Dead End in Norvelt

Title: Dead End in Norvelt Author: Jack Gantos ISBN: 9780374379933 Pages: 341 pages Publisher/Date: Farrar Straus Giroux, c2011. BLAM! The rifle fired off and violently kicked out of my grip. It flipped into the air before clattering down across the picnic table and sliding onto the ground. “Oh sweet cheeze-us!” I wailed, and dropped butt-first [...]

Breaking Stalin’s Nose

Title: Breaking Stalin’s Nose Author/Illustrator: Eugene Yelchin ISBN: 9780805092165 Pages: 154 pages Publisher/Date: Henry Holt and Company, c2011. Awards: Newbery Honor, 2012 “Why does Vovka call you Amerikanets?” I shouldn’t tell him. “My mom was American. Don’t tell anyone.” He squints at me. “And she was arrested and shot?” “What do you mean? Of course [...]

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Title: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Author: Jacqueline Kelly Narrator: Natalie Ross ISBN: 9781441802422 Discs/CDs: 8 CDs, 9 hours and 6 minutes Pages: 349 pages Publisher/Date: Brillance Audio, Henry Holt and Co., 2009. Being the only girl in the family, falling smack in the middle of six older and younger brothers, Calpurnia Virginia Tate is [...]

Turtle in Paradise

Title: Turtle in Paradise Author: Jennifer L. Holm ISBN: 9780375836886 Pages: 191 pages Publisher/Date: Random House, c2010. Mama says she’s lucky to have a job with Mrs. Budnick considering how tough times are. I don’t know how lucky I am, though. Mrs. Budnick shook her head when Mama brought our things over to her house. [...]

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Title: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Author: Grace Lin Narrator: Janet Song ISBN: 9780307746047 Pages: 278 pages CDs/Discs: 4 CDs, 4 hours, 57 minutes Publisher/Date: Random House, Inc., Listening Library, c2010. Living with her mother and father in a small and sparse mountain village, young Minli toils with them over the land to yield the [...]

One Crazy Summer

Title: One Crazy Summer Author: Rita Williams-Garcia ISBN: 97800607960885 Pages: 218 pages Publisher/Date: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, c2010. “We were a block away from the green stucco house, chatting and laughing. Then we stopped walking. All three of us. There were three police cars parked outside of Cecile’s house. One in the driveway and [...]

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

Title: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg Author: Rodman Philbrick Narrator: William Dufris ISBN: 9780739372326 Pages: 224 pages Discs: 4 CDs, 5 hours 1 minute Publisher/Date: The Blue Sky Press, c2009. My name is Homer P. Figg, and these are my true adventures. I mean to write them down, every one, including all [...]

When You Reach Me

Title: When You Reach Me Author: Rebecca Stead ISBN: 9780385906647 Pages: 199 Pages Publisher/Date: Wendy Lamb Books, c2009. I have no idea what you expect from me. If you just wanted to know what happened that day this past winter, it would be easy. Not fun, but easy. But that’s not what your note says. [...]

The Higher Power of Lucky

Title: The Higher Power of Lucky Author: Susan Patron ISBN: 9781416901945 Pages: 134 pages Publisher/Date: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2006. “Out of the millions of people in America who might become Lucky’s mother if Brigitte went home to France, Lucky wondered about some way to trap and catch the exact right one. She was [...]

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Title: Al Capone Does My Shirts Author: Gennifer Choldenko ISBN: Pages: 228 pages Publisher/Date: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, c2004. “Today I moved into a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. Alcatraz sits smack in the middle of the bay–so close to the city of San Francisco, I can hear [...]