Summer Reading Lists

I posted these a couple of summers ago, but still recommend them!

And have you read Rick Riordan's latest books?  You should if you liked Lightning Thief!

If you'd like to sample books, go to the American Fork Library website, and sign up for the online Teen Book Club.  

These lists of suggested books were posted by a Fairfield Public Schools in Connecticut for a summer reading program.

http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Summer-Reading

Books I'm recommending: 

Summer Books -- Scott Westerfeld

Summer Books -- Jessica Day George

Summer Books -- Patricia C. Wrede

Summer Books -- Richard Peck

Summer Reads -- Stephenie Meyer

Summer Reading -- The Dragon's Pearl  (Maybe.  I've just barely begun this one.)

Summer Books -- Drift House

Summer Books -- Chasing Lincoln's Killer  -- historical fiction -- Civil War

Summer Books -- The Bronze Pen

Summer Books -- Life in the Pit

Summer Books -- Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes -- realistic fiction: A twelve-year old boy struggling  with his parents' divorce meets a family still struggling  with the long-ago death of one of the children.  

By the way, I'm borrowing a tradition from a family in this book.  They talk about whether anyone in the family has F.M.S.  (fear of mission something).  Spencer's father says, "No F.M.S. for anyone. We'll all be there [at the lake] together."  

Summer Books --Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers by Gary Paulsen -- (autobiographical)   Paulsen writes about his adventures with a great lead dog and her last litter of pups.  Notice this recommendation (that uses similes) from the back of the paperback version:  "The writing, as pristine as new snow and as warm as a hearth in a blizzard, takes hold of the heart." -- Chicago Sun-Times

 

I've heard that The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry is a fun read.  You can try it on Goggle Books. 

 Summer Books -- Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull. 

     Many of you are way ahead of me on this, but I just read the second book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull, and I'm starting the third.  I'm wondering about who (in the books) can really be trusted! 

   It's July 13, and I'm into the fourth book.  Brandon Mull really puts his characters into some tough situations!  July 17 -- I'm off to borrow the 5th book from a neighbor.  I can't wait.  I was so surprised by what happened in the fourth book.  I had absolutely no clue we were going to find out that  _____________ was _______________!

   On July 19 I finished reading Keys to the Demon Prison.   I definitely, highly recommend these books.  Of course, many of you already know how great they are!

 

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry -- Highly recommended historical fiction.  Katy wants to be a doctor when she grows up -- like her father.  Back in 1911, that's not as usual as it is now.  Also, back in 1911, people like Jacob (the silent boy of the title) aren't understood as well as they are now. (Or is it really any better for them now?)  How do we treat people who are different?

 

Hush by Donna Jo Napoli 

Napoli based this historical novel on a character mentioned in an Icelandic saga.  The saga gave the author an Irish Princess who becomes a slave, and Napoli fills in the story of how it happens and how this princess/slave gains some degree of power over her fate through silence, by following the advice to "Hush."  This is not a retold fairy tale with happy endings.  The story is harsh, as life must have been in the early 900's.  For ninth grade and up. 

Peeled by Joan Bauer 

Joan Bauer is one of my favorite authors.  In Peeled she has created another strong teen character, Hildy Biddle, a reporter on her high school newspaper, who (with the help of other likable, quirky characters) tries to uncover the truth about a haunted house, the mayor's big plan for their town, and what seem to be the duplicitous manipulations coming from the local newspaper.  Recommended.

 

 

July 30 -- I'm reading Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

     Great action and characters, some language.  This is a very popular science fiction series.   

August 9, 2010 -- I've read the first three Maximum Ride books.  I've enjoyed them, but must admit some things got a bit repetitious.  My daughter tells me that Final Warning gets too eco-preachy, even though she comes from a family of tree-huggers.  She says that definitely detracts from the enjoyment of the story. 

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
Author: Patterson, James

700L
Pages: 422
Ages: 12 and up

Historical/Multicultural Fiction --  Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
   Alvarez really did grow up in the Dominican Republic during the time period portrayed in this novel. She has fictionalized the events, but kept them close enough to what really happened to show us what it would have been like to grow up in country run by a dictator -- from the perspective of a twelve year-old girl whose adult family members have either left the country or become freedom fighters.  

August 12 -- I'm reading  

• A Door in the Woods -- Book One of the Jimmy Fincher Saga by James Dashner. It's pretty fast-paced adventure/fantasy.  Fourteen year old Jimmy witnesses what may be a murder, is kidnapped himself, escapes, witnesses another murder after he is sent into hiding, is almost murdered, has his family taken away (apparently -- as far as I know so far-- by the same bad guys), all while realizing that things are not as they seem -- that there is more to the world than he could have ever dreamed. 
• The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle.  I guess we could call the genre this fits into "historical poetry"  The poems are first-person accounts (the characters are telling their own story) of what was going on in Cuba from 1850 to 1899.  The Cuban landowners are paying slave hunters to capture their run-away slaves, then as they rebel against Spain, they release and fight along with those slaves to achieve freedom for all Cubans. The characters telling their stories so far include a "witch" child who works to heal the wounded, and the son of a slave-hunter.  Other historical poetry books would  include  Out of the Dust and Witness by Karen Hesse.

More historical fiction-- recommended by Jessica Day George on Good Reads:
Jessica George gave 4 stars to: The Ransom of Mercy Carter (Laurel Leaf Books) by Caroline B. Cooney
bookshelves: historical-fiction, young adult

I am a sucker for true stories of white children raised by Native Americans. I used to fantasize about it as a kid: what would it be like to be a puritan, or a product of the Victorian era, and then find yourself kidnaped and raised by natives? This book hits on exactly where the root of my fascination lay: in every single one of these true stories, the girl never returns to her white family, even when she has a choice. Why was that? Was it the carefree lifestyle? Was their new family more loving, more indulgent? This last is what Cooney postulates for Mercy Carter. Raised in a stern, God-fearing home, the people who adopted her were known to treasure their children, who were given only the easiest chores and spent most of their days playing games and being petted. This is a great book, comparing the life of the white settlers to the natives, and detailing what became of Mercy along with the other children who were taken the night of the Deerfield, Massachusetts, massacre. Interestingly enough, some of the children were taken all the way to Canada, and given to French families who wanted to adopt a child! Highly recommened for those who like historical fiction!

•  
  
  
  The Hollow Kingdom, Author: Dunkle, Clare B. 750L  Pages: 230
  Ages: 12 and up  Series: Hollow Kingdom Trilogy Ser.    I loved reading this book, and will look for the other two in the trilogy: Close Kin, and In the Coils of the Snake.  I'll also be looking for other books by this author.  

       The Paper Doorway by Dean Koontz.  In case you don't know, Dean Koontz writes horror novels.  And he also seems to be one of the sweetest, kindest men alive (judging by his website).  This is a book of poems he's written for children. Yes, there are gory funny-gory) ones (which those of us in the seventh grade tend to like), but also other funny, clever, and  thoughtful poems.  

_______________________________________________

I haven't read this yet, but Jessica Day George recommends (5 stars out of 5)  Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1) by Cherie Priest   This book is in the Scholastic book orders for this month.
bookshelves: award-winners, steampunk
She says -- 
So. Good.
In an alternate 19th century Seattle, a terrible thing has happened: Leviticus Blue has built a magnificent machine, intended to drill through ice to unlock the Klondike's gold. What makes this so terrible is that Blue's machine first burrows under the city of Seattle itself, unleashes a strange gas that turns anyone who breathes it into a zombie!

Yes, it's a weird, sensational premise. No, the book is not at all overwrought and silly. It's a hard, simple book about people who went west to work the frontier, and instead find themselves dealing with a much harder world than they had imagined. Briar Wilkes Blue, widow of the strange inventor, is just trying to eke out a living for her and her boy, Zeke . . . but when Zeke goes into the heart of the city for evidence that his father was a hero, not a villain, Briar goes in after him. The book is beautiful: heartfelt, inventive in ways that make me stand in awe of Priest's writing as well as her fine, fine plotting. The characters were wonderful, the steampunk machinery as believable as the real historical details.

Run, people, and get a copy of this book! Run before the rotters get you! Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Girls, Here's a Book Recommendation from Meg Cabot

Updated from June 25 to August 12 and on September 15 -- 2010

Summer Reading -- The Dragon's Pearl

See the link to Online Book Clubs through the American Fork City Library:  Teen Book Club.  
I think I'll enjoy this week's book.  Here's the introduction I got today (June 14, 2010). 

This week's book:
THE DRAGON'S PEARL
by Devin Jordan

FROM THE BOOK JACKET:

For as long as he can remember, sixteen-year-old Marco
Polo has yearned for a life of adventure. He has always
been determined to follow in the footsteps of his father,
the famous explorer Niccolo Polo. But instead he is being
groomed for head accountant of the Polo family fortune.

When Niccolo Polo vanishes in Asia and is written off as
dead, Marco knows that this is his chance to prove
himself. Armed only with a handful of mysterious talismans
and the friendship of his family servant, Amelio, Marco
embarks upon a dangerous journey to rescue his father.

As Marco and his companions travel deeper into the Unknown
Lands, where magic still reigns, he begins to realize that
his mission is far more dangerous than he had thought; A
deadly enemy is tracking Marco. And as Marco hunts for
answers, he only uncovers new questions. What is the
secret of the mysterious blue pearl? And why are so many
willing to kill for it?

The thrilling untold early adventures of the famous
explorer Marco Polo sizzle with Asian mysticism, swash-
buckling swordfights, and the ultimate battle between good
and evil.

Summer Reads -- Stephenie Meyer

6/12/10  -- This is my Good Reads review:

  When we first read Eclipse,my teenage daughter and I agreed that we wished we knew more about Bree.  Thanks, Stephenie, for taking care of that.  Yes, Stephenie, in a way it was hard to read, knowing that "it doesn't end well for her," but the story satisfied many of those wonderings we'd experienced concerning Bree.
     Just as Riley started leading the "newborns" to battle against the Cullens I paused to reread that portion of  Eclipse.  Since it had been awhile since the last time I'd read it, I think the memory-refreshing  helped, and would recommend that strategy. 
     Now that I'm done, I'll let my daughter have the book and I'll be interested in what she has to say about it.  I must get her on goodreads.

Eyebrows?! and Summer Reading

Have you seen the Cadbury eyebrow commercial?

If your parents will let you use youtube, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVblWq3tDwY to watch this commercial.

I'm making a text-to-text connection between these lively eyebrows and an eyebrow that comes to life in one of Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom books.

[Making connections is a great reading strategy that makes reading easier and more fun!]

In Nix's book, there is an eyebrow that comes to life and becomes a character in the book. Weird? I know. A couple of years ago I was at a conference where Garth Nix spoke and answered questions. I asked him where the idea came from for the eyebrow that came to life. Most of the people in the room looked at me as if they'd never heard of such a thing! However, for me and my daughter, that had had been one of our favorite parts of the book.

He said one day he noticed a man with very bushy eyebrows and could imagine one of those eyebrows stepping off that man's face and taking on a personality of its own. Yes, weird, but what a fun idea! You really should try out that series.

I can't remember if the eyebrow is in the first, or in a later book, but it does work best to start with Mister Monday.

Look for these books:
The Keys to the Kingdom series, starting with Mister Monday.

If you'd like smaller, easier (but still exciting and well-written) books, look for his Seventh Tower series (two out so far), starting with The Fall.

My favorite Garth Nix series is the Abhorsen (The Old Kingdom) Trilogy, starting with Sabriel.

To learn more about Garth Nix, go to his official site at http://www.garthnix.co.uk/

Summertime 2

How do I choose the books I read?
Recommendations: My adult daughter was reading The Book Thief, borrowed from one of her friends, and she and other people told me it was a book I should read. She had it at our house, so when she finished it, I borrowed it.
Awards and recognitions: The Book Thief is a New York Times #1 selling novel, and it has won several awards.
An author I like: I've read Words By Heart by Ouida Sebestyen with seventh grade English classes. It's about a black girl whose family is the only black family in their Texas community. When I saw another book by the same author, because I like Words By Heart so much, I figured it was worth a try.


I just finished reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's categorized as adolescent (for kids your age) and the lexile level is only 730, but the subject matter is heavy, there are some special challenges to comprehension (such as the story skipping around instead of always being told in chronological, which means time, order), the characters use harsh language, and the book is over 500 pages. The main character of the book is a girl growing up in Germany during World War II, but there is also an important boy character. Something very different about this book is the point of view. The narrator is death -- the one who comes to carry away souls. This is a unique book, and one with powerful emotional impact.

When I finished reading The Book Thief, I started reading Out of Nowhere by Ouida Sebestyn. Sebestyn is the author of Words By Heart, which we read in English class last year -- and probably will read again this year. Out of Nowhere is about a thirteen year old boy who is left "in the middle of nowhere" by his mom and her new boyfriend, a dog who is abandoned by his owners in the same area, a woman who has just been abandoned by the man she's been married to for over 40 years, a cranky old man who collects everything (but nothing that seems worth much), and a teen girl who reminds me of the title character of Jerry Spinelli's Star Girl because she is comfortable with being different, she works hard to help people, and she could use friends.

These are reviews I wrote in 2005 for a class I was taking.

Van Draanen, Wendelin

Mystery – Adolescent

Van Draanen, Wendelin,

[Start with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief.]

Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man.  Yearling, 1999, 176 p.

Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy.  Yearling, 1999, 240 p.

Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes

Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy. Yearling; reprint edition, 2002, 288 p.

Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception

Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief.  Random House, 1998, 163 p.  (I haven’t read this one yet.  It was always checked out at the library, but I just bought it.)

            A couple of months before the symposium, I sent my son to the library to check out Sammy Keyes books, and he brought back the five he found.  We knew we weren’t starting with the first book in the series, but I started reading, and so did my twelve year old daughter Emily.   It worked anyway.  Now that we’ve gone back to the first one, we realize it explains some things we were wondering about, and we did get more of a physical description of the infamous Heather Acosta than we’d thought was available, but the individual books are each good enough to stand on their own. 

Emily and I now adore Sammy Keyes.  In past years I’ve had several girl students turn in book reports on Sammy Keyes books.   I hadn’t read the books, so just thought,

“ Oh, here’s another girl reading one of these silly little mystery stories.”    Now that I’ve read several of the books I appreciate what Wendelin VanDraanen has done.  She’s written absorbing stories about this likeable girl who lives an interestingly unconventional life yet shares so many of the fears and worries of other kids her age.  She’s smart and brave enough to stand up for herself, help other people, and solve mysteries.

            Sammy is twelve years old and is just starting seventh grade at the beginning of the series.  She doesn’t know who or where her father is, and her mom has gone off to  seek stardom in Hollywood, leaving Sammy with her grandmother. A further complication in Sammy’s life is that Grams lives in a high-rise building exclusively for senior citizens.   So Sammy has to sleep on the couch and sneak in and out, often by way of the fire escape, as part of her regular leaving and returning “home.”   Her best friend Marissa, who does the McKenzie dance when she gets nervous but is willing to go outside her comfort zone for a friend, is also a character worth getting to know, as is Sammy’s grandmother, a certain policeman who gets very frustrated with Sammy,  and a senior citizen gentleman friend of her grandmother who also becomes a good friend to Sammy.   Then there’s Heather Acosta, another seventh grader and Sammy’s  arch enemy – one of those characters the reader loves to loathe.  

Sammy has a knack for getting into trouble, and for getting involved in other people’s troubles.   In the books we’ve read, Sammy puts out a fire in the spookiest house in town, unveils some con-artists parading as a group dedicated to charity, finds a home for a runaway, cares for an abandoned baby  (with none of the babysitting lessons some girls have had) and risks her life to save the baby’s mother, sneaks off to Hollywood

(with Marissa) and saves her own mother from a deadly situation, helps reveal deception within the worlds of art and human relationships, and foils the thief who knows that she knows.  As my daughter says, “Of course, Sammy always wins!”

            I don’t know how much my daughter has noticed this in the books, but I’m impressed that Sammy is learning about relationships and learning about understanding other people.   She’s maturing as I would hope to see my seventh grade students mature in being able to appreciate and relate to others, though I don’t really wish the extreme adventures for my students.   I suspect that these books have special meaning for my own

daughter since her dad hasn’t been in the picture since she was an infant.  Certainly she doesn’t worry that I’d run off to become a movie star, but I know she does worry about losing me.  Sammy shows here that even if that happened, she could manage and even thrive with a few caring adults and friends around and using her own strengths and gifts and determination.  

                       

Realistic Fiction -- Adolescent

Van Draanen, Wendelin,  Flipped.  Scholastic, 2001, 212 p. 

More great characters and page-turning story from Van Draanen.  This one is told in two voices – the bright and willing-to-be different girl who’s had a crush on the neighbor boy ever since his family moved in “the summer before second grade,”  and the boy who is the object of her affections, but who definitely does not have a crush on her until. . .

 This is a story about growing up, about families, and about choices between valuing the superficial and applying an inner moral compass to difficult decisions.

A family member with profound “special needs” figures into the story.  When I read Flipped,  I’d just finished reading  Al Capone Does My Shirts  by Gennifer Choldenko. Al Capone Does My Shirts  is told from the point of view of a boy whose family has just moved to Alcatraz for his dad’s job as an electrician and guard, and so his sister can attend a special school in San Francisco.   Both books examine how families handle having someone in the family who is “different”  in ways that may require  special effort and sacrifice and difficult decisions that most families don’t have to experience.  Paired, these books could lead to discussion and consideration of the problems and joys that come to families that include these special people. 

Nix, Garth

Fantasy – Adolescent

Nix, Garth,  The Keys to the Kingdom – Mister Monday.  Scholastic, 2003,  361 p.

Nix, Garth, The Keys to the Kingdom – Grim Tuesday.     Scholastic, 2004,  321 p.

            My twelve year old daughter and I read these together.  I wasn’t sure at first if I would like this series because it’s so “far out,”  but as we got into them, we were drawn into the world Nix creates, into the story, and drawn to Arthur Penhaligon – and later to Suzy Turquoise Blue.   I was at first a little bothered that the “Architect” is female, that

the “Architect” has abandoned her creations, that “heaven” is such a chaotic, strange place, and that there is so much in the books that is dark and disturbing.  However, I’m

able to live with those aspects of the books because the story does pull me along, caring about Arthur and his quests, and wondering what Nix will come up with next.  Nix does create memorable scenes such as the clockwork woodsman and woman, the journey into the pit, and the anthropomorphic eyebrow.   Our most telling reaction to the books is that  we’re  interested enough to keep on reading – we’ll be at the library looking for a copy of Drowned Wednesday.

Novelization of X-Files Episode -- Teen Science Fiction

Nix, Garth, The Calusari.  HarperCollins, 1997, 100 p.    

            I watched and loved The X-Files for years.  Nix was asked to create a novelization of one of the episodes, so when I saw it in the library I grabbed it to read.  I felt that he caught the feel of the show and the main characters.

I also read a short story Nix wrote called “Hanzel’s Eyes.”  It was published in a collection of new versions of fairy tales by currently famous writers for young people – A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, published by Simon and Schuster, 2000.  I liked the way he updated the old story – Hanzel and Gretel are lured into a video-game store instead of a gingerbread house, and the witch is harvesting organs instead of cooking up the kids.   This is a dark, scary story -- guess what happens to Hanzel’s eyes! But it has a happy ending – sort of, almost,  well, the ending is strange enough that Nix could indeed continue the story.