By Valle Blair
Pre K-1st
I’M NUMBER ONE
by MICHAEL ROSEN (Candlewick, 2009)
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“I’m A-One,” said A-One, the drummer toy. “I’m Big A-One.” Well! A-One is number one, A-One makes all the rules, A-One is in charge and everyone does what A-One says. But A-One is not very nice and makes fun of everyone else. He calls them ‘no good’, and ‘so bad’ and ‘the worst’. He calls them maddy, and silly and saddy. But the other toys start playing with the words his uses and makes up silly rhymes with them. A-One tries not to smile but eventually breaks down and becomes ‘one of the gang’.
2ND – 4TH
BARBARIANS!
by STEVEN KROLL (Dutton, 2009)
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Do you like swords? Do you like shields? Do you like guys in fur clothes running and screaming? Then you’ll love this book about Barbarians!! Learn about the Goths, the Huns, the Vikings and the Mongols and why the Romans called them barbarians. Learn about how they lived, their beliefs and laws, their history, their religion, how they fought, and what happened to them in the end. Wonderfully detailed color drawings and maps make this a delightful book to browse or study.
Article Photos
HIGH SCHOOL
AFTER
by AMY EFAW (Viking Press, 2009)
MIDDLE SCHOOL
THE GIRL WHO THREW BUTTERFLIES
by MICK COCHRANE (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)
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Molly’s dad is killed in a mysterious car accident. Her mom is not doing too well, withdrawing into herself, ordering takeout instead of cooking. Molly does not want to be known at school as the kid who has all the problems to overcome. So she decides to join the baseball team – the boys’ baseball team. She and her father had shared a love of baseball and he taught her to throw a knuckleball – called a butterfly because it flits all over the path to the plate – very unpredictable. Will it impress the coach and team enough to be allowed to play? It proves to be a season of changes for Molly in relationships and what she loves – her mother, her best friend, her catcher (every knuckleball pitcher has only one catcher), and even her father.
HIGH SCHOOL
AFTER
by AMY EFAW (Viking Press, 2009)
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“That can’t happen to me” is the sound of denial coming from straight-A student athlete Devon who betrays her own vow to remain a virgin when she is swept away by the feelings created when she was drawn to the handsome young college student who seemed to connect to her very being. Not only did she try to erase the memory of her one and only sexual encounter, but she never “recognized” that she had actually conceived even during the 9 months while she carried her baby to term. She was “shocked” when she delivered her new born on the bathroom floor. She was in a daze. She lost a great quantity of blood and nearly died had she not been discovered in time and rushed to the hospital. This is the setting of a story of a young girl who finds herself in Juvenile Detention awaiting trial for attempted murder. The story unfolds in back flashes of memory as she tries to make sense of what happened to her. It is a very realistic glimpse of the juvenile penal system and a wake-up call to any teens who engage in sexual activity without consideration of the consequences of their actions.—Yes, It can happen.