Month: March 2016

If you haven’t read a Sonya Sones book – than you must. Stop Pretending and What My Mother Doesn’t Know are two of my favorites from her that I would recommend.  She writes novels in verse that are funny, heartbreaking, and poignant.

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies is about a girl named Ruby.  We meet Ruby at the airport, where she is flying across the country to meet and live with her father after her mother’s death. Oh yeah, her father is a Hollywood star (think Tom Cruise) and Ruby is furious with him for never contacting her before her mother’s death. Although Ruby misses her mother and is devastated by the loss, she expresses it in a unique way: she continues to email her mother’s old address, with messages full of “LOLs” and “How are things in the casket? Not too damp, I hope.” So, this book isn’t actually “hideous” or depressing. Sones has a talent for creating interesting and introspective characters and this one is no different.

Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown is known for his picture books for young readers.  “Mr. Tiger Goes Wild” and the “Curious Garden”are two of his recent books that are very popular with readers five through eight.

“The Wild Robot” is Brown’s first chapter book geared to readers 8-12.

The crate containing Roz the robot has washed up on the shore of a remote island.  She wonders where she is and more importantly why is she there.  She is worried about fitting in and surviving among the island’s wild creatures, who are equally fearful of this metal creature.

In short, well-paced chapters, Brown tells his story sometimes from the perspective of Roz, sometimes told in third-person.  Through a series of deeds, Roz wins over the island’s creatures becoming an important member of the community.

Friendship, the environment, technology, cooperation are all topics that are interwoven in the plot.  This high interest/low reading level novel is especially appealing to reluctant readers.

While many are familiar with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, an British ocean liner torpedoed by the Germans during WWI, Rita Sepetys has based her latest teen historical novel on the little known MV Wilhelm Gustloff. Sunk by the Russians during WWII, this German transport ship was hit by three Soviet torpedoes on January 30, 1945, while carrying over 10,000 passengers. Most were “approved” refugees (almost 9,000, half of which were children), the rest were German soldiers, wounded, officers and crew. The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of the four main characters: Alfred, a German sailor; Florian,a German soldier who has deserted; Joana, a Lithuanian nurse and Emilia, a young Polish girl. Sepetys gives an insightful and sobering glimpse into the plight of refugees in Eastern Europe while the Russians were on the march during WWII. Recommended for grades 8 and up, and has crossover appeal for adults as well.