Miss Saunders

Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore and More

Noyes, Deborah. Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore and More. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. Tr. $25.00 ISBN 978-0-618-82362-8.

What’s it about? This is a short encyclopedia on death and funeral customs, as well as things associated with death, such as karma, Goths, birds, bells, and even—mirrors?

Find out more: This may seem a morbid item to hand to pre-teens and teens, but death is a part of life, and kids in this age are beginning to be aware of this. Some become fascinated with the topic. Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore and More may answer some of the questions they have—and present new and interesting information. While this is a fascinating resource, it isn’t exhaustive, nor is it meant to be. Noyes intentionally presented her research in encyclopedic format, encouraged browsing, which may help readers digest this heavy information. There is a subject indez in the back, and Noyes cross-references her entries. Entries range from the expected (decomposition, funerary rites, morgue) to the intriquing (Ars Moriendi, Cryonics, the Hand of Glory). Many entries present historical and cultural information on funeral rites, such as the Bon festivals of the Japanese, ancient burial customs, and death masks.

In each entry, straight facts, trivia and anecdotes are presented in an engaging, never overly morbid tone. There is occasional commentary from Noyes, which keeps the book from being dry and overly-serious. The entry on Goths, for example, is a bit tongue –in-cheek: Noyes explains that many Goths are drawn to this subculture because they are non-conformists and appreciate the aesthetic. She points out that it “doesn’t hurt. . . to be fascinated with the otherworldly and mystical, to be cynical, tragically romantic, campy, theatrical, and committed to tolerance, individuality, and creativity” (Noyes, 59).  The graphics are illustrative and never distracting, and most are tasteful and age-appropriate. A few images may be questionable for pre-teens and younger teens, such as the photo of the gibbet—complete with an encased mummified corpse. Overall, this is a unique non-fiction book that is perfect for library Halloween displays and for middle-schoolers and teens curious about death.  

Genre: Non-fiction

Reading level: 10^th grade

Interest level: Grades 6-10

Read-alikes: No true read-alikes, but tweens and teens interested in reading more about folklore may enjoy Carol Rose’s Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth

Subjects: Death, History of death, Funeral customs in different cultures, religious beliefs about death

Step Back in Time with Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888

Thayer, Ernest Lawrence. Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888. Illustrated by Christopher Bing. Handprint Books, 2000. Tr. $18.99 ISBN  978-1-929766-00-0

What’s it about? Christopher Bing  used a variety of media, including scratchboard sketches, baseball ephemera, and digital art, all collaged together in this unique retelling of Thayer’s classic poem  Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888.

Find out more: The game is on the line: the home Mudville team is down 4 to 2 in the eighth. The home fans hope their star player Casey can get to bat and change the course of the game. It begins to look better for Mudville when Flynn and Blake make it to second and third. Then Casey steps up to the plate. Will there be joy in Mudville today? Casey lets two pitches go—then swings mightily at the third pitch. Alas, a forlorn Mudville see Casey strike out. Sound familiar? It should; Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 is a classic poem pinned by Ernest Lawrence Thayer.

Christopher Bing presents this poem with unusual multi-media illustrations that take the reader an amazing step back in time, to 1888, when the legendary Casey stepped up to the plate. The antique look of this work was achieved through a combination of digital art, baseball ephemera, and scanned pen and ink on scratchboard.   This brilliant approach juxtaposes text with vintage ads. On the page detailing how a “sickly silence” fell on the crowd, there is a torn-out newspaper advertisement for Cockle’s anti bilious pills. This type of wry humor peppers this unique book, which may make even the youngest readers feel nostalgic for a time no person alive can remember.

Genre: Non-fiction, Poetry, Humor

Reading level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-6

Read-alikes:

Myer’s Jabberwocky

Awards:

Caldecott Honor book, 2001

ALA Notable Children’s Book, 2001

Joey Pigza Loses Control

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control. Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2000. Tr. $16.00 ISBN 0-374-39989-1

What’s it about?

Joey Pigza meets his father, who abandoned him when he was in kindergarten, and stays with him for the summer. Joey is eager to please his father, but has Carter really changed?

Find out more: Joey Pigza, who we met in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, is still wired, but faring much better with his new medication. He and his beloved Chihuahua mix, Pablo, go visit his father for six weeks during the summer. Joey’s dad, Carter, abandoned him several years ago. He struggles with A.D.D., much like Joey, and alcoholism. Carter is bright-eyed with excitement, though, because he has turned his life around. He has a new girlfriend, is coaching a boy’s baseball team, and has a steady job.  Joey, however, notices that his dad talks and talks and talks without allowing response. He drinks one beer, then two (because the first one got lonely), then sneaks the rest of his girlfriend’s beer. This is not a big deal, though; beer is “soda pop for grown-ups.” Joey’s grandmother (the one that raised him, berated him and locked him in a fridge once upon a time) warns Joey that Carter really hasn’t changed.  In fact, Carter goads Joey into throwing out his medication patches, telling him that it is a crutch to take medication.

Joey Pigza Loses Control is bleaker than Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. The alcoholism of Joey’s mother in the first book seemed much more under control than that of Carter.  There are some scarily observant moments from Joey, such as the time that he felt that he was a different Joey with different adults. He feels like taking risks when with this father, whose edgy energy makes Joey feel more wired. There are a lot less laughs in this sequel than in the first book.  Not only is Joey on the edge, but his father is trying to push him over it, insisting that controlling Joey’s ADD is mind over matter. In Joey Pigza Loses Control, Joey is out of control, but the adults in his life help him to stay safe. With the exception of Joey’s grandmother, all the adults had his best interests in mind. In Joey Pigza Loses Control, the real out of control person is Carter, who destabilizes Joey and makes his approval conditional on Joey’s winning pitching record. The chaos Joey experiences is frightening, but more frightening is the knowledge of what his ex-con alcoholic father might be capable of. Recommend this book to fans of gritty realistic fiction. This book is not a stand-alone. Reading the first book is necessary to understand why Joey needs his patches, and the back-story of Joey’s grandmother, mother and father.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Problem Novels

Reading level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-9

Subjects: Attention-Deficit Disorder, Parents, Relationships, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Baseball, Father-son relationships

Awards:

Newbery Honor, 2001

ALA Notable Children’s Book, 2001

Read-alikes:

Crawford’s Carter Finally Gets It

Van Draanen’s Swear to Howdy

Characters:

Joey Pigza—the protagonist, who wants to give his father a second chance

Carter—Joey’s father, who makes a re-appearance in Joey’s life, and claims to have turned his life around

Fran—Joey’s mother, who is nervous about leaving Joey with his father

Leezy—Carter’s new girlfriend

Grandma—Joey’s Grandmother, now ill with emphysema, although she persists to smoke.

Series information:

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998)

What Would Joey Do? (2002)

I am Not Joey Pigza (2007)

Smile!

Telegemeier, Raina. Smile. Graphix, 2010. Tr. $10.99 ISBN 978-0-545-13206-0.

What’s it about?

Smile is a graphic novel memoir that tells the story of Raina, who knocks out her two front teeth when she is eleven and undergoes years of dental surgery, braces, head-gear and an embarrassing retainer with fake teeth attached.    

Find out more:

Eleven-year-old Raina trips and knocks out her two front teeth after a Girl Scout meeting, and her smile is never quite the same, as she undergoes years of dental surgery, braces, head-gear and even an embarrassing retainer that has fake teeth attached.  After the initial treatment, when the dentist is able to pull the impacted tooth back down and put back the one that fell out, Raina’s teeth still don’t look quite right. They are much shorter than her other teeth because the bone has been damaged as well.  Smile shows the impact the seemingly endless dental trauma has on her self-esteem and the teasing  she endures because of it. 

Smile is a great book to hand pre-teens and young teens, particularly girls, because these are awkward years, with lots of physical changes, teasing, and battles with personal appearance.  Raina eventually finds a new group of friends that don’t hassle her about her appearance, and when the novel closes, she seems more comfortable in her own skin.  The colorful, lively artwork has many comic moments, and the tone is never overly serious.  Telegemeier does a good job of keeping things in perspective—after Raina weathers a major earthquake, she comments “I guess in the grand scheme of things losing a couple of teeth isn’t the end of the world.”

Genre: Non-fiction; Humor; Graphic Novel Memoir

Reading level: 3^rd grade

Interest level: Grades 5-9

Read-alikes:

Steinberger’s Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan

Hicks’ War at Ellsmere

Awards:

Appears on Kirkus’ “Best Young Adult Books” list (2010)

On YALSA’s 2011 list “Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens”

Subjects: Dental injuries, Middle school, High School, Fitting in, Appearance, Relationships, Earthquakes, Self-esteem

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Blume, Judy. Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2000 (c.1977). Tr. $18.99  ISBN-10: 0689840896 ISBN-13: 978-0689840890

What’s it about? The year is 1947, and 10-year-old Sally J. Freedman is convinced that Hitler is alive—and in Miami Beach, masquerading as an old Jewish man named Mr. Zavodsky.

Find out more:

Sally is a ten-year-old Jewish girl from New Jersey who spends the school year away from her father in Miami Beach because of concerns about her older brother’s health. Sally has an active imagination, and loves to tell stories to herself, stories where she plays the lead role (usually as an actress or detective hunting Hitler). She misses her father, whom she nicknames “Doey Bird” and hates her new school, which has no bathroom doors, and a mean lunch monitor. Eventually, Sally adjusts and makes new friends. There is a dark shadow looming over Sally, though, and this is the specter of the Holocaust, which took the lives of her cousin Lila and aunt Rose.  Many of her fantasies feature the Holocaust, and when she suddenly realizes that her neighbor Mr. Zavodsky bears a resemblance to Hitler, she begins to believe he actually is Hitler in disguise, hiding in plain sight. 

This is a rich, often humorous novel with underlying dark tones. In many respects, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is an even stronger offering from Blume than her better known Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. While Sally doesn’t go through the same soul searching as Margaret does, this book explores serious topics such as the Holocaust through the eyes of a child touched by loss, though in a removed way.  Sally’s understanding of adults is touchingly naïve. When the sixteen-year-old daughter of her neighbors, who are Orthodox Jews, becomes pregnant, Sally is confused. “Buts she’s not married,” she points out. The book her mother gave her to explain sex presented pregnancy as something that only occurred between married couples. There are plenty of moments when older readers will see more to the situation than Sally does, although younger tweens may also misunderstand things like paying under the table.

Another serious topic, though dealt with in a removed way as well, is segregation. Sally grew up in New Jersey, and doesn’t understand why there are two different drinking fountains. She took a drink from a “colored” drinking fountain and was yanked away by a strange woman. Sally writes to her father, asking if black and white people have different germs or something. He responds by saying that he thinks people have more similarities than differences, and that the North isn’t much better than the South. In the North segregation was just more subtle than in the South, which was very candid about its racism. 

One criticism I have about this book, which is otherwise amazing, is the non-stop overuse of ellipses in conversations. I understand that Blume is trying to convey conversational pauses on the page, but readers already do this mentally, don’t they? It’s a stylistic complaint. . . . but it drives me nuts! . . . . I adore this book . . . so I can overlook this flaw. . .  

Genre: Historical Fiction, Friendship Fiction, Humor

Reading level: 4^th-5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-7

Subjects: Jewish-Americans, Moving, Friendship, Story-telling, Imagination

Read-alikes:

Yee’s So Totally Emily Ebers

Cleary’s Emily’s Runaway Imagination

Characters:

Sally J. Freedman—the imaginative protagonist, a 10-year-old storyteller

Arnold Freedman, aka Doey-Bird—Sally’s beloved dentist father

Louise Freedman—Sally’s anxious and neurotic mother

Douglas Freedman—Sally’s genius, loner brother whose health is fragile

Ma Fanny—Sally’s witty grandmother

Andrea—Sally’s close friend who lives in the same apartment complex; she is in 6^th grade and acts as though she is light years older than Sally, who is just a year younger

Georgia Blue Eyes—Andrea’s crush

Peter Hornstein—Teases Sally mercilessly, but Sally eventually realizes she likes him

Mr Zavodsky—Sally thinks he is not a nice, older Jewish man, but Adolf Hitler in disguise

So Totally Emily Ebers

Yee, Lisa. So Totally Emily Ebers. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. Tr. $16.99 ISBN 978-0-439-83847-4

What’s it about?

Emily Ebers has just moved to Rancho Rosetta because of her parent’s divorce and meets a girl named Millicent Min on her volleyball team and a handsome basketball player named Stanford Wong.  These three lives intersect in hilarious and unexpected ways.  

Find out more:

Emily Ebers’ parents recently divorced, and now Emily’s mom has moved her all the way to Rancho Rosetta California. Emily begins writing letters to her father, who is on tour with his band, the Talky Boys, updating him on her new life without him. She is having an interesting summer, including joining a volleyball team and making a new friend, meeting a cute boy that she develops a crush on, and seeing her controlled mom try on a new identity as a free-spirited hippie.  When Emily discovers that many people in her life are not what they appear to be, she is disillusioned. She learns to weather the tough times and to repair the relationships that matter.

This is largely a humorous tale, although there are plenty of more serious moments that occur when Emily realizes some people, including her father, are not being honest with her.  Emily’s disillusionment with her father, Millicent, and her frenemies is something a lot of tweens can relate to. Although this is painful for Emily, she comes out of these struggles stronger. She learns to discern between quality people and people that don’t genuinely care about her. Although she is initially flattered by the attention Julie, the queen bee in volleyball, is giving her, she realizes she is being used and ridiculed and stands up for herself. Emily is such a good-natured character that her anger (though justified!) is surprising. This book can be read as a stand-alone, although readers of Millicent Min, Girl Genius and/or Stanford Wong Flunks Out will gobble up this book, and readers who have started off with So Totally Emily Ebers will be eager to read about these events from the perspectives of Millicent and Stanford.  

Genre: Contemporary Realistic fiction, Humor, Friendship Fiction

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 5-7

Awards: Louisiana Young Reader’s Choice Awards Nominee, 2010

Read-alikes:

Danziger & Martin’s P.S. Longer Letter Later

Blume’s Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Cabot’s Ally Finkle’s Rules for Girl series

Subject: Friendship, family relationships, divorce, popularity

Characters:

Emily: Effervescent protagonist, struggling to accept her parent’s divorce and adjusting to her new life in Rancho Rosetta, CA

Millicent: Emily’ new best friend, a funny girl being tutored by the brilliant Stanford Wong (or is she?)

Stanford: A handsome basketball player, the object of Emily’s affections, Millicent’s tutor (or is he?)

Alice Ebers: Emily’s mother, a journalist, hit hard by the divorce

Julie: A mean girl clique leader who wants to make-over Emily in her image 

David Ebers: Emily’s absentee father, on tour with the Talky Boys (or is he?)

Series information:

Millicent Min, Girl Genius

Stanford Wong Flunks Out

The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr

Debon, Nicolas. The Strongest Man in the World, Louis Cyr. Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2007. Tr. $18.95, ISBN 978-0-88899-731-9.

           What’s it about?

This short, unique biography in a graphic novel format tells the story of little-known Quebecois strongman Louis Cyr through the eyes of his young daughter, Emiliana.

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 The Strongest Man in the World, Louis Cyr by French author and artist Nicolas Debon is a well-crafted biography about a little-known Canadian. Readers today may not be familiar with the Louis Cyr, the Quebecois weight lifter who died a century ago. This graphic-novel style biography invites them to learn about this humble man and his amazing feats of strength. The book opens in November, 1900 with a warning from a doctor: if Louis does not retire from weightlifting, he may not live to see 1901. Emiliana, his daughter, reminisces with him about his career, beginning with his childhood memories of his grandfather, also a man of considerable strength.  As Louis tells of his feats of strength and the founding of his own circus, Emiliana asks more questions that unfold the story.

The expressive panels have a retro feel, which is enhanced by the simple palette of muted browns, reds, grays and blues. The endpapers are illustrated with sideshow performers who appeared in the Louis Cyr circus, including contortionists and a man who bent nails and coins with his teeth. The author’s afterward notes the dark side and eventual decline of circus sideshows. There are reproduced archival photos of Louis Cyr and his family and a poster from 1898, complete with Cyr’s $25,000 challenge to competitors worldwide.  Amazingly, Debon notes, some of Cyr’s records still hold today, despite the large improvements in training and nutrition in this sport.  This is a story with heart; Louis is an admirable man and father because he refused to cheat, winning well-deserved worldwide acclaim in an era where tricks and exaggeration were commonplace-- even expected-- for weightlifters. Louis retires with grace, noting to his daughter that “the strongest of all is the man who knows how to leave what he has loved with no regret.” Tweens will enjoy the non-traditional format of this little-known historical figure. Circuses and feats of strength are curious topics, especially to children that gobble up the Guinness World Book of Records.  This is an unassuming and unique gem of a book that more people need to know about.    

Genre label: Nonfiction (biography in graphic novel format)

Subjects/themes: Weight-lifting, History, Biography, Strongmen, French Canadians, Circuses, Sideshows, Fathers

Reading level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-6

Awards:

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, Nonfiction, 2007 

Best Friends and Drama Queens (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #3)

Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens. Scholastic, 2009. Tr. $15.99 ISBN 978-0-545-04043-3.

What’s it about?
When Allie comes back to school after winter break, she discovers she is no longer the new girl--there is a new girl Cheyenne, from Canada, who turns fourth grade into a comical boy/girl drama!  

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Not so long ago, Allie Finkle was the new girl at Pine Heights Elementary. Now a girl all the way from Canada is the new kid in town. Allie wants to make her feel welcome, but feels that Mrs. Hunter is asking a bit too much of her when she asks Allie to switch her seat to make room for the new girl. She plans to seat the new girl, Cheyenne, next to Allie’s friend Erica and place Allie in the back with Rosemary (who previously bullied Allie, but then became friends) and the rowdiest boys in the class.  Allie wants to please her favorite teacher, so she says yes. Allie and her friends are nice kids, so when they see Cheyenne all alone at recess, they invite her to play their favorite game. Cheyenne rudely replies that since they are in fourth grade, they are too old to play “babyish” games of pretend. Instead, she introduces the kissing game to the fourth grade. Then she insists that all the fourth graders pair up and start “going together.” Allie isn’t ready for this, but nor is she is ready to be the laughingstock of the fourth grade, with her new nickname “Big Baby Finkle.”

In the third book of the Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series, Allie is confronted with peer pressure and different type of bullying from what she faced in The New Girl. Her new classmate is pushing herself and her classmates into growing up. Kissing and going out are not usually high on the list of a fourth grader’s priorities, but they are high on Cheyenne’s list. She influences her peers to discard everything she thinks is “babyish,” and pushes them to do things most of them are not ready for, and don’t yet understand. Young tweens are confronted by this constantly, by the media and their peers, and it is refreshing to see that Allie remains a hold out. This isn’t easy for her to do, though. She is ridiculed, especially when she ends up being the only girl besides Rosemary to not “go out” with a boy, and ends up so upset that she shuts herself in a closet and bawls.  Allie is not a mindless conformist, but her feelings are as fragile as any other child’s. Hand this book to younger tween girls, especially those navigating the perilous waters of friendship, cliques, bullying and the pressure to grow up too soon.    

Series information:
#1 Moving Day
#2 The New Girl
#3 Best Friends and Drama Queens
#4 Stage Fright
#5 Glitter Girls & the Great Fake Out
#6 Blast from the Past

Read alikes:
Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series

Paula Danizger’s
Judy Blume’s Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and the Fudge series

For a slightly older audience: Judy Blume’s Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

For a slightly younger audience: Pennypacker’s Clementine series and Park’s Junie B. Jones series

Reading level: 5th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-5

Genre: Humor, Friendship Fiction, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Subjects: Friendship, cliques, maturity, popularity, rules

Characters:

Allie Finkle—the nine-year-old protagonist with a penchant for rules

Caroline—Allie’s best friend—the smartest girl in fourth grade

Sophie—Allie’s best friend—pretty and in love with “Prince Peter” a.k.a Peter Jacobs

Erica—Allie’s best friend and next-door neighbor—a spirited gymnast

Jay—Allie’s uncle, who is studying poetry in college

Kevin—Allie’s youngest brother, obsessed with pirates

Mark—Allie’s younger brother, obsessed with dirt bikes, bugs and sports

Mrs. Hunter—Allie’s teacher

Rosemary—Allie’s tough classmate, and foe-turned-friend of Allie  

Cheyenne—a boy-obsessed drama queen, who has little tolerance for girls who act like “babies”

The New Girl (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #2)

Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: The New Girl. Scholastic, 2008. Tr. $15.99 ISBN 978-0-545-04049-5.

What’s it about?

Being the new girl is not easy, as Allie Finkle, the new girl at Pine Heights Elementary, can attest.  While she makes new friends, one scary enemy, the biggest, toughest girl in the fourth grade, Rosemary Dawkins, makes life difficult for her.  

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Allie Finkle is the new girl at Pine Heights Elementary, and while she loves her new teacher, Mrs. Hunter, and her new friends, Caroline, Erica and Sophie, who love to play the same games she enjoys, a bully, a big, tough girl named Rosemary Dawkins, teases her and threatens to beat her up. While Allie dodges Rosemary, and seeks out advice on how to deal with her from her friends and the adults in her life, she and her family are still adjusting to their new home. When Grandma comes to visit from out of town and sees that the family hasn’t received their stove yet, she orders them another one—but not the one Allie’s parents want. Feeling unappreciated, she storms out and goes to Allie’s Uncle Jay. Fortunately, Grandma’s ruffled feathers get smoothed out, and Allie gets exciting news—she finally gets to take home her new, prematurely born kitten Mewsette.  Allie’s mind is on taking care of Mewsie, so she lets her guard down regarding Rosemary. Following the advice of the janitor Mr. Elkhart, she begins to look at Rosemary in a new light.

The New Girl is a better book that the first Allie Finkle book Moving Day. The characters are more complex, and Allie is portrayed as a more thoughtful and mature kids than she was in the first book. The relationship between Allie’s grandmother and parents is interesting because it is a tense, complex relationship. The grandmother seems to have plenty of money and not a lot of patience. She expresses her frequent displeasure in passive-aggressive jibes. For instance, she tells Allie’s mother, “Don’t you look shapely, Elizabeth,” and when she hears Jay will meet them later, at dinner, she says, “Undergraduate students who are in their sixth year of taking poetry classes always have very important work to do, indeed.” She has a softer side, however, helping Allie care for her new kitten. By the end of the story, Rosemary turns out to be more complex than expected as well. The New Girl is a good exploration of friendship, bullying, and family relationships. This is a great book to hand to younger tween girls.  Allie is easy to relate to for this age group, because she is not a little girl, and still a long way from her teen years. Developmentally, she is beginning to form her own identity separate from her parents. She is actually mortified when her parents and grandmother come to her spelling bee, but she is still young enough to enjoy using her imagination in a make-believe battle between Queens and an evil warlord.

Genre: Humor, Friendship Fiction, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Reading level: 5th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-5

Read alikes:

Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series

Paula Danizger’s Amber Brown series
Judy Blume’s Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and the Fudge series

Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking

For a slightly older audience: Judy Blume’s Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

For a slightly younger audience: Pennypacker’s Clementine series and Park’s Junie B. Jones series

Subjects: Friendship, Rules, Family, Grandmothers, Bullies, Kittens

Series information:
#1 Moving Day
#2 The New Girl
#3 Best Friends and Drama Queens
#4 Stage Fright
#5 Glitter Girls & the Great Fake Out
#6 Blast from the Past

Characters:

Allie Finkle—the nine-year-old protagonist with a penchant for rules

Caroline—A new friends of Allie’s—the smartest girl in fourth grade

Sophie—A new friend of Allie’s—pretty and in love with “Prince Peter”

Erica—Allie’s friend and next-door neighbor—a spirited gymnast

Jay—Allie’s uncle, who is studying poetry in college

Kevin—Allie’s youngest brother, obsessed with pirates

Mark—Allie’s younger brother, obsessed with dirt bikes, bugs and sports

Mrs. Hunter—Allie’s new teacher

Rosemary—Allie’s classmate—a bully who taunts Allie and threatens to beat her up