One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia-Williams

It's the summer of 1968 and three sisters, Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, are off to Oakland California from Brooklyn New York to visit their mother who abandoned them many years ago.  The girls are excited about visiting California and have grand ideas of all sorts of adventures.  They are also anxious about seeing the mother that left them so many years ago.

How surprised they are when the mother they meet is not the one they imagined...one who would dote on them and care for them as most mothers would, but instead the complete opposite!  Their mother shows up late to the airport, doesn't ever cook for them , doesn't give hugs, and won't even refer to Fern by her name!

The girls are send to eat breakfast at a local center run by the Black Panthers and then stay for their summer camp. 

It's an interesting summer for sure, and one that will change their lives forever.

What I Thought:
This book is getting lots of Newbery buzz, so I wanted to check it out!  And wow, it's a great read!  I enjoyed the voice of Delphine and at times wanted to reach out and give her a big old hug!  Delphine has had to serve as a mother figure to her sisters for years, and she is understandably angry when her mother shows no interest of stepping into that role.  Throughout the book we grasp a better sense  of what makes their mother "tick" and wonder if they will ever come to an understanding.

The cultural and historical aspect of this book is wonderful.  Personally, I do not know much about the Black Panthers and that movement, and this book has peaked my interest in this time of history.  What a great book to include as a supplement to any unit about the 1960's!

This is a wonderful book, and I would not be surprised if it had a shiny Newbery medal attached to its cover soon!

Very highly recommended. 

(Edited to add...) This book is the 2011 Coretta Scott King Author Medal winner and a 2011 Newbery Honor winner. 

Want to see more?  Check it out on Amazon: One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia-Williams.

Reviewed from a library copy.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Jackson, Mississippi...1960's.   The Civil Rights movement is in full swing, but Jackson is not buying into the action.  There is still a very strong divide between the people that grips society to the utmost degree.

Meet Aibileen: a maid to a young white family and has raised 17 children...and lost her own in a tragic event.  As she goes to work everyday, to clean after the family, raise their young, and whatever else they see fit Aibileen grows more frustrated at the injustices.  But...she can't do anything about it.  Can she?

Meet Minnie: a strong willed family woman who sometimes lets her mouth get her into trouble.  After being fired for something that she didn't do, she wonders if she will every find another job.  She's tired of it all...what can she do?

Meet Miss Skeeter: a young socialite with a journalism degree from Ole Miss and a desire to become a writer.  She misses Constantine, the maid who practically raised her and was one of her closest friends.  While visiting friends, she begins to see how their help is treated and also seeks the truth about Constantine.  She decides to write a book telling the stories of many of the maids around Jackson, a very dangerous thing for both the maids participating and Miss Skeeter.

There's a lot to lose, but everything to gain.

What I Thought: 
Wow.   I have read several excellent books lately, and this is definitely one of them!  Stockett is an unbelievable story teller.  Through the voices of Aibeleen, Minny, and Miss Skeeter, Stockett gives a clear view of life for high society in 1960 Jackson Mississippi and the African American woman who worked for them.

Readers will get a clear sense of what it is like the women who work for the white families: the interesting love/despise relationship, how the ladies come to adore the children and it is made obvious the feelings are reciprocated; the embarrassment about being called "dirty" or being forced to use a separate facility...it all seems crazy in 2010.    But we all know these things happened every day.

Readers will also cheer for characters who see that this behavior is wrong, and take a stand to make it right...at great costs. 

This is a fantastic novel, entertaining, enlightening, and perhaps most of all...a reminder of past attitudes that should never again resurface.

Very highly recommended. 

Want to see more?  Check it out on Amazon:  The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff

It's World War II and Meggie's family is making sacrifices.  Her brother is serving overseas and her family has made the decision to move to Willow Run Michigan so her father can work in a factory that makes B-24 bombers for the war effort.

While they are happy to be helping the war effort, it is difficult to leave their home in Rockaway and the beach to move to a large city and live in a large apartment building with thousands of other factory workers.  What's worse is they are leaving behind their grandfather and close friends.

Life in Willow Run is different.  There are lots of people and the living arrangements are very tight.  Meggie quickly makes friends and discovers what life holds during war times.

What I Thought:
I thought this is a great narrative on what it was like for children living during World War II and helping with the stateside war effort.  This book is the companion to Giff's novel Lily's Crossing where Lily (Meggie's best friend) copes with the war from her home in Rockaway.  I enjoyed reading about this time period from two girls with similar background, but different experiences with the war effort.

Recommended.

Want to see more?  Check it out on Amazon: Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells, illustrated by P.J. Lynch

This is a collection of stories about Abraham Lincoln told from two of his sons, Willie and Tad.  In the first section, Willie recalls a trip to Chicago with his father, the lawyer.  The boys know that something big is about to happen, and Tad's father confides in him that he is about to run for President.  Tad's account of the trip is done in great fondness as he recalls many details of the trip: the train ride, waiting for his father at the courthouse while he works, meals together, and going to see entertainment.

In the second section, Willie narrates the experience of their family traveling to Washington DC after their father was elected President of the United States.  It is is an unstable time in America as war between the Northern States and Southern States is about to break loose.  The boys remember their father being carted off by the Secret Service, visiting their father in the Oval Office (much to the chagrin of his Cabinet...but they know their father loves the interruption....and playing in the White House with the Taft boys. 


In the third section, Tad recalls the painful experience of his brother's death and the effects that has on his family, and spending lots of time with his father as the war continues.  Tad sees the incredible toil the war has caused on his father, and he looks forward to returning to Springfield.  When the war finally does end, he observes his father celebrate victory in a most conservative and reluctant way and looks forward to returning home.


What I Thought: 
I adore stories about good ol' Abe and this one is no exception.  I loved how this book is narrated by Lincoln's sons, and it is quite obvious that the boys adored their father and the feeling was mutual.


I can never get enough stories of fathers who are just plain awesome. 


In the Author's Note, Wells talks about her research and how Lincoln may be one of the most documented personal histories as so many people left memoirs regarding this man and his family.  While this work is technically fiction, she points out that "The incidents in this story...are grounded in historical fact.  No detail was imagined or invented except the dialogue and the circumstances in which it took place." 


I love that Wells did so much research for this story and the result between that and her storytelling is that the reader feels connected to the whole Lincoln family, through the good times, and the bad.


Oh, and Lynch's illustrations are simply gorgeous.  Amazing. 


This is a wonderful book for those who enjoy Lincoln!  What a great short read-aloud for a class who is studying this president and it would give an exciting different perspective from the textbook. 


Very highly recommended. 


Want to see more?  Check it out on Amazon: Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells, illustrated by P.J. Lynch.

Reviewed from a library copy. 

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko

Moose is back, along with the whole Alcatraz gang! Moose's family lives on Alcatraz where his father is an officer at Alcatraz prison. When we last left Moose in Al Capone Shines Does My Shorts, his special needs sister Natlie had just been accepted into the Esther P. Marinoff School...perhaps with some pull from prisoner Al Capone!

Now, Natalie is doing well in school, but it seems Al Capone wants a favor in return.

What I Thought:
A very strong historical fiction novel. This book is set in 1935 when Alacatraz was a busy prison filled with mobsters that remained in the headlines. Choldenko once again does a fantastic job bringing her readers into Moose's world and what it was like to grow up on this island.

There is a lot more interaction in this book with the inmates, as Moose gets to meet Capone and some of the other inmates as they are working on the island. Baseball is still plays a vital role in the story and there's even a little romance!

I don't know if Choldenko plans to continue Moose's story, but I sure hope she does!

Book also includes an author's note regarding her research and her characters.

Highly recommended, but make sure that you have read Al Capone Does My Shorts first!

Want to see more? Check it out on Amazon: Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Elijah was the first free child to be born in Buxton, a settlement in Canada consisting of mostly runaway slaves who found freedom by escaping from their masters and surviving treacherous conditions.

Now, at eleven years old in the year 1860 he tells readers the story of the happenings of Buxton and its cast of characters, including the "Reverend" who tricks Elijah several times, the arrival of new citizens into the settlement, school, and a powerful ending that you'll just have to discover for yourself.

What I Thought:
I listened to the audio version of this book and all I can say is WOW. This is a story that everyone should experience, whether it be via the print or audio version. The story is read by Mirron Willis and is so unbelievably well done you won't want to turn it off!

I love Elijah's story, and you will watch him bloom from a boy to a man as you read (or listen!). The story is full of boy hijinks, solid stories about numerous people and just lots of fun with a true sense of history. Speaking of history, make sure you read the afterword as Curtis gives more insight into the Buxton settlement and encourages readers to find out more about it. Which I totally plan on doing!

This is a must read.

Very highly recommended.

The book was awarded a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor and the audiobook was awarded an ALA Notable Recording and Odyssey Honor.

Want to see more? Check it out on Amazon: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff

Lily is a young girl growing up on the East Coast in 1944...right during World War II. Her mother is dead, so she is being raised by her father and grandmother and they visit their beach house each summer in Rockaway. Lily loves these summer days as she visits the beach and plays with her good friend Margaret.

But this summer will be different. With the war in full swing, Margaret's family moves to Chicago and Lily's father is called to serve overseas.

Lily is dreading the summer with no friends her age to play with, until Albert moves to town to stay with family. He is a refugee from war torn Hungary, and holds a great secret. They become fast friends, brought together by a sweet kitten. Lily has a problem to "stretch" the truth, but Albert hasn't been completely honest either and this becomes a major problem...one that could be life or death.

What I Thought:
Wow, what a great story! I love reading anything about this time period this book provides a completely different view on most of the literature I've read about WWII. Instead of a book about the Holocaust, its a story of a child living in the states who befriends a refugee child from Hungary. Albert is taken from his home as a precaution as his parents publish anti-Nazi literature, and if found out they would be in great danger.

The story also shows the life of the family of a WW2 soldier who is left home and worries about their loved one. D-Day and Normandy Beach is mentioned often.

This book is a 1998 Newbery Honor Book, and I've noticed is on a couple of schools' summer reading lists in my area. A superb book.

Highly Recommended.

Buffalo Music by Tracey E. Fern, illustrated by Lauren Castillo

Western pioneers Molly and Charlie settled in the Palo Duro Canyon and Molly completed her chores listening to the various sounds of the nearby buffalo grazing nearby, her "buffalo music." One day, hunters move in and wipe out a majority of the herds living in the area. Molly was sad, and missed hearing the buffalo.

One day Billie the cowhand brings Molly two orphan buffalo calves in hope that Molly can nurse them back to health and raise them to become full grown buffalo. Of course, Molly complies, and soon enough she has a whole herd of buffalo.

Eventually, this members of her buffalo heard will be used to repopulate the population of other herds throughout the country.

While this book is a work of fiction, it is based on a real person-Mary Ann Goodnight and her conservation work with buffalo.

What I Thought:
What a fascinating story! This picture is a springboard for all kinds of different topics: settling the west, buffalo, animal conservation, and even farm life! The illustrations of this book are outstanding, make sure you check out the endpapers!

This book is a wonderful read, one that I highly recommend, and I am sure this book will be raking in all sorts of book awards in the very near future!!

Want to see more? Check it out on Amazon: Buffalo Music by Tracey E. Fern.

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The beginning of this book says it all:

It’s morning. Soft gray light slips over the tall redbrick wall. It stretches across the exercise yard and reaches through the high, barred windows. In a cell on the ground floor, the light shifts dark shapes into a small stool, a scrawny table, and a bed made of wooden boards with no mattress or blanket. ON that bed, a thin, huddled figure, Helmuth, a boy of seventeen, lies awake. Shivering. Trembling.

It’s a Tuesday.

The executioner works on Tuesdays. (page 3)

In this fascination book of life in a Nazi prison and flashbacks of Helmuth’s life, readers discover first hand what it is like to grow up in Germany during the time of Hitler, Nazis, and WWII.

What I Thought:
I picked up this book for two reasons:

1. I really enjoy historical fiction and memoirs about the WWII and Holocaust. This is because when I was in the sixth grade, we read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This book remains one of my all time favorite books of all time!

2. The cover and back cover (which has what is in the summary above) are absolutely gripping and I knew it was a book I couldn't’t pass up!

This book is actually quite different than any book I’ve read before in this particular subject matter. It is sad and maybe a little predictable, but just the same it gives a new perspective to an important time in our world’s history.

Want to see more? Check it out on Amazon: The Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.