Lone Star, Tayshas, and 2 X 2 Book List

Two Books from the 2008 Lone Star Book List


The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart


This lively novel revolves around Reynie Muldoon's decision to answer an odd ad asking for gifted children. He is encouraged by his tutor to answer it and goes forth with it. He and three other gifted children must uncover a secret plot held by The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. Their plot is to take over the world. These four children must find a way to stop this plan. This story struck me as being whimsical and very kid friendly. I really enjoyed reading this book.




First Light
By Rebecca Stead




Peter and Thea are two adolescents that have grown up in two totally different worlds. Peter is a twelve year old who lives above the Earth and Thea lives underneath the Earth with her people. This is an interesting book, but it did have some slow moments. I am sure that middle school children will find this book to be a pretty great read. The concept of an underground world is awesome and the fact that she wants to escape from it makes for a good storyline.

Two 2008 Tayshas Book List Picks

The Plain Janes
By: Cecil Castellucci

This graphic novel caught me by complete surprise! The drawings reminded me of regular comic books and we illustrated beautifully. The story begins when Jane is moved to another city and feels like a fish out of water. She is excited when she meets three other girls, who also happen to be named Jane. They form their own secret society and named their crew, "The Plain Janes". They begin to make their presence known in town by drawing art all over the city. I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel, I even passed it on to my fourteen year old God daughter read. I knew that this book would motivate her to read a little.

Shark Girl
By: Kelly Bingham


When I read the title, I didn't know what to expect, a little part of me thought it was going to be Science Fiction. Well, I was absolutely wrong! This incredibly captivating book revolves around Jane Arrowood. She is a fifteen year old girl that was a living a great life, she is intelligent, popular and beautiful. All that seems to be nothing after she is attacked by a shark and has to have her arm amputated. I was crying when this happened. I couldn't believe it was happening to her. She tries to adjust to her new situation, and it is not always easy. I really enjoyed it and again, I am sharing this one with my God daughter!


2 x 2 Book List Pick


The Perfect Nest
By: Catherine Friend

I fell in love with this book as soon as I began to read it. The book begins by introducing this cute little cat named Jack, who is absolutely starving. All he wants is a divine omelet, but of course he needs eggs. So this clever little cat creates a comfortable little nest that is very appealing to not only a chicken, but a duck and goose as well. They are all there and each lay an egg, but not the cat has the problem that they won't leave. This book is hilarious and I know I will use it during my read aloud time in the library.

2008 Notable Books for Children

FIVE 2008 NOTABLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

Nothing

By Jon Agee

The story begins by showing Otis, an antique dealer cleaning his store after selling everything in it. A customer, who is one of the wealthiest ladies in town, appears in his shop and asks what he has to sell. He simply states, nothing and this deranged woman states that she needs to buy nothing. She gives Otis a big old check and he quickly load nothing into the trunk of her vehicle. He is really unsure of what is happening. Soon the whole town wants to buy nothing and they need to make room for it, so they sell their old items to Otis. This is a really funny book that can be appreciated by young students.

First the Egg

By Laura Vacarro Seeger

This little book caught my attention as soon as I saw it at the book fair held at my school. I quickly picked it up and was impressed by what I saw. The books begins with the chicken and egg dilemma. It has a bunch of cause and effect pictures that is sure to capture the attention of Pre-K and Kinder students. I loved the colorful pictures and the relationships between the subjects. For instance Seeger shows a picture of a seed and then a flower: a tadpole and then a frog. I really enjoyed this lovely book and I know children will enjoy it too.

Good Enough To Eat

By Brock Cole

This tale begins with the introduction of a skinny homeless girl who doesn't even have a name. She lives in a village full of selfish people who are annoyed by her presence. One day an evil ogre comes to town and demands a bride. Of course the townspeople throw the young homeless girl to him. He denies her three times, but then offers her an opportunity to gain a dowry from the townspeople. She gains a sword and gold and finally the ogre deems her good enough to eat. She quickly kills the ogre and gains her freedom. Now all the townspeople want to be her friend, but she quickly turns her back on them. I loved this little story. This girl is a scrapper and is able to survive any situation. I would have liked the pictures to have been a little more vibrant, but they were still pretty good.

A Good Day

By Kevin Henkes

This adorable tale of four creatures, a bird, dog, fox and squirrel is really quite appealing. These creatures begin their day badly. The bird loses a feather. The dog's leash gets caught in the fence. The fox loses his mother. The squirrel loses her nut. These animals are certainly not having a fun day, but it is soon to change. It is a nice way to let children know that sometimes things may not begin with a bang, but better things are bound to come, you just have to focus on the positive. I really enjoyed the colorful drawings in this story.

Fred Stays With Me!
By Nancy Coffelt

This book revolves a wonderful story line and offers an equally appealing set of illustrations. Fred, the dog, is absolutely adorable. This poor girl must shuffle herself back and forth between her divorced parents. Along with her comes Fred, whose bad habits are not appreciated by the girl's parents. The young girl is insistent that Fred must continue to be with her and she tries to get rid of his bad habits. This book is such a sweet read, I know I will use it in read aloud this year.

Five 2008 Quick Picks

FIVE 2008 QUICK PICKS

Graffiti L.A.: Street Styles and Art

By: Steve Grody

This book of three hundred pages showecases some of the graffiti found on walls in Los Angelos. It begins by giving a brief history of the beginning of graffiti in the 1930's by gang members. Grody then describes the four forms of graffiti that were popular during the height of the graffiti movement in the 1980's. The four types are tags, throw-ups, pieces and productions. The reader is also able to read a little bit about the artist of each piece showcased. I am not a fan of graffiti by any means because it is basically the defaming of someone elses property, but some of these were true pieces of art. This book is good for students who don't like to read very much, especially at-risk children.

Tupac Shakur Legacy

By Jamal Joseph

This biography of Tupac Shakur is very well written and put together. Jamal Joseph was able to provide primary sources that truly share the inner working of this incredible artist. Readers are able to tell that Shakur was not only a rapper, but a very talented poet. Some of the poetry inserted in the book are printed in Shakur's actual handwriting. I enjoyed learning more about Tupac Shakur, because to be honest I am not a fan, nor am I familiar with his work. I must say that after reading this book, I had respect for this man, who lived a life full of passion for his poetry and art.

Lessons from a Dead Girl

By Jo Knowles

I was absolutely uncomfortable reading this book because of the nature of the situation. The story revolves around the friendship of Leah and Laine. Leah has just passed away and Laine is trying to deal with the abuses that she endured from her late friend. It is crazy to think that one friend could sexually abuse another, especially when they are both females. It took me a long time to finish this book, because I honestly didn't want to read anymore about the situation. The book, however is very well written and explores the situation with true care and respect.

Glass
by Ellen Hopkins

This book deals with the topic of substance abuse in the form of crank. This is a sequel to a book called Crank, in which the main character, Kristina is a high achiever at school who gets pregnant. This book picks up on life after the baby is born. Because Kristina is not happy with her figure she decides to take crystal meths. She instantly gets hooked and becomes an addict. She loses her sense of reality and wants to do anything for it and is even willing to lose her baby for it. This book is so sad, but real at the same time. It was a pretty good read and I will be waiting for the next book if there is one.

Almost Home

By Jessica Blank

The plot of this story revolves around a group of kids that live in the streets of Los Angelos. They escape from their homelives for a variety of reasons ranging from boredom to being abused. This book took me out of my comfort zone, I enjoy reading books with idealistic plot lines. This was far from it. It focused on what these kids had to do in order to survive the street of Los Angelos. One of the characters entered the world of prostitution and drugs. This book is nicely written and showcases the voice of each character quite clearly. This book would probably be a good read for high school students, especially Juniors and Seniors.

2008 Batcheldor Award

2008 Batcheldor Award

Brave Story

by Miyuki Miyabe

This anime novel is quite interesting, I really enjoyed reading this book about Wataru. Wataru is a young boy whose family is going through a huge crisis, his parents are thinking of divorcing each other. His reality is so full of dilemma, that Wataru decides to escape and enters a fantastical world, where he has endless possibilities of greatness. There is so much action in this book, that I didn't want to put it down. It was hard for me to find a place to stop without wondering what was going to happen next. I read this book in a matter of five hours and know that most people will do the same. This book is excellent for middle school and high school students.

Five 2008 Best Books for Young Adults

The Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian

by: Sherman Alexie

Arnold Spirit is a fourteen year old boy who lives on an Indian reservation in Wellpinit, WA. He considers himself to be dorky and usually only hangs out with his best friend, Rowdy. This book was really interesting and offered the point of view of a young boy living on a reservation. After he transfers to the local public school, he begins to socialize with white students. He begins to struggle with his identity and tries to understand how his culture fits into the rest of the world. This is a great story for students who have struggles of their own to read. It is a wonderful story, that has pictures that enable the reader to understand Arnold's world.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

by Ishmael Beah

This book gives the reader a first account narrative of the civil war in Sierra Leone during the 1990's. This biographical book written by Ishmael Beah, is very real. When Ishmael is only twelve years old he was swept up into this war torn world in Sierra Leone. He becomes consumed into this world of drugs and mass killing. He becomes obsessed with this lifestyle until he is taken to rehab center by Americans. There he is able to recover and snap out of this lifestyle. He later is able to immigrate to the United States, where he attends and graduates from college. This book was not an easy read for me. I couldn't believe the horror that this boy had to endure during such a young age. It is important for students to understand that they have a very good life here in the United States. Many students take their lives for granted, but I think reading this novel, would help them put things into perspective.

Before I die

by Jenny Downham

The minute I picked up this book, I wanted to cry. The main character, Tessa is a seventeen year old girl, who is dying of cancer. You begin to think how can a girl this young be dying, she hasn't even lived yet. Yet, that is what Tessa is set on doing before she dies. She creates a list of ten things she wants to do before the cancer takes her life away. You are able to see the angst of a father who must deal with the sickness of a daughter. He tries many things and hopes that things will change for the better, but unfortunately they do not. This hard hitting book is a great read, you really believe that a teenager wrote it. As I progressed to the end of the book I began to hope and pray that the inevitable wouldn't occur. This is a good book for students to read especially if they know someone with a fatal disease.

Boy Toy

By Barry Lyga

The story begins with Josh attending a party with three of his close friends. He states that there are "three kids and me". I didn't understand what he meant by this, but as the story progresses you find out his secret that he was sexually abused by a teacher, Eve. The reader is able to learn this through a series of flashbacks. This abuse occurred when he was only twelve years old. Now he is a senior in high school and still can not get over that experience. His friend Racheal tries to make a move on him, but he is not comfortable with this situation. I really liked this book and would recommend it for older students. You are able to understand his struggles with the situation.

The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural

by Deborah Noyes

This book reminds me of "Stories that Must Never Die", which I enjoyed immensely when I was young. This book has a variety of scary tales ranging from ghost, vampires and other creepy things that go bump in the night. I enjoyed reading these short stories, that would probably help get reluctant readers get interested in being a bit more literate. The stories are not incredibly long and are very interesting.

2008 Belpre Award

2008 Belpre Award for Text

The Poet Slave of Cuba
by Margarita Engle

This book depicts the life of a nineteenth century young man, Juan Franscico Manzano in Cuba. He is born into slavery and secretly learns how to read and write. He becomes an amazing poet, during a time he is not even supposed to be literate. Juan's story is incredibly sad and hard to believe. He suffered so much under his cruel masters. The author of this book does a great job of conveying his story in a manner that is appealing to the reader. It is also important for students to view slavery in a country other than the United States. This book is able to give them perspective on slavery.

2008 Belpre for Illustrations

Los Gatos Black on Halloween

by Marisa Montes and Yuyi Morales

This colorful little book of verse allows the readers to be immersed in a moonlit Halloween Night. The book has pictures of rattling bones, ghost, and other things that go bump in the night. This book has Spanish embedded in the text, which is perfect for most students down here in the valley. But, those who need clarification are able to look up the words in a glossary found in back of the book. I know that a lot of the young children at my school would really enjoy this book. I can see why it won the Belpre Award for illustrations.

2008 Coretta Scott King Award for Text

Elijah of Buxton

by Christopher Paul Curtis

The cover of this book actually caught my attention because I just was intrigued by the little boy. he looks sad and happy all at the same time. I had to find out more about Elijah. He is the first freedom black born in his settlement, Buxton, Canada. He seems to be just like a normal kid, who loves to laugh and must endure embarrassing stories told by his family. As the plot progresses, I am able to understand Elijah's face, because he tries to help a group of slaves escape. This book is the winner of not only the Coretta Scott King Award, but the Newbery Award as well. I will definitely purchase a class set of this novel for my library.

2008 Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrations

Let it Shine
by Ashley Bryan

I just adored this little book of traditional spiritual songs. The illustrations are very inviting and vibrant. They add a lot of excitement to the spirituals. I liked that Ashley Bryan adds the orgins and importance of these spirituals. This would be really fun to introduce to elementary students, especially in a music class. There so much a person can do with this book. You can explain imagery, alliteration, rhyming and so much more.

2008 Sibert Award Book

2008 Sibert Award Book

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
By: Peter Sis

This graphic novel allows children to understand the impact of living in Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule. The author recalls the feeling of seeing the police in their staunch suits being ruthless to the people of the city. The book takes the reader from Sis's infancy to his adulthood. This book has an incredible way of showing his life by using very little color and enhancing the reader's experience by using sharp black and white images. The reader is able to view his world through a series of maps, journal excerpts and pictures. Sis is born under communist rule, but soon discovers the Western world. He is fascinated by the Beach Boys, rock n roll, and grows his hair long. This is a great book for middle school children to read. It shares a bit of history with them, and they might even want to expand their knowledge and research more about this time period.

2008 Geisel Award

There is a Bird on Your Head!
by Mo Williems

This another wonderful product written and illustrated by Mo Williems. The pictures are reminiscent of Williems' pigeon books. I really enjoyed the illustrations and short story line. This book is excellent for beginning or emergent readers. Children will definitely enjoy reading this book on there own or have it read to them.

2008 Schneider Family Award

Kami and the Yaks
by: Andrea Stenn Stryer

This wonderfully illustrated book is set in the Himalayas and tells the story of Sherpa. Sherpa is a young deaf boy who tries to help his father and brother look for the family's yaks. Sherpa decides to looks for the yaks on the opposite side from where his brother and father are at. He is able to locate them, but he has a problem releasing one from a rock. I really enjoyed reading this book and the illustrations. I love that the main character is deaf. This allows children to understand that even though a person may have a disability, they are still able to do everyday things. This wonderful tale of young Sherpa is sure to be an excellent addition to any library.

Reaching for Sun
by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

When I first picked up this book, I wasn't sure what to expect because it is entirely written in poetry. The main character, Josie, who is a seventh grader with Cerebral Palsy, is able to share her voice through the poetry. Through he poems we are able to understand how lonely she feels, until she meets a new friend, Jordan. It it also interesting to see how she relates to her family members. This book is pretty interesting, even though it is written using poetry, I myself am not a big fan of poetry. I can see this being used in the classroom, not only because it is a pretty easy read, but because of the disability that Josie has. Children will become aware of how it is to live with a disability. I would definitely recommend this book to middle school and high school students.

Hurt Go Happy
By Ginny Rorby

This book caught me absolutely by surprise, this book has some difficult issues. For example, the main character Joey is deaf, but she became deaf after a horrible beating from her father. Her mother doesn't want her to learn sign language, thus she lives in an isolated environment. Joey comes in contact with a monkey and his owner. The monkey actually knows sign language and Joey learns despite her mother's wishes. The writing in this book is impeccable and very easy to read. The minute you pick up the book, you are brought into Joey's world that is difficult to stop reading. I am sure that there are students who can relate to this kind of abuse and family situation.

2008 Caldecott Award Winner

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

by Brian Selznick

This book is an incredible achievement in both storytelling and illustration magic. This clever author is able to fuse both beautiful and ingenious illustrations with a wonderful story line. Young Hugo Cabret finds himself to be an orphan after his father is tragically killed in a fire. His father has left Hugo with no money, but has equipped him with an incredible mystery involving a robot and the cinema. Twelve year old Hugo must learn to fend for himself, while living in a Paris train station. This book is set in the height of the movie era, in the 1930's. This was when films were no longer silent Brian Selznick does an incredible job of incorporating a graphic novel/flip book feel. He does this by drawing pictures in sequence, and if you flip it you feel like you are watching an old fashioned movie. This book is about 500 pages, but it is an incredible read. Hugo's personality shines in each page as the mystery unfolds. I am a big movie fanatic, so this book was incredibly interesting to me. This book would be perfect for reluctant readers, especially boys because of the main character and the way the book is written. This book is absolutely deserving of the Caldecott Award and I am definitely going to include this in my library collection.

AUDIO BOOK EVALUATIONS

2008 Notable Children's Recordings

Hattie Big Sky

by: Kirby Larson
Read by : Kirsten Potter

I felt that the narrator’s voice was quite engaging and I really enjoyed listening to this book by the narrator. I have read the book before, so when that happens, you hear the book through your own voice. This narrator managed to read it the way I envisioned it. The pacing was just perfect; I know that young children and adolescents will have no problem following along. Also, it didn’t make me fall asleep, so that is a definite positive. The book has some slow parts, but I feel the narrator did an excellent job of keeping the listener entertained. This audio book has a single narrator, which is quite appropriate for this novel because it doesn’t have a whole lot of action and the story is told using Hattie’s voice. I did like that the narrator would change her voice whenever another character was swaying something, which I found out is known as being fully voiced. The voice of the narrator, I felt matched the mood of the story perfectly. The usual chapter numbers are given to remind the listener where they left off. I had to listen to this audio book in intervals while I was in the car driving and I never felt lost. The sound quality is impeccable and the packaging was sturdy enough. The illustration on the cover was so pretty, it shows the main character staring at the sky. It is very fitting for this story. If I had this in the library it would last a while, but would probably need protective covering if it was checked out a lot. I couldn’t find any problems with this recording and felt it was fine. I would actually recommend teachers in middle school to have this for their students to use.

2008 YALSA Amazing Audio books

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K. Rowling
Read by: Jim Dale

This audio book is of very good quality. Narrator, Jim Dale does an excellent job of fluctuating his voice when needed and adds excitement to the story, not that it needs anymore. The pacing is excellent, his voice is slow when needed and adds quickness to it during action sequences. He does an excellent job of fully voicing this very long novel. believe this was the best choice for this novel because the author does a great job of showing the personalities of each character by their words, so separate narrators are not needed. The inflection of his is voice is quite sufficient to convey the change is characters. The pronunciation of each word is perfect and his voice did not distract from the story line, it simply enhanced the listening experience. The author does take in a couple of deep breaths, but these are needed especially during the action scenes in order to give it the excitement needed. The quality of this audio is very high, I was not able to detect any white noise what so ever. Also, because of the long nature of this book, I believe they did a great job of letting the listener know what CD is being read and what chapter it is on. I did get lost a couple of times because the chapters are so long, so I tried to finish the chapter when before ejecting it from the cd player. This audio book simply begins with the words, “This is the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter Series,” which to me excited me so much that I was ready to listen with my popcorn in hand. The sound effects added to this book were very appropriate and enjoyable. Nothing about this audio book was amateurish; everything was top notch as a book of this caliber should be. The end points for each CD were just fine, I would place them at logical. There are no extras to this audio book, which is just fine it doesn’t need any. The story itself was wonderful and engaging. The cover of the book matched the printed version and is very colorful and inviting. The packaging is very sturdy and would be a good addition to a listening library collection. I found the editing to be extremely meticulous, I could not detect anything wrong with it.

2008 Odyssey Award Winner

Jazz
By Walter Dean Myers
Read by James “D-Train” Williams and Vaneese Thomas

This audio book comes with the printed version that children can use to follow along. This addition is certainly not a distraction, but enhances the listening experience. Children are able to view the beautiful illustrations, while listening to the narration of James “D-Train” Williams and Vaneese Thomas. I also enjoyed the background music they had, which is provided by a full jazz ensemble. This added to the experience by adding excitement to the songs and poems written by Walter Dean Myers. The clarity of the music and narration was wonderful. This full cast dramatization was a wise choice for a novel with this much musical appeal. The pronunciation of the words was perfectly, I found no faultiness in this manner. Also, the editing was just perfect; the introduction to each poem/song was pretty much flawless. The pacing performed by the narrators is just great; you can feel the “jazziness” coming from their voices and words. Their voices are appropriate for the tone of the book and compliment the illustrations to a tee. The breathing points were perfect for each poem and so was the pacing for the musical accompaniment. The packaging for this audio book is about average, it comes in the plastic little bag with the printed book. It is a perfect addition to an elementary listening library. The recordings are smooth and I heard no white noise. There are no chapters in this book, the beginning of each new song/poem is clear and does not distract from the tone or mood of the book. I did not hear any obvious breath taking and was never distracted by anything the narrators did. It is a wonderful audio book that I really enjoyed listening to.