This novel by Mark Shulman takes the reader into the mind of a middle school bully, Tod Munn. Tod has to stay after school detention with the counselor for one month and his “punishment” is to write a journal. As Tod writes in his journal you will learn about his life with his Mom who takes in sewing, she is a seamstress. His stepfather is really not a father. Tod is very bright, but he has the look of the “tough guy”.
Check out the book trailer.
Before I begin to tell you about this book, let me say that I am a fan of Michael Morpurgo. War Horse is one of the most moving books that I have read!
Once again, the author has brought a story about the courage of animals who have their lives torn apart because of man’s wars. Despite the fact that Morpurgo is British, this book is set in Germany in World War II. The story is about the fire-bombing of Dresden by the RAF (Royal Air Force). A mother who is a volunteer zoo-keeper has brought a young elephant home to live in the backyard to save her from being shot. The animals were going to be shot so that they would not suffer terrible injuries during the bombings.
As the family leaves Dresden to escape the horrors they will suffer if they are taken by the Russians, they encounter a young Canadian flier who had been shot down during one of the bombing raids. The story is told by the daughter, Elizabeth, of the zoo-keeper as she lays in bed in a nursing home in Canada.
I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and I think you may learn more about one of the great wars of the last century. War has many more casualties than just the soldiers who fight it.
The Fire-bombing of Dresden – an eyewitness account
SYNC is offering teens 13 years-old and up an opportunity to download 2 free books a week in MP3 format. They are compatible with any digital player and PC or Mac. There is no sign-up, personal information, or credit card needed to download these books.
They have paired a classic with a more current teen novel each week that have similar themes. This is a great opportunity to see if you like this audio-book format.
July 1-7 is The Angel Experiment and Frankenstein; July 8-14 is Over the End Line and The Power of One; July 15-21 is Bloody Jack (one of my favorites) and Treasure Island; July 22-28 The Looking Glass Wars and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; July 29-August 4 The Hunger Games and The Lottery; August 5-11 Does My Head Look Big in This and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; August 12-18 Beastly and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; August 19-25 Wondrous Strange and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and August 26-September 1 Handbook for Boys and Oliver Twist.
Sorry we missed the first week.
In this story, a ghost named Helen has died and for some reason, she can’t find her way to heaven. She roams around Earth for one hundred and thirty years, haunting a host. If she tries to wonder off on her own, she’ll be pulled down in what feels like her own hell. Her current host was an english teacher named Mr. Brown. Everywhere he traveled, Helen would follow him. Being in the state she was, she couldn’t pick anything up; her hand would simply slip right through everything she tried to grasp. One afternoon, in Mr. Brown’s class, Helen notices something strange. A boy in the class seems to be looking right at her. After one hundred thirty years, never before has anyone been able to see her, ever. Completely taken aback at first, she later becomes drawn to the boy. She follows him and he talked to her. His name was James and he was also a ghost, a “light” as she was. Only he had taken up the body of a boy named Billy, who’s spirit had wondered off. As Billy, James lived close to the same life. Helen then tries to follow James, to become his host. Though almost unsuccessful, she pulls through and falls in love with him. So smitten with him that she manages to find a body as James has. It was a girl named Jenny who had becomed depressed with her life with her extreamly religious parents. Helen warps her way into the body successfully and begins a reborn life. But now with the uncertainty that their parents would even allow them to be togather, James and Helen sneak around after school. Suddenly Helens’ world begins to crumble. There’s trouble with Jenny’s parents. Helen and James must now battle to stay togather, and make their way to heaven.
James Preller, the author of this book, says he wanted to avoid all of the simple solutions presented in many bullying books. Instead he is concentrating on the bystanders, the silent majority – the subtitle is A bystander? Or the bully’s next target?. I believe he has succeeded in presenting a different take on this problem.
Eric Hayes is new to the school on Long Island. The story begins with Eric seeing David Hallenback fleeing, “scared witless.” He quickly meets Griffin and his group of followers who are pursuing the target of their bullying. Eric becomes the bystander and watches what the bully Griffin does, then an incident causes Eric to see that this is wrong. He speaks out and becomes the next victim. The ending of the book is realistic –
“He thought about Griffin Connelly. They never talked anymore, never spoke of Eric’s theft, or Griffin’s new sneakers. It was like they made a silent pact. Somehow it was all wiped clean, like chalk from a blackboard…No final curtain.”
I picked up this novel on a day trip to Madison. I love the bookstores there! But we really go to visit the Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, the Penzy’s spice store in Madtown, and then the cheese store in Cuba City – we make this trek once or twice a year. While there we always spend some time in the bookstores. This became one of trips when our daughter was in grad school at the University of Wisconsin.
Gretchen Olson has written a book about eleven year old Hope who is bullied. This bully is not the typical bully we find in novels about bullying and middle school kids; this bully is her mother. Hope says the worst name in the world is STUPID – it seems that no matter how hard she tries to please her mother, her mom just thinks she is stupid and tells her so. This name is certainly not the worst – she is verbally abusive all the time.
Hope tries to cope by creating a point system that in her mind after so many points her mom will stop saying things or glaring at her. Her friendship with two women who run a used clothing store helps her survive. Finally, a school counselor also steps in to try to help Hope.
I think reading this book reminds all of us how hurtful words can be – it really isn’t true that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”
So, what do you think? I changed from the other design because I am not knowledgeable about changing the CSS and I wanted to have the tabs. The picture is actually an original — taken by my daughter.
I know some of you are interested in reading manga. Here is a web site that might give you some ideas for books to read – Top 12 New Kids Manga.
This came from lists of summer reading called Rebecca’s Pocket.
I have been busy reading, and have finished several of the Caudill choices for next year. I have also read a couple of myteries. I will post about these books soon.
Kissed by an Angel Elizabeth Chandler
“Kissed by an Angel” is about (you guessed it) angels! Only they aren’t the type of angel you would normally think of. These angels are not up high and they don’t have wings! The most accurate description of these angels is ghosts with special “powers”.
When Ivy’s mom decides to marry super rich Andrew, this is fine with Ivy accept for one complication; Andrew has a son the same age as Ivy. His name is Gregory. And Gregory is not nice at all. He is a downright spoiled brat. Gregory is mean to Ivy’s little brother Philip. Philip and Ivy share a strong belief in angels.
Then Ivy’s whole world came crashing down. Ivy and her boyfriend were driving and a deer appears! But, Tristan, Ivy’s boyfriend, can’t stop. She didn’t realize it yet, but the cars brakes had failed. And Tristan was pronounced dead on the scene. Before Tristan’s death Tristan told Ivy that he loved her. But Ivy couldn’t find the courage to voice her feelings of love to Tristan. . .
Now Tristan finds that he is dead. He is an angel from heaven sent to help Ivy. He tries to talk to Ivy, but she pushes him away. She has lost her belief in angels. Tristan knows that someone cut the brake line in his car. And the killer wanted Ivy dead, not Tristan… the killer could strike any day. And if Ivy continues to push him away in her mind, there might be no hope left for Ivy’s safety.
We have some library helpers who love to read, and they are going to share their thoughts on books that they have read. Those of you who know these readers personally have listened to their advice when you visit the library; now you will be able to get advice online.
Visit our blog often to see what everyone is reading.
