The following TITLES can be found at the Tonganoxie Public Library:
Younger Readers:
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Twelve-year-old Catherine has conflicting feelings about her younger brother, David, who is autistic. While she loves him, she is also embarrassed by his behavior and feels neglected by their parents. In an effort to keep life on an even keel, Catherine creates rules for him (“It’s okay to hug Mom but not the clerk at the video store”). Each chapter title is also a rule, and lots more are interspersed throughout the book. When Kristi moves in next door, Catherine hopes that the girl will become a friend, but is anxious about her reaction to David. Then Catherine meets and befriends Jason, a nonverbal paraplegic who uses a book of pictures to communicate, she begins to understand that normal is
difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to define. Rules of behavior are less important than acceptance of others. Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak. Her love for her brother is as real as are her frustrations with him. Lord has candidly captured the delicate dynamics in a family that revolves around a child’s disability. Set in coastal Maine, this sensitive story is about being different, feeling different, and finding acceptance. A lovely, warm read, and a great discussion starter.
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Fans of Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game, and E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, will welcome this novel about two classmates determined to solve the mystery of a missing painting. Brainy 12-year-olds Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay attend the University of Chicago Laboratory School where their teacher’s unorthodox methods make learning an adventure. When Vermeer’s A Lady Writing disappears on its way to exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, the two overcome their adolescent awkwardness and let their friendship bloom, pooling their talents to rescue the masterpiece and expose the thief. Many elements play a role in unraveling the secrets surrounding the crime: Calder’s set of pentominoes; his encoded correspondence with his friend Tommy about a missing boy named Frog; and Petra’s intuitive communing with the woman in the painting, all augmented by the unusual ideas presented in a strange old book that Petra has found. Balliett also provides lots of plot twists and red herrings along the way. Helquist’s atmospheric black-and-white illustrations add to the fun, incorporating clues to a secret message, the answer to which can be found on the publisher’s Web site. Puzzles, codes, letters, number and wordplay, a bit of danger, a vivid sense of place, and a wealth of quirky characters enrich the exciting, fast-paced story that’s sure to be relished by mystery lovers.
Older Readers:
Now You See It... by Vivian Vande Velde
A delightful excursion into a world of elves, witches, and sock-eating spreenies. When Wendy, 15, finds sunglasses that fit her prescription perfectly, she begins to see little blue men and realizes that a popular girl in her class is actually a 90-year-old crone, and that the new kid has rather long pointy ears. Wendy is convinced that these strange visions will go away, until she stumbles into Kazaran Dahaani. There she finds out that the boy with the ears is actually an elven prince and that she inadvertently allowed him to be captured. Wendy is inwardly terrified but outwardly uncaring about the prince and demands to go home immediately. Unfortunately, a wayward thought transports her back 50 years before she was born, and she meets her grandmother as a young girl. Eleni is a caring, empathic person who instantly agrees to go to Kazaran to save the prince, and through her influence, Wendy begins to overcome her fears and become the person she’s always wanted to be. She also comes to know her grandmother as a young woman, rather than as the bedridden Alzheimer’s patient she is today. Vande Velde’s sly humor and snappy dialogue make this story a joy to read. Wendy’s disbelief and caution are understandable as are the underlying anger and sorrow about her grandmother. However, this is not a heart wrenching novel about loss, but rather a celebration of life.
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
Beautifully written prose fills this first-person narrative of a teen whose world is turned around in an instant. This is both a survival story and homage to the need to cherish life’s every moment. Moody, introspective Green, 15, stays at home while her parents and younger sister travel to the city to sell their produce. Her disappointment at being left behind causes her to be cold and not say good-bye. Then the city is engulfed in flames, and ashes hover in the atmosphere for a long time. Green is left with her guilt for her sullen behavior and the solitude of her ruined garden. Hoffman has created a multilayered, believable protagonist. Readers suffer along with her and share her fears as she tries to pick up the pieces of her life. The contrast between her original faith in the promise of the future and her later acknowledgment of the tentative nature of reality is vividly and eloquently portrayed. This is not an easy read, and though it is an absorbing tale, it will most likely appeal to more sophisticated readers. A powerfully written and thought-provoking selection.
Dread Locks by Neal Shusterman
Shusterman’s latest offering in the Dark Fusion series (which draws on folktales and mythology) is based on Medusa. Fourteen-year-old Parker Baer is a spoiled, bored, rich kid who is fascinated by the new girl next door. Tara Herpecheveux is British, with thick, curling, golden hair like glowing dreadlocks, and she always wears sunglasses. She quickly becomes the person to know at school, but those she takes an interest in fall ill with a strange sickness: their skin and eyes go gray, a notable lethargy takes over, and their limbs turn to stone. Readers will quickly figure out that Tara is actually Medusa and that she has decided to give Parker a Gorgon’s gifts. The real question is, will Parker resist? Don’t expect subtlety or character development, but this fast-paced, short read will be a big hit with fans of Darren Shan, of the Cirque du Freak series.”
Alternates:
Uglies by Schott Westerfeld
Vampire Plauges – London, 1850 by Sebastian Rook
Time Travelers by Caroline Cooney (two novels in one: Both Sides of Time and Out of Time)
