Archive for June, 2012

Space: The Final Frontier

June 28, 2012 · Filed under High School, Middle School (6-8), Nonfiction, Science · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Milky Way Galaxy, photo courtesy of Curiosity.com

In my opinion, there is nothing more wondrous than looking up at the night sky, seeing the vast amount of stars sprinkled upon the blackness, like a shaker of salt spilled on black silk.  The numbers of the cosmos are stunning as well.  Think about this: There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all of Earth’s beaches combined.  Scientists’ best estimates show that there are at least 30 sextillion stars in the observable universe, and probably many more.  If you are writing that number out, that’s 30 followed by 21 zeroes!

One of my favorite astronomical activities is to stay up late for the Perseid meteor shower, which occurs yearly in August.  Mark your calendar for August 12th and 13th this year for the Perseid peak, but if you don’t want to stay up late for this, check out some of these great books about the cosmos, which you can do at any time!

Cosmos Close-Up by Giles Sparrow. 9781554078912. 2011. Gr 9-Adult.

This book features stunning, high-resolution images taken from various sources, including the Hubble Space Telescope.  The concept here is to show an astronomical body in its entirety, then selecting a portion of it to “zoom in” on and highlight some important details.  For example, a large photograph of Jupiter is shown; then the adjacent page shows Jupiter’s Great Red Spot in detail.  The pictures are accompanied by facts and statistics.  Clearly, the photos are the draw here, and this book is a perfect one for students to flip through and browse the sections they find interesting.  Cosmos Close-Up is a beautiful book and a great way to build appreciation of the universe.

Space Probes: 50 Years of Exploration from Luna 1 to New Horizons by Phillippe Séguéla. 9781554079445. 2011. Gr 9-Adult.

Space Probes chronicles space exploration starting with Luna 1 (which explored the moon) in 1959 and ends with New Horizons (which will be exploring Pluto) in 2015. The visual aspects of this book, much like Cosmos Close-Up, are exceptional.  Photos and illustrations show different probes and planets in vivid detail, and the blueprint-style diagrams will appeal to any future engineers or technically-minded people.   Commentary on each of the missions is provided, and interspersed throughout the book are features on scientists such as Galileo, Arthur C. Clarke, and Carl Sagan.  This is another book that is best flipped through and browsed, and while it is a fairly technical book, there is something for everyone here, and overall is a fascinating look at humanity’s history exploring the universe.

Really, Really Big Questions About Space and Time by Mark Brake (ill. Nishant Choksi). 9780753467473. 2012. Gr 4-7.

In many ways this title is the opposite of the previous two I have chosen.  First, Really, Really Big Questions About Space and Time is illustrated in a cartoonish, approachable style.  Secondly, there is no technical, scientific jargon here…the appeal of this book is that it boils down some of the universe’s biggest questions into easy-to-understand answers.  This book is targeted for upper elementary/lower middle school students, but I can see this being a great resource for older readers as well, as it reinforces previous learning, and is helpful in explaining things in a very straightforward way.  Plus, it is just good fun…here are some sample questions posed:

  • Why is the night sky so dark?
  • Who owns space?
  • Is space smelly?
  • What is at the center of the Milky Way?

Anytime you can mix “fun” with “informative”, it’s a good thing!

Further reading:  While the following titles are primarily aimed toward adults, they are two of my favorites, and I believe they have crossover appeal for students that have a more advanced interest in physics and astronomy.

Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End by Phil Plait. 9780670019977. 2008. Gr 11-Adult.

The subtitle for this book is, “These are the ways the world will end.”  This provides the somewhat morbid, but alluring, premise of the book.  It outlines all of the ways that the universe can bring catastrophe to Earth.  From meteor strikes to supernovae to alien attack, this is a fun, science-based look at the possibility of these things happening.  While the title is attention-grabbing and sensational, Plait gives (mostly) reassuring odds for each scenario, which should help readers not lose too much sleep!

Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. 9780393062243. 2007. Gr 11-Adult.

While the title makes it sound similar to Death from the Skies, it is actually a collection of space-themed essays that is very broad-ranging.  Neil DeGrasse Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, and makes regular appearances on PBS and other television channels.  He has a way of making sense of the universe in an easy, witty way that is understandable to all.  A sampling of essays in this collection deal with star formation, the possibility of alien life forms, and as the title suggests, what would happen if you got sucked into a black hole.  This and much more is packed into this fascinating collection.

Blogger: Ryan H.

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Teaching Math with Picture Books

June 25, 2012 · Filed under Nonfiction, Picture Books, Primary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Mackin Picks, Math · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve always been a word person rather than a number person.  Though I was a pretty good math student, it was my hardest subject—and I still sometimes have to think twice (or more) when using math.  For example, I have my bedroom clock set so that when the alarm goes off at 7:00, it is really 6:45—then I can hit the snooze twice before I have to get up.  Well, last week we had some bad weather—trees down, power out.  When the electricity came back on, I set my bedroom clock for 15 minutes before, instead of after, the real time—and then spent a couple days wondering why I was 30 minutes late to everything.

Here are some clever and fun picture books to use in your math classrooms.

COUNTING:

One Foot, Two Feet by Peter Maloney & Felicia Zekauskas. 9780399254468. 2011. Gr PS-1.

Children will not only practice counting from one to ten, but will also learn all about irregular plurals—one foot, two feet; one mouse, three mice. The lower left corner of the spread shows how far they have counted so far, and the current number is written somewhere on the right-hand page.  This book is a fun way to learn about “exception-al” nouns!

More by I.C. Springman (ill. Brian Lies). 9780547610832. 2012. Gr PS-2.

This is really not a counting book, but it tells a great story using only terms about unspecific amounts.   Sad Magpie has nothing at all, until a friendly mouse offers him a marble.  With the marble in his nest, Magpie is happier:  he has something!  But that’s not enough.  Soon his stash goes from several to lots to plenty…to a bit much.  Finally, his mouse friends tell him that he has way too much and more than enough!  Will Magpie ever see that less is more?  With one exception, each lovely spread in this picture book includes 1-4 words… plenty to tell this story of a lesson learned.

More books about counting:

Basher 123 by Simon Basher. 9780753467725. 2012. PS-1.

How Many Jelly Beans? by Andrea Menotti (ill. Yancey Labat). 9781452102061. 2012. Gr K-2.

Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin, Jr. (ill. Lois Ehlert). 9781442433854. 2011. Gr PS-1.

COMPUTATION:

1+1=5 : And Other Unlikely Additions by David LaRochelle. 9781402759956. 2010. Gr K-2.

This unique math picture book—one of my favorites—is creative and asks kids to think outside the box.  The first right-hand page asks “1+1=3?” Turn the page to find out that “1 unicorn + 1 goat = 3 horns!”  You’ll find out that 1+1 can be anything from zero to hundreds.  I also like the fact that we get clues on the question page—for “1+1=14?” we see an eight-legged spider and a six-legged ant hanging around the garden.

This Plus That : Life’s Little Equations by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (ill. Jen Corace). 9780061726552. 2011. Gr K-2.

The equations in Rosenthal’s book go beyond numbers.  What is the answer to “barefoot + screen door + popsicles?”  Summer!  As with the previous book, you can have kids come up with their own equations…and watch their creativity bloom.

More books about computation:

Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie : Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems by J. Patrick Lewis (ill. Michael Slack). 9780547513386. 2012. Gr 1-4.

Help Me Learn Addition by Jean Marzollo (phot. Chad Phillips). 9780823423989. 2012. Gr K-3.

Mystery Math : A First Book of Algebra by David A. Adler (ill. Edward Miller). 9780823422890. 2011. Gr 3-6.

MEASUREMENT and TIME:

Just a Second : A Different Way to Look at Time by Steve Jenkins. 9780618708963. 2011. Gr 1-4.

Teaching time with a twist, Just a Second can be used in both math and science classes. Seconds are over quickly, but a lot can happen in that amount of time. While you can blink your eyes only seven times in one second, a hummingbird can beat its wings 50 times; a fast human can run 39 feet, while a peregrine falcon can dive 300 feet.  Jenkins gives similar treatment to time periods from minutes and hours to years, as well as “Very quick” and “Very long.” He also provides four timelines: the universe, earth’s human population from 1750-2050, the life spans of plants and animals, and finally, the history of time and timekeeping.  While this is for upper elementary students, it would be great for those who like to use picture books to introduce units to their older students.

More books about measurement and time:

Small, Medium, Large : A Book about Relative Sizes by Emily Jenkins (ill. Tomek Bogacki). 9781595722782. 2011. Gr PS-1.

Monday Is One Day by Arthur Levine (ill. Julian Hector). 9780439789240. 2011. Gr PS-1.

GEOMETRY:

Seeing Symmetry by Loreen Leedy. 9780823423606. 2012. Gr 2-5.

The concept of symmetry is taught along with shapes, and we can see that faces are symmetrical, but Leedy’s book goes way beyond that.  She shows how some letters have either vertical or horizontal symmetry—or both (A or B or O), as do many words (MOM or COOKIE).  Rotational symmetry spins around—think of a four-bladed pinwheel which has four matches as it rotates in a circle.  Animals and other objects need symmetry to move.  Kids are encouraged to discover symmetry in art, holiday symbols, buildings, and many other places.

More books about geometry:

Area (My Path to Math series) by Marsha Arvoy. 9780778767800. Gr K-2.

Blogger:  Tracey L.

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Historical Fiction for Middle and High School

June 21, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Historical, Middle School (6-8), Novels · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

As most of you know by now, I’m a big fan of historical fiction.  I love the way you can transport yourself to another time and place in history and get a feel for what it would be like to live in that era.  Here are some great titles that have come out over the past year for middle and high school.

Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine.  January, 2012.  9780399256448.  Gr. 5-8.

Twelve-year-old Marlee Nisbett is painfully shy; afraid to even speak to others besides her family. Then she meets the new girl Liz. Liz teaches her to be confident and to stand up to bullies, even the resident mean girl Sally. But one day, Liz is gone and it’s rumored that she was African-American passing for white. The governor has forbidden interracial schools, and Marlee must put her new courage to the test as she maintains a secret friendship with Liz and joins an anti-segregationist organization. Readers will experience the impact of school segregation and the strong bonds of friendship from this powerful story.

A Month of Sundays by Ruth White.  October, 2011.  9780374399122.  Gr. 6-8.

Fourteen-year-old Garnet’s mother goes to Florida to look for a job, leaving Garnet with an Aunt she’s never met. While angry at her mother’s abandonment, Garnet comes to like living with her Aunt and her family in a large house full of the latest technology, including a television. Garnet learns that Aunt June has terminal cancer and agrees to accompany her to a new church each Sunday, where she meets the handsome son of an evangelical preacher. As Garnet settles into this new life, family secrets are reveled and a shocking ending will leave her reeling and questioning everything she’s learned about God.

My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve.  February, 2012.  9780803733602.  Gr. 7-10.

Even though Ziska and her family have been Protestant for two generations, they are still persecuted for having Jewish blood in their ancestry. When Ziska’s father is imprisoned, Ziska’s mother decides to place Ziska on the kindertransport, a train that took Jewish children secretly to England where they were adopted by English families. As Ziska arrives in England and is placed with a family, her named is changed to Frances, and she begins a new life with a new family. As she spends the next seven years in England, she is faced with trials, war, and the decision of whether to stay with her new family, or return to her old one.

My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson.  October, 2011.  9780761459804.  Gr. 7-10.

Set in the 1960′s, this novel looks at a Catholic Indian boarding school in Alaska. Sacred Heart School includes children who are Eskimo, Native American, and white, and each group is prejudice against the others. Luke knows he will not be able to use his real name at his new school, his Eskimo name is too hard to pronounce, and he’s forbidden to speak his native language. As he spends his next four years at Sacred Heart, Luke and the other students learn to look past their differences and work together. Based on true stories, Edwardson takes a new look at boarding schools in our country’s history.

We have done several other posts focusing on historical fiction.  So if you want even more titles than these, go to the categories section on the side bar and select historical under fiction.

Lindsey L.

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Book Review: See You at Harry’s

June 18, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, Intermediate (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Novels, Realistic, Reviews · Tagged , , , , ,

See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles.  May 2012. 9780763654078. Gr 5-8. – Reviewed from ARC

Fern’s family is a book family.  Each of her siblings are named for book characters.  Her older brother Holden is named for the main character in her mom’s favorite book, and Fern herself was named for the girl from Charlotte’s Web because, as her mom says, “From the moment you were born, I could tell you had a special soul.  I knew you’d be a good friend. A hero.”  Fern names her younger brother Charlie after her favorite book at the time, which was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,  but she finds her Charlie is nothing like the Charlie from the book, who was sweet and quiet.  Her Charlie is three years old, and while he has sweet moments, he is a handful.

Fern’s family is also a restaurant family.  That doesn’t sound so bad, but when Fern’s dad includes the family in the commercial for the restaurant with little Charlie saying “See you at Harry’s” in his sweetest toddler voice just before Fern starts middle school, the opportunities for embarrassment are everywhere.

It turns out that the commercial is the the least of Fern’s concerns as she starts middle school.  Now that she rides the same bus as her brother Holden, she has to watch him be bullied by kids on the bus while no one does anything about it. Holden doesn’t want her to tell their parents about the bullying or the reason he is being bullied—he hasn’t come out as gay to anyone yet and wants to do it when he is ready—but Fern can’t bear to watch her brother be treated unfairly without doing anything.

Then a family tragedy changes everything, and everyone deals with it differently.  Fern isn’t sure where to turn with her feelings of guilt and sadness when it seems like her family is falling apart.  In the end, they find that they can’t change what happened, but they still have each other.

This book made me cry and hug my daughter tightly.  I hope young readers will be just as moved to appreciate what they have and stand up for those they love no matter what.

Blogger: Mindy R.

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My Biblio-Biography

June 14, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, Graphic Novel, High School, Horror, Humor, Math, Middle School (6-8), Mystery, Nonfiction, Sports · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As the “new kid on the blog”, I would just like to say I’m excited to contribute and highlight some of the great titles that are out there.   You can check out my bio here, but I thought I would make my first post as an official Books in Bloom blogger  a mashup; titles that correspond to some of my interests.  So, here is my biblio-biography, so to speak!

Confession:  I am an unabashed Word Nerd.  I am the guy that not only gets excited for the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, but tunes in to the preliminary rounds with the same fervor.  I do the New York Times Sunday Crossword…in pen!  I try not to be too insufferable, but occasionally like to work words like “perspicacity” into conversation.  Below are a couple of titles that budding logophiliacs will enjoy.

The Puzzler’s Mansion by Eric Berlin. 9780399256974. 2012. Gr 4-7.

This is the third installment of The Puzzling World of Winston Breen series, which features cleverly-written mysteries with puzzles and brainteasers interspersed throughout the story.  In this installment, Winston, along with his friends, is invited to a famous pianist’s mansion for a weekend of puzzling.  However, there is a thief in their midst, and Winston has to use all of his puzzle-solving skills to solve the mystery.

Word Nerd  by Susin Nielsen. 9780887768750. 2008. Gr 5-8.

Ambrose is your stereotypical nerd.  He wears odd, mismatched clothes, is socially inept, and is a whiz at Scrabble. None of this endears him to the school bullies, but his character is very endearing in this book about understanding, second chances, and acceptance.  It is a word nerd’s paradise, with its beginning-of-chapter anagrams and Scrabble commentary.

I counterbalance my nerdiness with a healthy passion for sports.  I am a big fan of college athletics, and follow, down to the minutiae, the athletics of my alma mater, Iowa State University.  You may see future posts from me about various sports, but for the purposes of this post I will highlight a sport that is in full swing (pun intended)…baseball!  As Yogi Berra once so wisely said, “Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the other half is physical.”  Here are some baseball titles I have recently enjoyed:

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick. 9780545320696. 2012. Gr 7-10.

This book’s baseball-themed title is somewhat misleading.  The book actually features equal parts baseball, photography, and aging.  Sonnenblick weaves these into a nice story about friendship and family, gracefully broaching subjects such as early love and Alzheimer’s disease.  Sonnenblick obviously did his research, as the storyline on photography is pitch-perfect.  I was impressed at how he describes photography techniques and sensitively, but lightly, handles some heavy topics.

Ballparking: Practical Math for Impractical Sports Questions by Aaron Santos. 9780762443451. 2012. Gr 10-Adult.

This great nonfiction title has a wonderful premise; it attempts to answer some interesting and burning sports questions with mathematics.  It covers all major sports, but some of the baseball questions are:

  • How hard would you have to hit a baseball to hit the Goodyear Blimp?
  • How many (Major League Baseball) games would a kid have to go to before catching a home run?
  • How much farther would a baseball travel in a space stadium than in an Earth stadium?

Questions are answered with a combination of math, physics, and logic, and while most of the math was above my head, I still enjoyed reading the conclusions to these funny and imaginative questions. This book is the perfect confluence of math and sports.

Finally, the interest that takes up the bulk of my time is family.  My two boys are always in the forefront of my mind, and I enjoy seeing what they are reading and recommending great new titles to them.  Connor likes to read challenging material and currently likes anything dystopic/post-apocalyptic.  Lucas has a great sense of humor and likes books that make him laugh.  They have each picked a recent favorite book for me to highlight here:

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. 9781442402324. 2010. Gr 8-12.

This is one of Connor’s all-time favorites.  Set in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies run rampant and 15-year olds need to choose a job or have their rations reduced by half, Benny Imura becomes a zombie killer.  Connor writes, “Rot and Ruin was totally awesome, no other way to explain it!  The best part is when Benny goes out with Tom for his first zombie job.  Benny thought the job to be boring, but he learned a lot by accepting the job. “Zoms” aren’t the meanest thing out there…people are.”

Stickman Odyssey by Christopher Ford. 9780399254260. 2011. Gr 6-9.

Lucas enjoys books with comic-style illustrations, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and My Life as a Book.  He also recently loved Mary Pope Osborn’s adaptation of The Odyssey.  So, a logical choice for him was Christopher Ford’s Stickman Odyssey, which tells a Greek mythological tale in graphic novel form.  It provided Lucas many laughs, and he has re-read it multiple times.

So, there you have it!  I’m thrilled at the opportunity to share great books with you, and I hope you enjoy reading about the titles I have selected.

Ryan H.

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Books in Bloom’s Newest Blogger!

June 13, 2012 · Filed under Uncategorized

Hi folks,

We here at Books in Bloom are very excited to announce that we will have a new blogger!

Ryan H. will be joining us with his first official post tomorrow!  He’s previously posted as a guest, but now he’s officially a regular (as you can see by the picture!).

Come back tomorrow and check out his post about the books that best describe him!

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Books with covers that BOYS will actually pick up…

June 11, 2012 · Filed under Dystopia, Fantasy, Fiction, High School, Historical, Middle School (6-8), Mystery, Novels, Realistic, Science Fiction · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I think we’ve all noticed the YA trend with beautiful girls on the cover, usually in elaborate gowns with long flowing hair.  Now I love these books as much as the next person, but it got me thinking…what about boy readers?  The middle and high school boys I know would never walk around school with books that have those type of covers.  Like these for example…

The tragic thing is that these books are told from alternating perspectives from both a female and male character.  But a boy reader would never guess that by the cover.  So I’ve taken it upon myself to search out great books that also have covers that boys won’t have to hide.

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons.  January 2012.  9780765329585.  Gr. 9-12.  Set in a dystopian future, the Bill of Rights are a thing of the past replaced by the Moral Statutes and the Church of America.  Ember was born out of wedlock and therefore considered a non-citizen.  She’s kept a low profile her whole life, until her mother is arrested by the one boy Ember cares about.

BZRK by Michael Grant.  February 2012.  9781606843123.  Gr. 9-Adult.  Grant steps away from his Gone series to launch this sci-fi spy series.  Set in the near future, BZRK is about control over the human mind.  Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corp. wants to create their own utopia by removing free will with the use of nanobot technology.  Only the BZRK group consisting of teens can stop them and their evil plans.  Like in his Gone series, Grant doesn’t shy away from violence and moral dilemmas in this new action-packed series.  Read Ryan’s full review here.

Final Four by Paul Volponi.  March 2012.  9780670012640.  Gr. 9-12.  Told through flashbacks, journal entries, newspaper accounts and TV interviews, this story focuses on four basketball players facing off in the Final Four of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  Volponi looks behind the scenes at the realistic and gritty world of college basketball  Put this book in the hands of any basketball fan.

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta.  March 2012.  9780763647599.  Gr. 9-12.  Set three years after Finnikin of the Rock this story focuses on Froi.  Froi and the other exiles are recovering from the terrible curse placed on Lumatere, when disturbing news of another mysterious curse comes from the kingdom of Charyn, Lumatere’s enemy.  Froi is sent to investigate, and what he finds will change his life forever.  This is personally one of my favorite books of 2012 so far and should be given to any fantasy lover.

Legend by Marie Lu.  November 2011.  9780399256752.  Gr. 8-12.  In my opinion, this is the best dystopian novel to come out since The Hunger Games.  You have the over-controlling government, a rebel who threatens the system, and a girl who discovers the truth about the society in which she lives.  To read more about this title, check out my full review.  Give this to any fans of The Hunger Games and dystopian thrillers.

No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz.  May 2012.  9780803738737.  Gr. 7-12.  Lorentz debuts with a tension-packed thriller about a biohazard released in a mall.  Told from four teen’s perspectives, readers witness the breakdown of society when people are trapped in a small space in an emergency situation.

Ripper by Stephan Petrucha.  March 2012.  9780399255243.  Gr. 7-12.  Set in New York in 1895, Carver Young, an orphan and aspiring detective, is trying to figure out the identity of his father.  Apprenticed to an ex-Pinkerton agent and with the use of steampunk-like gadgets, Carver uncovers his father’s identity, much to his horror.  To read more about this book, check out my full review.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.  June 2012.  9780805094596.  Gr. 8-12.  In her thrilling debut, Bardugo uses Russian and Slavic myth and culture to create a new world.  Alina Starkov is a cartographer’s assistant in the army of the Ravka nation when a mission goes terribly wrong.  To save her best friend, Alina discovers she has the power to summon light, a rare ability.  Quickly taken in by the magical elite Grisha, Alina tries to navigate her way through the dangerous politics of the order…and discovers she may be more important than she ever realized.

Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.  October 2011.  9780545224901.  Gr. 9-12.  This Printz Honor winner features a thrilling horse race with monstrous horses and a boy and a girl who have everything to lose.  Sean and Kate (Puck) risk everything when they enter this year’s annual water horse race.  Sean agrees to help Puck, and the two become closer as the race approaches.  But there can only be one winner.  To read more about this fantastic title, check out Tracey’s review.

The Vindico by Wesley King.  June 2012.  9780399256547.  Gr. 8-12.  The League of Heroes and the Vindico have been facing off in the age-old fight of superheroes vs. supervillians.  But the members of the Vindico aren’t as young as they used to be, so they devise an evil plan to kidnap teenagers and teach them to be the next generation of supervillians.  The five teens held captive become friends and plot their escape.  But as they learn more about their captors, they learn that the fight between superheroes vs. supervillians isn’t as black and white as they thought.

Hopefully these titles give you some new ideas of books to give your male readers that they won’t have to hide behind other covers!

Lindsey L.

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Summer Reading: Work or Play?

June 7, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Intermediate (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Nonfiction · Tagged

Though I always enjoyed school, I found summer to be exciting because I could read what I wanted.  No required reading for three whole months!  My mom would take me to the public library, and the librarian would give me suggestions, and I could spend my entire summer reading…in addition to mowing lawn, weeding the garden, canning vegetables, and helping my dad remodel yet another room in the house.

In my (not so) humble opinion, summer reading assignments have ruined a huge opportunity for keeping the enjoyment in reading.  All school year, kids have to read this science textbook or that debate on social issues or this literary essay—all very important, but not necessarily fun.   “All work and no play” tells Jack and Jill that reading is a dull task indeed.

I taught my boys to enjoy books, both stories and nonfiction.  But, just like many other pre-teens, their enjoyment took a nose-dive right around middle school.   Thankfully, their teachers did not have required summer reading lists, so I was able to tempt them with many reading choices during the summer…rather than force them to read yet another assigned book that they would be tested on later.

(Hmmm.  I hope I do not hear from the teachers in the Farmington school district, telling me that actually, they DID assign summer reading.  I guess I wouldn’t put it past Alex or Nathan to have neglected to share that information with me.)

So if “Summer Reading: Work or Play?” ends up on the ballot, my vote will definitely be for “Play!”

Mackin’s staff of collection development librarians has put together several lists of fun books for librarians, teachers, or parents to share with kids who are wondering what to read this summer.  We have focused on high interest—though that does not necessarily mean “light reading.”  We had to narrow our criteria down a bit—or the lists would be unmanageable—so these lists contain books published only in 2011 or 2012.  They have been well-reviewed—either in a review journal or by Mackin’s collection development librarians—and are chosen because they are fun and interesting.

Click on the links below—and enjoy!

Elementary Fiction

Middle School Fiction

High School Fiction

Nonfiction for All

Blogger:  Tracey L.

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Book Review: The Hunt

June 4, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, High School, Horror, Novels, Reviews · Tagged , ,

The Hunt by Andre Fukuda. 9781250005144. 2012. Gr 9-12.

I have always loved scary stories.  They’ve never really bothered me, and I love the suspense.

When Karen H, my good friend and roommate at college, passed along “the scariest book [she] had ever read,” I was eager to try it.  Now, if Karen had left the jacket on the book, or if I had read the reviews on Amazon or B&N, I might have been forewarned.   But there was no jacket—nor was there an Internet in 1979—and I knew nothing about the book.  With all of my apartment-mates gone for a long weekend (along with practically everyone on campus), I opened up my bedroom window to let the cool October air in and climbed up on my top bunk to savor some delightful shivers.

The book was Salem’s Lot by Stephen King.

Delightful is hardly the word for my shivers that night.  When I was finally able to put down the book, I slept (did I sleep?) with the light on.  I couldn’t even muster up the courage to shut the window, though King’s vampires did a lot of scratching at windows. I have never—never!—been so scared.

It was great.  Since then, I have been a fan of vampire stories—real vampires, vampires with teeth who sleep during the day and hunt and feed at night.   While the recent crop of paranormal romances have been very popular, they are just not…right.  Vampires are supposed to be scary.  They are not nice.  They belong to the HORROR genre.  I’ve gotten a bit tired of vampires lately, but here is a book that puts them right back where they belong.

Most of us try to blend in with society, but seventeen-year-old Gene is an expert at disguise, at acting, at hiding.  He lives in a society where the people are carnivorous and nocturnal, and their favorite food is heper flesh and blood.  And Gene is a heper—a human.  All of his family are gone and he lives alone, though he hopes there might be others like him:

THERE USED TO be more of us. I’m certain of this. Not enough to fill a sports stadium or even a movie theater, but certainly more than what’s left today. Truth is, I don’t think there’s any of us left. Except me. It’s what happens when you’re a delicacy. When you’re craved. You go extinct.

Gene has been very successful at maintaining his cover, but things are about to change.  The government announces that a small group of hepers—a farm, if you like—has been raised in the desert under the safety of a dome. And now, for the first time in a decade, there will be a Heper Hunt.  Seven people will be chosen by lottery to hunt down and eat their fill of tender young heper flesh.  And when Gene’s numbers are called, he knows that there is little chance that he will remain undetected.

Fukuda has created a frightening world, with plenty of suspense, lots of blood, and a big shocker of an ending which promises future books.  Though The Hunt is not your typical vampire book, the vampires are ruthless, bloodthirsty, and most definitely do not sparkle.  It may not be for everyone, but I enjoyed the thrill, and I know that the three young men who live at my house will love it.

Blogger:  Tracey L.

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Book Review: Also Known as Rowan Pohi

June 1, 2012 · Filed under Fiction, Reviews, Novels, Realistic, Middle School (6-8) · Tagged , ,

Also Known as Rowan Pohi by Ralph Fletcher. 2011. 9780547572086. Gr. 7-10.

It all started at IHOP.  Bobby and his friends are hanging out at the International House of Pancakes one afternoon in the summer before they start high school.  The restaurant is full of kids from the fancy Whitestone Academy prep school with their designer jeans, new backpacks, and  summer camps. Bobby and his friends only dream about designer jeans and summer camps.  Not to mention, they don’t have the grades to get into a school like Whitestone.

They can imagine Whitestone material, and they don’t imagine it is anything like them.  The boys start filling out a Whitestone application with the made-up name Rowan Pohi—did you notice that Pohi is IHOP backwards?—and give him all the necessary qualifications to get accepted.  When they finish the application, Rowan looks like an exemplary student. He is in the Honor society, plays sports, and volunteers at a soup kitchen.  He’s perfect, but, of course, he isn’t real.  Rowan Pohi is just a joke made up on a bored afternoon.

When Bobby mails the application, he tries not to think about how much better Whitestone is than his own high school.   He imagines he might fit in better there.  He says,

“At Riverview, kids called you geekster or nerdling if you dared show any interest in history or literature, so I had to hide that part of myself.  Kids at Whitestone really wanted to learn, from what I’d heard, so there was nothing wrong with paying attention or speaking up in class.”

Not only that, but Bobby feels like he could use a fresh start.  His name has become synonymous in town with a terrible family incident that resulted in his father, whose name is also Bob Steele, getting arrested.  He can’t go even go to the corner store without worrying that people will recognize his name and look at him differently.  So when Bobby gets Rowan’s acceptance letter in the mail, he takes a chance and shows up at orientation.  Just to see what it’s like.  But then he just wants to see what classes are like, so he shows up at Whitestone instead of Riverview on the first day of school.  He’s not sure how long he can pull it off, but he can’t let an opportunity like this pass by.

Also Known as Rowan Pohi is a great choice for reluctant readers.  Bobby’s first person narration keeps the plot moving with plenty of funny moments as Bobby pretends to be Rowan but also some poignant scenes with Bobby’s family.  While the plot may not be terribly realistic, Bobby does come across as real.  His family issues and his identity questions are as real as his desire to escape and be someone new.

Blogger:  Mindy R.

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