Swindle by Gordon Korman

Have you ever seen a heist movie where criminals pull off a brilliant robbery? Swindle is the first real heist book for kids that I can remember reading. The kids in this book, with the leadership of sixth-grader Griffin Bing, plan and pull off a very elaborate theft of a baseball card worth one million dollars. The card is in the hands of a shop owner who lied to Griffin about the card's value. Griffin and his best friend Ben just want back what they think is rightfully theirs. However, they have to get past a vicious guard dog, a high tech security system, a strong safe, and a nosy next door neighbor. The cover of the book makes you think it's a dog book or a baseball book, but it's neither of those. It's really the story of a group of kids getting back at an unscrupulous adult who underestimates their intelligence. This will appeal to readers who like action and crime and kids who come out on top. (And don't worry, adults, the kids do realize in the end that they did something seriously illegal)

Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman

This book was a wonderful surprise. I enjoyed The Schwa Was Here several years ago and I had forgotten what a great character Antsy Bonano is. This is the sequel to that book, but I believe with its new plot and characters it could stand alone. It's hard to describe the plot because there's a lot going on. In a nutshell, Antsy befriends a boy named Gunnar who has only six months to live. Antsy comes up with a symbolic gesture of donating a month of his life to Gunnar and suddenly everyone wants to donate their time also. Antsy is awkward, funny, earnest, and fully aware that he is not the coolest guy in the school, but somehow he becomes famous for his "time donation" scheme and ends up dating Gunnar's beautiful older sister. There's tons of humor in this story, but the real charm of the book is Antsy and his realizations about family relationships, his girlfriend, and how precious time is. This is Neal Shusterman's writing at its very best and I think this book ought to be recognized as one of the best middle school books of the year. It would make a fantastic read-aloud. I highly recommend it to readers in grade six on up.

The Juvie Three by Gordon Korman

Although it has some humor in it, this isn't the usual funny Gordon Korman book. It's the story of three juvenile criminals, all imprisoned for different reasons, who are brought together to a halfway house by a well-meaning guy named Douglas Healy. They must behave perfectly or they will be sent back to prison. Of course, they don't all behave perfectly and when Healy takes a sort-of accidental fall the boys have a choice to make—own up to their part in the accident and get sent back to prison or cover up the accident and try to pretend that everything is normal. Healy goes to the hospital and wakes up with amnesia. Gecko, one of the boys, volunteers in the hospital to keep track of Healy's condition. There he meets a nice girl and they start a relationship. However, she doesn't know Gecko's true story. The ways that the boys cover up their secrets aren't always realistic, and the ending is definitely happier than real-life, but it's an engaging story with interesting characters who have complex motivations. This should appeal to kids who like to read about crime and gangs, as well as kids who like a good story with lots of action.

In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry by Carla Killough McClafferty

This book is one more example of "all I ever needed to know I learned from children's nonfiction." I had never even heard of Varian Fry before I picked up this book. He was a pretty ordinary American man who volunteered for a two-week rescue mission during World War II. The plan was to go to Marseilles, France and find war refugees wanted by the Nazis and get them to safety. His specific mission was to save a specific list of important artists, writers, and thinkers who were in grave danger of being sent to concentration camps. The mission took all of his creativity, stamina, and skills and in it Fry found the most meaningful days of his life. The two weeks spread out into more than a year as Fry desperately tried every way he could think of to get refugees out of France, into Spain, then Portugal, then on to other countries. Together witha selfless staff of other unsung heroes, Fry ultimately saved about 2,000 people from death at the hands of the Nazis. Sadly, his work destroyed his marriage and he never found another endeavor that so fully used his skills and his compassion. McClafferty's research is excellent and her organization makes this book easy to read and understand. She deftly shows how difficult and draining the work was and how many obstacles the rescuers faced. Middle schoolers with an interest in World War II could definitely appreciate this book, but I believe it is equally appropriate for high school students as well as adults. It's an inspiring look at an unsung hero. 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Most of us don't get the chance to go to an elite East Coast prep school with future power brokers and secret societies, but that's Frankie's life. She's a formerly geeky sophomore in high school who blossomed over the summer and suddenly caught the eye of the most desirable senior boy in the school, Matthew. He's generally a good guy and Frankie loves many things about him. What she doesn't love is that he doesn't really take her intellect very seriously. When he snubs Frankie to go to secret meetings of the Order of the Bassett Hounds, Frankie's latent criminal mind kicks into high gear and she comes up with a scheme to manipulate all the boys in the secret society and play some good pranks at the boarding school. She thinks she will earn the respect of the boys she is manipulating, but that is not what happens. This intelligent book has a strong vocabulary and some clever uses of the English language. Frankie is a complicated character—likable but definitely struggling to find her own personality and voice. A curious, smart, independent-minded reader will find a kindred spirit in Frankie Landau-Banks. 

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

Addie's life is just not right. She lives with her mom in a tiny trailer by the railroad tracks while her beloved stepfather and half sisters are living several hours away. Her mom isn't physically abusive, but she frequently leaves Addie alone in the trailer for longer and longer periods of time. Addie makes friends with Elliott and Sula who work at a nearby gas station and they become important to her and they are there when her mother is not. Addie just wants a "normal" life but doesn't see a way to change the way things are. This is a gentle book with a character with whom you can empathize. It has some sadness, but ultimately is hopeful and heartwarming. A good choice for 4th-6th graders.

The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming

Do you like reading about what people's lives were really like? Do you want to know what Abraham and Mary Lincoln were like as human beings? Do you wonder how they treated their kids, how they treated each other, and what other people thought of them? The detail about the Lincolns in their public and personal lives is what makes this book fascinating. Every page is stuffed with photos and captions and text about every imaginable aspect of the Lincoln's lives and relationships. It's much more than a scrapbook, however. Fleming did a huge amount of research and arranged information into short, readable segments that could be browsed or read straight through. Abraham and Mary were both complex people. Mary's behavior, especially, is puzzling, but she was certainly not the lunatic that some believed she was. And it's hard to imagine a person sacrificing more of himself for what he believed in than did Abraham Lincoln. It's a nice complement to Lincoln through the Lens, which has less of the nosy details of life but has photographs and insights of its own. If you like this style, read Our Eleanor, also by Candace Fleming. It's fabulous.

Lincoln through the Lens by Martin W. Sandler

I thought I knew some things about Abraham Lincoln, but I have learned a lot more after reading a couple of new and outstanding nonfiction books. This one focuses on the role photography played in Lincoln's life and it includes many large, well-captioned photos to go along with the clear, concise text. The focus on photography is the author's slant, but Lincoln's whole life is covered in this gorgeous book. Each two-page spread deals with a portion of Lincoln's life in words, photographs, and includes a relevant quotation from Lincoln, so it's a book that's easily browsed. However, if you want to really understand Lincoln through his photos, read the whole book. I would not be surprised to see this win the Sibert Award. Highly recommended for readers from 6th grade on up through adulthood.

Best Books I've Read Recently

Here's a little video I made using animoto.com.

Curtains! A High School Musical Mystery by Michael Dahl

Author Michael Dahl loves mysteries and has written the fantastic Finnegan Zwake series of middle school mysteries. Curtains! is easier to read, but still includes many clever clues and tricky red herrings, and keeps you guessing up to the end. The mystery takes place at a high school during practices for the musical. First a heavy stage light falls to the ground, almost hitting and killing the director. Next a wall falls on one of the student actors, and then another actor's costumes are destroyed. Clearly someone wants to ruin the show.  The culprit could be one of many people, and Kyle and Mindy systematically go through the suspect list and look for motives and opportunities. Published by Stone Arch Books, the target market for this title is reluctant readers. However, it would be a shame for this book not to be in the hands of a wider audience of mystery readers. It would be a good choice for elementary or middle school students who like traditional mysteries and it would be a great vehicle for a teacher wanting to teach kids the elements of a mystery. It's also a fun introduction to "The Queen of Crime," Agatha Christie. Keep writing mysteries for middle schoolers, Michael!

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat edited by Nikki Giovanni

The editor of this book defines Hip Hop as "poetry with a beat" and this collection has a wide range of poems mainly written by African American poets and writers. Artists range from Queen Latifah, Kanye West, and current rappers to Harlem Renaissance great Langston Hughes. I found it to be a really interesting collection of poems and I enjoyed listening to the accompanying CD which includes a selection of the poems read by the authors and other performers. I think the primary audience of this book will be elementary school teachers who want to pick and choose poems to use in their classrooms. A child who picked up this book thinking it would be all hip hop will be disappointed—it's all rhythmic poetry but much of it is more traditional poetry, some without a strong rhythm or any obvious connection to modern hip hop and rap. Quite a few of the poems are more mature and could be appreciated by older kids and teens, but the cover illustration and many of the illustrations in the book make it appear more juvenile than I think the book really is. Elementary teachers will love "The Rosa Parks" and "from Principal's Office." My personal favorite is "Dat Dere" and I can't get that song from the CD out of my head. School and Public Libraries will want to purchase this, but get it in the hands of teachers so that it gets used and appreciated.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

This true story about the horrors of war was not written for teenagers, but it's a story that mature teens could understand and learn from. Ishmael, a 12-year-old boy from Sierra Leone was caught up in a horrible civil war in the 1990s. With his village destroyed and his family missing he tried to escape on foot with some other boys. Average citizens feared groups of boys because they thought they were part of the rebel army. Members of the actual rebel army looked for young boys to force them into serving as soldiers. With no where to go and everyone after him, Ishmael makes it to a village and finds out that his family is alive and nearby. Unfortunately, they are brutally murdered by rebels just before Ishmael arrives in their village. From that point, Ishmael joins the Army and becomes a brutal killer himself. He spends a few years this way before a United Nations group "rescues" him and gets him back on a better track. It's a gripping and heartbreaking story that people should know about so that maybe it will never happen again.

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Seems like I've been reading a lot of disturbing futuristic teen novels lately. This one is particularly disturbing because it seems so real. A meteor hits the moon and life on earth will never be the same. Yes, it's the same event from Life as We Knew It, only this time the focus is on Alex Morales and his two sisters who live in New York City. Their parents are presumed dead and the three teens are on their own trying to survive in a deserted wasteland of a city. Everyone with resources has abandoned New York and those left behind have to do horrific things to survive (like stealing clothes and jewelry off of newly dead bodies). Volcanic eruptions have blocked the sun, leaving cold temperatures and no hope of growing food. Alex is only 17 and is trying desperately just to keep his two sisters alive. A major theme of this book is the family's Catholic faith and how it ultimately leads them toward hope. I found this to be a realistic touch—I'm sure in dire circumstances such as these people would rely heavily on their religious beliefs. This is not a happy book by any means, but I sure wanted to keep reading it. Recommended for 7th grade and up. 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Wow. I couldn't put this book down. Just imagine a horrible future in which a totalitarian government makes teenagers fight to the death in a reality show style game. It's entertainment for people who live in The Capitol but it's a brutal way to hold power over the poor people living in the other twelve districts. Our main characters are Katniss and Peeta, a girl and a boy from District 12. They are the unlucky losers in the annual lottery to see who is selected for The Hunger Games. Katniss can hunt and trap and shoot a bow and arrow so she seems to have a chance at survival. Peeta is strong and good hearted but doesn't seem to have a lot of survival skills.  Peeta obviously likes Katniss, but she doesn't want to make a new friend and then be forced to kill him. This book has lots of heart-stopping action but what I liked the most were the relationships. It's disturbing, but I think teens (grade 7 and up) will love it. I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy. (If you like books about how the government can turn evil, also read Unwind by Neal Shusterman.)

Chess Rumble by G. Neri

Marcus is a middle school kid with big problems in his life. His dad is gone, his sister died, and he's one fight shy of getting kicked out of school. His first reaction to any bad situation is to come out fighting—he even raises his fist to his own mother. Fortunately for Marcus he meets a chess master who teaches him how to win at chess by always thinking three moves ahead. Marcus uses this idea in his life and finds ways to make better decisions when dealing with bullies, his brothers, his principal, and his parents. The characters in this book talk like real kids on the streets and it's full of illustrations, so it's an easy book to read quickly. Although I thought Marcus's problems were resolved too easily, it's a book that will appeal to kids who might not normally enjoy reading. There's also a lot to talk about here for a book discussion.