Juniper Berry by Kozlowksy

Recently I ordered a handful of books that bloggers have noted as possible Newbery candidates for 2012. Typically I don't order hardcover books. I find the price to be a bit much, and the size/heft of paperback books to be preferable. But since many of the Newbery books are new releases I found myself in the position of *needing* to order them in hardcover. Alas I digress (as an aside, my goodreads list is here).

That brings me to Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky. I'd seen it prior to doing my Mock Newbery research, faced out in a Barnes and Noble and later in Third Place Books. The basic premise is that sometimes wishing for things can lead us down a path to being someone we don't want to be- whether consciously or not. It is a classic tale of temptation and using will willpower to avoid "darkness."

Juniper Berry's family should be a fairy tale. Her parents are movie stars. She lives in a large house with seemingly endless methods of amusing herself. But something is awry. Juniper's parents grow increasingly dark and angry. Her fairy tale is disintegrating. One day, in the rain (oh the symbolism!), she meets a boy named Giles. His life has a familiar ring to Juniper's, and they find that their parents are connected by this twisted old tree in the woods. What follows is Juniper and Giles trying to resist the temptation of having the dreams made a reality. They'll also try to reclaim the life that they had once before. I enjoyed it... it wasn't my favorite. Juniper lacks depth as a character, and the storyline is familiar. But it was well written, and there are enough twists in the story to keep you reading.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The Wednesday Wars

I was very impressed with Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars. In fact, I'd say it was fantastic. I wouldn't expect much less since it was a Newbery Honor book in 2008 (as a sidenote, I'd never heard of the winning book Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village until today). This story was vastly different than what I expected, which is to say that I really didn't read the book jacket very carefully!

The story is centered around a sixth grade boy named Holling Hoodhood (nope, it isn't a misspelling:). We watch him over the course of his school year, particularly focused on Wednesdays. Why Wednesday? That is the day when half of his class goes to Catholic school at 1:45, and the other half rolls out to synagogue shortly thereafter. His teacher, which Holling thinks is out to kill him, starts off by having him do menial tasks around the classroom: clean erasers, clean out the put cages (rats mind you!), etc. Later she has him read Shakespeare, which he really dislikes because of the old world writing that is difficult for an adult, let alone a 6th grader, to understand.

What makes the story captivating is the backdrop. This is during the late 60's when the Vietnam war is happening. This touches many in the story, from the teacher (Mrs. Baker) to others in the school community. Walter Cronkite is being watched at night, and there is a bit of tension that the reader can feel as the story winds onward. Lastly, you have the family with a strong willed father (determined to be the businessman of the year), the mom who is going along with the will of Holling's father, and Holling's sister who listens to the Beatles and runs away to find herself. All the while you follow Holling as he struggles to find himself and grow up in middle school. The growing up plays back into Mrs. Baker's assignments to Holling of reading Shakespeare. Overall, well done.

Rating: 5 out of 5. Growing up is a theme in many stories, but it is done masterfully in this story. It made me really excited to read Okay for Now, a follow-up of sorts to the Wednesday Wars (but with one of the side characters as the main character... it is high on the Mock Newbery lists I've read thus far).

School of Fear

I picked up School of Fear around the holiday break (way back when it was 2010!). At the same time I had 1-2 kids who were already reading the book since they'd purchased it, or received it as a gift. The early reviews from kids were that it was awesome. As a few other kids read it I noticed a struggle to finish it, particularly as kids hit the midway point. That isn't a good sign, but it still remained on my to-be-read list.

There is a fairly basic premise to the story. Four kids have very different phobias. The fears range from avoidance of water to believing bugs are everywhere (so you bring repellent with you to spray everything!). All of the kids are brought together, through their own doing or that or their parents, at the School of Fear. It is an odd place with an odd teacher. The teacher's motto: a beauty contestant is always prepared. She has an odd way of helping them overcome their fears... until she dies unexpectedly. That is where I'll leave the summary, so as not to reveal the ending.

I was less than impressed with the story. I found the 4 kids to be funny at the start of the story, but their humor wore off somewhere around the middle (which jived with what I was seeing in my classroom). It picked up again in the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the story, but it wasn't enough to save the lull in the middle that was filled with dialogue/arguing amongst the kids. There is a second story out in hardcover. I opted to wait until it is out in paperback, saving my money for something a little more substantial.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Better than average because of the humorous phobias. But missing some of the substance in the storyline that I'd seen already this summer.

Revenge of the Witch (Last Apprentice Series book 1)

I was pretty excited to read the Revenge of the Witch. This was a continuation of reading books I recommended to kids (but didn't have time to read myself during the school year). Early in the year I'd gotten the Ranger's Apprentice books for the kids, and they were a huge hit. As I continued my search for different series that kids would like, I eventually picked up the IQ books by Roland Smith and the Septimus Heap series. But I'd been drawn to this series, yet hesitant to pick it up since it was in the YA section. Getting it after Spring Break, it turned out to be a nice addition to my library.

I really enjoyed Revenge of the Witch. Joseph Delaney seemed to write it with the intent of keeping the integrity of old English lore in tact- those of ghosts, boggarts, and witches. The witches, ghosts and all are warded off from those in the county by a man named the Spook. The Spook is in need of a protege, an apprentice, which is where we begin to learn about our new apprentice, Tom Ward. He is the 7th son of a 7th son, which makes him special. In particular, he can see, hear, and sense things that others cannot. His parents need to find a job for him, and agree to have him as the Spook's new apprentice.

Tom is not necessarily comfortable in his new work. His first test scares him mightily. The Spook and the Apprentice aren't necessarily welcomed with open arms either, and can you blame the people for that? They deal with witches and ghosts! The story has a scary element to it that made me pause for a second. But the story certainly doesn't have the blood or violence of some other stories, more the intimation of potential danger that can put you on edge. Like the Lightning Thief in some ways, I was intrigued by the old lore embedded in this story, and the realism that Delaney is able to weave throughout this story. I could see many of my former students behaving similarly and thinking the same thoughts as Tom. Overall, very pleased with it and excited to read the next books in the series (thankfully I brought the first 4 books home!).

Rating: 4 of 5

Swirling Thoughts

I've been thinking about my how I am going to run my book reviews for the fall. Since we will have Communicator, our one stop shop for class wiki and blog, I am going to use that for our our book reviews. I'm leaning towards having kids post one review per month. There will be certain criteria they will need to include, which I will teach. They will need to tell the story of the book without giving away the ending. They'll also need to include the elements they liked, and who they'd recommend it for.

What I really want to get into is a Mock Newbery or Young Reader's Choice competition. It has the potential to be fun. If I have multiple kids reading the same books, then the dialogue should be really robust. I also plan to have kids doing their novel study books online- at least partially. I'll have a question for each book (possibly generic, possibly specific) that the kids need to respond to. They'll then participate in responding to their peers through commenting. My guess is that I'll do this every other week- one week in person, and another online. The other great part of that is how I'll be able to have kids for different rotation groups (since I see 3) talking to each other about the same book.

I've got a few other ideas, but they are really in the infant stages currently... way more than those above. Since I'm reading so much, everything is related to how I will change my reading instruction. I'm excited!

Mockingbird by Erskine

I am a bit of a book fanatic. In my spare time I cruise over to bookstores. I often say I'm just browsing, but I will typically walk away with 5-10 books to bring back to my classroom. Part of that is because I have a running list of books I want to pick up. I've scoured Newbery lists, Young Readers Choice, Global Reading Challenge, etc looking for new books to get. Sometimes I have that list physically, but more often not.

Mockingbird has been on my list for about a year now. It was out in hardcover (fun fact: I really dislike hardcover books- size, weight, cost!) and I was to get it from the library. Yeah, that didn't happen. Instead I waited until it was in paper to get it. When that happened, I immediately purchased it. Time was short, so I did what I always do: pushed it towards some of my kids allowing them to be the litmus test. The early reviews from them were very positive... so it ended up on my summer reading list.

The story is about a girl with Asperger's. Her family has just been befallen by a second tragedy. First was the passing of her mother due to cancer, and the second is the passing of her brother after a school shooting. Her trouble has less to do with his death, and more to do with the emotion that everyone says she is supposed to have. Being on the autism spectrum, she struggles when things aren't black and white.

Over the course of this story you get a small glimpse into what might be happening for someone with this disability. Processing things that take nuance and finesse are incredibly difficult, and making friends is hard. Couple those with the tragedy those around you are dealing with (and you too, but in a different way) and you have a mountain to climb. While the subject matter is touchy, heart wrenching in fact, the power of seeing our main character (Caitlin) work to overcome these many struggles was incredible. I'm really excited to have other kids read it.

Rating: 5 out of 5. It didn't win the National Book Award for nothing I guess.

Horton Halfpott

I really enjoyed Tom Angleberger's first book, the Strange Case of Origami Yoda. As I was walking through the bookstore the other day I saw Horton Halfpott, his second release. Since I was so excited about his first book I had to give this one a read.

A few words... If you don't like old English, this book is not for you. If you are not really into irony and sarcasm, this book probably isn't for you. If you don't like books with more than 4-5 points of view, this book probably isn't for you. Then who is this for? Well good question.

The story is about a servant named Horton Halfpott who works at M'Lady Luggertuck's mansion. She treats the staff poorly until her corset is loosened (no joke!). At that point all goes awry. Luggertuck's nephew wants to come stay at the mansion to woo a neighbor girl. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately (or fortunately for the story) Luggertuck's son devises a plan to steal the "lump," the source of the Luggertuck fortune, and convince the girl to marry him instead of the nephew. Ah, but the servants and Horton need to save the day. Horton, the noblest and quietest of the servants, becomes our main protagonist. He is certainly a likable character, far more than the Luggertucks. That is where I'll leave it so as not to give away any of the storyline.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Not overly predictable, but certainly not of the same high standard that Origami Yoda set.