A delightful picture book inspired by Queen Rania’s childhood. Lily and Salma are childhood friends who do everything together. All school activities are shared and enjoyed every day. They always eat lunch together. However, they each different lunches. Lily always favored a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Salma enjoyed a hummus and pita sandwich. Each of the girls thought the other’s sandwich looked rather yucky. For the first time the girls did not eat lunch together. The next day insults flew around the lunchroom. Soon the insults had nothing to do with the food but became something “not so nice to say to the other.” The end result was a food fight.
In this book we follow one day’s adventure for two Palestinian children on a curfew free day as they travel from their home in Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Thirteen year old Hayaat and her best friend, Samy, are on a mission. Hayaat is convinced if she could get some soil from her grandmother Sitti’s ancestral home it would save her life.
A story of twins born in a bi-racial marriage. Kiera is born black like her mother; Minerva (Minni) white like her father. Through the intercession of their maternal grandmother Johnson the girls are entered in the Miss Black Pearl Princess of America Program. The girls spend ten days in the south participating in the program activities.
A remarkable young adult author whose earlier book RED KAYAK was a must-read recommendation from me, has done it again in her latest BLINDSIDED by Priscilla Cummings (Dutton, 2010, $16.99. July 2010). In this story we meet 14 year old Natalie. She’s a typical young girl does well in school and has many friends. Her life is turned upside down, when on a recent visit to the eye doctor she is told she will soon be blind.
After the news is accepted, Natalie’s family arranges for her to attend a School for the Blind. Her eyesight at this point is still functioning on a limited basis and the family feels this will help Natalie when all of her sight is gone. Initially Natalie is withdrawn and tries to weather this new school without any companionship. She starts out as a single but son is assigned a roommate.
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.
If you are ever interested in a study of Alaska, at any level beyond say Grade 6, than may I recommend an amazing book, THE GREAT DEATH by John Smegler ( Henry Holt, 2009, $16.99). This book of only 166 pages follows two young Alaskan native girls at the beginning of the twentieth century who are fleeing a pandemic of measles, smallpox and influenza. Some light-colored strangers with red spots on their bodies came to their village. Very quickly disease and death spread everywhere.
An author and friend who has contributed many wonderful reading experiences for young readers is Cynthia DeFelice. Her major work is the book, WEASEL, a story destined to become a classic for middle school readers and others. Cynthia has a variety of titles to her credit, and each of them is original and surefire winner with young readers.
In her latest book, SIGNAL (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009, $16.99) we meet Owen McGuire , a lonely new-in-town boy , and his dog, Josie. Owen is looking forward to a nothing summer when Campion enters his life. She tells Owen her parents left her behind accidentally. Their spaceship will return for her and bring her back to their planet known as HOME. Campion enlists Owen to help her make a signal fire to direct her family’s rescue. Will Owen assist her?