Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Robert Byrd

This was one of those books I read over the summer for my Tween Materials class. I picked it up because it was a Newbery Medal winner (2008) and also because it was non-fiction. For the final project for the class I had to read and review 50 books and other materials for tweens, half of which had to be fiction. The majority of my books were fiction, so I needed a few non-fiction titles to break it up.
As I obviously am not reviewing every book that I read this summer here, I chose to review this one for a specific reason. That reason is the honesty of the portrayal of medieval life, made accesible to kids. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is written in an interesting format - it is a series of plays (mostly monologues, but a few for two people) written for students at a Middle School. Each of these plays is a portrait of an individual in this medieval village, all of which are first-person accounts by narrators that can be assumed to be the same age as the students reading the book. I expected something fun and light-hearted, and what I got was a very good lesson in what medieval life might really have been like. Not really fun and light-hearted at all, but difficult in many ways, even for the young people of the time. In addition to the plays, Schlitz also includes background information to help young readers learn more about the time period. This is truly an excellent book to include in any lesson about medieval history, or to give to any young person who wants to learn more about this time period.

Jabberwocky reimagined and illustrated by Christopher Myers

This is a first for this blog in more ways than one! The first picture book and the first book of poetry. I expect I'll be reviewing more picture books as I begin to gather them to read to the baby, so this definitely won't be the last one. And I have lots of poetry on my to-read list, I just never get around to reading it - so this probably will not be the last review of poetry either.
Christopher Myers' version of the Jabberwocky poem by Lewis Carroll keeps the text the same - it is the illustrations that reimagine what the poem is about. In this tale, the Jabberwocky is a giant, fourteen-fingered, basketball-playing "beast". Our hero is a boy, who decides to play this giant in a game of one-on-one. He wins triumphantly, and the neighborhood celebrates with him.
Jabberwocky is a difficult poem to read, without any sort of context to imagine, because it is full of gibberish words. Myers' version makes it comprehensible to kids who might otherwise get lost in the language. They can envision what the words mean for themselves, and maybe imagine other battles in their lives that this triumphant poem can apply to. This is a fantastic retelling of this classic poem.

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks is the story of the four Penderwick sisters, Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty. Rosalind is the oldest, and at twelve, she has spent the past few years taking care of her younger sisters. Skye and Jane are eleven and ten, respectively, while little Batty is only four. Their mother died soon after Batty's birth, leaving them with their loving botanist father. The book takes place the summer that the Penderwick family, including their dog Hound, take a vacation at Arundel, the estate of the snobby Mrs. Tifton, where they will stay in her back cottage. They are told to stay out of Mrs. Tifton's way, but the girls can't seem to help getting into trouble. Along they way they meet Cagney, Arundel's 18-year-old gardener, his two rabbits, Carla and Yaz, and Mrs. Tifton's son Jeffrey. The girl's have many experiences in their few weeks at Arundel, including facing down a bull, chasing bunnies, developing crushes (Rosalind is just old enough to get her heart stuck on Cagney for a time), and helping Jeffrey stand up to his mother. This is a vacation they will never forget.
The Penderwicks won the National Book Award for Young People in 2005. It is definitely one of the best tween books I have read, in that it is one that it not only a good story, but deals with issues that tweens deal with without being heavy-handed. It never feels sappy or unrealistic. And although everything turns out happily in the end, it does not feel forced or fake, simply the natural ending of the summer. There has since been another Penderwicks book published – The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (2008) – so it may be developing into a series. These are excellent books to recommend to any tween who enjoys reading contemporary fiction, and although the story seems simplistic, the writing is sophisticated enough to be appreciated by older kids.
I read this book for my 999 Challenge, as it won the National Book Award for Young People in 2005. My whole list can be found here.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a fantasy of Chinese folklore blended together to tell the story of Minli, a fearless girl who sets out on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon, and change her family's fortune. Minli and her parents live in a village at the foot of Fruitless Mountain, at the edge of the Jade River. The land is difficult to work, and all of the villagers must struggle to grow their rice. The village is colorless, and Minli's main joy comes from listening to her father tell fantastic stories. It is these stories that convince her to find the Old Man in the Moon, to see if he can help her family. On her journey, Minli meets many fascinating people and creatures, and learns even more stories. A dragon becomes her closest friend, and teaches her about friendship, and the true meaning of being fortunate.
This was a very enjoyable book, full of magic and love. With all of the stories, it would be a terrific choice to read aloud, but it would also be loved by older children and tweens, to read on their own.

Strawberry Hill by Mary Ann Hoberman

Strawberry Hill is a sweet story of friendship and family that takes place during the Depression. Allie is a ten-year-old Jewish girl who moves with her family to a house at the very beginning of the book. She is unsure that the move is a good idea, but when her father tells her they will be living on Strawberry Hill, and that she will have her very own room, she gets excited. Things are not what she expected when they arrive, however. She discovers that just because the street is named Strawberry Hill, that doesn't necessarily mean there are any strawberries anywhere. And she is confused by her feelings towards her new friends, the two neighbor girls who do not speak to each other, although each wants to be her friend. Allie must learn that appearances are not the most important part of a person, and that it is what is inside that makes you a good friend.
I enjoyed this story, although sometimes Allie's actions towards her friends, especially Mimi, were frustrating at times. I am sure that a tween would identify more with her choices, and understand her better than I do. Although the story takes place during the Depression, there is not much information about it, mostly because it is not something that affects Allie's life directly, most of the time. She struggles with acceptance and Antisemitism more than with her family's economic situation. This book would be enjoyed by tween girls, especially those who like historical fiction, or it would be a good introduction to the genre.

Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez

One of the main characters in Confetti Girl are inanimate objects - cascarones, confetti filled eggs that you crack on your friends' heads, spilling confetti everywhere. Lopez even includes a recipe for cascarones in the very beginning of the book. The real main character of the story, Lina, is best friends with Vanessa, whose mother is obsessed with making the confetti eggs. Lina is a very entertaining character, a girl who is crazy about her socks, and organizes them very carefully, she is also a science lover and a volleyball player, though she knows that she's not very good. Her father is a widower, an English teacher who seems to be only interested in his books, or in Lina's English grade at school. As Lina and her father struggle with dealing with her mother's recent death, they also help Vanessa and her mother come to terms with Vanessa's father leaving. In the midst of all of this, Lina and Vanessa are discovering the boys at their school, and understanding the changes that happen to their friendship as a result.
This is a good story about friendship and family struggle, although it is definitely a book that will really only be enjoyed by tweens. It is not one that older teens or adults will find anything in, but for less sophisticated readers, it is a great story of family, friendship, and Latino culture.

Warriors: The Rise of Scourge by Dan Jolley, Bettina M Kurkoski, created by Erin Hunter

I have been taking a break from reading the new Warriors series by Erin Hunter, and have been instead checking out the graphic novels. These are not written by Erin Hunter, but they are authorized by her, and she writes an introduction to each one to explain why she felt this particular story needed to be told. This is the second Warriors graphic novel that I've read, but I haven't reviewed the first one yet because it is part of a series.
The Rise of Scourge tells the story of how a kitten named Tiny became the leader of Bloodclan, known as Scourge. Scourge comes into the Warriors timeline towards the end of the first series, when Tigerstar attempts to take control of all four clans. But Scourge has other plans. He very violently kills Tigerstar, before being taken down himself eventually. This graphic novel tells how he became this seemingly evil, violent cat. It's not a pretty story. And as Hunter says in her introduction, she is not making excuses for him, just trying to tell his story.
I am sometimes surprised by how violent these books can be. I always say that I would have loved these if they'd been out when I was a kid, but really I think they probably would have been too violent for me. Especially this graphic novel version. Not that it really shows any blood, of course, but it is still a bit disturbing. Kurkoski's art is great though. She does a perfect job of capturing the way the cats move and look, while the other graphic novel I've read in this series (not illustrated by her) looked pretty much terrible. So it was at least nice to read something that wasn't hideous, and actually looked really good. This book would really only be enjoyed by those kids who are already involved in the Warriors series, but it may pick up some new fans as well.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This book is well-known by now, but I'll give you a brief plot summary anyway. Bod (short for Nobody) Owens was raised by ghosts in a graveyard, although he is a living child. His family was murdered when he was barely old enough to toddle out of harms way, but because he was a curious child, he managed to escape the murderer by finding friends among the ghosts. The graveyard he lives in is unused, and is something of a historical site and nature preserve, although no one really goes there. So Bod is left to grow up with the ghosts, and with his guardian, Silas, who is not a ghost, and so can leave the graveyard to find food for Bod. But the man who killed his family, Jack, is still out there, and one day Bod will have to face him, or he may never be able to leave the graveyard.
I really loved this book. It surprised me in a lot of ways. But Neil Gaiman is nothing if not a surprising and adept story-teller. The book was creepy, but I didn't find it quite as creepy as Coraline. The reader begins to accept that the graveyard is a normal place for Bod, so while it could have been made creepy, instead it just seems sort of normal. Although there are still frightening characters, such as the ghouls and the Sleer. Bod was a different sort of character than I expected as well, and the choices that he makes when interacting with people of the world outside the graveyard were surprising, and showed a character with a lot of depth. This would be a great book to read aloud to grade school children, and would be enjoyed by older kids of all ages as well. And I can't help imagining what sort of movie it will make.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

For those who don't know the plot, Coraline is a little girl who moves into an old house with her mother and father. Her parents certainly cannot be accused of paying too much attention to her, and prefer not to be bothered by her for the most part, as they both work from home. So Coraline must amuse herself. While exploring their new home, she finds a locked door that, when opened, reveals nothing but a brick wall on the other side. But for some reason Coraline is drawn to the door. And after opening it a couple of times on different days, one day she opens it to find a hallway leading somewhere, no more brick wall. Of course she follows it.
On the other side she finds her Other Mother and her Other Father, and all of the characters that live in her building are there, they are simply creepier versions of themselves. And they all have buttons for eyes. Coraline soon comes to realize that the one in charge in this creepy place is the Other Mother - it is she who wants to keep Coraline there forever, and will stop at nothing to fulfill this desire.
I loved this book, which was sort of expected. I saw the movie first, which is not something I usually do, but it did not really spoil anything for me. The two are different from each other, with additional characters being added in the movie, but for the most part the stories are the same. This is a fast-paced, creepy story that would be enjoyed by any older kids, as well as teens and adults. And one thing I have to say about movies made from books by Neil Gaiman - they seem to turn out okay. I have been so horrified by what Hollywood does to some wonderful books (exhibit A - The Golden Compass), but both of the book-to-movie adaptations I've seen have been slightly different from the book, but still very good. I really enjoyed both the book and the movie of Stardust, and the same goes for Coraline.
Coraline was reviewed by Dewey back in October of 2007. I think my favorite thing that she has to say about it is that rather having Dakota Fanning in a movie version, she wanted to see a 1988 Winona Rider. The Unshelved Book Club also did a comic strip about Coraline. It's pretty funny, so I thought I would share it with you. If you would like to see the challenges for Dewey's books and the Unshelved Book Club, you can find them here and here (respectively).

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

I picked up The Tale of Despereaux because of the movie that came out a few months ago. I didn't see the movie, and I actually heard that it wasn't very good, but I had the book at home anyway. And then I realized that it was on the list for the Unshelved Bookclub. I signed up for a challenge to read three of these books before June, so it works out well. Unshelved is a comic strip about working at a library, and it is right-on most of the time. Here is what the website says about the bookclub: "Every Sunday our characters talk about a book they've read in full-page full-color comic strips. " The comic strip about The Tale of Despereaux is not particularly amusing or insightful, but it does give a fairly decent summary of the plot.
Despereaux is a tiny mouse: the only one of his litter to survive, he was born with his eyes open. This would be enough for his family to find him strange, but his odd behavior continually sets him apart, eventually leading to his banishment. He refuses to learn how to scurry, and when he one day hears beautiful music, he follows the sound and finds the Princess Pea, who he promptly falls in love with. When she is kidnapped, he must face his fears to save her, the way a knight in a fairytale would.
I loved this story, and I definitely plan on having a copy around for myself. This would be a perfect book to read to child, one that they could grow into and read for themselves one day. It has some sadness - the fact that Despereaux is the only one of his litter who lives through their birth; the serving girl Miggery Sow (the name is bad enough), who has been beaten so badly throughout her life that she has gone practically deaf; the Queen who dies of fear of a rat. And even the protagonists are shown as having darkness in their hearts. Despereaux must learn to forgive his family for their part in his banishment, and the Princess must forgive the rat who kidnaps her. The whole story is done so well, however, I am in no way interested in seeing a movie version of it now. It's one of those books that is better read out loud than seen on screen.

Fortune's Magic Farm by Suzanne Selfors

This is a sweet, fun little fantasy for kids ages eight to twelve. The main character is Isabelle, a ten-year-old girl who lives in the town of Runny Cove, and like everyone else in the town, works at Mr. Supreme's Umbrella Factory. She lives with her Grandma Maxine at Mama Lu's boarding house. Grandma Maxine found Isabelle on the doorstep when she was a baby, and no one knows where she came from. Runny Cove is a very depressing town, where it always rains, and everyone must work at the factory, but they can barely afford their rent. The women who run the boarding houses, Mama Lu in particular, are terribly mean and petty, and constantly accuse their tenants of stealing. Isabelle knows that she is someone special, she just wishes she knew where she was from, and why she was left on the doorstep.
It isn't until a sea monster shows up and sneezes an apple into her lap that her adventure truly begins, however. No one has seen an apple in years, and Isabelle can't wait to share this one with her sick grandmother and her best friends. Then she meets Sage, the boy who brought the apple to Runny Cove, and she discovers Fortune's Farm. But now that Isabelle has discovered where she belongs, she must keep her promise to her friends, and help make Runny Cove the town it once was - Sunny Cove - again.
This is a charming, magical tale that many children would enjoy. It could easily be read to kids under eight, and would be enjoyed by older kids as well.

The Mousehunter by Alex Milway

The Mousehunter is the story of Emiline, a mousekeeper for the richest man in Old Town. In Old Town, and the surrounding world, everything seems to revolve around mice. There are thousands of species of mice, some of which are common, some of which are only kept in the collections of the very rich. Many mice can be trained to use their natural abilities to help people - there are the highly trained Boffin Mice, who can manage mechanical controls; the dog-sized Elephant Mice who work as servers and carriers; the Powder Mouse, which can carefully carry gunpowder for use in cannons; and the Long-Eared Mouse, that turns into a frightening monster called a Grak when it is submerged in water. These mice, plus thousands more, populate the world that Emiline lives in, which is why mousekeepers are needed. Mousekeepers tend the mouse collections of others - in Emiline's case, it is the famous Isiah Lovelock's collection. But Emiline dreams of becoming a famous mousehunter, so she leaves Lovelock's employ to join the crew of The Flying Fox, run by Captain Drewshank. Captain Drewshank has just been given the task of capturing the infamous pirate Mousebeard. But as Emiline, and the rest of the crew of the Flying Fox, soon find out, not everything is as it seems in the cutthroat world of mousehunting.
This book was tremendously entertaining, and would be enjoyed by many older children, ages 10 and up. The world created by Milway is a unique one, being focused on mice as it is. Because of this it almost felt too shallow - there is no glimpse of what life is like for anyone not associated with mice. But maybe no such people exist in this world. It's hard to tell. The characters are rather shallow as well, although there is a good amount of question about who is good and who is evil, and what makes a person such. Overall this is a fun book, and is set up for a sequel, so undoubtedly we will learn more about this strange world as the story continues.

Suddenly Supernatural: Scaredy Kat by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Scaredy Kat is the second book in the Suddenly Supernatural series; the first book was School Spirit. I didn't read School Spirit, but I still enjoyed Scaredy Kat. I did not feel like I was behind on the story at all.
Scaredy Kat takes place over Kat's spring break from school. She has recently turned thirteen, and with her thirteenth birthday she came in to her supernatural ability to see and communicate with spirits. When this book opens Kat has already had some experience dealing with ghosts. Now she's by herself on spring break, her best friend Jac off at a music conference, and she becomes interested in the abandoned house next door. She takes a few pictures of it, but when she loads them on to her computer, she sees something that wasn't there before: a boy looking out from one of the windows. When Kat decides to investigate, she realizes that sometimes spirits can be really scary.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and it seems like it will be a fun series. Kimmel does a great job of creating suspense for the reader. This is one of those books where almost every chapter ends in a way that makes it almost impossible to stop reading. And it is set up nicely for the next ghostly encounter in the next book. I liked the fact that even while Kat was dealing with the spirit world, she and her best friend were also dealing with being thirteen. They both had to make decisions about being their own person and relying on themselves rather than on their parents. The only difficulty I had with the book was that I felt it went into more detail about some of the supernatural stuff than was entirely necessary. Younger kids might have a hard time understanding all of the spirit world speak, like "energy work" and auras. But it's hard to say whether or not the story could be told without that. So it's a minor complaint.
This was a fun read, and would be enjoyed by older kids and middle schoolers.

Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson

Candyfloss is the story of Flora Barnes, or Floss as she's known to her friends and family. (Candyfloss is cotton candy in Britain - there's a handy glossary at the end of the book to translate many of these sorts of terms for American kids.) The book begins with Floss's birthday, and an announcement from her mother that they will soon be moving to Australia. The only problem is that Floss's parents are divorced, and no one's told her father yet. Floss has to choose which parent to stay with, although everyone thinks it's obvious that she will join her mother. But her father's business is failing, and she worries about him being alone. So she stays, creating all sorts of problems between her and her mother.
In addition to her family difficulties, Floss has problems with the girls at school. Her "best friend" Rhiannon is a terrible person, a total snot who would rather look down her nose at Floss and tease her than stick up for her. It takes Floss a while to realize it, but eventually she chooses the right friend. She continues to help keep her dad's spirits up as things get progressively worse for them, but things do turn around in the end.
This was a good book, but it may be a bit heavy for younger kids, and Floss is a little bit too childish for some older kids to connect with. I thought the book was sweet, although I felt that a disproportionate number of the chapters ended on a melancholy note. Things just don't go right for the family for most of the book. It'd be a good book for most fifth or sixth grade girls, who are in the awkward stage of becoming teenagers.
**A note on the cover: When I saw the covers available for this book, I thought the copy I had (shown above) was the better cover. It is just way more appealing to me. But after finishing the book, I realized that the pink socks had absolutely no relation to the book at all. There is mention of socks, but that's because Floss loses her white school socks in the move to her dad's, and must wear yucky blue socks which she gets made fun of over. No sparkly pink socks to be found. On the other hand, the cover to the right is exactly how Floss is described - there are even little cartoons at the beginning of each chapter that describe the action that look just like this. So even though I initially found this cover less appealing, it is obviously the better one. Just a random thought.

Firestar's Quest by Erin Hunter

Ah, yes, another Warriors book. This one is lucky thirteen for me, as I've read the first two series of books (at six books each) in this saga. Now I will be catching up on the manga stories of these cats, and eventually I'll get to the third series. (If you want to read more about what I have to say about these books, just click on "Erin Hunter" in the labels. If you haven't read any of the other Warriors books, or do not have any idea what they are about, then this synopsis and review is not going to make much sense.)
Firestar's Quest is a "super edition" book, a standalone story about the leader of Thunderclan. It is longer than the other books, the size of at least two of the books from the first series (although I've noticed the books getting longer in the third series). This book takes place five or six months after the end of the first series, and about six months before the beginning of the second series. Firestar begins dreaming of fleeing cats, and one cat in particular, mournfully trying to get his attention. Firestar is used to receiving dreams from StarClan, but these dreams are different. They come from the ancestors of a different clan, SkyClan, that has never been heard of in Firestar's forest. SkyClan left the forest when their home was destroyed by Twolegs (humans) - they eventually found some place else to settle, but then had to scatter for some unknown reason. Firestar has been given a quest to find the remnants and pull them back together to make a real clan again.
I really enjoyed this book, more than some of the individual series books. It's a good size for a kid who wants a longer chapter book, but it would probably be enjoyed most by someone who had already read the other Warriors books, at least the first series. This book deals with many of the same themes as the others - loyalty, pride, family, trust. It is structured like many of the other books, but obviously it's longer, so more time is spent developing the new characters in this story.
(And for a meaningless side note, one thing that is really funny about these books are the medicine cats - they are the shamans of the clan. Hunter has her medicine cats learn about the true uses for many herbs, and then use those to heal their clans. I just find it amusing that the herbs used are ones that kids would not necessarily recognize, but Hunter sticks to their proper usage anyways.)

The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles

Twelve-year-old House Jackson is the main character of this book about baseball, friendship, family, and Walt Whitman. The story begins with House sitting at the death-bed of Mr. Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd, known to the local children as Mean-Man Boyd (and less vocally, Baby-Eater Boyd). None of House's friends know that for the past year he has come to Mr. Boyd's house every day to read to him. Now he is the only one there with Mr. Boyd as he passes away.
House was the star pitcher for the Aurora County All-Stars, a baseball team with no coach, no uniforms, and no Little League affiliations, that played just one real game a year, on the fourth of July. House had missed last year's game, and had spent the year not playing baseball, healing from a broken elbow. This year's game would be his big comeback, until Frances Schotz (the girl responsible for his broken elbow) returns for the summer to conduct the Fourth of July Aurora County Birthday Pageant. Every kid under the age of fourteen has been signed up for it, but of course none of the All-Stars want to have anything to do with it. As the leader of the All-Stars, House must learn how to compromise in order to make this day special for everyone in the community, and honor what he learned from Norwood Boyd.
This was a very enjoyable read, and would be great for older kids or younger teens. I was surprised by the depth of this book, although it never feels heavy or difficult. House is a great character, very likable, lovable even, and his family is terrific. Most of the characters are good, not cookie cutters, which makes the details of this story more interesting. While this book is a good sports book, it has appeal for kids who like all kinds of stories.

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Robot Dreams was so different from what I expected. It is a story told entirely in pictures, and as it has no words to read, it can be "read" in less than half an hour. At my library this book is shelved with the older children's materials - with the chapter books actually. This makes no sense, as not only is it not a chapter book, but it tells a different sort of story than most kid's books. The pictures are sort of childish, but I think if you're expecting a childish story, as I was, you will be surprised.
Robot Dreams is a story of friendship lost and found. Dog (obviously none of the characters have names, as their are no words) builds Robot from a kit, and they become best friends, doing everything together. Until they go to the beach, where Robot makes the mistake of getting wet. His entire body freezes up so that he cannot get back on the bus to go home with Dog. So Dog leaves, saddened and wondering how to help his friend. Unfortunately, he is unable to save Robot, and Robot gets left on the beach for months all by himself. Meanwhile, Dog tries to find a friend with which he can spend all of his time, like he did with Robot. Although the story has an uplifting and rather hopeful ending, I found Robot's fate to be rather tragic. This was a strange and enchanting little book, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a rather different sort of graphic novel.
I used this book for my first post over at the Graphic Novels Challenge blog. So far I don't really have any kind of list for this challenge - I definitely plan on reading Maus (which is sitting in my pile of books right now), and probably a Sandman book, but besides that, I have not decided. Don't worry though, I'll keep you posted!

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

I picked up this book because it was on a list of best children's books for 2007. So far, this has been the best of the books that were on that list. The list is for older kids, ages 8-12, but this book would be enjoyed by younger teens as well.
Elijah is an eleven-year-old boy who was the first free-born child of the freed slave settlement of Buxton. Buxton was a real place in Canada, where freed slaves could live without fear of being taken back into slavery. It also served as a place for the Underground Railroad to deliver runaway slaves to. The settlement had strict rules of conduct, a well-regarded school, and a very strong sense of community among the residents. Elijah is a fictional character, but Curtis does an excellent job of describing what Elijah's life might have been like in Buxton.
The story begins with Elijah telling of his meeting Frederick Douglass, when he was an infant. The part of the story that no one in town will let him forget is that fact that he threw up while being held aloft by the former slave. It is little anecdotes like these that tell you what kind of community Buxton is, and what life is like there. The majority of the story takes place in Buxton, where we learn about Elijah's school, his chores, and how the community welcomes new members. It gave me chills to read about how the members of the community would ring the Liberty Bell when when they were joined by newly-free former slaves. What a place of hope Buxton must have been.
The cover of this book will tell you that Elijah learns about what it really means to be a slave in America when one of the community members steals from another, money that was supposed to be used to buy the second man's family out of slavery. But that event does not take place until the end of the book, while the rest of the story is setting up for it. One of the things that I loved most about Elijah was his voice, and how he was always trying to understand what it meant to be "growned". He has to learn fast when he is alone across the border in America, but he finds the strength to do what needs to be done. This is an excellent book that is a great read for any kid who likes adventure or historical fiction.

Warriors series by Erin Hunter

Well, I didn't get much reading done over my holiday trip, but I did manage to finish one book. And that book wrapped up a series. I review the Warrior books as a series because reviewing them individually gets seriously repetitive and does not do them justice. This is actually the second of these series that I've read - I read The New Prophecy series before reading this one (my review is here), but reading the series out of order is not really that big of a deal.
I have to say that if these books had been out when I was in elementary school, they would have been my favorites. Even with the level of cat-against-cat violence, I think I still would have loved the idea of these wild forest cats living according to a warrior code. The first book in this series, Into the Wild, introduces us to Rusty, a house cat who feels the call of the forest. He meets some of the warrior cats of ThunderClan, and is accepted among them as an apprentice warrior, and renamed Firepaw. He must deal with prejudice against "kittypets" such as him, and prove that he can be a loyal and valuable member to ThunderClan.
The main plotline of the series as a whole is Firepaw's rivalry with Tigerclaw. In the first book Firepaw discovers Tigerclaw's treachery - he would do anything to gain power, even kill members of his own clan. Later, as Firepaw becomes a full warrior and is renamed Fireheart, he must continue this battle. It isn't until the third book, Forest of Secrets, that Fireheart is able to prove Tigerclaw's treachery and get him exiled from the clan forever. But that is not the end of his troubles with Tigerclaw. Tigerclaw continues to plague ThunderClan, and carries a personal vendetta against Fireheart. In addition to this main plotline, the clan must hold its own against the three other clans of the forest, as well as dealing with natural occurances like drought, storms, and fire.
I have to say that I do love these books, although they are a bit on the overdramatic side at times. And the violence is not something that can be ignored. These cats fight and kill each other, and are also killed by predators like birds of prey and feral dogs. They live a tough life. But for a kid that can handle that level of violence, these books are great. Older elementary school kids or younger middle schoolers are usually who I recommend this book to. There are powerful themes of acceptance and loyalty, trust, friendship, and family. And now I get to move on to another book in this world! The books in this series are: Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, Forest of Secrets, Rising Storm, A Dangerous Path, and The Darkest Hour.

Jack Plank Tells Tales by Natalie Babbitt

Jack Plank is an out-of-work pirate; he lost his job because he just wasn't very good at it, and times were getting hard for his ship's crew. So they let him off in a Caribbean town called Saltwash, where he tries to make his way. He takes a room at a boardinghouse where they know he was a pirate, and they give him a week or so to find a job and prove that he plans on being a productive member of society.
What follows is a series of stories told by Jack, each one outlining why he is not able to do a specific job - he has a story for each one, although sometimes the story does not seem to directly relate to the job itself, or why he is unable to do it. But in the end, Jack discovers what he is able to do - tell a story!
The stories are whimsical and often silly, as are his audience's responses to his tales. This book was written for kids in grades two through six, but would probably be enjoyed by the younger ones more. It would also be a fun story to read aloud to, or along with first or second graders. It is not a book that would be enjoyed as much by every age, but for younger elementary school children, it's a great choice.