Books April 2012

Books-April 2012
1. Sophie Hartley on Strike by Stephanie Greene (intermediate)
 2. With a name like Love by Tess Hilmo (middle school)
 3. Death in the city of light by David King
 4. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
 5. Extremely loud and incredibly close by Jonathan Safron Foer
 6. Our Eleanor: A scrapbook look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life by Candace Fleming (Intermediate)
 7. Heart on my sleeve by Ellen Wittinger (Young adult)
 8. The Sunbird by Elizabeth Wein (Middle School)
 9. The other Felix by Keir Graff
 10. Wonkenstein: The creature in my closer by Obert Skye
 11. Just you average princess by Kristina Springer
 12. Letters for Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes
 13. Beyond the beautiful forevers: Life, death and hope in a Mumbai undercity by Katherine Boo
 14. Inside out and back again by Thanhha Lai
 15. A rule against murder by Louise Penny
 1. Sophie is having a rough time being in the middle of a busy family, it seems that the older kids get out of doing chores because of band and jobs and the younger kids get out of doing chores because they are young. So, Sophie goes on strike. Pretty straightforward problem/solution.
 2. Ollie Love is the oldest of five daughters travelling with their mother and father, an itinerant preacher. Ollie wants nothing more than to settle down and gets her chance when they meet a boy whose mother is in jail for killing his father. Beautifully written, some heavy details about child abuse, but perfect for middle schoolers.
 3. Dr. Marcel Petiot, a horrific serial killer living in Paris during the Nazi invasion, is portrayed in a well-researched narrative. Reminded me of the Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
 4. The true story of Louis Zamperini whose plane went down in the Pacific. He floated for several weeks, just barely surviving, only to be captured by the Japanese. He then endured almost 2 years in a Japanese POW camp. The torture and starvation killed many men, but Zamperini survived to return to the US and eventually come to know Jesus at a Billy Graham revival. What a story, definitely a must read!
 5. I saw the movie, then read the book. The movie was definitely better. Some characters were combined and the tale was shortened. Very touching, just a little long and sometimes too repetitive.
 6. One of the best books I have read all year. This is for the gender project and I would recommend this to children and adults alike.
 7. Chloe’s summer between high school and college is portrayed through emails and other correspondence. Another book for the gender project. Easy and somewhat entertaining.
 8. Telemakos is the child of an African princess and a British nobleman, named after Ulysses’ son. The story is set around 1300 and incorporates history, mythology and fantasy. I read it for the gender study; since it is the third of a series, it might have been an easier read if I had read the first two books in the series.
 9. A weird little fantasy about what happens when Felix is sleeping. First his nightmares wake him up, and then he inhabits his nightmares. (Where the wild things are, anybody?) In the meantime, he is being bullied at school. It is all wrapped up neatly in the end and he befriends his bully.
10. Another weird fantasy about a creature being created from discarded books and other sundry items flung into a closet. Maybe if you are a 12 year old boy with some knowledge of literature, this would interest you. Otherwise, not so much!
 11. Jamie’s family runs the pumpkin farm and all the attendant pumpkin festivities, including the Pumpkin Princess contest, which Jamie feels she has a shot at winning. Until her beautiful cousin, daughter of movie stars, comes to town. Overt lessons in self-centered behavior, along with a super happy ending, even if Jamie does not get to be the princess.
 12. How do children handle it when a parent suffers from depression. Cadence writes to a PO box and calls herself Rapunzel. A deep subject told entirely from letters Cadence writes.
 13. One of the hardest books to read, ever. While the book was good, I found myself wishing I had not read it. True stories from the slums of Mumbai; how can that world exist alongside the growing Indian economy? The answer is difficult to comprehend.
 14. A Newbery Honor book and certainly a wonderful book. I would have put it above Jack Gantos’ tale of Norvelt. A young girl writes in free verse poetry about the end of her life in Vietnam, her travels to a refugee camp in the US and ultimately, the first year of her life in rural Georgia. One that I will definitely re-read.
 15. Back to Louise Penny and Inspector Gamache. I am about halfway through her series now and still enjoy the characters. She has taken the murder off-site this time, but brought some of the characters to the murder site. Nicely done!