Sci. Fi/Fantasy/Sports/Novels-in-verse

Falling In by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Genre: Fantasy

Age Level: 8 & up

Isabelle Bean is a unique, imaginative young girl. After she is sent to the principal’s office for not paying attention in class, she stumbles into the nurse’s office. A classmate is frightened by a mouse and tells Isabelle it went in the closet, so Isabelle turns the doorknob and “falls in” to another world- a world where children are running to camps away from their houses because they think that a witch is after them. The witch turns out to be Isabelle’s grandmother, which explains why Isabelle always felt she was a changeling; taken by fairies as a baby and switched to another world. Imaginative story, loosely referenced ‘Hansel and Gretel’; two children in the woods being coaxed by a witch, the main characters names are Hen and Grete. This is a very creative story that asks young readers to explore their imaginations.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Genre: Fantasy

Newberry Honor Book

Age Level: 8 & up

This take on ‘Cinderella’ is about a young girl, Ella, who was given a curse by a fairy when she was born. The curse is that no matter what the circumstance, Ella must be obedient and always follow any commands given to her by anyone. No matter how much Ella tries to fight the curse, she becomes terribly ill when she doesn’t obey it. She befriends not only Prince Charmont because of her wit and charm, but the ogres and elves and other mythical creatures near her hometown Frell. When her mother passes away her father decides to send her off to finishing school when she meets her future step-sisters. The ending very much follows the story of Cinderella such as Ella becoming her evil step-mother and step-sisters scullery maid and treated badly with the exception of her fairy godmother helping her. Prince Charmont holds a ball to greet a potential wife, when really he only wants Ella but she denies him thinking her curse will cause harm. Ella sneaks off to the ball and loses her glass slipper at midnight…and you know the ending right? I really enjoyed this version of Cinderella and am glad I had an excuse to read it for this week because I’ve wanted to for awhile and haven’t had the chance to.

 

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Level: 10 & up 

Meg and Charles Wallace Murry’s father is a physicist who is on a secret mission for the government and has been missing for a while. Meg’s brother Charles Wallace and schoolmate Calvin O’Keefe are brought to Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. The three elderly “women” explain to Meg and the two boys that a tesseract is a ‘wrinkle in time’ or the lines in between space and time.  They transport the three children to the planet Camazotz where the Murry father is being trapped. Before they can reach or rescue their father though, Charles Wallace gets hypnotized by IT who controls all of the human’s activities and thoughts. Once Meg breaks through to get her father to escape, she and Calvin must now see if it is too late to get her brother Charles Wallace back from IT’s control. Meg also has to face The Black Thing, an evil darkness, in order to get back to her brother. Science fiction and books like this might not be my cup of tea, but they definitely get your brain to think and wonder about things such as life outside of Earth?

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Genre: Science Fiction

Newberry Award Winner

Reading Level: Ages 12 & up

Okay I take back what I said about not liking Science Fiction books once I realized The Giver was a science fiction book! I remember reading this book and loving it as a child. It certainly brings you to think about life outside of what we know of it. The main character Jonas lives in a community based upon “sameness” where jobs and basically every decision is assigned. The people living in sameness are happy because they don’t know any better and have no choices to make, but they also are deprived of emotions such as love, colors since they are all colorblind and even knowledge of anything else.  Pills and genetic engineering are used to suppress and manipulate them. The children’s toys and belongings are allocated by how old they are. For example, Jonas’ sister wants a bicycle but can’t get one until she turns 9 and so on. Jonas is one of the ‘Elevens’ because he is eleven-years old, and when he and the others turn twelve they will be assigned their job by the Committee of Elders based upon their personalities. Jonas is assigned to be the next ‘Receiver of Memory’ a job that requires Jonas to learn knowledge outside of his community such as memories and pain and pleasure. He is trained for his job by the last Receiver of Memory, the Giver. The Giver introduces many things to Jonas through memories; violence, loss, family, beauty, animals. He gives Jonas the knowledge of life outside of what he knows, which makes Jonas start to think what would happen if he left the community and shared all of his memories? This is an amazing book with great details and I highly recommend everyone, regardless of age/gender/reading preferences, to read.

The Hit-Away Kid by Matt Christopher

Genre: Sports

Grade Level: 2 & up

While Barry McGee is playing baseball for the Mudders team he makes a catch in the outfield and then proceeds to drop the ball, but no one sees the ball roll out of his glove except his sister. Instead of telling the truth, Barry decides to pretend he didn’t drop the ball and gets away with it. Then Barry’s rival Alec, the pitcher of another team, steals Barry’s younger brother’s statue and will give it back if Barry hits two homeruns off of him. Barry hits one homerun off of Alec, and then on another hit he misses touching second base but keeps running. He decides to be honest and tell the truth and gets himself out because he remembered how it felt when he had lied about catching that ball. Not only does Alec respect Barry’s honesty about missing second base and gives back his brother’s figurine, but the message is clear to the young readers: that being honest even if no one else saw what happened but you, is always the right choice to make. 

 

The Big Field by Mike Lupica

Genre: Sports

Age Level: 10 & up

Being a shortstop means everything to Keith Hutchinson a.k.a. Hutch. His hero is Yankee’s player Derek Jeter and Hutch’s own dad was even a professional shortstop back in the day, but that all changes when the great Darryl Williams joins the team and Hutch is put at second base. Not only does Hutch feel inferior to Darryl because he’s a great player and took over his position, but he can’t seem to get along with Darryl at first no matter how hard he tries because of Darryl’s attitude. Then when Hutch discovers his dad, who seems to have no interest in Hutch or his baseball playing, hitting ground balls to Darryl he feels horribly betrayed. Not only is this a good story for a baseball lover to read, but it covers strongly the subject matter on how fathers and sons struggle in their relationships. Hutch and his father share this love of the game, yet something is hindering them from bonding. I think that many young boys would like this book and others by Mike Lupica even if they are not athletic or have father-son issues.

Heat by Mike Lupica

Genre: Sports

Reading Level: ages 10 & up

Michael Arroyo is not your typical twelve-year-old baseball player. He has an arm comparable to ‘El Grande’ the Yankees’ most prominent pitcher (fictional character). Michael and his best friend Manny play for the South Bronx Clippers, a youth male summer baseball team that is headed to the Little League World Series. This has been Michael’s dream for as long as he can remember and he should be thrilled with this opportunity- but there’s a deep secret that Michael and his brother Carlos have been keeping from everyone. No one but their neighbor Mrs. Cora and Manny know that their father had passed away from a heart attack, leaving Michael and Carlos alone in New York City. Carlos and Michael don’t want to be split up and decide to not tell anyone of their father’s death. It has been working out for them until a rival baseball team’s jealousy of Michael’s “heat” (great pitching arm) challenge him by asking to prove he is twelve years old. Michael must come up with a birth certificate in order to be allowed to play in the World Series. With no relatives in America to help, and his birth certificate being lost when they emigrated from Cuba, how will Michael prove he really is twelve? Or more importantly, can he keep the secret from getting out and separating him and Carlos? This was an awesome book; many references to baseball (my favorite sport) and the Yankees (my favorite team). If you like baseball you’ll love this book.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesses

Genre: Verse Novel

Newberry Winner

Age Level: 9 & up

Out of the Dust is written in poems, or free-verse form, from the perspective of fourteen-year-old Billie Jo who lives in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years of the Depression. The dust storms are completely destroying their lives and making life harder and harder each day. Then due to a horrible, tragic accident, her mother and unborn baby brother die. The accident also leaves Billie Jo with her hands damaged and with guilt that she played a role in the horrible accident that killed her mother. The despair of these storms comes through in Billie Jo’s poems; how the dust is ruining everything around her and how miserable it must have been for these people that lived through this. This book made me curious to research the dust bowl years because I only remember them vaguely from school. I liked Hesse’s writing style of diary entries put in poems, and she tied in Billie Jo’s love of piano and what that meant to her. Although a sad subject, this book was cleverly written, and can help students learn about this terrible time period of American history.

Fractured Fairy tales/Chick Lit

The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist Illustrated by Julia Gorton

Age Level: 4 & up

This is an adorable remake of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ classic. Just like the piglets, the three young fish (two brothers Tim and Jim, and their sister Kim) must leave their mama and build their houses in the ocean. The Big Bad Shark destroys Jim and Tim’s house made of seaweed and sand, but is outsmarted by Kim’s idea to live with her brothers in an abandoned boat. It is a very cute fractured fairytale and the illustrations are awesomely bright; young kids will love this book.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Age Level: 7 & up

Here is another remake of the famous fairytale, only this time it is the pig that is bad and the wolves are the good guys. The wolves are smart so they build houses of brick, concrete, and eventually barbed wire and armor plates. But the ending is a little silly to me; the Big Bad Pig smells all these lovely flowers and decides to change his mean ways. He decides to become a good pig and becomes friends with the wolves. I didn’t buy it, but I think that children would enjoy the role-reversal theme.

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! By A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka Illustrated by Lane Smith

Age Level: 5 & up

I have read this with students before and it is a hit! It is the story of, once again, ‘The Three Little Pigs’, only it is told from the Wolf’s point-of-view. Alexander T. Wolf explains how the story that’s heard is all wrong and that he isn’t the bad guy everyone thinks he is. His story describes that he was out of sugar and went to ask his neighbors, the pigs’ houses, to borrow some. He also had a cold that was making him sneeze, accidently breaking the pigs’ houses. The houses collapsing caused the pigs to die and he couldn’t leave “a perfectly good ham dinner lying there” so he ate two of the three pigs up. The third pig was mean to him and said mean things about his granny so the wolf got angry and was trying to break his door down as well as huffing and puffing and sneezing. He did not eat the third pig because the cops were called, and he was “framed” by the news reporters trying to “jazz up the story”.

The Three Silly Girls Grubb by John and Ann Haassett

Age Level: 5 & up

This is an adorable take on ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. There are three sisters named Grubb; one is small, one is medium, and one is extra large. Instead of a troll under the bridge, there is Ugly-Boy Bobby who wants to not eat the girls –but their jelly donuts. The smallest sister tells Ugly-Boy Bobby that she only has one jelly donut but to wait for her medium sister that has six and the medium sister says she only has six but the extra large sister has twelve. The extra large sister scares off Ugly-Boy Bobby by saying she will give him her dozen donuts after she gives him “a dozen mushy kisses” on his nose. He runs off and the girls get to school safely. The illustrations look like they are made with watercolors and are very nice!

Three Cool Kids by Rebecca Emberley

Reading Level: Ages 4 & up

This rendition of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ tells about the three Cool Kids. The Cool Kids come in small, medium, and large sizes and they live in the city. Alike the original fairytale, the three main characters are goats who need to go elsewhere to find grass to eat. In this version though, they must face a big, ugly rat that lives in the sewer in order to cross lots. I am not a fan of rats, and the illustrations of this rat are grotesque; long whiskers and claws and a long tail - yuck! I think children will like the modern and hip details of this story such as one goat’s love of his new sneakers, and the girl goat wearing “jingling silver bracelets”.

The Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman Illustrated by Will Terry

Grade Level: Pre-K & up

This also is a version of the ‘The Three Little Pigs’, only it involves three sibling alligators and a ‘Big-Bottomed Boar’ as the bad-guy. Same story line: the mama says you must build yourself houses. They go off and two out of the three build houses that don’t stand up against the bad-guy or in this case, the Boar. The first gator who worked hardest building his house comes to the rescue of his siblings and the three of them scare off the boar when he climbs down the chimney and burns his bottom. This is a cute book and the illustrations are wonderful; they are full-paged and bright. I bet students, especially young ones, will have a laugh every time they hear about the boar’s “rump” or “bottom” – they love stuff like that!

24 girls in 7 days by Alex Bradley

Reading Level: Ages 14 & up

Jack Grammar, the main character and narrator, is an all-around nice guy who is in his senior year of high-school and alike many seniors-feels the pressure of having the perfect prom date. His two best friends Percy and Natalie know what a great guy he is and decide to place an ad in the school newspaper for him. They pretend that the ad is from Jack himself and ask girls who are interested in being his prom date to e-mail him. Jack feels inexperienced and nervous with girls. He says awkward things when he gets nervous, so “dating” 24 girls in 7 days is completely overwhelming for him! I won’t give away the ending, but what I liked about this book was that it was a romance book coming from a boy’s perspective. I think that a lot of seniors, boy or girl, feel that pressure for the perfect night and date and could easily relate to how Jack feels.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

Reading Level: Ages 13 & up

This book is hilarious!! It is also the first in a series of ten (the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson), which is great because now I want to read the others! Georgia Nicolson is 14 years old and lives with her “mum” dad, and 3 year old sister in England. The book’s design is her journal entries. The entries are her hysterical outlook on life. They discuss the typical teenager topics such as boys, kissing or “snogging”, parents not understanding, rebelling, and so on. Not only is the book very funny, but Louise’s interview in the back of the book explains that all the situations that take place in the book are based off of her true life experiences!! Louise also provides an excellent glossary; ‘Georgia’s Glossary’ that helps explain some of the terms that are used that may not be known to American readers. I think it’s safe to say that any female teenager would enjoy this book!

I also read Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers #6 in the series by Louise Rennison and it was just as good as the first! When I checked out these books, it was the titles that grabbed me (I also have Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? but have not yet gotten to it). And after I read the first book, I knew that I liked the author because of her humor – only I wasn’t sure if the books could continue to be as funny as the first was...yet they are! She packs out these books from front to back with witty jokes and hilarious comments and never fails to bring a laugh or smile to your face while reading. The language that she uses, not only is it a little foreign to us like “bloke” and “knickers”, but Georgia the main character, and her girlfriends have their own language as well, shortening and abbreviating a lot of words (just like American female teenagers!) like “pressies” or “gorgey” or “fabby”. I could go on and on about this series but I will wrap it up by saying it is brilliant! And that I would absolutely recommend them to mature middle-school/high-school students.

Reading Level: Ages 13 & up

If We Kiss by Rachel Vail

Reading Level: Ages 12 & up

Charlotte also known as Charlie, a freshman in high-school, calls herself a prude because she has never kissed a boy yet. But that changes one day when Kevin takes her to the side of the building and kisses her. Before Charlie gets the chance to describe to her best friend Tess all about her first kiss, Kevin kisses Tess at a party! Then Tess and Kevin start dating and Charlie decides to not even mention that she and Kevin kissed. She hates having to hear about Kevin through Tess because she likes him and kissed him first, but then it gets even worse- Charlie’s mom and Kevin’s dad start dating! As if it wasn’t weird enough hiding this secret from Tess, now Charlie must see Kevin and spend time away with him and his family for Christmas. That would be a good thing though right? Being able to spend time alone with the guy you liked. Well then Kevin kisses Charlie again although he’s still dating Tess, and oh yeah- their parents get engaged making them step-siblings! Cute book; if I was in middle-school I’d love it.