Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata

Books about war have been popular this year in our library. Cracker is both a dog story and a Vietnam War story, and readers who like either kind of book will like this one. A boy is forced to give up his beloved dog, Cracker, because it's not allowed in his family's apartment. The best place they find to send Cracker is to the U.S. Army, where she will be trained to sniff out explosives, hiding enemy soldiers, and other dangerous things, and be sent to Vietnam. Rick is the young soldier who becomes Cracker's "handler." Together they face some frightening and life-changing things in Vietnam, and their experiences with finding booby traps, tunnels, and other deadly traps make for interesting reading. We get inside Cracker's head and find out what she is thinking sometimes, which sounds corny, but really isn't. Rick is a believable young man who survives the horrors of Vietnam thanks to Cracker, who is a really great dog. The problem is that back then, when the U.S. Army was done with a dog, they usually had it put to sleep. Recommended especially for 6th and 7th graders.

Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

This brand new book written in free verse tells about the growing and blossoming of a seventh grade girl named Josie. Living with a grandmother and mother who love gardening and growing things, Josie has learned many of their secrets and skills. She herself needs special care because, even though she is smart and capable of many things, her cerebral palsy makes speaking and movement difficult. Her best friend is really her grandma because classmates rarely talk to her or take time to get to know her. When "rich kids" start moving into new houses near her family farm, a new boy comes along who becomes her first true friend. Justin is a science geek, and he doesn't seem to care what other kids think about who he is friends with. Justin and Josie do science experiments and grow plants and their friendship grows as the spring turns to summer. This book will appeal to readers who like poetry and who like to read about characters who overcome challenges and grow into their true selves.

Monkey Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial by Ronald Kidd

As a person interested in history, I was enthralled with this book. I guess I had heard of the Scopes Trial in some high school history class, but I didn't really know anything about it. In Monkey Town, Ronald Kidd has managed to tell a good story while at the same time giving detailed and accurate descriptions of the summer of the Scopes Trial. Frances is a 15-year-old girl, and the daughter of one of the people who made the whole trial happen. She has a crush on her teacher, Johnny Scopes, and great admiration for her father, the head of the school board and owner of the local drug store. She has a front-row seat (literally) for the trial and all the action behind the scenes that caused it to happen in the first place. I was aware the whole time I was reading this book that the author was meticulously providing factual historical background, including actual transcripts from the trial, but that never made me lose interest. Sort of like Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac, it's definitely a vehicle for learning about history, but fortunately it's well done. Recommended for middle school students on up to adults.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I will admit that I don't read a lot of graphic novels, but I had to read this one since it won all kinds of awards this year, including the Printz Award and it was a National Book Award Finalist. I was surprised at how easy this was to read, because I have not found manga or some other kinds of comics easy to follow. The art is simple and expressive and perfectly matches the tone of the stories. I say stories because the book is made up of three story lines—one about a monkey king that doesn't want to be a monkey, one about an immigrant boy who has trouble fitting in at his school in the U.S., and one about an American boy with a Chinese cousin who embodies every stereotype imaginable and humiliates him year after year. Anyway, the stories come together at the end, and ultimately it's a story of how to take what life gives you and make something of it. It will be appreciated by anyone who struggles to be true to themselves.

A Small White Scar by K.A. Nuzum

I have never read a book about rodeos before. It didn't sound great to me, but I thought maybe it would be one that guys would be interested in. I was expecting some kind of cowboy story with lots of action. Surprisingly, this is much more of an introspective book about a 15-year-old boy trying to become a man and move away from his father's ranch. Will's mother died years ago, and rather than working alongside his father on the ranch, he has spent the last eight years taking care of Denny, his mentally challenged twin brother. Will has mixed feelings toward his twin. He loves him, but fiercely resents how his own life has been sacrificed for Denny's well-being. Against his father's command, Will rides away to compete in a rodeo, and then he plans to find work on another ranch and start his adult life. When Denny follows and is bitten by a snake, Will's plans are forced to change. There is wilderness survival and a rodeo at the end, but overall, this is an inward-looking book. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that there won't be much audience for it because even I, an introspective female, thought it was pretty slow. I would be very curious to hear if middle school boys relate to this book or if they just put it down because they want more action.

La Linea by Ann Jaramillo

La Línea is the border between Mexico and the U.S., and Miguel has dreamed of crossing that line for years. His parents live in California and he dreams of finally going to be with them. The journey is incredibly dangerous, but 15-year-old Miguel is ready to risk his life for his dream. He doesn't count on his younger sister sneaking away with him and almost ruining his plans. The two teenagers face many dangers, including the "mata gente" (people killer) freight train, and the near-deadly journey through the desert. Many students in the U.S. will have absolutely no idea what people go through to come to this country. They also probably have no understanding of what makes people so desperate to get here. This book is all about teens and survival (and many readers will enjoy it for it's tense life-and-death moments). It is not about why immigrants come or whether or not they should cross the border illegally. They are kids desperate to find their parents. I think that young people who have immigrated to the United States will appreciate this book because they will see their own journeys reflected here. But I also think it should be read by readers who don't know anything about immigration. It will change how they see things. Another fine book about crossing the border is Journey of the Sparrows by Fran Leeper Buss. Here is one of my wishlist items for middle school literature—that we have more books about Latino kids that don't deal with immigration. Why not a mystery or a fantasy or a humor book with Latino and Latina characters?

Wait for Me by An Na

This book is a romance and a story about two sisters living in a difficult family. A really difficult family. Mina, the older sister, has spent her life under pressure. Her mother expects her to be perfect—to get good grades, work in the family business, to get perfect SAT scores, and to go to Harvard. Mina has no other choice. Mina's mom is really awful—she belittles and insults Mina's older, ineffective father, and treats Sunna, Mina's younger sister badly because she is hearing impaired. When Mina finds a connection and romance with Ysrael, a Mexican singer/songwriter who is totally unacceptable to her mother, she finds herself wanting to run away from this family and start a life on her own terms. Things I liked about this book: the bond between Mina and Sunna, the portrayal of the competitive relationship between Korean American families and the pressure on their children to be perfect, and Mina's sweet romance with Ysrael. What I didn't like was that it never addressed the solutions to Mina's problems. An Na (a fine writer) gives us this awful mother and this really universal teenage desire to live a life of your own outside of a mother's expectations, and yet we never see the mother-daughter relationship resolved in any way. I was left wondering how in the world Mina was going to go on living with her parents. It was still a good book, but I was left a little unsatisfied in the end. (For a really moving story of Korean American family, read A Step from Heaven, also by An Na.)

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

This is the Newbery Award winner for 2007, and it's a book that no one had heard of before it won the award. It's actually written more for upper elementary students, but it is in our library and well worth reading. I saw it as a quiet story about a smart, observant 10-year-old girl's need for security in her life. Lucky lives with Brigitte, her guardian, but Brigitte is just the first wife of Lucky's irresponsible father, and Lucky fears that at any moment Brigitte might just move back to France and leave her in an orphanage. Lucky is funny—she eavesdrops on support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and hears them talk about things she doesn't quite understand. One of those things is finding your higher power. She decides she needs to find hers—and she runs away rather than face her fear of losing Brigitte. In a predictible but fitting ending, Lucky gets what she is looking for. It's a nice book. Not one that I will read again or recommend to everyone, but smart, sensitive readers will want to curl up with Lucky (and her dog HMS Beagle).

Shapeshifter's Quest by Dena Landon

Students at OMS have loved Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, which is about shapeshifters, so I was anxious to read Shapeshifter's Quest to find another similar book that they might like. This is the first novel by Dena Landon, and she actually came to OMS and spoke to Pageturners Book Club earlier this year. She talked about getting the novel published and how hard it is to make a living as a writer, and she had the kids in the palm of her hand. The story is about Syanthe, a teenage shapeshifter who does not have the mark on her face that all of her fellow people do. The shapeshifters are confined to the forest, but Syanthe is able to leave because she is not marked. She is sent out of the forest to save her mother who needs medicine, and also to save her people because they see that the forest is slowly dying. However, the priests outside of the forests are evil and would kill her if they discovered her. So the book is the story of her journey to the capital city and her attempt to discover what is killing the forest. I found it to be an enjoyable book, but without the complexity that makes some fantasies so intriguing and real. It seemed to me like she could have used her shapeshifting to avoid most of the journey (at one point she flew really high so the priests didn't see her--why didn't she just fly really high all the way to the capital?) Also, the ending didn't wrap everything up and seemed to be setting us up for and easy sequel. I do think it's a fantasy that middle school kids will enjoy—especially 6th and 7th graders who may not be already deep into the works of other fantasy writers like Tamora Pierce and Philip Pullman.

The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman

For some reason I wanted to know about the explorer Marco Polo, so I turned to this new biography by one of the great writers of nonfiction for children and teenagers. It's a beautiful book, shaped like a picture book with richly-colored medieval illustrations. However, it is not a book for children. It's definitely a book for middle school kids on up to adults. It explains very clearly who Marco Polo was (an Italian boy growing up in Venice in the 1200s) and what he is famous for (wild tales of his 24-year-long journey to China and back again). Marco's book called The Description of the World changed how Europeans saw the rest of the world, but Freedman tells us right away that some people think Marco Polo was just a big liar. The book nicely summarizes Marco Polo's voyage and the tales he told (he ended up in prison and his cell mate wrote the book), and tells us again at the end about how some scholars doubt his claims. I thought it gave me the perfect amount of information and helped me understand why Marco Polo's name is still known today. It's probably not a book that your average middle school kid would pick up, but it's well worth reading.

A Brief Chapter in My Imossible Life by Dana Reinhardt

There’s lots going on in Simone’s life. She has a best friend who is dating a jerk, a brother who is suddenly handsome and popular, and a crush on a guy who serves coffee at the local food co-op. Simone, an atheist who fights for causes she believes in and works for the American Civil Liberties Union, is caught off guard when her parents tell her that her birth mother wants to meet her. At first she resists, but when she finally lets Rivka into her life she learns about her previously unknown Jewish heritage and how important family and traditions can be. In the midst of great sadness, Simone finds happiness in a romance and satisfaction in being a supportive daughter. This is a realistic story about a high school girl growing up, changing, and learning that there is more to life than she ever imagined. Recommended for readers in grades 8 and up.

Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen

Holly is only 12 years old when she flees from a creepy and abusive foster father. Before she runs away, her teacher Ms. Leone encourages Holly to write in a journal. This book is the journal she writes during the seven months she spends hiding, running, and trying to stay alive. She hides in a truck, jumps onto a train, walks, and rides buses. She steals food or eats at soup kitchens. She sleeps outdoors, sometimes under a deck, sometimes in a cave, and finally in a cardboard box. She lives in fear of being caught and of other homeless people who threaten her. I found myself really wanting to know what happens to Holly in the end, and I think middle school readers will feel the same way. This book does not gloss over the realities of being homeless, but I’m guessing that in real life homelessness is even more nightmarish than Holly’s story conveys. If you like reading about young people with big problems, you should read Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Wow. This book made me want to stock my basement with food and bottled water. This is the diary of Miranda, a 16-year-old who experiences the end of life as she has always known it. A meteor hits the moon and knocks it out of its orbit. There is no immediate effect on Miranda's family in Pennsylvania, but it quickly leads to planetary disaster--tidal waves destroy the coasts, volcanoes erupt and block the sun, and supplies of food and energy are completely disrupted. Miranda and her mother and two brothers stockpile food and try to survive as things get worse and worse. Little by little everything normal is gone--phone service, electricity, school, even sunlight. Miranda's family eats less and less and must live through the winter huddled by the wood stove in one room of their house. And they are the lucky ones. They have firewood and some canned food, and so far they haven't gotten sick. This book will make you think about all the things you take for granted and about how you would react to "the end of the world."

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Well, I finally read my first Tamora Pierce book. And it was good! There are some fantasy books that I love, but I'm just not drawn to them like I am to historical or realistic fiction. Anyway, I can now see why so many good readers devour books by Tamora Pierce. Alanna is a strong, heroic young girl who wants to be a knight, but in her world, like ours, it's not something girls do. So she disguises herself as a boy and goes to the palace for training. She is small and gets picked on, but she works hard and has a gift for magic, and so she triumphs eventually. It's a very convincing fantasy world without dragons or strange creatures. It's almost a combination of medieval times and a fantasy world with sorcerers and magic. This is a good starting point to get into Tamora Pierce's books because she wrote many more books about the land of Tortall.

Weedflower by Cynthia Kahodata

This is the first novel I have read about the experiences of the Japanese in the World War II internment camps. Sumiko is the main character, and the book starts on Dec. 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor is attacked. Sumiko and her family are Americans of Japanese descent, but are taken from their homes and forced to live in what are basically prison camps just because they are Japanese. Her grandfather and uncle are taken to a camp in North Dakota, and she and her family are sent to a camp in the desert of Arizona. This is a quiet book, well-written and descriptive, told through the eyes of an introspective young girl. I appreciated the book for it's portrayal of history, but I have to admit I didn't find the plot very compelling. I do recommend it for students who want to learn about the time period, but be a patient reader and don't expect a lot of action or twists and turns.