The Library Pages

Title: The Library Pages
Author: Carlene Morton

Imaged copied from www.Amazon.com

Illustrator: Valeria Docampo
Copyright: 2010

Mrs. Heath is the librarian at Happyland Elementary School. While she is on maternity leave the students in Mrs. Tulane's class become library helpers, aka library pages.

The library pages make Mrs. Heath a video to show her how they have been taking care of the library books and patrons. Bert shelves all of the skinny books together because he likes skinny books better than thick books. Carlos shelves the non-fiction books by color instead of by their Dewey Decimal numbers. By the middle of the video Mrs. Heath is scared to continue watching, but she does. As the video continues Mrs. Heath becomes angry as she watches the library pages do unthinkable things to the library books. In the last scene of the video Mrs. Heath finds a big surprise from her new library pages.

The children represented in the illustrations reflect a variety of ethnicities. This book provides an opportunity to talk with children about the proper way to treat a library book.

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

Title: Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy
Author: Sonya Sones

Image copied from www.amazon.com

Copyright: 1999

Sonya Sones found inspiration for this verse novel in the actual events that happened in her life around the age of thirteen when her older sister had a nervous breakdown on Christmas Eve.

Every member of Cookie's family is affected by her sister's mental illness. Cookie finds that her parents ignore her and are unwilling to talk about what has happened to their family. She is afraid to talk to her friends about what is happening because she is afraid of how they will react and what they will say about her and her family.

How do you deal with the emotions your feeling and the changes in your family when you are afraid to talk about it with most people and your family won't talk about it all?

Check out Sonya Sones' website to find out more about this title and other books by the author.

Torchlight

Title: Torchlight
Author: Carol Otis Hurst

Image copied from www.barnesandnoble.com

Copyright: 2006

Charlotte and Maggie are friends living in the same town in New England during the 1850s, but their friendship is not accepted by most people in Westfield. These two girls are not supposed to be friends because Charlotte is a Yankee while Maggie is Irish. It seems that most of the Yankees in Westfield want the Irish to leave town.

The children of Westfield share their parents dislike of the town's Irish citizens. Charlotte is punished by her Yankee classmates for choosing to be friends with Maggie. The teacher refuses to listen to Charlotte's side of the story and warns her that she needs to change her behavior in order to properly represent her family.

The Yankee dislike of the Irish comes to a head the night of the bonfires when the Yankee citizens of Westfield threaten to burn the church the Irish have been building.

Will Charlotte and Maggie's friendship survive or will the girls be split apart by their families and neighbors?

T4: a Novel in Verse

Image copied from Barnesandnoble.com

Title: T4: a novel in verse
Author: Ann Clare LeZotte
Copyright: 2008

You have probably read stories about the killing of Jewish people during World War II, but have you read about the other groups of people who Hitler tried to eliminate.

Paula is deaf. Her mother had rubella while pregnant with Paula. That combined with a high fever at sixteen months old caused Paula to completely lose her hearing. She and her family have come to accept Paula's deafness, but Paula's country has not.

Paula lives in Germany, which, at the time of our story, is being led by Adolph Hitler. The Jewish people were not the only ones targeted by the Nazis. People with mental and physical disabilities were targeted by a Nazi program known as Action T4, which gave doctors permission to kill disabled people in order to eliminate the "pollution in the gene pool" (LeZotte, p.21).

Father Josef, a Catholic priest, learns of the Nazi plan and endeavors to help keep Paula alive. This is no easy task as there are many Germans who will happily inform the Nazis of happenings at their neighbors' homes.

T4 is told in 66 free verse poems, which come together to tell Paula's story of hiding from the Nazis in order to live.

Hit and Run

Image copied from Amazon.com

Title: Hit and Run
Author: Lurlene McDaniel
Copyright: 2007

This story is told from four alternating viewpoints. Analise, Laurie, Quin, and Jeremy and all attend the same high school, but they do not all truly know each other.

Laurie is a freshman whose parents are divorced. She lives with her mom who wants Laurie to be popular and date lots of boys like she did in high school. Laurie does not want to be like her mother and is having trouble handling the pressure her mother is putting on her.

Quin's father is just as bad as Laurie's mother. Quin is a high school senior who is looking forward to going away to college to play baseball. The farther away he can get from his father the better as Quin's father is constantly pressuring him to be the best ball player, keep his head in the game, and stay out of trouble.

Analise and Jeremy are high school seniors. They have been dating for awhile now and are looking forward to the future. Analise works on the school newspaper and yearbook. Jeremy works part-time in a woodshop making items such as desks, chairs, tables, and cabinets. Neither of them have pushy parents like Laurie and Quin.

After Friday night all four of their lives will be changed forever.

The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye

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Title: The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye
Series: An Enola Holmes Mystery
Author: Nancy Springer
Copyright: 2010

Enola Holmes, the younger sister of the famous Sherlock Holmes, set out at the beginning of this series to find her mother who had run away from her daughter and her life. In this 6th and final book in the Enola Holmes series Enola will finally find the answers she has been seeking concerning her mother's whereabouts.

Lady Blanchefleur del Campo is missing. She helped a lame woman down the steps into the Underground and has not been seen since then. Did Lady Blanchefleur del Campo get on a train and flee from her life? Was she attacked in the Underground and left to die? Was she lured down the train tunnels into the underworld? Both Sherlock and Enola are diligently working albeit separately to solve the mystery of the missing Lady.

In the meantime Enola is also trying to solve the latest puzzling message from her mother, which has arrived in the form of a skytale. Enola must also be sure to keep her distance from her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft as allowing them to find and trap her will surely end with Enola being placed in a dreaded finishing school.

Will Mycroft find Enola and place her in a finishing school? Will Enola's mother return to Ferndell Hall, the Holmes family home? Will Lady Blanchefleur del Campo be found alive? The answers await you in "The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye."

Freddy and the French Fries Fries Alive!

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Title: Fries Alive!  
Series: Freddy and the French Fries
Author: David Baldacci
Copyright: 2005

Freddy T. Funkhouser like his father, Alfred, is a great scientist who makes quirky things. One of Alfred's inventions is the automatic seed shooter, which he uses to shoot tomato seeds at customers at the Burger Castle restaurant. Unfortunately, the Burger Castle has not had many customers recently. It seems people are not interested in eating "soybean and tofu burgers or carrot and eggplant hotdogs" not to mention the "fat-free fries that make your hair grow" (p. 4). The Funkhouser family's chief rivals are the Spanker family who own the Patty Cakes restaurant. The food at Patty Cakes is full of everything bad for the human body, which is exactly what makes customers want to eat it.

The upcoming Founder's Day parade will provide the Funkhouser family the opportunity to impress the local people and gain new customers. If only they can make a parade float more impressive than the Spanker family's float. Freddy puts his scientific skills to work in effort to make the Funkhouser float as unique as possible. In the process he creates walking, talking french fries of various colors, sizes, and types. Theodore is a blue crinkle-cut fry and highly intellectual. The tiny yellow fry is Ziggy, but don't let his size fool you he has an enormous voice. Wally is a purple waffle fry who needs/wants to eat constantly. The green curly fry is named Curly and runs all of the words in his sentences together. Si and Meese are conjoined red shoestring fries whose personalities are complete opposites of each other.

When the fries leave Freddy's laboratory they have some adventures of their own that land Alfred Funkhouser in jail. Will the fries help save the Funkhouser family and Burger Castle or will their existence land Freddy in jail and destroy the Burger castle forever.

Love is a Many Trousered Thing

Title: Love is a Many Trousered Thing
Series: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Author: Louise Rennison
Copyright: 2007

Georgia is her usual self-centered teenage self in this 8th installment of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. This time Georgia finds herself in the bakery of love trying to choose between Robbie and Masimo. Of course, Wet Lindsay is also still in the picture. Has Robbie returned to England to date Georgia or Lindsay or for some other reason? Does Masimo intend to date Georgia or Lindsay? In the mean time Georgia must also endure her amazingly embarrassing parents and family.

To this adult Georgia's self-centered attitude is a continual annoyance. I can only hope that teenagers who read Georgia's story will see how poorly she treats her friends and thus recognize personality traits to NOT emulate.

The Smuggler's Treasure

Title: The Smuggler's Treasure
Series: American Girl History Mysteries
Author: Sarah Masters Buckey
Copyright: 1999

Elisabet Holder of Boston finds her world turned upside down after her father, Captain Holder, is captured by the British navy. Now, she is living in New Orleans and working in her Aunt Augustine's bakery.  While breathing his last breaths Elisabet's Uncle Henri reveals that he has hidden a map which should bring riches to the finder of the map. Elisabet sees this map as her opportunity to buy her father's freedom from the British if only she can find where Uncle Henri has hidden it.

Welcome to Books for the Young at Heart

Welcome!

My name is Denise. I am an adult who enjoys reading juvenile and young adult books. Occasionally, I even read a book from the adult section of the library. I taught middle school for nine years in Virginia and North Carolina before returning to college where I earned a Masters Degree in Library Science. Now I work at a public library in Virginia.

I am writing this blog in order to share with you some of my thoughts and ideas regarding the books I read. I invite you to comment on the books about which I blog. Tell me what you thought of the book, give suggestions for other books like this one that we should read, or just say hello.

What My Mother Doesn't Know

Image copied from Amazon.com

Title: What My Mother Doesn't Know
Author: Sonya Sones
Copyright: 2001

Fifteen-year-old Sophie finds love, loses love, and finds love again in the most unlikely of places. All of this emotional trauma takes place while Sophie attempts to navigate the ups and downs associated with a teenager whose body is developing, parents fight, friends leave her alone during the holidays, and school, well school just happens. How is a budding artist supposed to handle all of these changes especially when she finds that she cannot talk to anyone about the most unlikely romance of her life.

This story is written as a verse novel and is a quick read. Readers who enjoy "What My Mother Doesn't Know" should also checkout Sonya Sones verse novel, "What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know." "What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know" continues Sophie's story of an unlikely romance form the point of view of Sophie's new boyfriend.

Check out Sonya Sones' website to find out more about the author, this title, and her other books.

If you enjoy reading novels in written in verse check out my reader's advisory page for additional titles.