One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

I walked out of the library and passed One Boy to the resident first grader sitting in the backseat who, in his mind, has become quite a book critic, not afraid to speak his mind. After a few minutes I asked, "Whadja think, bud?"

"I didn't like it at all."

Well, so much for the critical review.

That night before bed, however, we read it together. Each page has cut-outs revealing part of the next page's illustrations (think Joseph Had a Little Overcoat or The Very Hungry Catipillar). Guess who was trying to remember what was on the next page based on the little bit that was visible? "Wait, wait, wait! Don't turn the page yet!"

The cut-outs reveal part of the illustration on the next page, but after the page is turned, they also leave part of the previous page's text visable. These still visable letters become part of the next page's text. Again, guess who, after he understood how the cut-outs worked, was trying to guess what part of the text would reused on the next page? We'd read "SEVEN CANDLES," and I'd hear him murmer, "Candles...candles." He'd think some, then continue, "...andles...can...cand...AND!" We'd turn the page and sure enough, "AND A CAKE."

The book begins with "ONE BOY." The next page shows him seated, seemingly bored, and "ALL ALONE." The word ONE is now part of ALONE. Later we read "THREE APES" followed by "BIG ESCAPE." This time APE becomes part of ESCAPE. At the end, "ANTS" becomes part of "PANTS," but I'll leave the visual and context of that one to readers.

So, yeah, apparently the boy didn't like it. He didn't like it so much that he told me when to turn pages and was guessing and predicting on each page. Congratulations, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, on writing a thouroughly...eh-hem...unenjoyable book.

(And woe to anyone who quotes that last paragraph out of context!)

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

Piggie and Gerald are ready for an outside adventure. Will they run? Will they skip? Will they jump? Yes, yes, and yes! “NOTHING CAN STOP US!” declares Piggie.

Unfortunately Piggie doesn’t see the coming rain. Rain! On a day when they were going to do everything. Everything! What can be done? How can the day be saved? How can there be any fun?

But…the worms…they seem to have fun. Okay, they don’t run – being worms and all – but they do jump and splash. They are having fun, so why not Piggie and Gerald? They discover that everything they were planning on doing in the sun is just as fun in the rain. Everything! Quite possibly even more fun.

Playing in the rain is so much fun that when it stops, as most rain eventually will, Piggie’s tune changes. “I DO NOT LIKE RAIN!” has now become “I like rain – and now the rain has stopped!” Gerald, however, comes to his friend’s aid, creating a rainstorm just for Piggie.

Are You Ready to Play Outside?, just like the other Elephant & Piggie books, is a great read aloud for partners. Student and student, teacher and student, teacher and librarian, parent and child, all would be successful. Children will be laughing with one another, grown-ups can enjoy books with their kids, and teachers can launch a new book for their readers. Most importantly, readers of all ages will have fun reading, which, of course, is pretty much assumed when the cover says Mo on the front.

2009 Newbery No-Longer-Preview Time

No doubt you've already learned who the 2009 winners are, but here some of my initial thoughts on this morning's Newbery announcement. And why not throw in some Caldecomments and a bonus thought or three?

Newbery Medal
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Why, why, why did I not read this one? It was eligible. It was ineligible. Eligible. Ineligible. Ugh! I loved Coraline. Perfect amounts of creepiness, mystery, intrigue, and humor. I've got The Graveyard Book on order and requested at the local library. Hopefully I get me a copy soon.

Newbery Honor Books
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt - Was this the closest thing to a sure thing in a long while? Thoughts here.
Savvy by Ingrid Law - I'd have liked it even better if there were more extended family members and their savvies included. The story was good, but man did I like the idea of getting a savvy on your thirteenth birthday. My daughter agrees. So does my class. Thoughts here.
After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson - I really liked this book, and I'm glad it was recognized. It's a thought provoker, that's for sure. Thoughts here.
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle - I haven't found much poetry that lights a fire under young readers, unless it involves sisters for sale or the end of a sidewalk, but I'll certainly read this one.

The Caldecott Medal
The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson - Before I was even able to look at the copy I snagged at the library, I got two opinions from two kids. The first grader said, "I didn't like it at all," while the fourth grader said, "Well, I liked it. It kind of goes forward, then backward or something. I don't know." Hmmm. More information (from me) soon.

Caldecott Honor Books
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee - An Honor book in our school's student-selected mock Caldecott, so I'm glad the grown-ups agreed with the experts. Fourth graders especially like how the illustrations don't match the text. That, and Grandpa Bill's vocabulary lesson. Thoughts here.
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz - Waiting for a copy. Did I read right, though? A family flees war and finds poverty?
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant - Waiting for a copy. Is it poetry or simply about a poet? Nevertheless, see comments on The Surrender Tree above.

Bonus Thought #1 - Sibert Honor Book
What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! by Barbara Kerley - My wife is thrilled that this one was recognized, and I can't say I disagree.

Bonus Thought #2 - Kadir Nelson Gets Three
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson wins the Sibert Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Corrett Scott King Illustrator Honor - Sheesh, it takes more time to type out all the awards than my comments. But well deserved. His illustrations jump off the page, and I'm glad his writing was recognized in addition to his artistry.

Bonus Thought #3 - Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems - Two words: 1. Woo. 2. Hoo. (And one punctuation mark: ! )

(Is it any wonder kids love these books? Click here for Mo's thoughts.)

Scat by Carl Hiaasen

What kid hasn’t wondered how life would change if a certain teacher would just disappear? Especially if that teacher is like Bunny Starch? Mrs. Starch humiliates Duane Scrod Jr. (a.k.a. “Smoke”) in class, assigning him a five hundred word essay on pimples. His pimples. Her relentlessness made me, as a teacher, uncomfortable to say the least. It’ll make kids flat-out furious. Smoke can only take so much, so as Mrs. Starch points at him accusingly with her #2 Ticonderoga, he calmly takes a chunk out of it. With his teeth. Bites half off, right out of her hand, chews it up, and swallows. Splinters, graphite, the whole works.

And the next day during a field trip to Black Vine Swamp, 1) She disappears. 2) A wildfire happens to start. 3) The kid nicknamed Smoke, with a history of starting fires who recently threatened the now disappeared teacher, wasn’t with the class.

It’s hard not to compare Scat with Carl Hiaasen’s other two novels for younger readers, Hoot and Flush. They’re all similar – set in Florida, money grubbing antagonists, middle/high school protagonists a little braver/wiser/upright that the average adolescent, and strong environmental themes. Scat adds another layer with the war in Iraq.

Scat grabs readers’ attention with the first line. “The day before Mrs. Starch vanished, her third-period biology students trudged silently, as always, into the classroom.” The teacher vanished? Like, poof, and she’s gone? By the end of the chapter, readers see how that might possibly be a good thing.

While more mystery than comedy, Scat still contains plenty of humor. An oil worker gets glued to a cypress tree, painted orange, sans clothing. Wendell Waxmo, substitute biology teacher, always teaches page 117 on Monday and 263 on Fridays, no exceptions, regardless of the subject matter. There’s plenty of funny, most enjoyably, how the antagonists finally get what’s coming.

Scat has much more mystery than the other books. Where is Mrs. Starch? Why is her car still traveling around town with mysterious drivers? If she’s gone, how is she sending mail and changing her voice mail greeting? If she has no family, how can she claim a family emergency?

Main character Nick’s father, an Army reservist serving in Iraq, is injured in a Humvee attack and loses his right arm. Nick not only has been pulled into the Mrs. Starch mystery – now including endangered panthers and an oil company – but also tries to learn more about his father’s injury by trying to do everything with only one arm.

Scat is a totally engaging novel, one that will get and hold readers’ attention, beginning to end. Readers want to fight for what’s right, defend the environment, stop greed, support their families, aid their friends, all of them right along with the main characters. Readers will also realize the danger in too quickly judging those around them.

Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing) by Alison McGhee

I love reading books about familiar places. I once lived in St. Paul, and Julia Gillian lives in south Minneapolis. That’s like the same thing, right? Aren’t they Twin Cities? Okay, maybe not, but I did spend four years in the general vicinity.

So when Julia Gillian, in the summer between fourth and fifth grade, travels around her neighborhood, it’s easy for me to imagine where she’s headed*. She walks to Bryant Hardware, across the street from Our Kitchen, on 36th Street, and onto Girard Avenue where a sign reading DOGS! PLEASE HELP YOURSELVES! rests beside a water bowl under a birch tree in a kindly person’s front yard.

She does all of this under the strict parameters set forth by her parents. These parameters – look both ways, no strangers, no farther than nine square blocks, and take Bigfoot, her St. Bernard – are enforced by Enzo, Julia Gillian’s eighteen-year-old friend and downstairs neighbor. This summer Julia Gillian’s parents, both teachers, are taking graduate courses and study much of the day, so she has plenty of time for travel.

Julia Gillian has many accomplishments – papier-mâché masks, spreading gum across her front teeth, communicating wordlessly with Bigfoot – and she keeps a list to prove it. She enjoys having a first name for a first name and a first name for a last name, and she enjoys waiting patiently for grown-ups to figure it out. (Did you get it?) She uses phrases like, “Indeed it is.” Most importantly, as her mother says, she is “highly skilled at the art of knowing.”

This summer is full of challenges. Her parents are incredibly busy with school, and there is little time for picnics at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden. She needs to master the claw machine in the back of Bryant Hardware. She seeks to understand her parents’ interest in the wider world, when the wider world only seems to contain bad news. And she needs to finish the green book despite what she believes…knows…will happen to the boy’s old dog.

Julia Gillian and her family travel to more places in south Minneapolis like Quang Vietnamese Restaurant on 28th and Nicollet and Magers & Quinn Booksellers on Hennepin. Of course this will resonate more with readers who have local connections, but the natural description of Julia Gillian’s neighborhood coupled with the realistic concerns of the fourth/fifth grade mind make Alison McGhee’s book an enjoyable read.


*It’s even easier with Google Maps' Street View. Check these out:


Bryant Hardware, home of the claw machine.


Our Kitchen, where Julia Gillian and her father sometimes go for pancakes.


It's the only birch tree I found on Girard Avenue!


Quang Vietnamese Restaurant - The best eggrolls in Minneapolis.


Magers & Quinn Booksellers, where Julia Gillian got the green book.

The Pencil by Alan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman

"Once there was a pencil, a lonely little pencil, and nothing else." The Pencil is the story of what that lonely little pencil decided to do about it, and how the best plans can sometimes need revision.

The pencil was lonely, so he drew a boy named Banjo. Banjo wanted a dog, so the pencil drew a dog named Bruce. Bruce wanted a cat, so the pencil drew a cat named Mildred. But then Bruce chased Mildred, and Banjo chased Bruce, through the house and down the street and in the park ... all drawn by the pencil.

When Banjo and Bruce and Mildred's snacks couldn't be eaten because they were black and white, the pencil drew a paintbrush. Soon there were extended families and checkered table cloths and a ball named Sebastian. And all seemed well.

Then the problems began. Banjo kicked Sebastian, and it hurt! A window was broken. Some people complained to the pencil. They didn't like their hats or shoes or big ears or unhealthy habits. (Grandpa smokes a pipe.) So the pencil does the only thing he can think of. Draw an eraser.

And that's when the problems really begin.

The mischievous look on the eraser's face immediately give warning to readers that he's got something planned. Pretty soon the pencil's creation is disappearing just as fast as he can create it. Nothing he draws is able to stop the eraser ... until ...

Well, I'll let you find that out for yourself. Kids love predicting what's going to come next. What will the pencil draw to take fix the black and white snack problem? How will the pencil try to fix his creation's sudden problems? How will he stop the renegade eraser? Another part kids love are the names of all the items, and the end pages share the most creative ones. There's a box named Deirdre, a birdcage named Ramona, shoes named Edward and George, and plenty more.

Kids laugh at the text, like all the characters (a bone, a ball, a family of ants) that ask, "What's my name?" Then they laugh at the ball's, I mean Sebastian's sad face and the close up of the newly named, picnic-crashing ants. Kids are even tempted to reach out to rub the eraser's shavings off the page.

And, of course, they cheer at the happy ending.

One Year Site Updates

One year ago today Help Readers Love Reading! found its home on the web. Okay, not really, not one year to the day exactly. Last January we had a snow day from school, and I took the opportunity to start the website. Today, nearly one year later, we have another snow day.

Sort of. It's actually a cold day. Last night temperatures hit the -25 to -30 range. Factor in the wind chill and you're looking at -50ish. Buses aren't running, and nobody wants kids standing outside waiting for one anyway when frostbite can start in only ten minutes. Temperatures yesterday morning were -10 to -20 and hovered in the negative single digits all day. Yeah, we were home yesterday too.

So. January 2008 to January 2009. Snow Day to Cold Day. One year.

What better day to make some updates? Here's what's new:

• Replaced the old recommendation labels with Recommended 5 Stars, Recommended 4 Stars, and Recommended 3 Stars labels.
• Added the Recommended Exceptions label. These are books that don't necessarily match the criteria I set forth, but nevertheless deserve recognition. It just didn't work writing a complimentary review but then labeling it Not Recommended.
• Added information about conference sectionals, teacher inservice, and school visits.
• Updated Site Information. Changed a few boring, little things.

So that's about it. Thanks to all my visitors over the past year, especially those of you who return on a regular basis. Hopefully each visit - whether it's your first, second, or three hundred forty-fifth - will give you another book or two that will Help Readers Love Reading!

Bats in the Library by Brian Lies

Who knew? Who knew that a life of sleeping all day, staying up all night, feasting on bugs, and fluttering and swooping and soaring in the night sky could be boring?

I know, I know, it’s crazy! One might think, “That’s the life for me, I tell ya!” But, I guess, night after night, the sameness might get a bit tiresome. So when a window is left open, this group of bats seizes the opportunity to do something different. They’re going to the library.

The older bats have been here before and head off to their favorite bookshelves. The young ones, however, haven’t yet discovered the magic inside libraries. They play with the overhead projector, splash in the water fountain, make photocopies of themselves, and play house in the pop-up books before finally settling down to story time. Then the magic happens.

Everyone is captured by a book, swallowed by a story. The bats take over the illustrations of famous children’s books. There’s a midnight ride and a flying bed. There’s a sword and a stone and a hobbit hole. There’s a bat with red pigtails and one with a red riding hood. There’s plenty more, but my favorite illustration resembles this much loved classic.

As can so easily happen, time slips away. The sky lightens, and the library’s late-night patrons must take off. Back through the window they go, hoping that sometime soon, a generous librarian will once again leave a window open.

Look closely at Brian Lies’ illustrations. Are the bats upside down or is it the background? And why are those books flipped? Little details are everywhere, starting with the spectacles on an elder bat to the iPod earbuds used to lasso a book in the cover illustration, and there’s more to discover with each reading of Bats at the Library.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

Birthdays don't sneak up on anybody. Whether they are either eagerly anticipated or grudgingly accepted, we know they are coming. But the Beaumont children look to their thirteenth birthday with more anticipation, more excitement, and more curiosity than your average tween becoming a teen.

At thirteen, you see, Beaumonts receive their savvy.

A Beaumont family savvy is a unique ability, a power, beyond normal human capacity. Mibs, short for Mississippi, is awaiting the arrival of her savvy, just days before her thirteenth birthday. Will she blow out the candles on her cake only to have fires die throughout a four county radius? Or will her puffed cheeks cause her to start floating toward the ceiling?

The novel’s plot is simple enough. Two days before her birthday, her father is in a car accident, leaving him in a coma ninety miles south in Salina, Kansas. Mibs knows her soon-to-arrive savvy will be just what Poppa needs to wake up if only she can get to Salina in time. She stows away on a pink Bible delivery bus that’s headed that direction, but before it can leave, she is discovered and joined by her brothers, Fish and Samson, and the local preacher’s kids, Will Junior and Roberta.

Predictable difficulties arise. The bus travels in the wrong direction. They are discovered by Lester, bus driver and Bible salesman. There are stops for deliveries and dinner and a maid in distress that delay their arrival in Salina. Their faces are plastered on the news as missing children.

What makes Ingrid Law's book so enjoyable is the Beaumont savvies. Oldest brother Rocket could keep the lights on when the power went out and zap his siblings from across the room. Strong emotions, however, cause power surges that leave blown circuits in his wake. Second brother Fish changes the weather, causing a hurricane on his thirteenth birthday and an ever-present threat of wind and rain. Mom has the tendency to do things perfectly.

As readers learn more about the family, more savvies are revealed. An aunt who steps back twenty minutes in time with every sneeze. A cousin who melts ice with her glare. Grandpa, with a low rumble deep in the Earth, can create land. Grandma could catch radio waves and store them in canning jars. One aunt could open any lock, another could get people to do whatever she wanted.

But Beaumonts are taught from early on that they’re just like other people. “We get born, and sometime later we die. And in between, we’re happy and sad, we feel love and we feel fear, we eat and we sleep and we hurt like everyone else.” And in Mibs’ search for her own savvy and quest for her father’s health, she and her family experience them all.

Closets and Christmas Break - New Column Today

New column in the local paper today, all about my favorite part of Christmas break.

Closets' purpose differs for children OR Printable version

My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath

When Jane realizes, finally, at age twelve, that she can pray, she decides to get busy. She prays for a hundred adventures, and wonders if unceasing prayer will bring about the desired response. That’s what Nellie Phipps, fat old lady preacher, says every Sunday from the pulpit, anyway.

Almost immediately, adventure number one commences, when Jane meets a gentleman who looks like a clothes hanger, too skinny for his suit, a man who his mother calmly calls her father.

I’m trying and trying to remember what to write, and I finished the book only a week ago. Let’s see, there was a younger brother who always yelled, “Whale!” when looking at the ocean. I remember Nellie Phipps thinking it was a good idea to deliver Bibles to unsuspecting recipients from a hot air balloon and getting Jane to help. There was a trip across the country that ended abruptly with all the travelers returning home. Someone had a thrombosis. Jane prayed for one lady but not another one, then the non-prayed for one got sick, and then one of them died from candy purchased by one of Jane’s potential fathers or something like that.

There’s other stuff in there too, but try as I might, I don’t remember what happened. There’s offbeat humor, for sure. Delivering Bibles by hot air balloon? A preacher searching for a portal to the future? But other than odd bits of humor and absurdity, which I enjoy thoroughly, nothing sticks out to make me think it would be passed between students. I’m reminded of an eighth grader who once commented to me about another book, “It was fine, I guess. It’s just that nothing happens.”

My One Hundred Adventures ends after fourteen adventures in fourteen chapters with Jane, her family, and a new (new? old? original?) father headed to Saskatchewan to start a new life and find, apparently, the missing eighty-six adventures.

It did have a great quote about reading, though: "The library in summer is the most wonderful thing because there you get books on any subject and read them each for only as long as they hold your interest, abandoning any that don't, halfway or a quarter of the way through if you like, and store up all that knowledge in the happy corners of your mind for your own self and not to show off how much you know or spit it back at your teacher on a test paper."

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

After disasters, droughts and storms, fires, rising seas, and the resulting war for what little remained, this futuristic North America became one nation, Panem. Thirteen districts surrounding the Capitol. Then, when the districts rose against the Capitol, twelve were defeated, one was obliterated, and the Treaty of Treason was established to guarantee peace and remind the people of Panem to never again return to the Dark Days.

The Hunger Games is their reminder. Part reality TV, part Roman gladiator games, all horrific, the Hunger Games are a yearly event in which the twelve districts each send two randomly selected tributes, one male, one female, both teenagers, to participate. After brief training, participants are released in a large wilderness area known as the arena. Imagine Survivor where contestants aren’t voted off the island. They’re killed. But like Survivor, there is only one winner. All of it is televised – required viewing in all of Panem, in fact – and the Capitol’s message is clear. “Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just like we did in District Thirteen.”

At sixteen, Katniss Everdeen becomes District Twelve’s female tribute. She has grown up sneaking outside District Twelve’s borders and hunting with homemade weapons. Her daily life, while mostly illegal, has prepared her for individual survival. But against others? To the death?

Katniss is sent to the Capitol with District Twelve’s other tribute. She receives the training and participates in the pregame festivities, televised events meant to introduce the contestants, encourage wagering, and an opportunity for the tributes to earn sponsors, or people who use their financial resources to send contestants supplies during the contest. All too soon the Hunger Games begins.

What follows is Katniss’s attempt to find dignity amidst death. To use love while surrounded by hate. While some tributes actively hunt and kill the opponents, Katniss focuses mainly on her own survival. The further she and the other surviving contestants make it, the more the Gamemakers work to drive them together. Fires, floods, cold, supplies, emotions – all are used to force tributes to engage one another. All the while, Katniss attempts to avoid becoming the murderous monster that makes for great TV, from the Capitol’s perspective, anyway.

It’s been a while since a book has demanded my attention like The Hunger Games. It is intense. But should it be recommended to younger readers? Well, not elementary readers, but certainly young adults. The action will hold readers by itself, most definitely, but with a parent’s or teacher’s guidance, the politics of the book could come alive. Is this a future we face? Are we that far away? Can the good in our world and in each individual outweigh the evil? It’s a stretch, but Suzanne Collins does an excellent job of connecting the dots of today’s world and form a possible future. Readers will look forward to the story’s resolution in the upcoming books. Can a nation built on fear continue to survive, or will the actions of young adults show the people of Panem what they can become, despite what their government leaders insist? Readers won’t want to wait to find out.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

Back on August 4, as part of a Newbery preview post, I made an offhanded comment about the cover of The Underneath. Something about jowly dogs and kittens under a bed – that’s what it looks like, anyway – and said, “No thanks.” Then I received an email from Kathi Appelt. “Right,” I thought, “An author read my website and is contacting me about not reading her book."

It was right, and she challenged me. If she sent me a book, would I give it a try? Would I read a couple of chapters even if I disliked it intensely?

Um, yes. Yes, I would. So, properly humbled of my judge-a-book-by-its-cover-itis, I read it. And here’s what I think.

First, about the cover: It is a dog and kittens, but they aren’t under a bed. They’re under a front porch, hiding from a wicked master, a master who has already shot the dog and who’s willing to use the cats as alligator bait. This isn’t a mushy, cutesy, puppy and kitties story. (That was my inaccurate cover judgment.) This is a story of survival, of friendship and love and determination and finding good while surrounded by evil.

It’s also a story of revenge, of hatred and death and deception and betrayal.

And redemption.

Numerous stories are woven together seamlessly, and I have to admit, those are the books I love. Seeing how multiple threads come together to form one yarn fascinates me. In The Underneath it’s stories of a crippled dog and orphaned kittens, an abused boy grown into a drunken and abusive adult, a monster alligator, a grandmother snake with festering hatred and desire for revenge, a granddaughter leaving her family for true love, an ancient tree in an ancient forest, and more I’m forgetting, surely. Each story is told in short chapters, 124 total, none more than three to four pages.

All the reviews and comments that say The Underneath reads like a poem or a novel in verse are correct. Each chapter is like a small bubble that, upon being read, begins floating away. Just as it’s about to disappear from the reader’s memory, more is added to that part of the story. The bubble swells slightly and floats in the reader’s conscience a bit longer. More is added to each bubble, and each floats independently of the others. They bump and swirl together and eventually all merge into one, well-constructed novel.

The Underneath has received plenty of Newbery discussion, and rightly so. Whatever accolades it receives (in addition to being a National Book Award finalist) are deserved, and I won’t argue. It’s not, however, a book I’ll eagerly put into students’ hands. It’s heavy, heavy, heavy.

Oh, one more thing. Thanks, Ms. Appelt, for challenging my book cover judgment.

It's 2009 Newbery Preview Time, Part III

It's been a few months since I wrote my initial posts concerning the upcoming 2009 Newbery, and, well, there's been a little (a little?) news and opinion out there since then. But as promised, I did get back to my list. It's an updated list, but these titles have generated Newbery buzz, regardless of whether they were on my initial list. Here it is:

Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
The Fortunes of Indigo Skye by Deb Caletti
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Savvy by Ingrid Law

These aren't my shortlist or predictions or favorites or anything like that. These are the books that, for various reasons, I read. That's it. I've already reviewed the first three. Watch for my thoughts on the last four over the next few days.

But first, a warning. I've always intended Help Readers Love Reading! to be a site that recommends books kids like. It's possible, as numerous articles in recent months have pointed out, for a children's book to be distinguished yet unattractive to children. Recommendations on HRLR! reflect whether or not kids will embrace a book, not its distinguished-ness in the eyes of adults.

I'm excited to see this year's winners. I am every year. When they're announced, I'll try to place my Amazon order before all the first editions are gone and it's 4-6 weeks before the second editions ship. I'll reveiw the winners. Until then, watch for these last four preview reviews, and then check back for even more books that Help Readers Love Reading!

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman

Everyone wants a second chance at something. Students like second chances at assignments, teachers like second chances with lessons, and I'd personally like a second chance at Super Bowl XXXII. Unfortunately, second chances are rather hard to come by.

But in The Juvie Three, Gecko, Arjay, and Terrance get their second chance. At life.

Gecko is the forgotten younger brother in his family, the talented, underage getaway driver for his older brother Rueben's crime sprees. When a robbery ends up with a stolen Infiniti on its roof, Gecko is sent to juvie. His family, however, seems only concerned with Rueben. Gecko is basically forgotten.

Arjay is a mammoth fifteen-year-old. Six-foot-five, 260 pounds, and his only crime is not playing football. Taunted mercilessly by the football team to play, Arjay once...once...fights back, by pushing the popular quarterback. The team captain falls, hits his head, and Arjay is convicted of manslaughter. Juvie? Not for kids six-five, 260. Adult prison.

Terrance grew up under the watch of an abusive father and the city streets of Chicago. He knows how to survive - how to play the game of street criminals. He knows, man. (Just ask him.) Given the opportunity to leave his detention facility, he views his second chance only as chance to escape.

All three boys are now under the watchful eye of Douglas Healy, a former juvenile delinquent himself. He has worked tirelessly to set up a second chance for these three boys, a sort of half-way house where they can go to school, work community service, and develop as young men.

Gecko and Arjay recognize the opportunity they’ve been given. Terrence sees opportunity, all right, but not to straighten up. He sees a chance to hit it big in a bigger city than Chicago. New York.

The three boys futures are tied to one another. If one screws up, they’re all back in the system. When an accident sends Healy to the hospital, the boys plan to continue following their schedule without any supervision, thereby creating the illusion of supervision. Each, however, faces temptations that may draw unwanted attention to their situation. Gecko meets a young lady while volunteering at a local hospital. Arjay's musical ability is noticed by a music teacher and New York's underground music scene. Terrance meets DeAndre and is tempted with acceptance into DeAndre's crew.

It's a house of cards getting higher and higher – and more precarious – as time passes following Healy’s accident. Soon the boys realize they need to get their leader back before anyone realizes they have no leader, and another plan develops that could end with all of them back where they started. Or worse.

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

After returning home for the school year, Percy Jackson finds himself at Meriwether College Prep, another new school, with a hulking new classmate named Tyson, who, despite his six-foot-three frame, is a big softie. Percy and Tyson are each other’s only friends. Meriwether is a “progressive” school, which simply means, according to Percy, there are beanbag chairs instead of desks and no grades.

The school year seems to be going fine. Seems to be, anyway, until uninvited guests show up for gym class and start firing flaming bronze cannonballs. That’s the sort of thing that happens when you are the son of the sea god - half mortal, half god, and not really part of either world.

After escaping and meeting up with Annabeth, she gives Percy and Tyson the details about events at Camp Half-Blood. Thalia’s tree, part of the magical border that protects Camp Half-Blood, has been poisoned. The tree is dying and along with it, the camp’s magical protection. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson set off on a quest for the Golden Fleece. The Fleece’s magic powers of healing may just bring health back to Thalia’s tree.

Meanwhile, Percy’s satyr friend, Grover, has set off as a searcher hoping to be the first satyr to find Pan. His search has led him into danger, and only a wedding dress, falsetto voice, and his enemy’s horrible vision and sub-par mental capacity have kept him alive. An empathy link between Grover and Percy is formed, allowing them to communicate over great distances, but it also endangers the other. If one of them is killed, the other will die as well.

Percy’s quest brings him, Annabeth, and Tyson closer to both the Golden Fleece and imprisoned Grover. The quest also takes them directly through the Sea of Monsters. Everything should be against them – Percy’s father and Annabeth’s mother, Poseidon and Athena, dislike one another and Tyson is a Cyclops, and nobody likes Cyclops. But in the end, friendships, both old and new, remain strong, and Tyson proves himself a loyal friend (and more).

Those Darn Squirrels by Adam Rubin

I always thought squirrels were smarter than your average mammal. They are resourceful, sneaky, and creative. (Never mind that they occasionally forget where they've stashed their winter nuts or knock out the power on my block with ill-advised forays into transformers on the power poles.) They outsmart us humans on a regular basis. Of course, I subscribe to the belief that it's not that squirrels outsmart us, it's that we regularly underestimate the squirrels.

And who gets more frustrated by squirrels than bird feeder owners? It's a birdfeeder, not a squirrel feeder, yet there those grey little monsters are stealing the food. We try everything from hanging the feeders on wires to creating intricate obstacle courses. In Those Darn Squirrels, Old Man Fookwire - a man so grumpy he sneezes dust and hates pie and puppies - tries these very things to stop squirrels from stealing from his one love. His beloved birds.

Does it work? You be the judge:



So the squirrels, now fat and sassy on Old Man Fookwire's birdseed, decide to rub it in. They taunt him, as evidenced in this video taken in the old man's backyard:



Okay, they don't really taunt him. They do the opposite. The squirrels, now that the birds have all migrated south, notice Old Man Fookwire sadly eating his cottage cheese and pepper, missing his beloved birds. They devise a plan to pay back the grumpy old man for their plundered booty. (Squirrels are apparently empathetic too. Who knew?)

Bone #2-3 by Jeff Smith

The Great Cow Race (Book #2)

The Spring Fair brings people from far and wide to Barrelhaven, especially for the highly anticipated, and highly wagered, cow races. Gran’ma Ben is the undefeated champion racer. While staying in Barrelhaven, Thorn has another dream that seems to reflect the past – a young girl, a departing loved one, a cave of dragons.

Phoney Bone is plotting his next get rich scheme. By building up a “mystery cow” in the upcoming cow races and spreading the rumor that Gran’ma Ben has lost a step, Phoney plans to clean up on the subsequent wagering. After a near disaster at the Spring Fair, Lucius Down, proprietor of the Barrelhaven Tavern, a burly man who has known Gran’ma Ben for some time, ends up back at Gran’ma Ben’s farm with her, Thorn, and the three Bone cousins.

Eyes of the Storm (Book #3)

Thorn’s mysterious dreams continue, with a now-speaking dragon, a princess, and an ominous hooded figure, and now Fone Bone has started having dreams of his own. Lucius, Smiley, and Phoney head back to Barrelhaven to run the tavern. When Gran’ma Ben hears Fone Bone and Thorn discussing their dreams, she sets off in a fury to confront the red dragon. Wanting to know the reason behind her outrage and why the red dragon is connected to their dreams, Thorn and Fone Bone follow her out into the storm. A mid-storm confrontation with a hoard of rat creatures is avoided when the red dragon Gran’ma Ben was off to meet intervenes. After returning safely home, readers are treated to a history lesson from Gran’ma Ben about a princess, the former kings and queens of Atheia, the Big War, and how all the current signs point to another war.

Eyes of the Storm is where readers learn there is much more to Bone than cute little displaced cousins and a host of well-constucted, strong-willed characters. There is an entire history of the Kingdom of Atheia, the valley, the warring factions, and the lingering ill will between them. Readers won’t learn more until later books, but at the end of Book #3, Gran’ma Ben informs Thorn and Fone Bone that the “situation down south has changed,” a hooded person is “gathering an army in the eastern mountains,” and “large numbers of rat creatures are headed this way.” No, readers don't get too many details about the valley's political situation, but readers do get plenty of incentive to continue reading.

Bone by Jeff Smith

The Bone books are a nine book series following the life of Fone Bone and his two cousins, Smiley Bone and Phoncible P. (Phoney) Bone, after being exiled from their hometown of Boneville. Fone Bone is the good-hearted main character, trying to do what’s right despite his cousins. Appropriately named Smiley Bone agrees without much thought and thoroughly enjoys life because of it. And Phoney Bone? Well, the mayor of Boneville actually declared a school holiday in his honor … just so kids could come out and throw rocks at the town’s ex-richest resident.

Book #1 - Out from Boneville

Fone Bone, Smiley Bone, and Phoney Bone find themselves lost in the wilderness after being kicked out of Boneville. In this introduction to the saga, a swarm of locusts separates Fone Bone from his cousins. He quickly meets many major characters: a mysterious red dragon, pint-sized bug Ted, two bickering yet menacing rat creatures, and Miz Possum’s three mischievous kids. Finally he meets the beautiful Thorn who takes in the still lost, still freezing Fone Bone to her and Gran’ma Ben’s house.

Meanwhile, Phoney meets back up with Fone Bone – after meeting many of the same characters – at Thorn and Gran’ma Ben’s house. Somehow Smiley has made his way to Barrelhaven, the small village up the way, and is working at the local tavern. Kingdok, leader of the rat creatures, is introduced, and readers learn of the rat creatures’ search for Phoney Bone. All three cousins eventually meet in Barrelhaven for the annual Spring Fair.

There's more to the story, much more, but Book #1 basically serves to get readers familiar with the characters and setting, and Author Jeff Smith shows readers the peaceful life lived by the valley's residents, but gives clues to its forthcoming end. The comic book style allows readers to see the glowing eyes watching from the shadowed corners of the forest, feel the sudden onset of winter (WHUMP!), hear Gran'ma pull rat creatures through the wall (CRASSSH SPLINTER K-K-R-R-K-K-K-K CRUNCH), and understand the difference between, "CAN YOU HEAR ME?!!" and "OHMYGOSH."

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

When Claudia runs away from home, she does so with careful preparation, even to the point of making sure she's not "running away" but "running to" somewhere. She saves her allowance, chooses her brother, Jamie, to accompany her, and identifies her destination, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. (If you're going to run away, might as well go somewhere large, comfortable, indoor, and preferably beautiful.)

Claudia plans to return as soon as everyone has learned a lesson in Claudia appreciation and certain sibling injustices have been corrected. And, as Claudia learns later, she is tired of being boring, straight-A's Claudia Kincaid.

Claudia and Jamie's meticulous plan goes off without a hitch: supplies in their instrument cases, days in the museum, meals at the snack bar, and nights sleeping in a canopied sixteenth-century bed. Kids. Hiding out in a high security museum.

It isn't until Angel, a twenty-four inch marble statue, arrives that the learning, and the mystery, really begins. As museum officials seek to determine whether Italian artist Michelangelo is Angel's creator, Claudia and Jamie try to solve the mystery themselves and, for Claudia anyway, discover someone other than her boring, straight A's self.

When the all but forgotten race to find two missing children leads closer to Claudia and Jamie, the children are led to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the all but forgotten narrator of the story, and her mixed-up files. Given one hour to discover the truth, Claudia and Jamie devour the files as behind the scenes, their own mystery is unraveled.

(Special thanks goes out to the two girls in my class who told me that this is one of the best books they've ever read and who, in doing so, reminded me that E. L. Konigsburg's classic deserved inclusion on the site. Thanks, ladies!)

Madam President by Lane Smith

“A president has many duties,” begins Madam President. What follows is a day in the life of the president, illustrated through the life of a typical elementary school girl.

From giving executive orders to attending state funerals, this young president is just as busy as the actual president. Just because her executive order has to do with waffles and the state funeral is for Froggy, doesn’t mean she’s not busy. Do you think negotiating a peace treaty between Cat and Dog is easy?

Every president must choose a capable cabinet. If you’re president, I guess you are allowed to personalize your cabinet as well. Sure, there’s the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of Education. But why not add a Secretary of Pizza and Secretary of Soccer? And just for good measure, why not choose Mr. Potato Head as Secretary of Agriculture?

Madam President has dark shaded secret service agents and press conferences and disasters to tackle and the wonderfully wonderful power to veto. Tuna casserole for lunch? “Veto!” Little House on the Prairie the Musical? “Veto!” (This kid’s earning my vote.)

At first I wondered if Lane Smith’s book would be an anything-boys-can-do-girls-can-do-better kind of book. It’s not. Not in the least. Madam President simply explains the responsibilities of the president through the eyes of a kid. And the kid happens to be a girl. The boys in my class as well as the girls craned their necks to find the secret service agent in the illustrations and to check out the Secretary of the Interior.

And every one of them knew exactly what it’s like to deal with a not-so-secret communication declaring their room a disaster area.

The Holly Joliday by Megan McDonald

Being from Wisconsin, and having shoveled four times already, with another shoveling forecast for the near future, it's hard for me to understand not having snow at Christmas. But I can use my imagination. Christmas without snow...

It just ain't right.

And Stink Moody knows it. Even thought he's from Virginia, and even though Judy says there's a billion-to-one chance of it actually happening, Stink wants a white Christmas.

The new mailman, Mr. Frost, first name Jack, says there's a chance. The low-pressure system moving in could bring cold temperatures by the weekend. Stink is so consumed with the idea of it snowing on Christmas that it's the only thing on his Christmas list! Snow! (Imagine, a second grader with a one-item Christmas list: Snow.)

Stink is supposed to be a mouse for the 10th Annual Holly Jolly Holiday Happening, a mouse that's not even stirring. But - Surprise! - Stink makes his grand entrance as a stellar dendrite, which, as his class has learned, is a type of snowflake.

Stink's hope leads him to bet Judy that it will snow - it will! - before Christmas. So on Christmas Eve, they decide to stay up until midnight to see who wins the bet. But as most second graders will, Stink tuckers out about two hours shy. Judy makes it within three minutes of midnight, however, and she uses that time to do all she can to make sure Stink is not disappointed come Christmas morning.

As Judy would say, Mele Kalikimaka!

Two Perspectives on Little Kids - New Column

After writing this column I had two thoughts. First, this boy (and others like him) are on their way into our classrooms in the not to distant future. Second, why should this worry me? Aren't all little ones like this?

Oh, and I just had a third thought: This young boy's mother is a teacher. Yeah, I'm smiling to myself.

Toddler creates interesting church service

Thanks for reading.

One False Note (The 39 Clues) by Gordon Korman

Picking up immediately where The Maze of Bones left off, Amy and Dan Cahill, their au pair, Nellie, and Grace’s fastidious feline, Saladan, are in pursuit of the second of the 39 clues. Having successfully and secretly swiped clue #1 from the rest of the Cahill clan, the music of Mozart has now placed them on a train to Vienna, Austria.

Within pages, the action continues in One False Note. Amy, Dan, and Nellie are accosted by the Holt family and tailed by the Kabras. They follow Jonah Wizard and get double crossed by Irina Spasky. Uncle Alistair, however, has flown under the radar and managed a slight lead. Too bad the Starling triplets couldn’t join the rest of the Cahill Clan on their European Vacation.

The hunt for the next clue leads them to Mozart’s sister, Nannerl. Amy and Dan discover that she was equally as gifted as her brother, maybe moreso, but received no recognition because she was female in a male world. Nannerl’s diary, or more accurately, the diary’s missing pages, lead them to two major clues-to-the-clues, from Grace Cahill herself: The words that cost her life, minus the music and D>HIC.

Going into book two, I was curious to see if the tone of the first book would continue through the change in authors. Rick Riordan’s characters have now been adopted by Gordon Korman, eventually to be passed on to eight additional authors in the ten book series. Mr. Korman discussed this in a Scholastic webcast, explaining how he was able to layer additional information on to already developed characters. Dan is still a stinker, always ready for an adventure – breaking into a hotel room and jumping out a window, for example – and Amy still has an aggressive, quick-thinking side hidden not-so-deeply beneath her shy, bookworm exterior. Would a simple bookworm blackmail an adversary, a room full of them, no less, by aiming a tube of liquid red paint at a priceless portrait?

At times I wondered how in the world other Cahills always beat Dan and Amy to the next location. How many clues-to-the-clues are there, anyway, and how do the others find them so quickly? And if there are so many of these clues out there, how has this secret stayed hidden for so long? Then I remind myself to stop being such a grown-up. Who cares? Irina Spasky is at the door! Do I care how she got there? NO! I just want to know if she’s going to use her poisonous finger nail needles to kill someone.

Background knowledge and more background knowledge will be needed to fully appreciate the story. How many kids will really see Vienna or Venice in their imagination? But then again, is it necessary to understand how amazing it would be to discover unknown works by Rembrandt, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Warhol to truly enjoy the story?

Probably not. Just buckle up and enjoy One False Note as it moves along like Nellie driving on the Autobahn. And get reading! Book three is due on March 3, 2009! Amy and Dan are already headed east in pursuit.