Kek is a young African boy who has journeyed far from home. He finds himself in a country not knowing how to speak the language, never having seen snow. It truly is a whole new world to him. He is being taken to Minnesota to live with his aunt and cousin. Kek’s father and brother have died and his mother is missing. All he has left of her are memories and a scrap of material from her dress. Is it enough to navigate the waters of the unknown? Now there are so many things that Kek must learn: how to get to school, how to earn money, how to do the laundry.

But one thing is familiar to him. On the way to his aunt’s house, Kek spies a solitary cow standing in a field. Kek has Dave, the driver, stop the car so he can go and pet the cow. He continues to visit with his four-legged friend over the course of the novel. He speaks her language and she’s always happy to see him. When he’s with her he doesn’t have to think about bullies, ESL classes, or his angry cousin. But the owner of the farm is thinking about selling. Will Kek find somewhere he can truly be happy?

When asked about her motivation behind writing Kek’s story, Applegate said: “I would love to think that reading about a child like Kek will help someone, someday, channel that compassionate side, to smile and say ‘Need a hand?’ when it could make all the difference in the world. [In the words of] Jean Rhys: ‘Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, It finds homes for us everywhere.’

Read-aloud hook: Page 73. Cattle. “In my class, my long-name class called English-as-a-Second-Language, we are sixteen….” “… to hear the cattle again is good music.”

Discussion questions:

· The original title of this book was, “The Stars Remain.” Which title seems more fitting and why?

· How does the cover of the book depict the action of the story? Do you think this image is a good choice? What would you have chosen?

· Without his family Kek has had to make a new life for himself. Who are the most important people in his life? In just a sentence or two describe his relationship with each.

· On her website Katherine Applegate groups her latest books under the heading Bodacious Bovines. Why do you think Kek forms such an attachment to Lou’s cow? Read the picturebook, Buffalo Storm and see if you agree with the author’s grouping. Do you know other authors who have written both chapter books and picture books? How different would it be to write in each of these styles?

· Look at a globe or a map. Close your eyes and point to a spot. Imagine living there. How would it be different from where you live now? How might it be the same? What would you miss most about your home?

http://www.katherineapplegate.com/nonflash.html

http://www.sandhyanankani.com/wordpress/?p=96 – Author interview

Avi

THE TRAITORS’ GATE

Atheneum, 2007. ISBN 978-0-689-85335-7. $17.99. 354 pages.

John Horatio Huffum’s life has never been easy – after all, life isn’t easy for many people in the London of 1849, where filth and poverty reign supreme. But when his father is tossed in debtor’s prison for a debt he insists he doesn’t owe, John must leave his school (Muldspoon’s Militantly Motivated Academy) and do his 14-year-old best to maintain the family income while solving the problem of his father’s apparently wrongful incarceration. All this would be easier if he weren’t being followed by that tall man who claims to be a police inspector – the one with the obviously fake beard – or by the ragged girl, the one with the overly large cap and the broad grin who seems to know everything about him.

The Traitors’ Gate is full of mystery and deceitful leads, much like trying to find your way through London’s 19^th century back alleys on a foggy night. Follow John as he navigates a trail of perplexing information and shifting loyalties. Will Great-great-aunt Euphemia help him even though she hates his father? Can he really trust Mr. Tuckum, the jolly bailiff? Is his sister’s French beau really just after his sister – or something more? The answer lies through The Traitors’ Gate.

Read-aloud hook: On a particularly bad day, young John endured a humiliating audience with Great-great-aunt Euphemia in which he had to beg for money; he gazed with fear upon London’s Traitors’ Gate (is his father destined to go there?), and he bluffed his way through a grilling by his father’s employer. Then, while on his way home, he finds his path blocked by a menacing stranger: (Read from the beginning of chapter 14, on page 93, to “Indeed, I was shaking.” on page 97.)

Discussion questions:

· Two of Brigit’s comments really stick in John’s mind: “To live, a people will do whatever they need to do” and “Know that for things held dear to the heart, all kinds of sacrifices must be made.” What other books have you read in which the characters must make tough – or even illegal – decisions in order to live? What characters from other books have made great sacrifices for “things held dear to the heart”?

· Many of the characters in The Traitors’ Gate wrestle with the concept of loyalty. What are the different forms of loyalty that the characters express? What motivates each character in his/her loyalty?

· Mr. Snugsbe has a theory about people and their place in the world, his “Theory of Coats.” Do you believe most people make their own “coats”? Do you ever feel like your “coat” doesn’t fit? If so, how would you change your “coat” if you could? Do you think people can change their “coats”?

· Think about John and Sary’s relationship. What is the value of it to each of them in the beginning? Does it change during the book? If so, how?

http://www.avi-writer.com

Natalie Babbitt

JACK PLANK TELLS TALES

Scholastic, 2007. ISBN 978-0-5450-0496-1. $15.95. 128 pages.

Jack was a pirate, but not a plunderer, so he’s been fondly relieved of his duties. It is the year 1720, and Jack finds himself looking for lodging in the Caribbean island town of Saltwash. Mrs. DelFresno, who runs a boardinghouse, makes a deal with Jack that he may lodge there temporarily with the possibility of longer if he behaves well and finds steady work within a week. Eleven-year-old Nina DelFresno offers to help Jack and accompanies him on his daily job quests. Then each night at supper Jack provides the boardinghouse residents with a colorful tale from his pirating days to explain why each day’s potential line of work would be impossible. He eliminates a long list of occupations - barber, actor, farmer, baker, musician, goldsmith, fortune-teller, and fisherman. Babbitt’s shaded line illustrations enhance the imaginative fun of his tales. By the end of the week, Jack has so charmed his evening listeners that Mrs. DelFresno invites him to stay indefinitely and be the storyteller. He is, indeed, a likeable chap and his tales are cleverly woven into the whole cloth of a salty novel.

Read-aloud hook: Although the whole book makes for a great read-aloud, a brief reading works well for a booktalk. Start reading on p. 22 “We came across the fellow...” to p. 30, end of the first paragraph: “away he went, westward, headed for the Half Moon Reefs.”

Discussion questions:

· How would you expect a pirate to behave? How does Jack measure up?

· What is a tall tale? Discuss whether Jack’s stories fit the description.

· What is the significance of Jack Plank’s last name, the name of his pirate ship (Avarice), and the name of the sailmaker (Needles)? Are there other meaningful names?

· Is this book a novel, a collection of short stories, or a combination of both?

Ibtisam Barakat

TASTING THE SKY

FSG, 2007. ISBN 978-0-3743-5733-7. $16.00. 176 pages.

Before she was old enough to tie her shoes securely, Ibtisam Barakat participated in hijacking a water tanker. When she was four, she and her brothers played among the barbed wire and trenches of Israeli soldiers occupying the area around their West Bank home. At six, Ibtisam attended first grade at the Jalazone Girls’ School, located in a Palestinian refugee camp.

Tasting the Sky recalls the Barakat family’s flight during the Six-Days War and their life over the next four years, but this is not a book about the atrocities of war. As an adult journalist, painfully aware of all that she lost in Palestine, Ibtisam also knows how little accurate information Americans have about the Arab/Israeli conflict. But Tasting the Sky is less about facts and dates than it is a respectful and beautiful memoir.

Barakat describes her childhood in one of the most violently politicized parts of the world not with politics, but poetry.

With telling specificity, she recalls those things that would have terrified, intrigued and caught the attention of a young child. By describing just what a child would notice, with the clarity and skill of an adult artist, Tasting the Sky is a heartbreaking testament without rancor, and a mesmerizing story accessible to young readers.

Read-aloud hook: On the evening of June 5, 1967, the first of the Six-Days War, Ibtisam’s father rushes in from work with news that the war has started. “He told mother he had heard…He could not talk to the people in the planes.” (pp. 21-22)

Discussion questions:

· When Ibtisam is a teenager, and travels secretly to Ramallah on a bus, she writes that she “hides her freedom” in her Post Office Box. What does she mean by this?

· Ibtisam is not yet four when her family flees the West Bank and lives in Jordan as refugees, yet her memories are very precise. Describe your own memories of the places you lived when you were a preschooler. What specific details can you remember?

· Why did Mother want to put Ibtisam and her brothers in an orphanage? Why do you think Father's feelings are different? And what led them both to change their minds?

· Why does Ibtisam think of Aleph, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, as a personal friend?

· This book begins in 1981, when Ibtisam is a teenager, and ends then, too. In between lies “The Postal Box of Memory,” the longest part of the book, about the Six-Days War and the period from when she was three-and-a-half to when she was seven. Do you think shifting back and forth in time helps to tell her story? Why or why not?

http://www.ibtisambarakat.com (under construction; meanwhile, contact the author via her e-mail: i_barakat@yahoo.com)

Loree Griffin Burns

TRACKING TRASH: FLOTSAM, JETSAM, AND THE

SCIENCE OF OCEAN MOTION

Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-58131-3. $18.00. 56 pages.

Nike sneakers and plastic tub toys aren’t the usual tools of scientific research, but in Burns’ portrayal of the scientists who study ocean currents, readers learn that spills of such floatable cargo on the high seas play an important role in verifying predictions from sophisticated computer models. Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer keeps in close touch with beachcombers on Pacific Ocean beaches to record where flotsam and jetsam washes to shore. While young amateur scientists will find plenty of charts, data, and thorough explanations of longitude, latitude, tides and various ocean phenomena to satisfy their curiosity, this is more than a book on ocean currents. The strong message of the indestructibility of plastic makes this a good book for environmental studies as well. Marine animals and birds who ingest small bits of plastic or who are caught in enormous nets which pull loose from fishing vessels are in greater and greater danger as the mass of man-made trash grows in the oceans. While some strong currents may carry much of it to shore, many others pieces converge to create huge islands of garbage.

As with others in this series (Scientists in the Field), the book is well illustrated with photographs of scientists at work and with charts and diagrams to illustrate more abstract points. There is a well organized glossary and a good list of relevant websites covering the subjects in the book. And, specifically in the chapter dealing with ocean garbage, there is a “What you can do” section with suggestions for young people. While young people in Vermont may not be on a beach, they will learn in this book that they can begin to help with the reduction of plastic trash which might make its way from their rivers to the sea.

Read-aloud hook: p. 34. Oceanographer Jim Ingraham, one of the featured scientists in the book has been introduced as the developer of a computer program, OSCURS (Ocean Surface CURrent Simulator), to predict the direction and speed of currents. Here, a research ship captain has actual contact with the effects of the currents. “At about the same time…as big as the state of Alaska.”

Discussion questions:

· Spend a day listing all of the items you have used that are plastic. Could they be made of some other material instead?

· If you have a chance to vacation on an ocean shore, how could you help with the sort of research that Dr. Ebbesmeyer does?

· What would you be willing to give up to help reduce trash in the world?

· Have you read or heard reports of animals or birds in our area being hurt by plastic?

· Do you recycle? Why or why not?

www.loreegriffinburns.com/

lgburns.livejournal.com (blog)

Andrew Clements

NO TALKING

Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4169-0983-5. $15.99. 146 pages.

Laketon Elementary is not a quiet school, and the class that sets the tone is the fifth grade, a group long known as “The Unshushables.” There’s Dave, a boy who could “talk and talk and talk about almost anything,” and Lynsey, she of “the sharp voice, the kind that cuts like a hacksaw,” and the rest of the class, a group so noisy the principal resorts to using a red plastic bullhorn to be heard, carefully checking the bullhorn’s batteries before each fifth grade lunch period.

Enter Gandhi, in the form of a book report Dave must write. Intrigued by Gandhi’s weekly sessions of silence to clear his mind, Dave wonders if a similar practice could benefit himself, just a “regular” kid. Dave gives it a try one day, only to be driven to distraction by the fabled voice of Lynsey at lunch. In what even Dave realizes is a decidedly un-Gandhi-like reaction, he loses his temper and tosses out a challenge: 48 hours of silence, with the boys pitted against the girls.

Half the fun of the book comes from watching fifth graders work out the rules of the contest while negotiating the eternal elementary school “cootie” divide, and the other half comes from hearing the reactions of the school’s teachers. Clements, a former school teacher, knows his subject well – but also knows how to create likeable characters who realize when a little inner growth is required.

Read-aloud hook: The teachers at Laketon Elementary don’t figure out what’s happening right away, and Clements gives us an idea of how confused they must feel in the way he leads us into the story. Read the opening chapter, “Zipped” (three pages).

Discussion questions:

· Dave’s view is changed substantially by learning about Gandhi . Have you ever read about someone whose example made you rethink the way you view the world? Who was it, and how did that person affect you?

· Do you think the kids in your school talk the way the “Unshushables” do? Would your class be able to spend two days speaking no more than three words at a time? What do you think would be the hardest part of doing that?

· Have you ever thought about how we speak to each other? If you were forced to consider your words more carefully like Dave was, how do you think your conversation would change?

· How do the relationships between the kids at Laketon Elementary change during the contest?

· Share your opinion of this book – in just three words. Make it as descriptive an answer as you can.

http://www.andrewclements.com

Christopher Paul Curtis

ELIJAH OF BUXTON

Scholastic, 2007. ISBN 978-0-4390-2344-3. $16.99. 341 pages.

Elijah, age 11, narrates this Newbery Honor book in his own lively dialect. He was the first black child born to freedom in the settlement of Buxton, a haven for escaped and former slaves in southern Ontario, not far from Detroit. Many of the adults in 1860 Buxton have poignant personal stories to tell and still fear the threat of slave catchers.

For Elijah, Buxton’s rich community life, depicted with humor and humanity, exemplifies its creed of “one helping one to uplift all.” Elijah’s days involve school, family chores, time for fishing and exploring, helping neighbors, and hanging out with the enigmatic Preacher. He hopes to rid himself of being “fra-gile,” and practices to perfection his skill of “chunking” stones.

The atmosphere deepens when a group of newcomers furtively approach Buxton and are gently coaxed by one of the children into the welcoming safety of the community. Later, things really intensify when the Preacher disappears with the savings that Mr. Leroy had ardently hoped would buy freedom for his family.

Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey, traveling across the U.S. border into Detroit, risking capture, trying to find the Preacher and recover the money. Elijah bravely disables an attack dog with a chunking stone, enters a dark stable, and there finds captured slaves chained to the walls amidst a pungent smell of fear. Will Elijah be able to help the captives and safely escape? Discover the power of words and the message of hope that Christopher Paul Curtis brings to life.

Read-aloud hook: Start on p. 116, with the first sentence: “Me and the Preacher walked...” to p. 120, end of the first paragraph: “He jerked my hand away from covering my face.”

Discussion questions:

· Elijah talks about being “fra-gile.” Is this a good adjective for describing Elijah? Why or why not?

· Elijah says the Preacher’s “a mighty smart man” but the adults of Buxton don’t seem fond of him. What sort of person is the Preacher and what is his role in the story?

· Compare and contrast Elijah’s life with the life of a boy in slavery.

· What is special about Buxton?

www.nobodybutcurtis.com

Russell Freedman

WHO WAS FIRST? DISCOVERING THE AMERICAS.

Clarion Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-66391-0. $19.00. 88 pages.

Where does Sinbad the Sailor appear in Chinese history? Why was France responsible for the Portuguese crown’s decision to sponsor Columbus’s westward voyages? Are the figures in some Mayan sculptures wearing Buddhist robes? Why was Eric the Red banished from Iceland for three years -- and what did he do while he was away?

Russell Freedman does a masterful job of showing how the answers to these, and many other questions must be woven together to create the early history of the Americas. As he traces the rise and fall of historical theories and beliefs about their “discovery,” he also demonstrates the dynamic nature of history with a clarity which may surprise those who are used to thinking of history as a static list of dates, names, and places. The epic stories of Columbus, Zheng He, Leif the Lucky, and countless anonymous others are intertwined with the dramatic struggles of the historians who seek to give them their proper place in history.

Teachers and librarians will appreciate Freedman’s well-chosen illustrations, thorough documentation, and balanced discussion of cultural conflicts. But it is his appealing narrative style (refreshingly free from sidebars) which will engage even confirmed avoiders of nonfiction.

Read-aloud hooks:

· Columbus struggles to manage his crew: p. 2 “I am having serious trouble…”

· A description of the Chinese treasure fleet: p. 23 “All together the great armada included…” and p. 24 “Although each treasure ship…”

· For thoughtful readers, a description of a solitary search for a Viking settlement in North America: p. 42 “Helge Ingstad…”

Discussion questions:

· What was the most surprising thing you learned from this book? Did you learn anything that contradicts “facts” you already knew?

· Some of the illustrations were created hundreds of years after the scenes they depict. What are the good and bad points about doing this?

· Do you think we will ever know for sure who the first Europeans to visit the New World were? Or Asians? Why?

John Grandits

BLUE LIPSTICK

Clarion, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-56860-4. $15.00. 41 pages.

From the hysterically rational, mirror-shaped analysis of whether or not a “Fall” complexion can wear blue lipstick in the title poem to the all-too-familiar details of “A Chart of My Emotional Day,” high school student Jessie takes on the particular and the universal in this book of concrete poems.

Each poem bears a shape and font related to its topic: “Bad Hair Day” both tells and shows the sad aftermath of a hair dye experiment gone awry, and the visual path of gossip in “The Secret” shows why telling one person is rarely as safe as we’d wish.

Jessie is a believable, likeable young woman who considers both the mundane (a belching younger brother and inedible school lunches) and the life-altering (a false friend
and the possible existence of angels) with equal absorption. We can all find some part of ourselves in these funny, honest poems.

Read-aloud hooks: Concrete poems must be seen for the full effect. For a taste of Jessie’s sense of humor, show and read “Girls: Feeling Low? ...we have the solution!” or “Tattoo and Tongue Stud” (both from the second half of the book; pages unnumbered).

Discussion questions:

· One of Jessie’s early poems is titled “The Wall,” and the collection ends with “The Wall (Revisited).” What happens in the interceding poems to cause the shift between those on “My Side” and “The Other Side” of Jessie’s emotional wall?

· In “Pep Rally,” Jessie says she’s sure she’d hate cheerleader Andrea Herkimer if they ever had reason to speak to each other. In the encounter described in “Silver Spandex,” Jessie comes to a different conclusion. Have you ever judged someone based on personal appearance and/or their chosen activities only to discover later you were wrong? How might someone misjudge you based on those things?

· With which poem do you feel the greatest connection? Why?

· In “Grownups: Talking, A+, Listening, D-”, Jessie describes the conversations almost every teen endures at family gatherings. What do you wish the adults in your life would ask you?

Jessie Haas

CHASE

Greenwillow, 2007. ISBN 978-0-0611-2850-9 (Tr.); 978-0-06-112851-6

(PLB). $17.89. 250 pages.

By the fourth page of Chase, Phin has witnessed a murder; by the sixth, he’s been framed for it; and by the end of the first chapter, he’s on the run. He runs and hides and falls and hides again, always a whisker away from discovery. He has help from a friend and an innkeeper, but mostly he’s on his own. Haas’ breathless prose conveys Phin’s fear and speed, and her pacing amplifies the novel’s suspense. As is so often true in her work, when a horse enters the story the plot expands and her lyrical love of the animals animates the writing.

Chase is a fine historical novel, taut with suspense and keen language. It is also a window into the spirits and thoughts of people wearied by the Civil War. A widowed mother washes her way through mountains of dirty overalls so her son can stay out of the mines. Staying out of the mines, Phin works in the inn’s stables and reads Wordsworth and Emerson to his mother while she works. Working against the power and money behind the mines, Ned Plume murders a man he sees as the oppressor. Working with the power and money behind those mines, Fraser finds reason to chase Phin.

This book will appeal to a broad cross section of readers. Haas succeeds in bridging the gaps between an animal adventure and an historic panorama, between action and thoughtfulness.

Read-aloud hook: Phin has witnessed a murder and in his headlong flight he nearly perishes a few times. Running again, he now gets the first inkling of another threat. “A horse and rider came out in the open… lifted the stallion into a canter, straight up the meadow.” (pp. 102-103).

Discussion questions:

· There are times in Chase where Phin’s knowledge of horses is really important – name a few.

· Both Ned Plume and Fraser are scary guys, but which do you think is the more dangerous? Why?

· Ralph Waldo Emerson is still an important American writer and a great thinker. His essays are short but not easy to read, yet a washerwoman and a farm family knew them well. What does this suggest to you about the period?

· Why did Phin decide first to keep Ned’s wallet, but then burned his list?

· In the end, Plume doesn’t kill Phin, though he could have. Why doesn’t he?

http://www.jessiehaas.com/works.htm

Shannon Hale

BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS

Bloomsbury, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59990-051-3. $17.95. 305 pages.

What would you have to do to make your father so angry that he would lock you into a tower for seven years? Lady Saren has refused to marry Lord Khasar, and that is the fate her father has decreed for her.

But, before Lady Saren is sealed in with bricks and mortar, her father supplies the tower with seven years worth of food and fuel. Nor is she alone. Her maid, Dashti, a common mucker girl fresh from the animal herds of the steppes, has chosen to honor her vow of service and accompany Saren into the tower. It is Dashti’s knowledge of healing songs, fires, and other practical matters that enables the girls to survive heat, cold, rats, and boredom. Out of necessity, Dashti begins to assume the role of leader, even though subservience to the gentry is deeply ingrained in her mucker upbringing. So it is only natural that, when Lady Saren’s suitors, the dread Khasar and the charming Khan Tegus, arrive at the tower, Dashti should be the one who deals with them. In the style of Cyrano de Bergerac, they both mistake Dashti for her lady. This means little while they are in the tower, but complicates the situation enormously when, driven by starvation and inspired by rats, they escape. Eventually, Dashti’s patience, humility, and faith enable her to defeat Khasar and claim Tegus as her own.

Whether the scene is set in a throne room or a herder’s gher, Hale has rendered the culture of the Eight Realms, which resembles that of ancient Mongolia, in exquisite detail. She has infused this retelling of a Grimm story with a gentle magic which reflects Dashti’s calm and determined character and will also enchant the reader.

Read-aloud hooks:

· Pretending to be Saren, Dashti speaks to Tegus a second time from inside the tower: p. 32 “‘I’m here,’ I said.”

· Dashti discovers a problem with the supplies: p. 21 “As my lady didn’t budge . . .”

Discussion questions:

· How would the story have been different if Dashti had been less patient and subservient with her social superiors?

· Could Dashti have been the same person if she were beautiful? Would it have changed her relationships with the other characters?

· Dashti’s relationships with animals are also important to her. Have you had a pet who meant as much to you as My Lord or Mucker did to Dashti?

· If you were going to be locked into a tower for seven years, what would you take with you?

http://www.squeetus.com

Kirkpatrick Hill

DO NOT PASS GO

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4169-1400-6.

$15.99. 229 pages.

This timely novel takes a hard hit at the problem of coping with a parent in jail, and it is fitting that the setting is Alaska, mostly in wintertime. Deet is a loner, a serious youth; he worries about his parents’ relaxed and procrastinating ways and sometimes feels he’s the only adult in the house. His kind Dad takes a second job to support the family, but gets arrested and sent to jail for taking amphetamines to stay awake. Now the family of five faces not only a tight budget and the added expense of a lawyer, but the emotional strain of separation, shame, and an uncertain future. Deet dreads the idea of Dad in jail, convinced it is a mean and dangerous place.

Something that helps, however, is his homework for English class. Deet’s creative writing teacher, Mr. Hodges, has assigned students to find two favorite quotes each week and write short essays interpreting them. Deet looks for meaning in quotes such as this one by William Butler Yeats: “I have certainly known more men destroyed by the desire to have a wife and child and keep them in comfort than I have seen destroyed by drink and harlots.”

Deet’s opinionated outlook begins to soften after he is permitted to visit his Dad in jail and observes people in the visiting area. He sees a young woman with a baby, an elderly couple with a grandson, and lots of ordinary people coming faithfully to visit their loved ones behind bars. He even discovers that a popular girl in his class has a brother in jail, and this common experience leads to a new friendship. By the time spring comes and Dad is released to a halfway house, Deet has grown to accept that good people make mistakes, that jail isn’t the end of the world, and that his family will be okay.

Read-aloud hook: p. 53 “When Deet woke up...” to p. 56, the last full paragraph, ending: “Maybe it wasn’t any big deal.”

Discussion questions:

· How old is Deet? What clues does the author provide?

· In what ways is Deet changing?

· Discuss the meaning of the book’s title.

· Did your view of people in prison change at all after reading this book?

Jennifer A. Holm

Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf

Atheneum, 2007. ISBN 978-0-6898-5281-7. $12.99. Unpaged.

What if your garbage collector decided to become a writer? This book is absolute proof that he or she would have great material to piece together a story from everyday items, that could transcend everyday life. And in the hands of a good enough storyteller, the book might be something like Jennifer Holm’s Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf. Deciding to investigate the “stuff” of Ginny’s life—receipts, notes, memos, graded assignments, IMs, poems, cartoons, hallway passes, disciplinary reports, and more—Holm has created a hilarious, poignant, and fascinating portrait of a girl trying to make her way through a difficult year.

Some of Ginny’s travails are not unexpected, but Holm manages to give them great twists. When Ginny wants to “Look good in the school photo for once!!!”, and “Do something with hair to make nose look smaller. Color?? Perm??” (numbers 3 and 4 from her Big To-Do List for seventh grade), we see the preparation: Totally You Hair Color box (Strawberry Sunset), towel, cutout from a magazine, bathroom sink, and the receipt from Roy’s Drugs. On the next page, we see the aftermath: receipts from the salon for a hair color reversal and from Vito’s Plumbing for an emergency call after bubble bath clogs the Jacuzzi jets, and her mom’s checkbook. So much for those items on the Big To-Do List….

There is also depth to Ginny’s character and genuine love in her family. When asked to “Describe Something You Lost,” for an English assignment, Ginny’s topic is “My Dad.” One of her personal poems finishes, “Henry may be a juvenile delinquent, but he’s still my favorite brother.” And her teacher comments, after thanking her mom for the original gift of an apple paperweight, “You can tell [Ginny] is loved by the openness she displays in her opinions.” It is this love, coming from many sources, that cushions Ginny as she makes her way through the maze of middle-school life and family problems.

Read-aloud hook: Poem midway through the book, beginning with, “I think you should get a badge….”

Discussion questions:

· What would people learn about you by looking at your bank statements? Notebook cover? Emails?

· If you were to write a series of notes addressed “To Whom it May Concern” from “The Management,” what would possible topics be?&nbs

The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award

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