Geo Librarian

WONDER by R.J. Palacio Alfred A. Knopf, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-375-86902-0 Grades 3 and up Reviewed from purchased copy. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances? R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels. This book has received a lot of praise this year, even many predict...

Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation & Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years written by Linda Barrett Osborne Published in associate with The Library of Congress Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012 Grades 5 and up Reviewed from purchased copy. BLURB :  Told through unforgettable first-person accounts, photographs, and other primary sources, this book is an overview of racial segregation and early civil rights efforts in the United States from the 1890s to 1954, a period known as the Jim Crow years. Multiple perspectives are examined as the book looks at the impact of legal segregation and discrimination on the day-to-day life of black and white Americans across the country. Complete with a bibliography and an index, this book is an important addition to black history books for young readers. There are many books available for children and young adults about the Civil Rights Era, some are naturally better than others.  But in order for children and young ad...

Dumpling Days written and illustrated by Grace Lin Little, Brown and Company, 2012 ISBN:  978-0-316-12590-1 Grades 3-6 Reviewed from purchased copy. BLURB :  There was no day that dumplings couldn't make better . Pacy is back! The beloved heroine of The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat As the month passes by, Pacy eats chicken feet (by accident!), gets blessed by a fortune teller, searches for her true identity, and grows closer to those who matter most. has returned in a brand new story. This summer, Pacy's family is going to Taiwan for an entire month to visit family and prepare for their grandmother's 60th birthday celebration. Pacy's parents have signed her up for a Chinese painting class, and at first she's excited. This is a new way to explore her art talent! But everything about the trip is harder than she thought it would be--she looks like everyone else but can't speak the language, she has trouble following the art teacher...

The Third Gift written by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-547-20195-5 Grades: All Reviewed from purchased copy. All opinions expressed are solely my own. BLURB :  From two extraordinary talents, a beautifully crafted picture book for the Christmas season. The three wise men, or the three kings, are familiar figures in the Christmas tradition. Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park has taken the brief biblical references to the three as the starting point for a new story. In it we meet a boy who is learning his father’s trade; a man who gathers resin from certain trees; a merchant in the marketplace; and three strangers in brightly colored robes who are shopping for a gift for a baby. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline with exquisite paintings, this simple, moving tale of ordinary people involved in an extraordinary event brings new resonance to the well-known gift list of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  ...

Waiting for the Magic w ritten by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Amy June Bates Atheneum Books for Young Reader, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-4169-2745-7 Interest Level: Grades 3-6 Reviewed from copy borrowed from school library. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. BLURB : People may drift apart But love can hold them together. Sometimes we find that love through magic – Sometimes that magic is all around us This is a story about all of these things. But it's also a story about how four dogs and one cat help one boy and his sister save their family. This is a rather interesting blurb.  I think this is the first blurb I've read that reads like a poem.  Yet it fits the rather dreamy, gentle nature of the story.  In some ways it reminds me of Kate DiCamillo's work on The Tale of Despereaux , The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane , or The Magician's Elephant .  The writing is certainly as good as DiCamillo's and the illus...

A Dog's Way Home written by Bobbie Pyron Katherine Tegen Books, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-198674-1 Interest Level: Grades 4-8 Received free in a giveaway hosted by A Patchwork of Books . Opinions expressed here are solely my own. BLURB: One late fall afternoon, a tragic highway accident leaves eleven-year-old Abby and her beloved Shetland sheepdog, Tam, stranded at opposite ends of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Though each is determined to be reunited with the other, the days separating them turn to weeks, then months, and dangers and changes fill up Abby's and Tam's lives. Will they ever find their way back home to one another?  I consider myself generally speaking a cat person.  I'm much more comfortable around cats than dogs.  But I do still enjoy reading books about dogs.  When I first heard about this book, I wasn't sure that I would really like it.  Of course, I do really like other dog books.  Jack London's Call of the Wild and White Fang are ...

The Trouble with May Amelia written by Jennifer L. Holm Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-4169-1373-3 Interest Level: Grades 3-6 Reviewed from purchased copy. BLURB :   May Amelia lives in pioneer Washingon State in 1900, and she just can't act the part of a proper young lady. Working a farm on the rainy Nasel River isn't easy - especially when you have seven brothers and a Pappa who proclaims that Girls Are Useless. May Amelia thinks she may have finally earned her father's respect when he asks her to translate for a gentleman who's interested in buying their land and making them rich. But when the deal turns out to be a scam, Pappa places all the blame on May. It's going to take a lot of sisu - that's Finnish for guts - to make things right. There are quite a few things that I really enjoyed about this book.  I enjoyed May Amelia's voice, she comes shining through loud and clear.  Within the first chapter I had a pretty go...