I wish this book existed when I was in fifth grade.  I know what it’s like to be Hero Netherfield, the weird new kid who is so easy to tease.  This move will be different for Hero, though.  She befriends the woman who lives next door and finds out that her family’s new house holds a big secret.  The secret might even be connected to the true identity of William Shakespeare! This is a fun puzzle to try to solve along with Hero.

Julia and Patrick have to do some kind of project for their agricultural club, but they don’t have enough space to do a typical farm project.   Patrick comes up with the idea of raising silkworms, but Julia really doesn’t want to do.  The project reminds her of Korea, where her parents came from.  She wants to do a more “American” project.

In the book, Julia shares her opinion of how the story is going with Ms. Park, the author.  You don’t see that very often in books!

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illustrated by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)

Honor Books

Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House)
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press)
Rules by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic)

Tally wants nothing more in life than to turn 16 and have the operation that will turn her from an Ugly to a Pretty.  Then she can move to New Pretty Town and have the time of her life.  Then she meets Shay, who doesn’t want to have the operation.  They find out the operation changes more than just a person’s looks.

If I talk about Pretties and Specials, it will give away the ending, so all I’m going to say is that you should read all three books, preferably in a row!

The target audience for these books is slightly older than tweens, but my 10-year-old literary advisor read them and loved them, especially the science fiction details.

Nothing happens in the town of Manod.  In fact, it’s so boring, the town newspaper only comes out once a month.  Dylan Hughes keeps the log book for his family’s petrol (gas) business, the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel, but things are about to change for him and his family.  Mysterious white vans have begun passing the Oasis on their way to the abandoned slate quarry on the mountain, and Dylan wants to know what’s going on.

This book could be a bit challenging to American readers because of British terminology and some Welsh words, but it’s totally worth it.

A hint: if you liked Chasing Vermeer, you might like this one.

This was to be my next book for review here, but my 10-year-old literary advisor has taken off with it, so I won’t get it back for a couple of days. From what I was able to get from the cover, it’s about a boy growing up in a town where everyone has super powers. Everyone, that is, except for the boy.

Moose Flanagan’s life is uprooted when his electrician father takes a job as a prison guard on Alcatraz. His parents are trying to find a place that can help Moose’s older sister, Natalie, who has what we would know as autism today. Although his parents are always telling him that everything is not as black and white as it seems, they seem to have a hard time remembering that fact themselves.

The book includes fascinating facts about life on Alcatraz, and shows what life is like for the sibling of an autistic person. Gennifer Choldenko knows what she’s writing about. Her own sister had a severe form of autism.

Mark Twain Award Nominee 2006-2007

Originally posted April 10, 2005

Everything is changing for Charli this summer. First, her mom just married her gym teacher, and that’s not turning out as well as Charli had thought it would. Then, her aunt and uncle take in Sophia, a snooty orphan who can tell when something bad is about to happen. Even Charli can tell something bad is going to happen when Uncle Will announces he is going to turn the town’s haunted mansion into a bed and breakfast. Can Charli and Sophia get over their dislike for each other long enough to stop terrible things from happening?

Mark Twain Award Nominee 2005-2006