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.
Charlie is Ryan’s twin and at age three he was diagnosed with Autism. This book presents a very positive look at the life of the twins and their personal achievements. I was especially taken with the page that started; “Charlie has autism. But autism doesn’t have Charlie. If you ever get to meet my brother, you’ll feel lucky to be his friend.”
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.
Seasonal books appear from the various publishers. Many are repeats of the Nativity story each with some original twist or new character. And, yes, they are important to share with young readers to illustrate the true meaning of this holiday.
A new book goes way beyond the familiar and takes youngsters back to grandparents’ farm. THE TRUE GIFT: A CHRISTMAS STORY by Patricia MacLachlan , illustrated by Brian Floca (Atheneum, 2009, $12.99) opens with Liam and Lily arriving at their grandparents for an annual holiday visit. Liam has brought his red sock with grey trim full of money to buy presents for everyone. Both children enjoy the friendly atmosphere of the small town where their grandparents live.
One of America’s premier authors for young readers, who took them into Terabithia and then into the mills in early New England, now takes young readers to the conflict in Bosnia. In Katherine Paterson’s latest book, THE DAY OF THE PELICAN (Clarion books, 2009, $16.00), we first meet Meli Lleshi on the day she draws a picture of her teacher with his pelican nose. From that day on serious problems begin, and Meli blames herself for the trouble.