Lord, Cynthia. 2006. RULES. Scholastic Press: New York.
CHARACTERS
There are many characters in the book. The main character is Catherine along with her little brother David. David has autism. Catherine also befriends a young man, Jason, who only communicates with words in a notebook and is in a wheelchair. The characters are portrayed in such a way that you are drawn into their situations.
PLOT
Catherine is trying to grow up and be independent while dealing with her brother, David. David has to be watched all of the time because he is autistic. This causes Catherine much distress. She tries to help him by creating “rules” for him to live by. She writes them down just in case he may need them some day. She has a very special relationship with her brother even though at times she is frustrated by his actions. A new neighbor moves in next door and has a daughter, Kristi, the same age as Catherine. Catherine very much wants to be good friends with Kristi and struggles with her new friendship with Jason as well. In the end Catherine stands up for herself and begins to grow up.
SETTING
The story takes place in various places: Catherine’s home, friend’s homes, the therapy center, the community center and the pond. In each of these places Catherine desperately wants her brother to be normal even though he is not.
STYLE
The author lays out the story in such a way that the book is difficult to lay down. It is very believable and anyone who has dealt with an autistic child will relate to the story immediately. Middle school students will relate to the situations in the story dealing with friends and parents. Catherine is at a time where she is trying to grow up and is in a challenging environment.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Newbery Honor Book
Schneider Family Book Award
Mitten Award
Great Lakes Great Books Award
Maine Student Book Award
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award
Kentucky Bluegrass Award
Great Stone Face Award
Buckeye Children’s Book Award
New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
KidPost Book of the Week, Washington Post
Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts
Book of the Weeks, Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Editors; Pick, HW Wilson Standard Catalog
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Positive Reviews
Children’s Literature
School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews
Publisher’s Weekly
Booklist
A student’s Review
(written by a 10 year old)
I think it was very interesting because there were many adventures in the story. I was always wanting to see what came up on the next page. It was very clear as to what the characters were feeling in the story. It was very heart-warming.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
GENRE 6 - DIARY OF A WIMPY KID
Kinney, Jeff. 2007. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: GREG HEFFLEY’S JOURNAL. Amulet Books: New York.
CHARACTERS
The main character in the story is Greg Heffley. The supporting characters are his best friend, Rowley, his brother, Rodrick, and his parents and little brother, Manny. Greg is an easy character for student’s to relate to in trying to grow up and express one’s ideas. Greg deals with situations of a tricky older brother and a little brother who always seems to be in the way. Greg kind of has an off again on again relationship with his friend, Rowley.
PLOT
Greg is your typical middle school student dealing with changes in his life due to family, school and friends. Greg has notions about how things should work in his life and most of the time they do not pan out. He thinks his ideas are the best and is dumbfounded when they do not work as planned. Greg is basically trying to survive middle school and grow up at the same time.
SETTING
The story takes place in today’s time and various from school, home and friend’s houses. Rowley’s house is interesting because of the rules of his parents and Greg tries to sneak around them constantly.
STYLE
The book seems to target middle school readers. They will relate well to Greg’s journey through the Diary. The story is written in such a way that one would really believe that someone may try some of Greg’s schemes. I think that older students or adults would not enjoy the book as much as the target audience.
AWARDS & RECOGINITIONS
Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2007
Borders Original Voices Winner
#1 New York Times Bestseller
Positive Reviews
Publisher’s Weekly
VOYA
CHARACTERS
The main character in the story is Greg Heffley. The supporting characters are his best friend, Rowley, his brother, Rodrick, and his parents and little brother, Manny. Greg is an easy character for student’s to relate to in trying to grow up and express one’s ideas. Greg deals with situations of a tricky older brother and a little brother who always seems to be in the way. Greg kind of has an off again on again relationship with his friend, Rowley.
PLOT
Greg is your typical middle school student dealing with changes in his life due to family, school and friends. Greg has notions about how things should work in his life and most of the time they do not pan out. He thinks his ideas are the best and is dumbfounded when they do not work as planned. Greg is basically trying to survive middle school and grow up at the same time.
SETTING
The story takes place in today’s time and various from school, home and friend’s houses. Rowley’s house is interesting because of the rules of his parents and Greg tries to sneak around them constantly.
STYLE
The book seems to target middle school readers. They will relate well to Greg’s journey through the Diary. The story is written in such a way that one would really believe that someone may try some of Greg’s schemes. I think that older students or adults would not enjoy the book as much as the target audience.
AWARDS & RECOGINITIONS
Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2007
Borders Original Voices Winner
#1 New York Times Bestseller
Positive Reviews
Publisher’s Weekly
VOYA
GENRE 6 - JELLICOE ROAD
Marchetta, Melina. 2006. JELLICOE ROAD. Harper Teen: New York.
CHARACTERS
The main character is Taylor Markham, a young teenage girl. There are many supporting characters in the story: Hannah – an older single woman, Jonas – a young Cadet, the Brigadier – a mysterious man, and other school age friends. The lives of the characters are intertwined but you do not find out how until well after half of the novel. Young adults will be able to relate with Taylor and her struggles with growing up.
PLOT
The story jumps back and forth between past events and present events. These are noted with a change in type style. Taylor lives in Australia at a boarding school away from large cities. She has strange dreams which do not make any sense to her and she has complicated relationships with her school mates. Her mother left her at a gas station where a Hannah finds her and takes her to the school. Hannah seems to watch over Taylor from a distance but then suddenly disappears. Taylor has a strange relationship with Jonah, a cadet, whom she met several years earlier when she tried to run off and find her mother. The plot thickens with the battle between the school mates, city kids and the cadet’s explodes. Taylor journeys through the novel discovering things from her past while coping with the present. The ending is full of surprises for everyone.
SETTING
The novel takes place in rural Australia. The town is several hours drive from Sydney, major metropolitan city. Taylor lives at a boarding school and is head of her house, which contains about fifty students. The students do go into town and also the bush, or forest area, surrounding the school.
STYLE
The novel was very challenging at the beginning with the time jumps back and forth. Taylor was a difficult character to follow until about half way through the book. Once you reached that point many of the instances in the beginning of the book began to make sense. Taylor has many different events happen in her life that young adults can relate with either for themselves or others. This novel is best suited for older young adults due to the subject matter.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Michael L. Printz Award 2009
W.A. Young Readers Book Award 2008
Cybils Award
Old Premier’s Literary Award
Australian Books Sellers & Publishers Award
Positive Reviews
VOYA
School Library Journal
Kirkus – The Best Young Adult Books of 2008
KLIATT
Horn Book Review
Who Weekly, Book of the Week
BCCB Starred Review
CHARACTERS
The main character is Taylor Markham, a young teenage girl. There are many supporting characters in the story: Hannah – an older single woman, Jonas – a young Cadet, the Brigadier – a mysterious man, and other school age friends. The lives of the characters are intertwined but you do not find out how until well after half of the novel. Young adults will be able to relate with Taylor and her struggles with growing up.
PLOT
The story jumps back and forth between past events and present events. These are noted with a change in type style. Taylor lives in Australia at a boarding school away from large cities. She has strange dreams which do not make any sense to her and she has complicated relationships with her school mates. Her mother left her at a gas station where a Hannah finds her and takes her to the school. Hannah seems to watch over Taylor from a distance but then suddenly disappears. Taylor has a strange relationship with Jonah, a cadet, whom she met several years earlier when she tried to run off and find her mother. The plot thickens with the battle between the school mates, city kids and the cadet’s explodes. Taylor journeys through the novel discovering things from her past while coping with the present. The ending is full of surprises for everyone.
SETTING
The novel takes place in rural Australia. The town is several hours drive from Sydney, major metropolitan city. Taylor lives at a boarding school and is head of her house, which contains about fifty students. The students do go into town and also the bush, or forest area, surrounding the school.
STYLE
The novel was very challenging at the beginning with the time jumps back and forth. Taylor was a difficult character to follow until about half way through the book. Once you reached that point many of the instances in the beginning of the book began to make sense. Taylor has many different events happen in her life that young adults can relate with either for themselves or others. This novel is best suited for older young adults due to the subject matter.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Michael L. Printz Award 2009
W.A. Young Readers Book Award 2008
Cybils Award
Old Premier’s Literary Award
Australian Books Sellers & Publishers Award
Positive Reviews
VOYA
School Library Journal
Kirkus – The Best Young Adult Books of 2008
KLIATT
Horn Book Review
Who Weekly, Book of the Week
BCCB Starred Review
Saturday, November 7, 2009
GENRE 5 - THE GREEN GLASS SEA
Klages, Ellen. 2006. THE GREEN GLASS SEA. Viking, Penguin Young Reader’s Group: New York.
CHARACTERS
The main character in the novel is Dewey, a young teenage girl. Her father and the other scientists as well as her classmates round out the characters in the book. The characters are very believable and the clothing mentioned fits the time period. There are a few characters mentioned that are real and were involved in the events described in the book.
PLOT
Dewey, the daughter of an intelligent mathematician, tries to find her way in life while her father is working on a top secret military project. She is not like the other children and has to wear a special shoe due to an accident when she was young. She loves to build and tinker with machines that the other children do not understand. Dewey’s life seems to be even more complicated by the way people close to her seem to always leave.
SETTING
Most of the story takes place in Los Alamos in 1943. It is a secret military installation where they are working on a nuclear device to end the war. The quarters for the civilians as well as the rest of the base are described with just the right amount of detail. Near the end of the novel you discover a clue to the title of the book.
THEME
The scientists in the book are all working to create a bomb that will end the war. However, once they are successful some of them begin to wonder what they have done and how will it affect humanity. We still struggle with that same issue of searching for a better way or more knowledge and then contemplating what to do now that they know. The children in the story have the same scraps and verbal exchanges that exist today.
STYLE
The book captures you with the text to a point where you do not want to put it down and continue reading about the characters. You feel as though you are there in the story as it unfolds. You connect with Dewey and as the story unfolds you hope there is a twist at the end for her sake. The historical events in the book interwoven with ease.
ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is an Author’s Note at the end of the book which states the characters that are real. It also has a listing of sources for more information about the setting and time period.
AWARDS & RECOGINITIONS
Publisher’s Weekly
School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews
VOYA
Children’s Literature
Horned Book Magazine – Starred Review
Scott O’Dell Award – 2007
New Mexico Book Award – 2007
Judy Lopez Award – 2007
CHARACTERS
The main character in the novel is Dewey, a young teenage girl. Her father and the other scientists as well as her classmates round out the characters in the book. The characters are very believable and the clothing mentioned fits the time period. There are a few characters mentioned that are real and were involved in the events described in the book.
PLOT
Dewey, the daughter of an intelligent mathematician, tries to find her way in life while her father is working on a top secret military project. She is not like the other children and has to wear a special shoe due to an accident when she was young. She loves to build and tinker with machines that the other children do not understand. Dewey’s life seems to be even more complicated by the way people close to her seem to always leave.
SETTING
Most of the story takes place in Los Alamos in 1943. It is a secret military installation where they are working on a nuclear device to end the war. The quarters for the civilians as well as the rest of the base are described with just the right amount of detail. Near the end of the novel you discover a clue to the title of the book.
THEME
The scientists in the book are all working to create a bomb that will end the war. However, once they are successful some of them begin to wonder what they have done and how will it affect humanity. We still struggle with that same issue of searching for a better way or more knowledge and then contemplating what to do now that they know. The children in the story have the same scraps and verbal exchanges that exist today.
STYLE
The book captures you with the text to a point where you do not want to put it down and continue reading about the characters. You feel as though you are there in the story as it unfolds. You connect with Dewey and as the story unfolds you hope there is a twist at the end for her sake. The historical events in the book interwoven with ease.
ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is an Author’s Note at the end of the book which states the characters that are real. It also has a listing of sources for more information about the setting and time period.
AWARDS & RECOGINITIONS
Publisher’s Weekly
School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews
VOYA
Children’s Literature
Horned Book Magazine – Starred Review
Scott O’Dell Award – 2007
New Mexico Book Award – 2007
Judy Lopez Award – 2007
GENRE 5 - THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE
Cushman, Karen. 1996. THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE. Clarion Books: New York.
CHARACTERS
The main character is California Whipple, aka Lucy, along with her family and the gold miners in Lucky Diggins. They are very believable and are true to their time period as far as clothing, verbiage and actions.
PLOT
The story is about Lucy and her family and their trek from New England to California and the gold rush. The main body of the story takes place in Lucky Diggings, a gold mining town that is all tents when they arrive and when they leave California. It surrounds Lucy and her struggle to find her place in the world.
SETTING
The setting changes from New England through the journey to California and finally settling in Lucky Diggins. The story takes place during the gold rush in California. The weather, living conditions, clothing, food situation and terrain are all vividly described.
THEME
The story encompasses the struggle to settle the West without all of the conviences of the East. No running water and many times having to wait on supplies brought on difficult living conditions. It reflects our time since we still have those adventuring people who go off to live in areas that are not yet graced with civilization.
STYLE
The author captures the mannerisms and speech of the time period. There are many nights where they tell stories around the table and then they may even pull out a fiddle and have some dancing. The way the story is written it grabs you and pulls you into the time period. It is difficult to put down.
ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is an Author’s note at the end of the book with more historical detail of the gold rush in California. There is also a cited listing of reference books the author used in the writing of the book.
AWARDS & CITATIONS
Positive Reviews
Children’s Literature
Publisher’s Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
Booklist – Editor’s Choice
School Library Journal – Best Books of the Year
Booklinks Lasting Connections Selection
Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts
IRA Teachers’ Choice
American Bookseller “Pick of the Lists”
Texas Lone Star Reading List Selection
John and Patricia Beatty AwardABC Children’s Booksellers Choice Award
CHARACTERS
The main character is California Whipple, aka Lucy, along with her family and the gold miners in Lucky Diggins. They are very believable and are true to their time period as far as clothing, verbiage and actions.
PLOT
The story is about Lucy and her family and their trek from New England to California and the gold rush. The main body of the story takes place in Lucky Diggings, a gold mining town that is all tents when they arrive and when they leave California. It surrounds Lucy and her struggle to find her place in the world.
SETTING
The setting changes from New England through the journey to California and finally settling in Lucky Diggins. The story takes place during the gold rush in California. The weather, living conditions, clothing, food situation and terrain are all vividly described.
THEME
The story encompasses the struggle to settle the West without all of the conviences of the East. No running water and many times having to wait on supplies brought on difficult living conditions. It reflects our time since we still have those adventuring people who go off to live in areas that are not yet graced with civilization.
STYLE
The author captures the mannerisms and speech of the time period. There are many nights where they tell stories around the table and then they may even pull out a fiddle and have some dancing. The way the story is written it grabs you and pulls you into the time period. It is difficult to put down.
ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is an Author’s note at the end of the book with more historical detail of the gold rush in California. There is also a cited listing of reference books the author used in the writing of the book.
AWARDS & CITATIONS
Positive Reviews
Children’s Literature
Publisher’s Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
Booklist – Editor’s Choice
School Library Journal – Best Books of the Year
Booklinks Lasting Connections Selection
Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts
IRA Teachers’ Choice
American Bookseller “Pick of the Lists”
Texas Lone Star Reading List Selection
John and Patricia Beatty AwardABC Children’s Booksellers Choice Award
GENRE 5 - NIGHTJOHN
Paulsen, Gary. 1993. NIGHTJOHN. Delacorte Press: New York.
CHARACTERS
The characters in the story vary from a young child to adults. The main characters are a young girl, Sarney, and a man, John. They are very believable in their mannerisms, actions and voice for the time period. They are so real that the reader may experience a roller coaster of emotions as they progress through the book.
PLOT
The story is about slavery in the Southern part of the United States. John wants to teach the slaves to read and write because he believes that is the only way for the black person to break free of slavery. He says that the black people need to be educated to make decisions. Of course, at this point in history the slave masters do not want the slaves to be educated.
SETTING
The setting is a southern plantation in the United States. The main house, slave quarters, and breeding shack are described. The spring house is described as well as the chains that held the slaves for their whippings.
THEME
The topic of slavery is one that evokes various emotions in the reader depending on their background. The description of the treatment of the slaves and how they lived during this time is gut wrenching. It is a good reminder that we need to know history so it does not repeat itself.
STYLE
The story flows well as you read through the characters lives. The author captures the broken speech of the slaves as well as the owner’s words dripping with malice. The story brings forth many questions as to how slavery could have existed in the United States.
ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is no documentation as far as cited material. The only note is before the story begins,” Except for variations in time and character identification and placement, the events written in this story are true and actually happened.”.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Positive Reviews
Publisher’s Weekly - Starred
Children’s Literature
School Library Journal – Starred
The Horn Book – Starred
ALA Best book for Young Adults
ALA Notable Children’s Book
IRA-CBC Children’s Choice
American Bookseller Pick of the Lists
CHARACTERS
The characters in the story vary from a young child to adults. The main characters are a young girl, Sarney, and a man, John. They are very believable in their mannerisms, actions and voice for the time period. They are so real that the reader may experience a roller coaster of emotions as they progress through the book.
PLOT
The story is about slavery in the Southern part of the United States. John wants to teach the slaves to read and write because he believes that is the only way for the black person to break free of slavery. He says that the black people need to be educated to make decisions. Of course, at this point in history the slave masters do not want the slaves to be educated.
SETTING
The setting is a southern plantation in the United States. The main house, slave quarters, and breeding shack are described. The spring house is described as well as the chains that held the slaves for their whippings.
THEME
The topic of slavery is one that evokes various emotions in the reader depending on their background. The description of the treatment of the slaves and how they lived during this time is gut wrenching. It is a good reminder that we need to know history so it does not repeat itself.
STYLE
The story flows well as you read through the characters lives. The author captures the broken speech of the slaves as well as the owner’s words dripping with malice. The story brings forth many questions as to how slavery could have existed in the United States.
ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is no documentation as far as cited material. The only note is before the story begins,” Except for variations in time and character identification and placement, the events written in this story are true and actually happened.”.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Positive Reviews
Publisher’s Weekly - Starred
Children’s Literature
School Library Journal – Starred
The Horn Book – Starred
ALA Best book for Young Adults
ALA Notable Children’s Book
IRA-CBC Children’s Choice
American Bookseller Pick of the Lists
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