{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week
&
the titles we are currently reading.}
Hands up if you’ve read Wonder…
How about The Julian Chapter?
If you’ve read The Julian Chapter, you probably remember the story that his grandmere tells him about when she was young in France and the Nazis came.
White Bird is that story, told in more detail and in graphic novel (GN) format.
It’s wonderful. The drawings are captivating and there’s so much more to the story that was left out. If you are a Wonder fan, this is some great historical fiction (HF) for you.
In R. J. Palacio’s bestselling collection of stories Auggie & Me, which expands on characters in Wonder, readers were introduced to Julian’s grandmother, Grandmère. Here, Palacio makes her graphic novel debut with Grandmère’s heartrending story: how she, a young Jewish girl, was hidden by a family in a Nazi-occupied French village during World War II; how the boy she and her classmates once shunned became her savior and best friend.
Sara’s harrowing experience movingly demonstrates the power of kindness to change hearts, build bridges, and even save lives. As Grandmère tells Julian, “It always takes courage to be kind, but in those days, such kindness could cost you everything.” With poignant symbolism and gorgeous artwork that brings Sara’s story out of the past and cements it firmly in this moment in history, White Bird is sure to captivate anyone who was moved by the book Wonder or the blockbuster movie adaptation and its message.
Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she’s blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong—until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She’s not really a Murphy, but the gifts they’ve given her have opened up a new future.
Murphys has a difficult and sad flashback of physical abuse that shows the reader why Carley was placed in foster care. But the rest of the book is about hope, and trust, and learning to love. And it’s about learning to be loved – which is hardest of all. It’s about resilience and grit. It’s about a middle school child learning to claim the life that she wants.
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The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.
“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
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And her most recent (which I’m listening to and LOVING!):
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Fish in a Tree comes a compelling story about perspective and learning to love the family you have.
Delsie loves tracking the weather–lately, though, it seems the squalls are in her own life. She’s always lived with her kindhearted Grammy, but now she’s looking at their life with new eyes and wishing she could have a “regular family.” Delsie observes other changes in the air, too–the most painful being a friend who’s outgrown her. Luckily, she has neighbors with strong shoulders to support her, and Ronan, a new friend who is caring and courageous but also troubled by the losses he’s endured. As Ronan and Delsie traipse around Cape Cod on their adventures, they both learn what it means to be angry versus sad, broken versus whole, and abandoned versus loved. And that, together, they can weather any storm.
And I wanted to [take] the hands of young readers who are struggling with their perceptions of themselves and the world and their emotions and help point them in the right direction. Toward the life they want.
I want kids to know that life hands us all a myriad of experiences. It hands us joy and sorrow. Success and defeat. As my readers live their lives I want them to embrace joy. And when life hands them difficulty, I’d like them to know that they can handle it. That although life knocks us down sometimes, we can choose to stand up. Keep our shoulders strong.
Those, my friends, is powerful words from a wiser lady.
Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down in this first electrifying novel in a new series from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award–winning author Jason Reynolds.
Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.
Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons—it all started with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment, then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then, Ghost has been the one causing problems—and running away from them—until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The style was fast-pasted and in the language was from a city kid’s mouth. I like when books start rather innocently, but then pack a twist or lesson. This is that book.
Check out how Reynolds starts funny to get your attention—a kid who loves chewing sunflower seeds—but then gets REAL serious REAL quick.
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Reynolds continued this series with:
A newbie to the track team, Patina must learn to rely on her teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons in this follow-up to the National Book Award finalist Ghost by New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds.
Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.
Patina, or Patty, runs like a flash. She runs for many reasons—to escape the taunts from the kids at the fancy-schmancy new school she’s been sent to since she and her little sister had to stop living with their mom. She runs from the reason WHY she’s not able to live with her “real” mom any more: her mom has The Sugar, and Patty is terrified that the disease that took her mom’s legs will one day take her away forever. So Patty’s also running for her mom, who can’t. But can you ever really run away from any of this? As the stress builds up, it’s building up a pretty bad attitude as well. Coach won’t tolerate bad attitude. No day, no way. And now he wants Patty to run relay…where you have to depend on other people? How’s she going to do THAT?
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Sunny tries to shine despite his troubled past in this third novel in the critically acclaimed Track series from National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds.
Ghost. Patina. Sunny. Lu. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds, with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics. They all have a lot of lose, but they all have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves. Sunny is the main character in this novel, the third of four books in Jason Reynold’s electrifying middle grade series.
Sunny is just that—sunny. Always ready with a goofy smile and something nice to say, Sunny is the chillest dude on the Defenders team. But Sunny’s life hasn’t always been sun beamy-bright. You see, Sunny is a murderer. Or at least he thinks of himself that way. His mother died giving birth to him, and based on how Sunny’s dad treats him—ignoring him, making Sunny call him Darryl, never “Dad”—it’s no wonder Sunny thinks he’s to blame. It seems the only thing Sunny can do right in his dad’s eyes is win first place ribbons running the mile, just like his mom did. But Sunny doesn’t like running, never has. So he stops. Right in the middle of a race.
With his relationship with his dad now worse than ever, the last thing Sunny wants to do is leave the other newbies—his only friends—behind. But you can’t be on a track team and not run. So Coach asks Sunny what he wants to do. Sunny’s answer? Dance. Yes, dance. But you also can’t be on a track team and dance. Then, in a stroke of genius only Jason Reynolds can conceive, Sunny discovers a track event that encompasses the hard hits of hip-hop, the precision of ballet, and the showmanship of dance as a whole: the discus throw. As Sunny practices the discus, learning when to let go at just the right time, he’ll let go of everything that’s been eating him up inside, perhaps just in time.
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Lu must learn to leave his ego on the sidelines if he wants to finally connect with others in the climax to the New York Times bestselling and award-winning Track series from Jason Reynolds.
Lu was born to be cocaptain of the Defenders. Well, actually, he was born albino, but that’s got nothing to do with being a track star. Lu has swagger, plus the talent to back it up, and with all that—not to mention the gold chains and diamond earrings—no one’s gonna outshine him.
Lu knows he can lead Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and the team to victory at the championships, but it might not be as easy as it seems. Suddenly, there are hurdles in Lu’s way—literally and not-so-literally—and Lu needs to figure out, fast, what winning the gold really means.
Expect the unexpected in this final event in Jason Reynold’s award-winning and bestselling Track series.
“In Look Both Ways, Jason Reynolds shines a light on ordinary walks home and turns them into the extraordinary without the need of magic or faraway lands. Instead, Reynolds shows how worthwhile the people and neighborhoods around us are, especially when you take the time to know what’s happening in people’s lives. The stories in Look Both Ways are heartfelt, engaging, funny, thoughtful, and, though sad at times, full of hope.”
— Alison Perine, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, VA View the List
Description
From National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes a novel told in ten blocks, showing all they different directions a walk home can take.
This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy—
Talking about boogers.
Stealing pocket change.
Skateboarding.
Wiping out.
Braving up.
Executing complicated handshakes.
Planning an escape.
Making jokes.
Lotioning up.
Finding comfort.
But mostly, too busy walking home.
Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.
Reynolds has a bunch of other great books as well:
A YALSA 2018 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Selection A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017
INCLUDES AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR!
This is New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.
A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE
Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.
And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.
My Thoughts:
I’ve heard these stories on the news before and I’ve also seen movies where the character wants to take revenge on someone who killed a friendbrotherbuddyrelative. I get it—the need for revenge must run hot in the blood. If someone harmed or killed a person I loved, it would take a lot of self-control to fight back the desire to take justice into my own hands.
But where does it end? Who will end the cycle of violence?
This reminded me a little of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Story Carol where Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. They recount his story and help him to see why he is the way he is. The future ghost is most convincing as he shows Scrooge what his future will look like if he continues down the same path. Kind of like the ghost in this book show Will.
One of the cool things about novels written in verse is that they are quick-hitting. There’s not a lot of room for fluffy descriptions that don’t ultimately matter. There are fewer words available, so each one counts for more. I like how intense that makes the book.
Few things can draw a reader to a new book like a book trailer can.
Get the popcorn ready.
Lights…Camera…Action!
Raina Telgemeier is a student favorite. Every year, her books are some of the most-read books in my library. Let’s have a look.
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Fun Fact: I have a signed copy of Smile.
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Sisters is the follow up to Smile. This is another autobiographical story.
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Drama actually came before Sisters. If you like theater or acting you’ll especially like this one.
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Finally: Ghosts. Are you brave enough to read it?
About This Book
Catrina and her family are moving to the coast of Northern California because her little sister, Maya, is sick. Cat isn’t happy about leaving her friends for Bahía de la Luna, but Maya has cystic fibrosis and will benefit from the cool, salty air that blows in from the sea. As the girls explore their new home, a neighbor lets them in on a secret: There are ghosts in Bahía de la Luna. Maya is determined to meet one, but Cat wants nothing to do with them. As the time of year when ghosts reunite with their loved ones approaches, Cat must figure out how to put aside her fears for her sister’s sake — and her own.
Raina Telgemeier has masterfully created a moving and insightful story about the power of family and friendship, and how it gives us the courage to do what we never thought possible.
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📖📖🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Check out Raina’s site and see what she’s up to:
tap here to jump to site
If you’re a Raina fan, as many are, you can join her 25.7k followers on Instagram.
Here is a sampling of her posts at https://www.instagram.com/goraina/.
{Celebrating the books we’ve read in the past week
&
the titles we are currently reading.}
They say that compared to someone who doesn’t, a person who reads lives thousands of lives. I think I have.
These are some of the lives I lived just this summer.
This SUMMER I read with my eyes and ears…
I traveled back to Spain, which was under control of the dictator Franco, and saw what it was like for the poor members of society to live—and uncovered the mystery of vanishing babies.
I went on the run with Blink and Caution, two street kids who found themselves in the middle of a kidnapping and ransom situation.
I was a high school girl dealing with the challenges of moving to a new school where the school bully wanted to beat her up for no reason and her mom didn’t understand her at all.
I was a boy named Lolly who was still struggling with the death of his brother in a gang-related shooting—while also struggling with the question of whether he should join a crew for his own protection.
Wren is whisked away to the Utah desert to get her life back in order. As she struggles in the survivalist therapy camp, we learn the many things she’s done to get her there.
Genie Lo is just a very tall Chinese American student who loves volleyball and is driven to succeed. But it turns out she is really someone else— a character from ancient Chinese folklore—and she needs to defend her city from invading demons.
Brianne is growing up in the projects, but dreams of becoming a rap star. Her mom is out of work, her brother is working to keep the family afloat, her aunt is mixed up in illegal activity, and she is unfairly treated by the security guards at her school. When she gains sudden popularity at a rap battle, she has to figure out what kind of image she wants to portray.
This isn’t a narrative (story), this is a non-fiction (NF) book written for white folks about racism in America and how to be open to talking about it. Powerful stuff!
AUDIO BOOK
Brianne is growing up in the projects, but dreams of becoming a rap star. Her mom is out of work, her brother is working to keep the family afloat, her aunt is mixed up in illegal activity, and she is unfairly treated by the security guards at her school. When she gains sudden popularity at a rap battle, she has to figure out what kind of image she wants to portray.
{Eat the Book} 
