review by Emily
Just Grace’s class is going green in the latest installment of this beginning chapter book series. She and her best friend Mimi are learning all about how to save energy and reduce, reuse and recycle. Did you know that Americans throw out 2,500,000 plastic bottles EVERY HOUR!? Grace and Mimi have a plan to encourage their classmates to use less and recycle what they use. But will Mimi’s older cousin Gwen take over and ruin every thing? Read and find out!
Tags: ecology, environment, fiction, friendship, girls, green, humorous, juvenile fiction, plastic bottles, recycling, sustainable living
reviewed by Emily
This novel for grades 3-7 by the author of Millions and co-writer of the screenplay to Slumdog Millionaire is both a rocketing adventure and a study of “dadliness.” Liam, age eleven, is already over six feet tall and has a beard and mustache. People are always telling him he should know better, since he’s such a big boy- but Liam is still a kid. After being mistaken for his friend’s dad and ending up in the driver’s seat of a Porshe, Liam enters a best dad in the world contest to go on the first run of a most unusual amusement park ride. In China. Telling their parents they are going on a school trip, Liam and his best friend Florida set out. Will Liam learn enough about the nature of Dadliness to save himself and his friends from the ride of their lives?
Tags: adventure, children, dads, daughters, fatherhood, humor, rockets, space travel, waterloo
This illustrated fantasy won both a Newbery Honor and the Massachusetts Book Award for 2010. Lin uses full color illustrations and draws on Chinese folktales to tell a moving story of a young girl who sets out to change her family’s fortune. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Minli meets many strange people and animals who help her on her quest. This book is different from Lin’s first two realistic novels for middle grade readers The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat because of the fantastical elements- Minli’s best friend is a dragon. Parents and teachers looking for an adventure with a strong female character that is appropriate to read aloud to younger children will love this as much as older kids.
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Tags: adventure, China, dragons, folktales, girls, goldfish
This graphic novel with a fantastical storyline won the 2009 Scott O’Dell award for Historical Fiction. Hard to classify but easy to love, Phelan’s book draws you in with soft impressionistic illustrations and keeps you reading with a surprising suspense. Jack’s neighbors are so desperate because of the Dust Bowl drought that they are turning vicious- they nail rattlesnakes to fence posts to attract rain, and bludgeon rabbits for eating their crops. Jack doesn’t have a chance to prove himself useful to his farm family until he discovers a terrible creature lurking in the abandoned barn next door.
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Tags: 1930s, Children's book, coming of age, dust bowl, Fantasy, great depression, Historical fiction
review by Emily