On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck

This book is set at the beginning of the US's involvement in World War II. Davy Bowman's brother goes off to war in the Army Air Corps. Davy and his best friend Scooter have many adventures, some funny, some more serious. Davy and Scooter help to round up scrap metal, paper, and rubber to help with shortages. They meet many interesting characters along the way.

Genre: historical fiction (United States, World War II)

Topics: shortages, rationing, school, boyhood, World War II, bullies (boy and girl)

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 4 of 5

Amazon reviews

Down the Rabbit Hole: an Echo Falls mystery by Peter Abrahams

Ingrid Levin-Hill finds herself right in the middle of a murder investigation. She was one of the last people to see Cracked-Up Katie alive. Down the Rabbit Hole is a mystery with suspense woven in. Because Ingrid knows she will be considered a suspect, she decides she has to find out who killed Katie before the police do so she can be cleared. Ingrid has many adventures along the way to discovering the guilty party, many of which are illegal or ill-advised.

Note: This book contains swearing.

Topics:Alice in Wonderland, soccer, Sherlock Holmes, family issues, murder, acting, theater, first crush

Genre: mystery, suspense

Mrs. Beckwith's Rating: 3 of 5

Amazon reviews

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Invention of Hugo Cabret won a controversial award...the Caldecott Medal. Why was that controversial? Caldecott awards go to artists. Hugo Cabret is a very thick book, but only has about the equivalent of 100 pages of text in it. The story is told through a combination of the text and the accompanying illustrations. If you don't look at the illustrations, you miss some of the storyline.

Hugo is trying to survive alone after his uncle dies. Part of what he wants to do is discover the hidden meaning of the automaton that his father left to him.

Topics:

Genre:

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 4 of 5

Amazon reviews

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Catherine, the main character of this book, has a younger brother who is autistic. I really liked this book because of how it showed relationships between those with disabilities and those without. I wish there were more kids (and adults) out there like Catherine. Part of what you read about in this book are those who are mean to individuals with disabilities. Sometimes I think people forget that everyone has feelings that can be hurt and that everyone has a desire to be liked and valued. I think Catherine is a believable character. She doesn't think everything is just wonderful. She struggles with what people think of her, always having to be the responsible one, etc.

Topics: autism, peer relations, disabilities, family issues, friendship, loyalty

Genre: realistic fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

5 of 5 again?

You might be wondering why nearly all of the books I've put on this blog have been 5 of 5s. Well, I volunteered to be a reader for potential award winning books. I'm in the final round right now, so everything I'm reading was recommended by someone(s) as being a really good book for middle schoolers. They've been right. I haven't read a bad one on the list. Once February rolls around, I'll be reading other books from the shelves at KTMS and will most likely read a few books that don't rate quite so well.

Another thing to know about me is that I love to read. I even read cereal boxes, believe it or not. Every once in awhile I pick up a book that I just can't force myself to read, but that doesn't happen very often. I really like adventure books and books with strong characters. Books I enjoy least are ones that don't seem to go anywhere and ones like the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series. I know there are lots of tweens and teens who like those books, but I'm not too fond of them. If you want to know more about those books, talk to Mrs. Divine. She and her daughter keep up on those titles.

Happy reading, KTMS students! If you have a good book recommendation, let me know about it. I hope to start a book blog for students in the near future. Keep watching for it!

Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach

Based on the cover, I most likely wouldn't have read this book. However, an 8th grade student recommended the book to me. She was right. It was fantastic! It wasn't at all what I expected.

Hero and her family move to a new town. It's hard for Hero to fit in with her strange first name. Hero's dad is an expert on Shakespeare, and Hero and her sister were named after characters in one of Shakespeare's plays.

Hero soon meets her elderly next-door neighbor, Mrs. Roth. She establishes a friendship with Mrs. Roth and a guy from school, Danny, who also likes to spend time with Mrs. Roth. Mrs. Roth and Danny get Hero involved in a mystery that surrounds the house Hero's family moved into. Family secrets surface throughout the story.

One of the interesting threads in the story is who Shakespeare really was. Was he really the Shakespeare we know about, or was the author really someone else using a pen name? Several things from English history surface and are quite intriguing to ponder. Sure made me wonder!

Topics: secrets, friendship, mystery, English history, family conflict, starting at a new school

Genre: realistic fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Peak by Roland Smith

Peak is a Junior Library Guild selection book which means it's supposed to be good. Yep. It was! Peak is a 14-year-old boy who absolutely loves to climb. He is the son of two mountain climbers, though his mother no longer climbs. At the beginning of the book, Peak gets caught climbing a skyscraper in New York City. Through some negotiating, his birth father, a world-famous mountain climber, takes Peak away from NYC for the adventure of a lifetime...an attempt to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest.

Part of what makes this book so interesting is that it's written from Peak's point of view. Because of the agreement with the judge, Peak needs to leave NYC before he's done with the school year. His teacher gives him a writing assignment, and the book is Peak's project.

I only know a little about climbing, but now I feel like I know a lot more. If you actually have climbed before, I'm sure this book will get the adrenaline flowing! There is so much interesting detail. I knew that it was a major feat to climb Mt. Everest, but I wasn't sure why. Now I know. It's rather amazing that anyone makes it alive. (Note: people do die in this book, and corpses are seen.)

Another thing I found interesting was reading about the Sherpas, Chinese soldiers, and people from Tibet and Nepal. I found myself realizing yet another reason why I'm glad I'm an American citizen with the freedoms we have.

Topics: mountain climbing, family, Mt. Everest, Buddhist monks, Sherpas, Tibet, Nepal, Kathmandu, conflict, competition

Genre: realistic fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

Hattie Big Sky takes place in 1918. Seventeen-year-old Hattie lives in Iowa, but moves to Wyoming to complete the homestead requirements her late Uncle left for her. The book does a great job of describing what life was like in 1918 during the end of World War I (WWI) (known then as The Great War). When Hattie arrives in Wyoming, she discovers she has a lot to learn. She learns to do everything from caring for animals to building fences to cooking and baking with the materials available. Because WWI was still on, there were shortages on food and other things. People had to learn to make do with what they had.

For me, one of the most powerful threads in this story was the way German Americans were treated. Because the primary enemy in WWI was Germany, many German Americans were discriminated against by their fellow Americans just because they spoke German, ate German food, or practiced German traditions. People who supported or were friends with German Americans were also targets of bigots. It was a little unsettling to read about how cruel people were to each other all in the (false) name of "patriotism."

All in all, a good read...very well written.

Topics: life in 1918, German Americans, World War I, discrimination, friends

Genre: historical fiction (1918)

Mrs. Beckwith's Rating: 4 of 5

Amazon reviews

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

Bella at Midnight is a great story - part fairy tale, part adventure, part family conflict. It is written from the character's point of view. Each chapter is named for the character who is telling that part of the story.

Topics: royalty, incorrect beliefs about others, strength, best friends, magic ring, foster family

Genre: fairy tale with slight fantasy twist

Mrs. Beckwith's Rating: 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan

WOW! I can't imagine what it must have been like to be stranded in the Antarctic region for nearly two years with the equipment they had in the early 1900s. Not only that, but many of their supplies were destroyed due to shipwreck and weather mishaps. Imagine having to melt snow to get water to drink and eating seals and penguins to stay alive.

This 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award nominee title is an amazing story of survival based on the true account of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in 1914. As a reader, you become involved with the lives of the men from the ship and cheer them on as they encounter one hardship after another. The attitudes they had were exemplary.

The book contains some harsh language as well as vivid descriptions of some of the bad things that happened which may be disturbing for some readers.

Topics: winter survival, well-researched historical fiction, shipwreck, dogs

Genre: historical fiction, survival/adventure fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson

Leepike Ridge is a great adventure story. A boy sneaks out of his home at night and begins an unexpected adventure that takes him beneath the mountain his home is built on. Imagine what it'd be like to find yourself in complete darkness and discover a dead body...and that's only the beginning.

Topics: murder, treasure, caves, survival, bad guys, single mom

Genre: adventure fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating 4.5 of 5

Amazon reviews

The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli

The King of Mulberry Street is set in 1892, beginning in Italy and ending in America. A nine-year-old boy, Dom, stows away on a ship bound for America. The only thing of value he has is a pair of shoes his mother bought for him. The book is about Dom's struggle to survive alone in New York City, the friends he makes, and the dangers that surround him. The book also addresses ethnic issues that were prevalent in that time period.

Topics: immigration, Italians, street children, Jews, business ventures

Genre: historical fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 3.5 of 5

Amazon reviews

So B. It by Sarah Weeks

In this 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award nominee title, Heidi sets off on a cross-country adventure to find out who she is. She was raised by a mentally disabled mother and an agoraphobic neighbor. Her mom has limited verbal ability, so Heidi knows nothing about her extended family. However, she discovers a photo hidden in a drawer and uses clues from the photo to track down her family.

Topics: family, mysteries, family secrets, self-identity, mental disability, journey across U.S.

Genre: reality fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating? 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

In this 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award nominee title, Percy Jackson always seems to be getting in trouble. He finds out in this book that he's really a demigod - part human and part god. That's why some of the things happen that get him in trouble.

Percy is sent to a summer camp where he enters training with other kid demigods. He and a couple of other characters are sent off on a mission to find Zeus's missing lightning bolt which was stolen during the winter solstice. If he doesn't succeed in finding it, the next war of the gods will begin on the summer solstice.

Lots of adventure and action...never a dull moment in Percy's life!

Genre: fantasy fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating? 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins

In this 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award nominee title, 15-year-old Jazz Gardner leaves behind California and Steve Morales, her best friend and co-owner of the biz, for a summer in India with her family. The problem is that she has secretly been in love with Steve for awhile, and she's afraid of what might happen when she's gone for so long.

When Jazz gets to India, she learns a lot about herself, life, friendship, and family. She finds herself rethinking things she believes about herself and others and making some changes.

This book includes detail about life and people in India.

Topics: India, small business owners, insecurity with self, first love, family, orphans, giving, self-perception, track

Genre: realistic fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating? 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Jackie's Wild Seattle by Will Hobbs

In this 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award nominee title, Shannon and her younger brother, Cody, go to Seattle to stay with their Uncle Neal. Uncle Neal is an animal rescuer for Jackie's Wild Seattle, a place where injured animals go to recover. Jackie is an older woman who runs the place with the help of lots of volunteers.

When Uncle Neal gets injured during a rescue operation, Shannon and Cody take over the job of rescuing animals with the help of Uncle Neal's dog, Sage.

Tyler is one of the volunteers at Jackie's Wild Seattle. He is serving time there because of something he did in the past.

Shannon, Cody, Tyler, and Uncle Neal all have hard issues to deal with in their lives. As the story unfolds, you learn about the issues and see how each character responds.

If you like animals, animal rescue and recovery, and books with strong characters, check this book out!

Topics: animals, animal rescue and recovery, brothers and sisters, September 11, cancer, Doctors without Borders, rock climbing, abusive fathers, juvenile probation, plight of animals due to housing and development growth

Genre: realistic fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating? 3.5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Heat by Mike Lupica

In this 2008-2009 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award nominee title, Michael, 12-year-old immigrant from Cuba, is the star pitcher on a Little League team in the Bronx. When a group starts to question whether or not he is really twelve, he needs to show the Little League officials his birth certificate, which he doesn't have. His dad died a few months prior to the beginning of the book, and his 17-year-old brother is trying to keep the two of them together by working many jobs. It's a great story about baseball, family, and staying strong under pressure.

Topics: Little League baseball, New York Yankees, brothers, Cuban immigrants, family, friendship, social services

Genre: realistic fiction, sports fiction

Mrs. Beckwith's rating? 5 of 5

Amazon reviews

Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award

I'm currently reading through all of the Division II nominees for Minnesota's Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award. 6th through 8th graders from across the state are busy reading at least three of the books from the list in order to be eligible to vote for their favorite in March, 2009. I'll list summaries of each individually as I complete them.