Al Capone Shines My Shoes (Dial, 2009) In this sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts, Choldenko takes the protagonist, Moose Flannagan, into closer contact with Alcatraz’s most infamous prisoner, Al Capone. Although this is a work of fiction, the book is based on research about the prison and interviews with adults who lived on… Continue reading Two Books by Gennifer Choldenko
If you want to teach your child or student what the word "empathy" means, then read Mockingbird together. The author, Kathryn Erskine, takes you inside the heart, mind and body of 10-year-old Caitlin who has Asperger's syndrome. The recent recipient of the 2010 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, this book well-deserves the award. Caitlin's brother Devon was… Continue reading Mockingbird
Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli (Random House Books, 2009) and The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (Viking, 2006 ) are set in times and locations which are not normally depicted in juvenile historical fiction; and both can be used as classroom supplements in the 5th-9th grades. Teachers can integrate literature with social studies… Continue reading Historical Fiction: Covering New Territory
What better way to hook your readers than have your main character almost drown as she rescues an endangered Key deer and is fished out by a cute guy--all in the first 10 pages of your book? Those are the ingredients that author Bonnie Doerr uses to keep 5th-8th grade readers from putting down this… Continue reading Island Sting
Full Cast Audio does a nice job of providing voices for this humorous yet serious story of a post WWII ex-GI turned ventriloquist. Freddie T. Birch is a ventriloquist without an act-- until he is possessed by a dybbuk, a Jewish ghost, with an agenda of his own. Even if you don’t listen to this… Continue reading The Entertainer and the Dybbuk
1 We both wake up early and look forward to writing. 2.We both eat our lunch standing up.3.We both are excited about finding and using primary sources when we’re researching.4.We both like historical fiction.These are my conclusions after listening to an interview with her that accompanies her book, Witness. Although several of Hesse’s award–winning books… Continue reading Ways That I am Like Karen Hesse (a very short list):
A stray cat. An orphaned pre-teen girl. A heart surgeon turned metal sculptor. A young boy rejected by his domineering father. A wild homeless boy and his albino deer. Mix these all together and what do you have? If you're author/illustrator Clay Carmichael, then you have the beautiful 2010 ALA Notable book, Wild Things. Some… Continue reading Wild Things
Normally I wouldn't recommend ending a story with the words, "To be continued." But when the story weaver is Anthony Horowiz then I throw my hands up in the air. I can only hope that my library has the 4th book of the series on CD, or I'm in trouble. I am generally not a… Continue reading The Gatekeepers
A cynical reader might say that Jerry Spinelli's latest book is simply another coming of age book or a "you-don't-appreciate-your-loved-ones-until-they're-almost-gone" book—but it's a lot more than that. It is a skillful portrayal of how an adolescent can become so obsessed with his own thoughts, dreams, and plans that he can miss what is going on… Continue reading Smiles to Go