Red Moon at Sharpsburg

Author: Rosemary Wells

Publisher: Penguin Group

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 870L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Middle school girls and some boys.

Reader's Advisory: For a non-fiction book on the Civil War, try You Wouldn't Want to be a Civil War Soldier! A War You'd Rather Not Fight by Thomas M. Ratliff.

Summary: India Moody is a young woman, coming of age in Virginia during the Civil War. Although she comes from a poor family, India is the god-daughter of the well off Geneva Trimble thanks to her father saving the life of Calvin Trimble. When the Civil War starts, India's best friend Julia moves away to Ohio. First the Trimbles's younger sons join the Confederate army, then India's father and India's tutor, Emory Trimble join, too. India witnesses the battlefield at Sharpsburg trying to bring medicine to her father. She sees many other terrible things before the end of the war is in sight, but throughout it all she holds on to her goal of finding her way to Ohio to attend Oberlin College. Juila has written to her that Oberlin accepts women and allows students to work off their tuition. India has heard that the world will be different after the war, and she hopes that means there will be a place for educated women.

My favorite passage:

Then he slaps down a notebook in front of me and takes on a churchy voice. "India, I am a tutor of physical philosophy at the University of Virginia. Until the war ends and school starts I am to be your teacher." he announces to me.
I feel my legs dangling from my chair like a little girl's.
"The following are our subjects." On a slate is written in my mother's hand, Scriptures, household economics, handwriting, declamation.
"We'll start on chapter one of Makey's Moral Behavior for American Girls," Emory says.
On the table next to me is a brass tube with an eyepiece up top, eight inches long. It shines and sits aslant a black basalt stand.
"What's that?" I ask.
"It's called a microscope," says Emory. "I brought it back from the university. Now repeat after me," he says. "'A Godly life is a swift river which runs through the garden of temptation.'"
"A Godly life is a swift river through the garden of temptation," I reel off.
"Which runs through," says Emory.
"What is the microscope for?" I ask.
"You can see tiny bacteria that are invisible to the naked eye," Emory answers. "'A Godly life is a swift river which runs through the garden of temptation."
"Can you show me? Can I look through it?"
"Let's get the prism out. It needs a prism to refract enough light for you to see." He turns the scope around, catches a ray of sunlight in the prism, and inserts a glass slide. "That is hog's blood," he says. (pg 36-37)

What I really think:
This book would be great to accompany a lesson in school about the American Civil War. I have always had a hard time with history myself, yet Wells has certainly drawn me into the story and taught me a great deal throughout her novel. I was especially surprised to read about how poor the medical field was at this time. Fiction books can educate and they can be a great resource for kids who turn their noses up at the text book.

The Garden of Eve

This is a review of the audio book.

Author: K. L. Going

Reader: Allyson Ryan

Producer: Random House

Production Year: 2007

Lexile: Unavailable

Most of the listeners will be: Late elementary age girls.

Listener's Advisory: For another audio book on death and strange places, listen to Jodi Lynn Anderson's May Bird and the Ever After (reviewed on March 25, 2008).

Summary: After Evie's mom dies, she and her dad move to a dead apple orchard in Beaumont, New York. While her father tries to bring the trees back to life, Evie plays with Alex, a young boy about her age who died of cancer a week before she moved to town. Evie does and doesn't believe that Alex is a ghost, but they become friends anyway. On her birthday, Evie gets a strange present from Maggie, the sister of the old man who previously owned their house and orchard. It is a seed. Evie comes to believe that this seed is from the Garden of Eden, and has the power to take her to another place. On a cold Beaumont afternoon, she and Alex find out exactly what the seed can do.

My favorite passage:
When Evie first meets Alex she thinks to herself that when her mom was alive she could have believed in ghosts (she could have believed in a lot of things), but now, she just can't. (Disc 1)

What I really think:
This is a great book for a child dealing with loss. Evie wants so badly to be with her mother that it takes almost getting stuck in the magical garden forever to make her realize all the wonderful things she still has in her life, including her father. Adam struggles with the loss of his brother. He would rather be the ghost of Alex, than be Adam and live without Alex.

Not all of Alyson Ryan's voices are super distinct. But her voice for Alex/Adam is amazing. He really sounds like a bratty little New York boy.

The Linden Tree

Author: Ellie Mathews

Publisher: Milkweed Editions

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 1040L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: This book would be great to read before going back a little further in American history with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books.

Summary:
Katy Sue's mother has just died of meningitis and is buried under the old linden tree up on the hill. Katy Sue, her sister Ingrid, her brother Ben, and their Papa do their best to carry on "now Edna's gone." They live on a farm in Iowa in 1948 and life is hard. Katy Sue cares for the chickens. Ben raises the pigs. Papa works in the field. And Ingrid does the house work. It isn't long before they realize they need help, and Papa asks Mama's sister Aunt Katherine to move in with them. Aunt Katherine makes life both easier and harder. She helps Ingrid in the kitchen, but she can be very critical of Katy Sue. As the year passes the family works together to keep the farm going, and keep each other going whenever they miss Mama.

My favorite passage:

"There's something I didn't tell my mama. When she was sick, I mean." Mrs. Breton leaned forward. I bunched my fingers into the splotches in my skirt. "Mama said I was her special treasure and I didn't answer." I twisted my fingers in my skirt as if to make the wet spots disappear. "I should have. But I didn't know what to say." I had nowhere to look but into my own lap. "I mean - I didn't think - I didn't think she would really - that she'd really die." My hands stopped moving. "I thought I had time to say it, you know, later."
"And now there is no later, is there? That's the heartbreak." Mrs. Breton touched my wrist and said in a voice that made me think of the warmest, deepest, clearest pool imaginable, "You wanted to say how much you loved her, didn't you?"
I snapped my eyes to Mrs. Breton's. "How did you know?"
"But hadn't you ever told her that?"
"Oh, yes ma'am. Lots of times. All the time. Every day. She was the best mama anyone ever had."
"Then you didn't have to tell her again. She already knew. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. There's more to loving someone than what you say to them, you know."
"Yes, ma'am," I said. "But still, I wish I'd said it."
"I'll tell you what. Why don't you find something around your farm to draw some pictures of. Then you can put her in the pictures. Just the way you want to see her. You have milk cows out at your place, don't you?"
"Some days it seems we're raising nothing but crows out in the field."
"Then draw me some crows."
"I don't like crows."
"Well, okay."
I couldn't have said why, but that made me laugh on top of my crying, thinking of crows at a time like that and because people sort of teased Mrs. Breton about how serious she could be about drawing pictures all the time, and there we were talking about crows. (pg 31-32)

What I really think:
Mathews skillfully takes us through the grieving process. Katy Sue doesn't want to celebrate her birthday without her mother. She doesn't want to celebrate Christmas. She is afraid of people being nice to her because it makes her cry, but when she cries with her teacher, it helps her. On top of all these emotions, Katy Sue doesn't know what to do with Aunt Katherine. Her aunt hurts her feelings by correcting her grammar, but then Katy Sue learns that it was this same aunt who held her through the colic when she was a baby. Everything the family goes through is difficult, but they do get through it. This book could be helpful to a young person dealing with loss, or even to someone getting a step parent. Aunt Katherine has to be a mother figure without trying to take their mother's place. This is also a good read just for learning more about early America.

Cassie Was Here

Author: Caroline Hickey

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 610L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Middle to late elementary school girls.

Reader's Advisory: For another book on a girl a little too old for an imaginary friend, read Still There, Clare by Yvonne Prinz.

Summary: Bree's family has just moved to a new house and suddenly Bree's imaginary friend, Joey, has returned to keep her company. Bree's brother Reid and her parents don't like Joey. They think she is too old for an imaginary friend. They are all really angry when Joey tells Bree to tell Reid to jump out of a tree, and he breaks his arm. Then, while Bree and Joey are playing Nancy Drew, they see a girl getting out of a taxi with a suitcase and going into one of the houses. Bree's mother encourages her to make friends with the new girl, so Bree introduces herself to Cassie. It turns out that Cassie isn't new. She has left her boarding school to come stay with her grandmother. Cassie is a couple years older than Bree and invites her to smoke the day that they meet! A few days later, Cassie cuts off Bree's long hair and gives her highlights that make her look just like Cassie. She may be a little bit of a trouble maker, but Bree thinks she is fun and exciting. Joey doesn't like Cassie at all and she stops talking to Bree. Bree is pretty upset about losing Joey, but not as upset as she is when she and another neighborhood girl, Anna find Cassie and Reid making out in the school! Things go from bad to worse when Reid tells Cassie and Anna about Joey. Bree can't figure out if Cassie has just been using her to get close to Reid or if maybe Cassie really does like her. By the time Cassie leaves her grandmother's house later in the summer, the two girls finally start to understand each other.

My favorite passage:

We each grab a glass and sit back. Anna starts telling me stories about things Cassie did the last time she visited, like painting her grandmother's metal trashcans hot pink and stealing the stop sign from the corner. Anna doesn't sound impressed, just matter of fact, and I start to wonder how close they are. They don't seem like good friends, but they've obviously hung out together a lot.
Exactly twenty minutes later, a voice comes booming over the intercom again.
"ANNA, PLEASE TELL YOUR GUESTS IT'S TIME TO GO. THEY'RE WELCOME TO COME BACK ANYTIME."
Anna makes a noise like she has gum stuck in her throat. Remembering my manners, I thank her for having us and tell her I'll be back to see her soon.
"I'll be here," she says dismally. "I'm always here."
As we go down the stairs and yell good-bye to Mrs. Randall, a very furry gray cat passes through the living room in front of us and yowls at Cassie. It obviously remembers her.
"So that's the cat," I say.
She nods. That's the cat. And see? His hair grew back just fine." (pg 80)

What I really think:
When I first started reading I thought to myself, "Did she really write the whole book in present tense?" And yeah, she did, and I never noticed it again because it flows so naturally.

I love this book because every character is complex. In some ways Bree wants to stop talking to Joey to please her family, but she is sad when Joey leaves because she is her oldest and most loyal friend. Then there is Cassie. Even the reader can't understand her until the end. Does she like Bree or doesn't she? It turns out that Cassie is still struggling with her mother's death. At first she hangs out with Bree to stay out of trouble, but in spite of her sometimes vicious behavior, she really does like Bree and envies her relationship with her mother.

There are so many issues here a young reader could latch on to: getting along with siblings, making new friends, coping with loss.

Maddigan's Fantasia

Author: Margaret Mahy

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 880L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Late elementary to early middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: For another epic in which the hero travels to many strange places try Robin Lister's retelling of The Odyssey.

Summary: Garland Maddigan is a performer in a traveling circus. She lives in a time called the Remaking. The world is mending itself after the Destruction and the Chaos. Strange things are happening in the Fantasia. First Garland's father, Ferdy, the Ringmaster, is killed by Road Rats. Then three children join up with the Fantasia: Timon, Eden, and their baby sister Jewel. As they all try to decide what to do next, Garland's mother Maddie announces that the Fantasia has been given a mission by the great city of Solis. Solis needs a solar converter that has been created by the brilliant minds in the city of Newton. The Fantasia wants to do their part in remaking the world, but Timon and Eden assure Garland that getting the solar converter to Solis is more important than she could have imagined. They have traveled to her time from the future, and in that future, Solis is run by an evil creature called the Nennog. Only getting the converter to Solis by the summer solstice can keep the Nennog from coming into power.

My favorite passage:

"Hey!" cried Boomer, softly at first. "Hey! Wake up!" Something about their sleep was intimidating, and he dared not speak very loudly. Then, with relief, he saw movement. Timon! Timon was sitting up...sitting up and blinking...rubbing his hands down over his face...standing up...staring around...then moving across the room toward Eden.
"Timon!" Boomer exclaimed, grateful that he was no longer alone.
But Timon did not turn. It seemed he had not heard him. Boomer slipped around Garland's feet and ran toward Timon, planning to grab his arm and show him (triumphantly) the stolen key. But Timon walked past one of the lamps, and the lamplight, though soft and dim, briefly lit up his face. Boomer stopped abruptly, for Timon's expression frightened him. They eyes, open but narrowed, flickered with a greenish light. Timon's mouth had thinned into a rigid line, and its corners were not so much turned down as dragged down, as if by some strange muscular spasm. There in the shadows of that cold, straw-filled room, Timon had become and evil alien, reaching out to his brother's throat as if he might strangle him.
"Don't," said Boomer, reaching out too...reaching out, though he was terrified again, to drag at those taut, crooked fingers. Timon half turned, swinging out his right arm as he did so, striking Boomer's side just below his waist. It was as if he had been hit with a plank of wood. Boomer toppled sideways as Timon struck again, but this time he thumped not Boomer but Boomer's drum, which sounded a single beat...a curious signal...an announcement of some kind. At the sound of that single beat, the dreadful, set expression on Timon's face seemed to melt away. (pg 220-221)

What I really think:
This could have been a really great book if there were no time traveling.

I like Garland's character development. She isn't so bratty that the reader doesn't like her, but bratty enough that we feel uncomfortable with her when she realizes how she has been acting.

I also like that each town has their own unique problems. Hopefully we can learn from their mistakes. Gramth has a dark secret: children are being stolen away and forced to work in underground mines. The people of Greentown live in a mind-weed induced fantasy, and are being eaten by the servants handing out the mind-weed! Newton's children have organized and the adults don't reign them in because they are so grateful to have children at all.

But this time travel business... I admit that my main problem is that I have my own ideas about how time travel works and when it is written differently, I don't believe in it and find it frustrating. Perhaps this is simply a personal problem. But I struggled through time travel books when I was twelve for the same reason, so maybe some other young readers feel the same way I do.

Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record

Author: Annie Barrows

Illustrator: Sophie Blackall

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 600L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Early elementary school girls.

Reader's Advisory: For a chapter book series about boys who are friends, try Jon Scieszka's Time Warp Trio books.

Summary:
When Bean gets board with the cat book she has picked out for Drop Everything and Read, Ms. Aruba-Tate lends her The Amazing Book of World Records. By recess, Bean has the whole class looking over her shoulder at the strange things people have done. Bean and several of her classmates go home that day intending to break records from the book. Bean tries for most straws stuffed in her mouth and breaking glass with her voice before Ivy talks her into looking for dinosaur bones in the back yard. They actually find bones, and declare themselves the youngest paleontologists. Their classmates do not believe Ivy and Bean have dug up a dinosaur so the girls invite them over for an exhibition. Right before their gusts arrive, Bean's older sister Nancy tells the girls that those are bones a dog buried and not a dinosaur. Bean's father and Ivy salvage the day as Bean thinks of new records to break.

My favorite passage:

"Hey!" said Bean.
Ivy looked at her.
"I've got a great idea!" said Bean. This is going to be easy. "I'm good at screaming, and I'm good at breaking things, right?"
"I guess so."
"I'll break a glass by screaming," said Bean. "I'll be the youngest person ever to do it."
"What? You scream and throw a glass?" Ivy looked confused. "You already did that with a plate."
"No - the scream breaks the glass. This lady in the book did it.She screamed so loud that a wine glass shattered. But she was old. I could probably scream louder because I'm young. I'll be a record breaker."
"That's a good record," said Ivy. "That'll be fun." She bounced a little on Bean's bed.
"Okay," said Bean, "I'll need a wine glass. I'll go get it." She jumped up. And then she sat down again. Her dad was still sweeping up little pieces of plate. He probably wouldn't be very happy to find out that she was planning to break something else. Maybe she could find something made of glass upstairs where he wouldn't need to know about it. Not a mirror. That was bad luck. But there had to be something she could use. "I've got it!" she yelled.
"Got what?"
"Nancy's glass animals. I'll shatter one of them. It'll be even better than a wine glass."
"Won't Nancy get mad?"
Bean pictured Nancy's face and then quickly put it out of her mind. "No. She has gazillions of them, and besides, I'll glue the animal back together when I'm done. She won't even notice." I hope, she added silently. (pg 44-47)

What I really think:
I am indebted to one of our young patrons for introducing me to Ivy and Bean. Children often ask for chapter book series and the ones with which I am most familiar are more appealing to boys. So now, I have a series to recommend to girls!

Ivy and Bean are a wonderful example of a healthy friendship. Although they are very different, each girl supports the other and respects her interests. Ivy tries to help Bean break records even when her attempts are messy and will probably get them in trouble. And Bean agrees to help Ivy dig up dinosaur bones like Ivy's idle, Mary Anning.

I think the way that Ms. Aruba-Tate deals with Bean's lack of interest in reading is also noteworthy. It can be difficult to get kids to enjoy reading, but she knows that all it takes is the right book. This is a good message to parents that kids don't have to read story books all the time. Some children are more interested in reading non-fiction books, like a book of world records. And why not encourage them to do so? They can learn fun facts and read at the same time!

The Middle of Somewhere

Author: J. B. Cheaney

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 1030L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Late elementary and early middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: Veronica reminded me of Lucky from The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron, the 2007 Newberry winner.

Summary:
Veronica Sparks's summer begins inauspiciously when her hyperactive brother lets a squirrel into the house and during the ensuing chaos, their mother breaks her knee. When Ronnie's grandfather happens to stop by for a visit in his brand new camper van, her mother suggests he take Ronnie and Gee (the brother) with him for a week as he travels across Kansas wind prospecting. Gee doesn't behave much better on this trip than he did at home. He causes many near disasters before finally stowing away in the trailer owned by his idle, Cannonball Paul. Family, friends, and strangers come together to look for Gee, and Veronica learns about the things in life that are truly important.

My favorite passage:

But Leo was a lot more than his latest special thing. That dog, I realized, was the only living creature on this earth who could take Gee exactly as he was, without getting frustrated or sending him to the principal's office or lecturing him about thinking before acting.
I turned back to Pop. "How about we play cards for the dog?"
That startled him out of his stubborn expression." How's that?"
I took a deep breath, making up the deal as it came to me. "Suppose we play a hand of...five-card draw. No, three hands. Best two out of three. If I win, we keep the dog. If you win, we try to find him a good home with somebody else."
"That's the spirit!" our neighbor exclaimed. "I like it. Whaddaya say, Jack?"
Mrs. Mac spoke almost too soft to hear. "Give it a chance, Jack."
He tightened up his lips, but his eyes shifted to Gee, then back to me. After a few seconds, he untightened enough to say, "Okay."
The audience cheered. Seriously.

What I really think:
I love Ronnie's voice. This is a story that needs to be told in first person, and quite skillfully is. Ronnie's attachment to Kent Clark's Seize the Way is something many middle schoolers could relate to. Young people in this age group are often looking for guidance and rules to follow, and these don't always come from a religion. And like other children her age do, Ronnie struggles with the rules she tries to live by, realizing that they don't always work. She also deals with difficult family relationships. She has a younger brother who is so needy, his needs not only overshadow hers, they also take up most of her time. Her grandfather doesn't help her, but actually creates more work for her. Ronnie fears that if Gee annoys Pop too much he will take them back home prematurely, so she actually tries extra hard to keep Gee under control around him. There are certainly many middle schoolers who have demanding younger siblings and/or parental figures they try overly hard to please. I do think this book will speak to the young people who read it.