Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Look, I know it's going to take you a bit to get into this book, but the pay-off is worth it.  This story of the friendship of Queenie and Maddie have in the midst of the terrible tragedies of World War II is a mighty one.  Please know that once you get to the second half of the book, the part told by Maddie, you will be reading intensely trying to figure out what is going to happen.  The story of these best friends, pilot and this spy, working undauntedly on behalf of the French Resistance is terrifying, beautiful, and stunning.  You won't believe your eyes as you read.

The episodes of war are both frightening (like when the German Luftwaffe is hovering above the girls as they try to escape the shooting or the accounts of Nazi torture) and intriguing (like all the plotting, planning, and promising the Resistance efforts require).  And the narratives are written like a puzzle.  You are certain you can trust the narrators, but you realize you aren't the only audience reading the pages.  But, BUT!, the very best part of this novel is the friendship the girls share.  It crosses class divisions and personal inclinations; it is as strong as any family tie.  They offer each other places to escape and chances to show great strength.  The share fears (literally, they each list 10) and moments of true joy (bike rides and plane rides).  Their friendship is uncommon.

As I try to describe this book that I just completed, I can't believe I'm really trying to describe it.  It's indescribable.  It's a puzzle and a simple story of friendship.  It is a slog and twisty suspenseful roller-coaster.  The narrators are trust-worthy and complete liars.  The girls are a spy and a pilot, a female spy and a female pilot, no less. The book and it's contradictions punched me in the gut- in a way only the best, best, best stories can.  I cannot stop thinking about the experience I had reading this book.  Book love, people.  Book love.  Get your hands on this challenge book when you can.  Stick with it's outcome, and enjoy.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Novels in verse, like this one, are like many, many little and beautiful stories that add up to one giant wonderful story.  This one, Jacqueline Woodson's newest release, is so powerful I had to read many parts of it out-loud to the Kujawski boys. And very often when I did, the tallest one, Barney, recognized the sweetness of the story too.

Non-fiction, historical non-fiction, memoir, novel in verse...so many aspects of this book.  The writers in every kid would benefit from reading this book.  Teachers in every LA/R classroom will benefit from sharing pieces of this book with their students.  This book is so simple and so powerful. Jacqueline Woodson is brilliant.

Born in 1963 and raised by all the important people in her life (mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather) in Ohio, in the South, and in Brooklyn, Ms. Woodson tells us the tales of her adventures.  She shares secrets about her questions and her insecurities, and she shares her confidence in friendship, family, and faith. There are lines from old music, poems quoted and copied, favorite games and pop culture divulged- it's a book that is as playful as it is powerful.

I want kids of color to get their hands on this book.  But I need kids not of color to get their hands on this book too. It's just that #weneeddiversebooks for so many reasons.  For empathy, for knowledge, for sharing of the struggles.

Yet, still, we could simply read beyond the brown in this story of a little girl dreaming, and we'd have a marvelous story of a writer-in-bloom.  Kids who grow-up dreaming of becoming writers and story-tellers need to get their hands on this book.



This is one of those books I'm so thankful exists.  It makes this world one in which I'm capable of raising kids.  Because they are all ours, all of them.

SAMS kids and families, you are welcome to my copy!  Any time.  You'll find it either in my office or Ms. Mohr's classroom.

-absk

THERE WILL BE BEARS by Ryan Gebhart

At least 13 year-old Tyson still has his grandfather and their upcoming hunting adventure.  That's what our protagonist thinks as his closest friend ditches him for football and the popular kids at school.  He's feeling left out and alone, but at least Tyson has the elk-hunting trip in the Grand Tetons to look forward to.  Until his parents move his ailing grandfather to a nursing home three hours away. Now what? Tyson wonders.  Will he survive all of his bad luck?  How serious is his grandfather's health problem?

Even though Tyson is a typical silly and hormonal 13 year-old, readers follow along as he struggles with complex-relationships,  real-life struggles, and questions about life and death.  The plot really heats up when Tyson and Gramps decide to sneak out on their own and go hunting with or without everyone else's permission.  On the trip, Tyson must face more than just his fear of bears, and he learns there is more to Gramps than he had ever known.  More importantly, Tyson learns there is much more to him than anyone, including himself, has ever seen.

Part-survival story, part realistic-fiction,  THERE WILL BE BEARS is a great choice for regular kids in middle school looking for adventure and fun. The lessons Tyson learns are ones that will apply to every kid and grown-up who picks up this book.

We Were the Liars by e. lockhart

I love a tale that spins out of a tiny slice of a life I could never imagine.  Set on an island in Martha's Vineyard, an island the Sinclair family owns, We Were the Liars, is such a story. It is told by one of the strong-chinned, blond, well-educated Sinclair grandchildren, Cadence.  She seems smart, witty, and trust-worthy at first, as if she is letting us in on the grandeur of the Sinclair family.  They are a family of money, manners, traditions, servants and cooks, and secrets.  They don't speak of the money they have, nor do they speak of the addictions, divorces, or other messy parts of their lives. Cadence's cousins, Johnny and Mirren, are close to her age, and they represent the generation that starts to question the rules of the game the family has played for so long.  The group of teenagers call themselves the Liars, setting up readers with curious questions about what their self-title might really mean.

Cadence falls in love with the boy who begins to visit to the island each summer as a friend of the family.  The boy is dark-skinned, smart, and principled; his name is Gat Patil.  Cadence and Gat steal moments and memories falling in love while scrambling for other moments of freedom and independence with the cousins, the other Liars.  As the drinking, intolerance, hatred, and fear sneak in like fog swirling around the Sinclair family, readers are left with a narrator, Cadence, who is back on the island after missing a summer, and there is a mysterious secret around her absence. Cadence tells the readers of her amnesia, leaving us to wonder what terrible tragedy she survived.  Since she seems to be revealing secrets of her family's darker-side, we never question the soap-opera-y presence of her amnesia...we fear the worst for her.  And when the cloak of secrecy is unveiled, it is shocking and twisting and wonderful story-telling at it's best.

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

I will be the first to tell you that I love love.  It is warm, feel-good joy, and there are few people who do love more intensely than teenagers.  Uffda, first love, high school love, breaking-up because of college love...it's all dramatic, huge-pay-off, bigger heartbreak kinds of love.  I remember it, and I see it in the halls of SAMS and SAVHS.  But I've rarely seen it written about so genuinely and painfully and enchantedly as in this book, Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stapehanie Perkins.

Readers will fall in love with Josh, the handsome and independent comic book artist that Isla has been crushing on since freshman year.  Readers will fall in love with New York City and Paris and Barcelona- the three back-drops of this romance story.  Readers will cringe when Isla and Josh steer more toward insecurity and away from love.  Readers will swallow this fun ride in a sitting or two.  It's a love story, no doubt. So be warned- it's ooey and gooey, but lovely.  Fans of Sarah Dessen and e. lockhart will swoon over this read.  This isn't a series book, however, Ms. Perkins wrote two other books and the main characters of those books stumble into Isla and Josh's story.  So, for the rules-following types of you out there, you might want to start with Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy. Be warned, though!  It's not for the cynical or the unbelieving. 

Feel the love and find the love here in my latest book blog title: Isla and the Happily Ever After.  Read all about it's author here.

Keep reading, all.

War of the Whales by Joshua Horwitz

What you would do if you came across a 5,000 pound whale stranded on the beach?  How would you go about saving the big guy?  You'd need to find a marine biologist like Ken Balcomb to help you out. Mr. Balcomb is one of the protagonists of a new book- War of the Whales. It is a non-fiction tale about a mass stranding of whales in the Bahamas in 2000 that sparked a complicated, lengthy, and sensitive battle between researchers and conservationists and the United States Navy and ended up in the United States Supreme Court.

Scientist Balcomb partners up with conservation lawyer Joel Reynolds to uncover what role the U.S. Navy played in the tragic event that killed many whales. The whales were driven out of their underwater habitats by high-intensity sounds coming from a submarine surveillance system the Navy was testing out.  Readers learn how difficult and demanding it can be to be champions of marine wildlife, and they discover the great lengths the U.S. Navy goes to while keeping our national defense  in top shape.

The book is definitely a challenge book for middle-schoolers, but the right readers will rejoice in all details of marine wildlife biology, U.S. Navy tactics, and legal trials of our country's justice system.

In full disclosure, it was even a challenge book for me.  The Tall Guy had to help me get through some parts.  But the story will stick with me.  I'm struck by the tension we must face between taking care of ourselves and taking care of our planet.  We are all one, and what we do to each other (even the whales), we do onto ourselves...War of the Whales is a great reminder of this ever-present struggle.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Part paranormal romance, part mystery yet also part realistic fiction. I think SAMS 8th graders (and mature 7th graders) will really enjoy trying to put the pieces of Mara's life together along with Maya as she tries to do the same.  She's a regular girl who struggles to get along with her mom, resents her "perfect" older brother, and is terribly shook after an accident kills her best friends and other kids.  A move to Miami and a fancy private, prep high school is supposed to help her leave her demons behind.  But what secrets isn't Maya remembering?  Could they have anything to do with the present? Can handsome, loyal, fierce Noah help her make sense of it all?

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

Part-mystery, part-coming-of-age realistic fiction book, and all intrigue. Georges, grade 7, would like to move back into his old house.  And not just because of the cool fire-escape bed he had in his bedroom- but also because his mom wouldn't have to work doubles back and his dad would still have a job.  

Georges' new apartment is full of quirky neighbors, especially siblings Candy, Safer, and Pigeon.  All three are siblings of an eclectic family whom he meets after his dad signs him up to be in the building's Spy Club. His friendship with Safer revolves around espionage, solving mysteries and dealing with Candy, Safer's omni-present younger sister.

School is barely tolerable for Georges even with a teacher who celebrates every Friday with him and a interesting, quiet and noble friend who goes by Bob English Who Draws.  Jerky, bullying kids taunt him by calling him "Gorgeous" and bug him about the upcoming science lab, his volleyball skills, and other mundane middle school matters.  Until Bob English Who Draws and Georges form a coalition...

Readers will find themselves rooting for Georges and his family, inquisitively wondering about Safer and his siblings, and searching for the meaning of the title of the book.  Readers will also likely find themselves content in the end and happy to have known Georges and his crew.

P.S. For any grown-ups and/or parents: the Scrabble tile messages between Georges and his mom are lovely. One of my favorite parts of the book. So sweet.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Kids will love the humor in this book.  Some will love the man-eating grasshoppers and the grasshopper-violence.  Others will love the complicated friendships and relationships.  This book seems like one of the bravest books I've read in a while. The end of the world is coming because of man-eating grasshoppers and the protagonist, Austin, and his best friend, Robbie, are responsible. Austin is as confused about what he is feeling in his heart as he is certain about it. The small-town setting is familiar even to those of us who have never lived in a small town. It's a coming-of-age tale complete with an army of grasshoppers meaner than the bullies, all sorts of sexual urges,  true friendship, and a search for what really matters in life.

Here's what the NY Times said about it...
Here's what The Onion's A.V. Club thought about it...
Here's what Common Sense media said about it...

It's definitely a book for Gr 8 or high school (lots of f-bombs and erections), and it is a book that stands up to classic YA literature: Catcher in the Rye and Slaughterhouse 5, for example.  I'm so thankful there are books like Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smtih in this world.  My boys, my students, all teenagers need books this funny, complicated, and honest.