Rosenthal, Betsy R. Looking For Me.

Rosenthal, Betsy R.  Looking For Me.       Houghton Mifflin                172p      $15.99   978-0-547-61084-9         2012      ms/hs  E-BN       Realistic fiction                                  

The story of Edith Paul’s life is told in this lovely free-verse novel of Depression-era Baltimore.  Beautifully written, the book spans a year in her life from the end of a summer through the culmination of her sixth-grade school year, including the special events, both happy and tragic, that will mold her character.  The fourth of twelve children, Edith is never quite sure how she fits into her family’s dynamics.  When her teacher assigns a poem about family, she realizes that she truly doesn’t know who she is.  Is she the “good little mother” or her father’s “diner slave”?  She realizes for the first time that she craves recognition as an individual.  It will be the first step in Edith’s emotional discovery of herself.   With the love of her large extended family and the help of her understanding teacher, Edith grows and matures into a strong and vibrant person.

Rosenthal based this book on memories of her mother and her large family.  She ends  with an epilogue that describes Edith’s actual future where she becomes the only girl in the family to graduate from college, a glossary of Yiddish words, and a collection of family photographs.  This is a wonderful addition to collections that describe the search for the American dream.

Family stories, Families-Fiction, The Great Depression-Fiction   -–Susan Ogintz

 

Freaky Fast Frankie Joe

Clifton, Lutricia       Freaky Fast Frankie Joe  

Holiday House     2012  248p 

$16.95      978-0-8234-2367-5       elm/ms    VG        Realistic fiction

Twelve-year-old Frankie Joe is sent to live with his father, whom he has never met, when his mother is sent to jail.  He is forced to leave his trailer home in Texas and travel halfway across the country to move in with his father, stepmother, and four half-brothers in Plainville, Illinois.  Frankie Joe is miserable as he tries to adjust to life with his new family.  All he can think about is moving back to Texas with his mom and old friends.  He decides to run away and ride his old bike back to Texas.  In order to raise the necessary cash, Frankie Joe initiates a plan providing a delivery service, Freaky Fast Frankie Joe’s, for his rural neighbors in Plainville.  His business is successful, and he makes money and develops new friendships in the process.  But as Frankie Joe approaches his goal, he is faced with an unimaginable betrayal, and he must rely on his own resilience and his new family’s support to cope.

Lutricia Clifton conveys an emotional story in an effectively amusing and entertaining narrative.  With colorful descriptions, the author has created a story in which the reader empathizes with the wide range of feelings that Frankie Joe experiences.  Additionally, readers will find themselves rooting for him and appreciating his ability to move forward.  This book is a real page turner from start to finish.

VG    Virginia McGarvey       Boys, Family

 

Schwartz, Ellenj The Case of the Missing Deed (Teaspoon Detectives)

Schwartz, Ellenj  The Case of the Missing Deed (Teaspoon Detectives)     

Tundra Books      2011  189p  17.99 978-0-88776-959-7     

 elm/ms      E-BN  Mystery/Detective  

     In this story five cousins try to help their Grandmother find the deed to her house. It seems her husband had hid so no one could find it. It seemed that Grandpa liked puzzles. So the cousins turned detective with some hilarious results as they cooked their way through the clues that he left as clues.     This is a delightful story of a family who pulls together to solve problems that crop up.
      The cousins (Sebastian, Genevieve,Claire, Olivia, and Alex) arrive for their summer stay with their Grandmother only to find her in a quandry. She can’t seem to remember where her husband put the deed to their property. If she can’t produce the deed the Tantalus Mining Company will get control of the land for an access road.
     It seems that Grandpa loved puzzles. To help his wife to remember where the deed was secreted, he left a series of clues that he hid in such places as her cookbook. The cousins tried cooking their way through the recipes that had clues found on them hoping to get some insight.
     Readers will love the various characters and the fast paced action and intrigue that commences as the troop of cousins investigate the threat of environmental destruction, the secret codes, and tempting recipes that are included for enjoyment.                  Family life-fiction    Linda McNeil

 

Harvey, Sarah N. Death Benefits

Harvey, Sarah N. Death Benefits
Orca 2010 212p 12.95
978-1-55469-226-2 hs VG-BN


Royce scarcely knows his grandfather Arthur, a world -renowned cellist, and a world-class grouch. When Royce accepts the job of providing care for his grandfather, he is surprised to discover a genuine liking for Arthur -- who poses Royce with a serious ethical dilemma when he asks Royce to help him to die. Under protest, 16-year-old Royce moves from Nova Scotia to British Columbia with his mother. Once they settle in, Royce contracts mono and is housebound. Stir crazy, lonely, bored, and friendless, Royce accepts his mother’s offer to look after his grandfather, Arthur, for $15/hour. Royce hopes to earn enough money to return to Nova Scotia.

Arthur is a grouch, retired (world famous) cellist. Despite the barrage of verbal abuse Arthur heaps upon Royce, Royce is surprised to find that he likes his grandfather. And even when Arthur provides Royce with keys to his car (and thus an escape to Nova Scotia) Royce stays on.

Arthur’s health briefly rallies, providing a glimpse of his younger, dynamic self, but then takes turn for the worse. Arthur doesn’t want to become incapacitated again and asks for Royce’s help to end his life.

Despite the slow start, teen readers will enjoy the well-developed characters and dialogue. Royce’s moral and ethical dilemma will spark debate. Realistic Fiction Welliver, Hilary

Appelt, Kathi. Keeper.

Appelt, Kathi Keeper (galley)
Atheneum 2010 416p 19.99
978-1-4169-5060-8 ms
Young girls discovers true meaning of family VG


After a particularly trying day, Keeper must find her real mother. She sets out into the Gulf of Mexico to find the mermaid/mother that she knows exists. One harrowing adventure after another shakes loose Keeper’s memory of her abandonment as a 3-year old, and she realizes that her true family is the one she has now.
The Keeper is a creatively handcrafted novel about the confusion of a young girl resulting from abandonment by her mother when she was only 3 years old. The beach setting, the characters and the plot are almost seamless when “whap!” The reader is hit with a suggestion of homosexuality halfway through the book! A younger child will be confused when, through the use of flashback, author Kathi Appelt has teenaged Mr. Beauchamp touch the hand of another 15-year old male intimately. If one can reconcile the addition of this confusing chapter, the book is a powerful look at love and acceptance. Siren is raising Keeper ever since Meggie Marie abandoned her. Siren’s mistake is in allowing Keeper to believe that Meggie Marie is a mermaid! Keeper’s need to go out into a dingy to find her mother in the sea stems from one very bad day in which she breaks Siren’s favorite bowl, ruins Dogie’s ukulele and kills Mr. Beauchamp’s prized flowers. Keeper’s pets, from a seagull named Captain to her dog named BD, are her only friends in this remote part of Texas which borders the Gulf of Mexico. To escape her traumatic day, she embarks on a journey to find her mother which nearly causes her demise. Her pets accompany her, and in these chapters lies the creativity of the story as Keeper interacts with Charlie and BD, communicates with the sea and tries to survive. The journey is one in which Keeper realizes that her mother is not a mermaid, that Siren and Dogie are her true family and that she needs to move forward in life and put this childhood fantasy behind her. Realistic Fiction Squaresky, Martha

Li, Yishan. Shonen Art Studio

Li, Yishan. Shonen Art Studio
Watson-Guptill (see Random) 2010 125p 25.99
978-0-8230-3332-4 ms/hs VG
This book and accompanying CD will encourage young artists and manga enthusiasts to design their own shonen style graphic comic book. The author discusses equipment, software, and has drawings that offer many suggestions. This title has an index, too. This book, subtitled “Everything you need to create your own shonen manga comics”, and accompanying CD will encourage middle and high school artists and manga enthusiasts to design their own shonen style graphic comic book. The author discusses equipment best suited to digital art. The CD has templates of characters, page layouts, coloring, accessories and more that can be customized using Photoshop and Illustrator. The instructions for use of the CD and for generating a story line and fine tuning the graphics go step-by-step so that they can be easily understood. The nine folders on the disc are: characters, page layouts, word balloons, speedlines, focus lines, tones, backgrounds, and weapons and accessories. Some of this material is rather sophisticated and technical and may be more accessible to the experienced user. The book offers suggestions on choosing color schemes, adding sound, pacing story telling, and converting photographs into backgrounds. Black and white drawings provided in the book will enable those readers without the suggested hardware and software to be able to copy sketches by hand, but essentially, the book is best used with the recommended software. This is a total package at a very economical price. It would be a very good selection for middle school and high school libraries where manga books are popular. This is a total package at a very economical price. It would be a very good selection for middle school and high school libraries where manga books are popular. Weinraub, Tina

Pearson, Mary E. The Miles Between.

Pearson, Mary E. The Miles Between.
Henry Holt 2009 266p 16.99 978-0-8050-8828-1 jr/sr

It’s not fair! But what if life could be fair even for just one special day? Travel with Destiny on her magical birthday when she finds friends, comes to terms with her past and learns that everything is going to be OK after all. Destiny Faraday is a lonely girl who has been consigned to life in boarding school. Apparently her parents have deserted her but we don’t know why. Changing schools frequently, she wakes up on her 17th birthday knowing that she will spend it alone at her new school. Because Des has learned to keep her distance from other people she feels friendless. Today her life is about to change. Finding a pale pink convertible with the keys inside, parked outside her school, Des convinces another student, Sean, to drive it. Mira sees them leaving and wants to go too. Mira then grabs Aidan and the four play hooky. They plan to go to the town that Destiny calls home.Luckily there is plenty of money in the glove compartment so they can enjoy the day without worry. Destiny does have twinges of conscious about this but is driven by a need to see her home.
There is clearly some mystery surrounding Destiny’s life and until the story is revealed we can only guess what it is. During this journey, Des is able to come to terms with family issues that she has refused to deal with. Returning to school everything works out in the most amazing way.
This is a lovely story that engages the emotions of the reader and we see Destiny’s life both from her perspective and that of the people who care for her. Spadaro, Trish

Lynch, Janet Nichols. Messed Up.

Lynch, Janet Nichols. Messed Up.
Holiday House 2009 256p 17.95 978-0-8234-2185-5 ms/hs

During the year 15 year old Mexican American, R. D., has to repeat 8th grade, his grandmother leaves him in the sole support of her boyfriend. When he dies, R. D. has to find the skills necessary to navigate his world on his own. When 15 year old Mexican American R. D.’s grandmother leaves to be with her new boyfriend, he stays with her old boyfriend Earl. His mother is in prison for drug dealing and his father, who was only 13 at his conception has been out of R. D.’s life since he was a baby. R. D is repeating 8th grade, gets suspended frequently, but is basically a good kid. When Earl dies suddenly, R. D. is left to live on his own and tries to keep it a secret so he won’t be sent to a foster home. He stays in the house and attempts to garner the skills necessary such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, and bill paying. He also attempts to keep Earl’s auto repair business going. R. D. is in a special class at school, endeavors to avoid Latino gang violence, and is trying to evade the advances of a tough girl who wants to be his girl at any cost. His realization that he does have the ability to succeed changes his perception on life. The characters are well developed and ring true; Lynch has a good grasp of what conditions can be for some teens. The situations that R. D. finds himself in are often at the same time humorous and sad. This title is well-written and will hold the interest of high school males (as well as some females). This would be an excellent selection for high school libraries looking for books that are of high interest to male readers. Recommended for Tristate Books of Note. Tina Weinraub

Wild Things.

Carmichael, Clay. Wild Things.
Front Street Books (see Boyd's Mill Press) 2009 240p 18.95
978-1-59078-627-7 elm/ms

Stubborn, self-reliant, eleven-year-old Zoe, recently orphaned, moves to the country to live with her prickly half-uncle, a famous doctor, and sculptor, and together they learn about trust and the strength of family. Clay Carmichael has hit the mark in this novel about an orphaned eleven year-old girl who is too precocious, too independent, and too tough for her own good. Zoe Royster needed to develop these personality traits as a defense mechanism to protect her feelings from her negligent mother; consequently, she trusts no one but herself. Her father was never a presence in her life and when her mother dies, Zoe is claimed by an uncle she didn't know she had. Her uncle is Dr. Henry Royce, who left a promising medical career to pursue an even more successful career as a metal sculptor. The title refers to many wild things besides Zoe: the feral cat that contributes to the story by providing background information and foreshadowing, the sculptures that Henry creates, the albino deer and his companion. From the first page Zoe commands the attention of the readers, who want to know more about her unconventional past. She is a multidimensional character who surprises and enchants. Carmichael has taken care to provide Zoe with equally well rounded characters. Zoe's narrative provides the structure of the story, with perfect pacing and plot development. The dialogue is a joy, particularly the first few chapters of conversation between Zoe and Henry, where the reader begins to wonder how this relationship between the two of them will turn out. It turns out just fine, despite the sadness, and the tragedies that they encounter. Readers can leave Zoe knowing that she finds the love that she deserves. RZ