Book Notes

Always fun to re-read a favorite. I love the Doll People. Annabelle is a spunky doll, who lives with her doll family in Kate Palmer’s bedroom. One day she discovers her Aunt’s journal. Auntie Sarah has been missing for 45 years. Annabelle hopes the journal will provide a clue to where she lives. But finding Auntie Sarah won’t be easy. Dolls can only move around when the people are fast asleep or out of the house. And even then it’s dangerous. There’s Captain, the cat, and if a person thinks they see you move, you will go into Doll State. Even worse, if you do too much in front of people, you will go into Permanent Doll State.

Will Annabelle rescue her Aunt? Will she make a real friend? Can she avoid Permanent Doll State? Read The Doll People and find out!

We read this book for our last 4th grade book club. Very timely since to movie just came out. The movie covers all five books though. So get reading before you go and see it.

Jared, Simon and Mallory have moved to a new, but very old and creaky home. Jared keeps hearing things in the walls, and strange and unbelieveable things keep happening, like Mallory waking up with her hair tied to the bed! Jared’s mom keeps blaming him, but Jared found something. Proof that he is not the one behind the mischief. Proof that they share their home with magical, and mischievous creatures.

Even though you only meet your first creature at the very end of the book, this one is still suspenseful and fun. A great book for all you fantasy fans.

Anastasia has got to be one of my favorite characters. I love her sense of humor, her family, and how she is a list-maker (I am too!)

This is the first Anastasia story and there are lots more. She is 10 years old, in love with Washburn Cummings, not sure if she likes her teacher and is about to become a big sister for the first time. Something that she definitely does not want to be. Her parents tell her that she can name the new baby-a boy. She thinks of the worst name possible, and writes it down in her journal. But a lot of things have yet to happen to Anastasia before the baby is born. As her list of Things I Love and Things I Hate change, so does Anastasia. A sweet, fun book.

This was yet another re-read. I really should start reading new stuff! But this was so good, and each time you read a book you find new things in it, or a new passage catches your eye.

In this story, Nat Field, a Shakespearean actor, is transported back in time to 1599 London. No one knows that he from the future, and he is to perform in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream at the new Globe theatre with Shakespeare as director and performer. It’s a magical book, and if you like plays, or acting, literature or history you will love this.

This was our pick for this month’s 6th-8th grade book club. I’d never read it before, but became interested after I heard Jeanne DuPrau speaking about her writing. So when the group chose this title, I was very excited.

Lina and Doon are twelve and have just received their work assignments. Lina will be a Messenger, and Doon will be a pipeworker. Everyone works together to keep Ember running. However, things aren’t going smoothly. The lights have been flickering a lot lately. And without lights and a working generator, the entire city will be permanently plunged into darkness. Night and day. Things are looking pretty grim until Lina finds a box with partial instructions on it. It looks like a way out of Ember. If only she and Doon can figure it out before it’s too late.

The author wrote this book based on an true story. There was a real dog who did in fact save the lives of a hundred people by swimming out to their sinking ship in a storm with a rope line.

The fictionalized dog in this story, Sirius, is perfectly amazing. He is sweet, and incredibly smart, and his life is in danger. A new law has been passed forbidding all dogs except for sheepherding dogs from the island. If Sirius is found, he will be killed. Maggie has been hiding him for some time, but when the ship flounders off the coast, and Sirius is the only one who can help, what will she do? Risk her dog’s life to save the people on board, or keep Sirius hidden and let everyone drown?

It’s a very sweet story filled with Newfoundland language and stories. And one amazing dog.

What a fabulous book! This should have won at least a Newbery honor this year. I was rooting for it to win the Newbery, but alas, it went to Good Masters, Sweet Ladies.

Georgina, her mother and her brother are living in their car. After her father left, they were forced to leave their apartment. The car is temporary, until their mother can earn enough money for them to move into a new home. “Temporary” is taking too long for Georgina, and after seeing a Lost Dog, Reward Offered sign, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She steals a dog to hold on to until a reward is offered. The problem is that she feels like she is doing the wrong thing. And she meets to owner, who loves her dog more than anything. And the dog is a super cutie who misses his house and yard.

This was such a lovely book filled with nice characters and built around a great story. Wonderful for sharing.

I don’t often say this, but every kid should read this book! I’ve been meaning to read Molly Moon for years. I’ve heard so many kids talk about it and how much they liked it. Well, now I have read it and think everyone else should too!

Molly Moon lives in an orphange in England. It’s a horrible orphanage with a mean owner and nasty food. A place where you have to do awful chores like clean the whole bathroom floor with your toothbrush and the food is nasty, rotten fish and yucky, slimy vegetables. The kind of place that you need some kind of escape from.

Molly Moon finds that escape one day in the library. She finds a book on hypnotism. It was written a long time ago by a very famous hypnotist. It turns out that Molly has a knack for it. She is able to hypnotise a way for herself out of the orphanage and over to New York City and then onto Broadway. It’s super fun and full of lots of twists and turns. This is the first of many Molly Moon adventures so get started!

This is the sequel to Spinelli’s wildly popular Stargirl. This book is from Stargirl’s point of view, from her new home in Pennsylvania. She is writing “the world’s longest letter” to Leo, the boyfriend who broke her heart in Arizona.

This book is filled with quirky characters who make Stargirl seem quite average. And I didn’t like that about this one. I want Stargirl to be the sweetest and the most unusual. I also wanted her to not be so broken up about Leo. Sure he broke her heart, but isn’t the essence of Stargirl to be satisfied with who you are? Still, a good read if you miss Stargirl and want to check in on what she is doing now.

I just re-read Frindle for our book club, and I couldn’t believe that it is already 11 years old! This book has been a favorite with so many people. I love Nick, and I really love Mrs. Granger. This is a quick, fun read about a Nicholas Allen who decides to create a new word for pen, and his teacher, who is determined to see the dictionary prevail. A fun, fun story for everyone.

I’m starting to really like Jennifer Holm. This book has become one of my favorites. It’s a novel that is told not by the typical paragraphs and chapters, but through stuff. Her report cards, notes left on the refrigerator by her mother, receipts from her purchases at the drugstore, and the occasional clipped out horoscope. Put it all together and you get a great story.

You’ll just have to trust me and dive in. It’s hilarious and sweet. A perfect book to just curl up with for an afternoon.

This is our second pick for 4th and 5th grade book club. I love Cynthia Rylant’s books, and this one in particular.

Ob and Summer are grieving from the loss of May, Ob’s wife and Summer’s foster mother. They neither one want to get out of bed in the  morning or go on and live their happy lives without her. Enter Cletus Underwood, the Bat Woman, and an owl flying through on silent wings. Life just may go on after all. Different, but just as precious as it was before.

It’s a small book, but has such a big story in it with lovely writing with a folksy narrative. A great book for sharing.

This is book one of the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. I wish I had read it months ago. I was reluctant, but once I started I found a great fantasy.

Percy has been shuffled from school to school. He can’t seem to stay out of trouble. He’s dyslexic, so his grades aren’t so hot, and he has ADHD, so none of his teachers ever give him much of a chance. It turns out that there is a reason for this. He’s a demigod.

In this fantasy the myths of the Greek Gods are not just myths. They are real and very much alive today. And one of them is Percy’s dad. His Greek god roots are what make him dyslexic–he’s hard wired to read ancient Greek–and the ADHD is because his body is hard wired for battle.

After finding out that he is a demigod, Percy has to undertake a quest. Zeus’s master bolt has been stolen and if it is not returned by the summer solstice world war three will begin. It’s up to Percy and his friends to travel to the underworld, get it, and get back to Mount Olympus (located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building). This is non-stop adventure chock full of ancient monsters and ancient curses. A fun, fun book.

This is the first book that we are reading for our 4th and 5th grade book club. I enjoyed re-reading this. It’s been just long enough that I was starting to forget some of the details.

Do you believe in witches? Could you spot a witch if she were walking past you on the street? Our character’s grandmother can. She knows all about witches and tries to protect her grandson from them by giving him all the facts. However, the facts aren’t quite enough and when the boy is turned into a mouse, he needs his grandmother’s help to stop the witches from turning all the children of England into mice! Will they be able to stop them? Tell us what you think.

Vegetarian vampires living in New York City? You bet. Lexy, Hudson, and Maddie live in Manhattan with their parents. They are not your average school kids either. They are fruit-bat vampires, or they used to be in the Old World. As if being a kid isn’t hard enough, you should try being a kid who’s a vampire!

Hudson is trying to save the planet. Lexy is trying to get Dylan to notice her, and Maddie is convinced that the people across the street are blood-sucking vampires in disguise and must be stopped. And she will stop at nothing to prove it! All this while trying to look and act like a normal human being.

It’s funny and vampire-y and a perfect fall read. Hurry and check it out before Halloween–it may give you a few ideas.