Schooled
By Leah Wolfe Schooled, by Gordon Korman; Hyperion Books for Children: New York, 2007; $15.99 Have you ever been the target of teasing? Or have you even been the one doing the teasing? Most of...
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Book, movie, and media reviews by young critics
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By Leah Wolfe
Schooled, by Gordon Korman; Hyperion
Books for Children: New York, 2007; $15.99
Have you ever been the target of teasing? Or have you even been the one doing the teasing? Most of us have, as I’m ashamed to admit. But the story of Schooled, written by Gordon Korman, will teach you the true meaning and importance of peace.
The Dragonfly Pool, by Eva Ibbotson; Dutton
Children’s Books: New York, 2008; $17.99
I’m not a big fan of fantasy books. So when I flipped through The Dragonfly Pool and found mentions of dukes, kings, and princes I groaned, thinking this book would be about royalty, kingdoms, and other things irrelevant to my life.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Iron Jaw and Hummingbird, by Chris Roberson;
Viking Children’s Books: New York, 2008;
$19.99
What if the Chinese had taken over the whole eastern hemisphere when Christopher Columbus left Spain in 1492? And what if this military and cultural expansion eventually led to the Chinese colonization of Mars? This alternate history sets the scene in Chris Roberson’s Iron Jaw and Hummingbird.
Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass; Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers: New
York, 2008; $15.99
“…the sun will get erased from the sky, the planets will come out to greet us, the birds will stop singing, and a glowing halo of light will flutter like angels’ wings above our heads. Except, of course, if it rains.
Little Audrey, by Ruth White; Farrar, Straus and
Giroux: New York, 2008; $16
I never imagined that people could live in a coal mining camp until I read Little Audrey. Author Ruth White brings this unimaginable existence to life in her latest work. Audrey White is a sickly eleven-year-old girl growing up with her mother, three sisters and father in a Virginia camp during 1948.
The Year the Swallows Came Early, by Kathryn
Fitzmaurice; HarperCollins: New York, 2009;
$16.99
What happens when someone you love betrays you? Well, in this book, The Year the Swallows Came Early, you can learn that understanding and forgiving someone you love is the key for your own peace of mind.
Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson; Square
Fish: New York, 2008; $6.99
What would you do if your mom moved to Australia? This is just one question Flora Barnes, also known as Floss, has to answer in Jacqueline Wilson’s excellent novel, Candyfloss.
Floss is a girl in her preteens living in England.
After the Train, by Gloria Whelan;
HarperCollins: New York, 2009; $15.99
Picture this: you are thirteen years old and living in Rolfen, West Germany, ten years after WWII has ended. All your history teacher talks about is the war and how big an impact it had on history, along with how horrible it was for the Jewish people.
Road to Tater Hill, by Edith M. Hemingway;
Delacorte Books for Young Readers: New
York, 2009; $16.99
It was a delightful coincidence to find a book in the library that was set where I live! Road to Tater Hill is a heartwarming and fulfilling story of friendship, family, hope, home, and the bumpy road through grief.
Escape Under the Forever Sky, by Eve Yohalem;
Chronicle Books: San Francisco, 2009; $16.99
Moving. Awe-inspiring. These are words I would use to describe Eve Yohalem’s first novel, Escape Under the Forever Sky. Lucy Hoffman, the daughter of an American ambassador in Ethiopia (a country in east Africa), is kidnapped. She’s taken to a place far from where she and her mother are staying.