Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

Deza Malone starts out the summer with high hopes.  She has received a new dress and shoes from her teacher along with promises of tutoring in the fall to challenge her and help her towards her goal of becoming a writer.  Things take a different turn, however, when her father is injured in a fishing accident and then is unable to find work.  Through all the challenges that face her family that summer, Deza Malone becomes the glue that holds her family together on their “road to Wonderful”!

Content Notes:
If rated, this book would receive a G rating.

Teacher Notes:
This book has a lexile level of 750.  There is some dialectical language and some slang words that would have been used in the Great Depression era that we no longer use today.  Struggling readers may want to create Somebody Wanted But So statements for each chapter or create a character web for each of the main characters to aid in comprehension.

 Similar Books:
 Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (one of my favorites!)
The Watson’s go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

While browsing at Barnes and Noble this week, I stumbled across this book in the young adult fiction section.  It was located on a table with several other futuristic dystopian books and the cover art looked interesting.  I should have kept walking!  Monument 14 describes a group of kids who wind up living in a grocery store after their bus is pelted with gigantic hail stones, their town is hit with a large earthquake, and finally a chemical weapon fog makes everyone with certain bloodtypes have various issues ranging from hallucinations to raging anger.  All of this unbelievably crazy set of events occurs over a span of less than 24 hours.  Sounds unbelievable?  It is. 
Content Notes:
The language in this would give this book a PG13 rating.  It also has sexual content not appropriate for middle school or junior high students.  The story line is unbelievable and the writing at times didn't even make sense.  The only reason I finished this book was so that I could write an accurate accounting of the story.

Teacher Notes:
This book has a lexile level of 590.  I would not recommend any student reading this book.


Similar Books: (futuristic but SO MUCH BETTER!)
Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Ashes Ashes by Jo Treggiari
Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony
Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Legend by Marie Lu

The Pearl Wars: Skyship Academy by Nick James

Set in the future, this action packed novel written by Nick James explores the possibilites of a world struggling to survive.  Following several wars, the earth has been divided into three factions, a ruthless surface government, the Skyship dwellers, and the Fringers.  The groups spend their time competing for Pearls, giant mysterious orbs fallling from space that are used as electricity.  When Jesse Fisher, a Skyship dweller, and Cassius Stevenson, a Surface operator, compete over an orb strange things begin to happen and they quickly discover that not everything in their world is exactly how it appears.

Content Notes:
There is some slight language and fighting in this text which would earn it a PG rating. 

Teacher Notes:
This book has a lexile level of 640.  Struggling readers may want to create Somebody Wanted But So summary statements for each chapter or create a summary picture book as they read to comprehend the text.

Similar Books:
I honestly haven't read anything exactly like this book!  Another mystery/dystopian book I would suggest is Ashes Ashes by Jo Treggiari.  Other space books would be the Star Wars series of books.

If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan

If I Should Die Before I Wake weaves together the stories of two teenage girls, one a present-day neo-Nazi and the other a Jewish teenager living in Poland during World War II.  When Hillary is involved in a motorcycle accident, she begins to flash back to a different life, a life involving a young girl named Chana who comes under persectution from the Nazis and is eventually moved into the Lodz ghetto.  A tale of discovery, If I Should Die Before I Wake does a beautiful job of illustrating the changes a person makes when they truly understand someone else's point of view.

Content Notes:
There is some slight language in this text which would earn it a PG rating.  Towards the end of the book there is discussion of concentration camps which, while completely historicaly accurate, may be disturbing to some students.  If made into a movie, this book would be rated PG13. 


Teacher Notes:
This book has a lexile level of 840.  This story is told from multiple points of view and requires that a reader be able to flash back between points of view and time periods.  Struggling readers may want to create a chart for each main character with bulleted notes as they read or create Somebody Wanted But So summary statements for each chapter in order to keep the storyline straight.

Similar Books:
Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen