Moon over Manifest

The Newbery Medal Winner for 2011 is Clare Vanderpool’s Moon over Manifest. Initially, I listened to the audiobook version, but recommend reading the book instead. The storyline bounces back and forth from present day, 1936, and the past, 1917-18. It is told through dialogues, letters, and newspaper articles; thus, reading the actual book is so much better. Abilene Tucker has heard so many stories about Manifest, her father’s hometown settled by immigrants from different countries. At the beginning of the story, Abilene’s father, Gideon, sends her away to stay with a family friend, Pastor Shady Howard, in Manifest. While playing in an old tree fort outside of Shady’s home, Abilene finds a cigar box filled with a map, various mementos, and letters from a soldier named Ned addressed to someone named Jinx. Abilene is determined to find out about her father’s past. Maybe the box holds clues to just that. The first letter indicates that there is a spy, known as the Rattler, amongst the good people of Manifest. Abilene and her friends are on a mission to find out who the spy could be. With the help of a spiritual diviner and Hattie May’s newsletters, Abilene is determined to uncover the secrets that Manifest holds. This is another example of storytelling at its best!

The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children

The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children written by Keith McGowan and illustrated by Yoko Tanaka is on the Texas Bluebonnet Reading List 2011-12. This entertaining read, reminiscent of the Grimm fairy tale – Hansel and Gretel, will appeal to upper elementary students. Sol and his little sister, Connie, have moved into a new house with their father and stepmother. Unbeknownst to them, their father and stepmother are scheming to get rid of them. Sol is very smart and loves everything about science. Connie may not be as intelligent as her brother, but she is street-smart and can take care of herself. The pair figure out early on who the witch in the neighborhood is and try to stay out of her clutches. Sol researches clues at the local library. I appreciated the way McGowan made the library a focal point…even found the evil librarian to be quite humorous. The only thing I was hoping for was someone to rescue the kids. Read this quick read to find out if Sol and Connie are able to stay out of the witch’s kitchen.

Countdown

The year is 1962 and the world is in a panic…many believed it was the end of times. Deborah Wiles’s Countdown is part historical fiction and part documentary of that stressful, yet promising time period for the United States. This novel is the first book in her Sixties trilogy. Eleven-year-old Franny lives with her family which consists of her military father, her homemaker mother, her older sister (Jo Ellen), younger brother (Drew), and her mentally-fragile Uncle Otts. What was the world like at this time? It is the height of the Cold War – the Soviet Union has missiles pointed at the United States – who would react first? Everyone is worried about the future. Schools and homes prepare by practicing shelter-in-place procedures in the event of a nuclear war. John F. Kennedy is President of the United States. Every boy dreams of being an astronaut; the space program is quickly rising. The Civil Rights Movement is just beginning. Things begin to fall apart for Franny personally when she and her best friend, Margie, steal a letter from Jo Ellen’s hope chest. Jo Ellen has been away from home for a few days and Franny is worried that something terrible has happened to her. Margie takes the letter before Franny has a chance to read it. What do the secret codes on Jo Ellen’s letter mean? How can Franny help her Uncle Otts, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder from his time in the war? Read Countdown to find out how the world was in the early sixties. We have a lot to learn from Franny and that dramatic time in history. Other books by Deborah Wiles include The Aurora County All-Stars and Each Little Bird That Sings.

The Lost Hero

Don’t you just love reading long books that last and make you feel like you got your money’s worth out of them? You know, the ones you wouldn’t mind reading one more time in case you missed something. Well, Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero (Book One: The Heroes of Olympus) is that kind of book. At the beginning of the story we are introduced to three friends who are on a school field trip to the Grand Canyon. They go to the Wilderness School, a school for problem children. Jason finds himself on the bus with no memory of his past and has to rely on what the others tell him. Piper, daughter of a famous Hollywood actor who has been missing for a few days, had just started a relationship with Jason and he doesn’t even remember it. Leo, who lost his mother in a fire when he was younger, uses his hands to fix things and hides the fact that he has a gift with fire. Storm spirits attack the trio. Annabeth, searching for Percy Jackson, saves the demigods and brings them to Camp Half-Blood. While at Camp Half-Blood the three learn who their God/Goddess parent is and each has a talent they have inherited as a result of their lineage. The trait that throws everyone is Jason’s ability to understand Latin. The demigods at Camp Half-Blood learn that Jason is to lead a quest to save Hera who is imprisoned. The trio will face various trials in their quest to fulfill the Prophecy. I especially loved the shocking ending. Riordan stays true to the writing style he used for his popular Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I’ve only read the first two books in that series: The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters. Reading The Lost Hero made me want to go back and finish the previous series.

Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising

Vampires, zombies, and Frankenstein…oh my! Jason Henderson’s debut novel, Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising, has all of these and more. Fourteen-year-old Alex Van Helsing has had a rough start at his new all-male Switzerland boarding school. Constantly attracting trouble, Alex’s new roommates are out to sabotage him. His strange literature teacher, Mr. Sangster, teaches the class about the origination of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In class, the students are intrigued by Alex’s infamous last name which is the same as the popular vampire hunting character in Dracula. As if Alex’s roommates weren’t enough to deal with, he is drawn out of his dorm at night by a vicious vampire. He quickly finds out that the dangers around him come from the Scholomance – the historic school for vampires. Is Mr. Sangster more than just a literature teacher? Can Alex continue his family’s legacy and help a vampire-hunting organization called Polidorium? Read this action packed novel to find out how Jason Henderson does a masterful job of connecting this story with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This is going to be a popular new series for middle school and high school students.

13 Treasures

You are invited into the Faerie realm as soon as you begin to read 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison. Tanya has had to hide a dark secret her entire life – she can see faeries. At the beginning of the story, her mother, ultimately fed up with Tanya’s misbehavior (caused by taking the blame for the faeries’ mishaps), brings her to her grandmother’s house to live. Tanya’s grandmother, Florence, is not happy about this situation and the feeling is mutual. Florence’s house is also occupied by Amos, the aged former caretaker of her home; Warwick, Amos’s grown son who is the current caretaker; and Fabian, Warwick’s son. The faeries are as relentless at her grandmother’s as they were at her house. Tanya and Fabian have been warned to never go into the woods beside the house. Tanya questions Florence when she finds an article from fifty years ago that tells of a fourteen-year-old girl named Morwenna Bloom who went missing in those woods. Her grandmother tells her that she has never been found. Although her grandmother offers no more information, Tanya finds out that Amos was accused of being the last person with Morwenna when she went missing. Florence gives her a special bracelet with thirteen charms, believed to ward off evil spirits, which has been in the family for many years. When Fabian’s actions cause Tanya’s dog to run into the forbidden woods, their lives will change forever. Entering the woods to find the dog, the teens find themselves face to face with the missing Morwenna Bloom who hasn’t aged at all in the fifty years she has been missing. She begins to lead them somewhere when they are found by Warwick and she disappears. The teens are determined to find Morwenna once again in order to clear Amos’s tarnished reputation. Readers are taken into a secret world unlike any other…things are not as they seem. When the teens get in over their heads, the only hope for Tanya is a young girl, named Red, who can also see faeries. This is a great read for upper elementary through middle school fantasy readers. This novel which reads like a movie is the first in a trilogy – the second book, 13 Curses, comes out June 7th. Click on the book trailer below for more information.

Kick

I was so excited to see this new book by Walter Dean Myers. It was written with the help of a teenager named Ross Workman. When Ross was thirteen, he wrote a fan e-mail to Walter Dean Myers expressing his interest in writing. The author challenged Ross to write a story with him using alternating voices…Kick is their final product. The first chapter is narrated by Sergeant Jerry Brown, a cop who is interested in working with troubled teens and giving them a second chance. The second chapter is told by Kevin Johnson, a thirteen-year-old star soccer player. The narrations alternate between the two main characters each chapter. After crashing a car with his friend, Christy, in the passenger seat, Kevin is charged with reckless driving, driving a stolen vehicle, and not having a license to drive. Things do not add up. Kevin is staying silent to protect Christy. Christy’s father is pressing charges against Kevin. Sergeant Brown takes an interest in Kevin’s case because Kevin’s father was a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. Kevin needs to straighten up and that includes how he handles his anger on the soccer field. If Sergeant Brown cannot get Kevin to come clean about what happened that night, Kevin will end up in Juvie. I think the idea of an award-winning author working with a teenage writer is ingenious. I hope that all of you future writers will read this book and say, “Hey, I could’ve written that!” Click on the video below to hear from both authors.