This is an absorbing story following three teens from Alain Locke Middle School. The story opens at dismissal as 6th grader Robeson starts the dreaded stroll “down the Bermuda Hallway. On the ground floor right next to the boy’ locker room is a set of stairs that are so deep, so narrow, so musty and hot. There have been kids who have gone down but never came back up.” Robeson is on his way to PSS (Post School Suspension).
Probably the best known author for young readers, particularly males, has to be GARY PAULSEN. His outdoor adventure stories have been responsible for turning more young males on to reading than perhaps any other contemporary author. This story centers on 13 year old Samuel and takes place in the British Colony of Pennsylvania. Samuel and his parents live on the frontier. They are probably “well educated” by frontier standards meaning they can read and write. Samuel is off hunting bear when he notices smoke coming for the general area of where his family and other settlers live. By the time he races home, he finds most of the cabins burned and many of the inhabitants slaughtered. His family was not among the corpses. He buries the dead and then determined to rescue his parents, he begins tracking the survivors.
This is a delightful family story set in the possible future. Dewey Mariss is in the middle of a crunch. Dewey along with his sister, immediately younger brother and pre-school twins have been left at home while his parents are stuck with an empty gas tank up north. The country is experiencing its first gas shortage and the future is looking rather grim.
For visitors to New York City who have spent any time in Central Park, this story will have special relevance. In March 1855 an article in the New York Daily Times warned citizens the city would be taking over a large area to make a park. Much of the area was swampy and rocky and occupied by the lowest dregs of the city. Also included was a little settlement called BLACK VILLAGE.
Ben, a slave in Charleston, taught himself to read. At one point his master was a tailor who sent Ben on errands around the city. By politely asking white men if he was in the correct spot he learned his way about at the same time he was learning to read street and other signs. As the Civil War neared Charleston, Ben’s master fled but not before he put Ben in a prison to await sale after things settled down.
It is never too early to introduce young readers to the world of mythology. Many later stories and allusions are based on mythology. So I heartily endorse and recommend an “irreverent retelling of the myth of Zeus”.
The news recently has been full of war stories happening in Afghanistan. For many young people the part of the world is unfamiliar. Unfortunately stories out of this country will make headlines and news probably for many years to come. To fill in the gaps for young readers I would highly recommend SHOOTING KABUL by N.H. Senzai (A Paula Wiseman book, Simon and Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2010. $16.99. June 2010).
This story opens as eleven year old Fadi is staring out a cab backseat window one starry night. Fadi, his parents and two sisters are fleeing from Kabul, Afghanistan, heading to Jalalabad in the eastern part of the country. Fadi’s father has given him a charge to watch over his six year old sister, Mariam. The taxi leaves the family at an abandoned site where they will be collected and taken the final part of their journey into Pakistan. When the truck arrives, other refugees hiding at the site rush to board. Fadi refuses to put his sister’s Barbie doll in his jacket and in the confusion she slips out of his hand. She is swept into the crowd and, when they arrive, Mariam is not with them. She has been left behind.
I must admit I have never been one for series. I seem to like my stories all tied up in one neat package. However, I have to make an exception when it comes to the series by Peter Howe. The books about Waggit , the abandoned dog, have held me spellbound through all three volumes. The third book WAGGIT FOREVER by Peter Howe, drawings by Omar Rayyan (HarperCollins, 2020, $16.99. May 2010) finds Waggit and the other dogs in their family being forced to leave their shelter in the city park. It seems foodstuffs are becoming more and more scarce so the dogs will soon be forced to scavenge outside the safety of the large park. On the advice of a city dog group’s leader, Waggit’s group is advised to leave and journey through the dangerous city to another much larger and more remote park facility. They will be escorted in groups to avoid any contacts with the humans, particularly the dreaded dog-wardens.
TAKE ME WITH YOU by Carolyn Marsden (Candlewick Press, March 2010, $14.99) brings the reader into a home in Milan, Italy, for babies abandoned after WWII. The girls, Susanna and Pina are best friends and have lived at the Istituto di Gesu Bambino as long as they can remember. We meet the friends at a Sunday service where some potential adopters are present. The girls know they are not considered candidates as they each have a parent in contact with the orphanage.
The nuns run the facility with iron gloves and offer little sympathy to the girls. To earn money for upkeep the nuns put the girls to work doing various jobs. At one point they crochet black berets to wear and sell; other times they are taken into the city of MIlan to sing at funerals and wakes. The two friends are constantly thinking of the parent(s) who have left them there.
A beloved friend is back to her humorous self. I first met Lois Lowry through her hilarious stories about Anastia Krupnik. These very funny stories brought laughter to many young readers. Lois then went on to win medals for such titles as THE GIVER and NUMBER THE STARS. This very versatile author is comfortable no [...]