“Burn,” by Suzanne Phillips

“Burn,” by Suzanne Phillips is a powerful realistic fiction novel about a boy who is being bullied at school.

Cameron Grady is a high school freshman.  Once he used to get good grades, and he had friends at school.  Now he finds it hard just to work up the nerve to go to school at all.  Teachers pester him about missed assignments and failing grades, but none of these things matter to Cameron.  He is far more worried about avoiding being bullied.

It all started when Cameron began ninth grade.  One small but deadly mistake destroyed his school reputation forever. Read the rest »

“Seekers - Smoke Mountain,” by Erin Hunter

“Seekers - Smoke Mountain,” by Erin Hunter is the third book in the Seekers series, about a group of bears on a quest to save all bearkind from human damage to the environment.

In  “Seekers - The Quest Begins” and “Seekers - Great Bear Lake” Erin Hunter introduced readers to Kallik, an orphaned polar bear; and Lusa, a black bear who escaped from a human zoo to find Toklo, a grizzly bear cub.  The fourth bear in this diverse group, Ujurak, is truly unique.  He is shapeshifter who can take on the form of any other animal.  However he prefers to be a small bear cub. Read the rest »

“Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love,” by Lauren Tarshis

“Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love,” by Lauren Tarshis is the wonderful sequel to “Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree.” In this second book of the series Emma-Jean will attempt to use her rational, scientific approach to unravel the mysteries of seventh grade romance.

Those readers who have already experienced “Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree” know Emma as a girl who is highly intelligent. She takes a logical approach to everything in life, but that technique doesn’t always work when she tries to understand the social dynamics of William Gladstone Middle School. Read the rest »

“The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth,” by John Mellor

“The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth,” by John Mellor is a philosophical exploration of human character and behavior under the guise of seven short stories.

On the grand scale “The Seven Gifts That Came to Earth” is about a young boy and an Angel.  The Angel directs the boy to read seven books.  Each book is a story about a gift that was bestowed upon the Earth by its “guardian.”

“Custer’s Last Band” tells the story of a retired rock and roll musician who leaves his hermitic refuge in the mountains to play one last gig at the Princess’s birthday party.  But his song isn’t quite what the people were expecting. Read the rest »

“The Tale of Despereaux,” by Kate DiCamillo

“The Tale of Despereaux,” by Kate DiCamillo is a Newbery Award Medal winning tale about a young mouse who is in love with a human princess. From the day he was born his parents knew that something was wrong with Despereaux. Most mouse babies are born with their eyes closed, but Despereaux was born with his eyes wide open. He was also the runt of the litter, much smaller than all the other mice. And his ears were ridiculously large! Despereaux’s parent were sure that he would die soon after birth. But to their surprise Despereaux does survive, though he grows up to be very different from other mice. Read the rest »