On The Clipboard

The kids around school have been reading up a storm lately!  I don't know what it is, the the amount of fiction that I have been shelving lately, is epic!  Here are some of the titles that I have been shelving over, and over, and over again!

Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan

The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman

A Month of Sundays, by Ruth White

Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool

We'll Always Have Summer, by Jenny Han











Every now and again I have to pinch myself.  I work in a school where there is an amazing reading culture.  Readers advisory is seen as a skill, and our kids pick up on it and book talk back to us all of the time.  I can't wait to hear about what they read over the summer!

Summer of the Gypsy Moths, by Sara Pennypacker

Stella is spending the summer living with her Great Aunt Louise on the Cape.  She is going to help Louise tend to the summer cottages adjacent to her little house.  Louise isn't a big one on emotion, and Stella is surprised when after talking to Louise about her mother and blueberries, Louise wraps her in a hug.  This pleases Stella, because she loves the idea of ties between people.  Since her own mother isn't exactly dependable, Stella likes the even nature of Louise and her clean house and tidy garden.  She even is trying to find a way to get along with foster kid Angel, who Louise took in thinking could keep Stella company. The two girls couldn't be more different, and Stella can't imagine why Louise thought having two girls was a good idea.

The thing is, Louise is older and she's not well.  Angel and Stella make a gruesome discovery when they come home from school one day, and they have some heavy choices to make.  Can they make a go of the summer on their own?  Should Angel run?  What will happen if folks find out they are living without any adult supervision?  And what are they going to tell George - the local who is supposed to help Louise take care of the rentals?  Most importantly, what are they going to do with Louise?

The girls decide to make a go of it, and have to figure out a way to get along.  Their differences turn out to be a good thing as Stella could use some fire and Angel could use some forethought.  Readers see the girls deal with bills, finding food, lying about Louise's whereabouts, and dealing with their own guilt.  All of this is wrapped up in Sara Pennypacker's rich prose, describing the Cape, the cottages, the beach, as well as the interconnected nature of life.  "I like to imagine the ties between us as strands of spider silk: practically invisible, maybe, but strong as steel.  I figure the trick is to spin out enough of them to weave ourselves into a net." (p.1)

Readers will be left wondering what they would do if they were ever in Stella and Angel's  predicament.   Honestly at first, I was wondering who I would give this book to.  It's clearly not for the same audience as Clementine.  There are heady issues in Summer of the Gypsy Moths, and at times the bigger ideas are a little scary.  Ultimately, however, this is a story of friendship, survival and hope, and thoughtful tweens will be ready for the serious nature of Stella and Angel's situation.

On the Clipboard

Here are some of the titles that our tweens have been checking out lately.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Selznick

The False Princess, by O'Neal

Science Fair, by Barry and Pearson

The Prophet of Yonwood, by DuPrau

The Adventures of Tintin, by Herge











What are your tweens reading these days?

Press Release - Jacqueline Woodson

Here at Tweendom, we don't often take part in press releases, however, this is Jackie Woodson.  She is appearing at the 92nd Street Y, and if you are in the area this weekend, you should check this out.

-Our friends at 92Y’s Children’s Reading Series are offering free tickets to Jacqueline Woodson’s appearance this Saturday afternoon. To claim yours, write to them at Unterberg@92y.org by Friday, April 20.

Jacqueline Woodson’s award-winning books include Miracle’s Boys, Locomotion, If You Come Softly and After Tupac and D Foster. She “writes with a sure understanding of the thoughts of young people, offering a poetic, eloquent narrative that is not simply a story of nearly adolescent children, but a mature exploration of grown-up issues,” said The New York Times. Visit her website: jacquelinewoodson.com

Targeted toward 8-12 year-olds (and kids of all ages!), 92Y’s Children’s Reading Series meets on Saturday afternoons and features classic and contemporary literature read by authors and actors. In the last few years, the series has hosted Judy Blume, Brian Selznick, Jim Dale, Kate DiCamillo, Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, Natalie Babbitt and Jon Scieszka—and special events on the stories of E.B. White and Oscar Wilde, as well as a 50^th anniversary event on The Phantom Tollbooth (with Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer), a 45^th anniversary event on A Wrinkle In Time (with Madeleine L’Engle’s grand-daughters) and an 80^th-birthday celebration of Maurice Sendak.

On the Clipboard

The check outs have remained fast and furious these last few weeks.  Here are some titles that our tweens have been checking out!

Newsgirl, by Liza Ketchum

Dumpling Days, by Grace Lin

Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages

Pie, by Sarah Weeks











What have your tweens been reading lately?

The Secret Tree, by Natalie Standiford

The town of Cantonsville has it's fair share of weirdness going on.  Not only are there rumors of the Man-Bat, but there's the witch lady on the other side of the woods, the legend of Crazy Ike, and one day when Minty and Paz are hanging out, Minty sees a creature in the woods followed by a flash!  Minty crashes through the woods trying to find it.  She loses the creature but finds a strange tree.  It seems to be murmuring and when Minty reaches in the big hole in its trunk she finds a note that she quickly stuffs in her pocket to examine later.

Minty and Paz are best friends with some pretty big roller derby dreams.  Minty, aka Minty Fresh, and Paz, aka Pax A. Punch, have been practicing their moves since they were 8 years old and saw the local team The Catonsville Nine in action.  Paz, however, seems to be distancing herself from Minty in favor of things that are decidedly not roller derby:  things like hanging out at the pool with Isabelle, and wearing glittery nail polish and barrettes.  Minty's summer is definitely not going how she planned.

When Minty is walking down her street she sees that mysterious flash again and takes chase.  This time she ends up at a model home next to the witch's house on the other side of the woods where she finds a boy.   His name is Raymond and he apparently lives there.  Like Minty, he knows about the secret filled tree, and like Minty he is in need of a friend.  Soon the two are skulking around town, finding secrets by good old spying.  But some secrets cannot be stuffed in a tree and forgotten.  Some secrets bubble up and create a big mess before they can be made better.

Standiford has written an ideal summer read for the middle grade set.  Perfectly paced and tightly written, The Secret Tree is filled with mystery, family, friendship, and long summer hours.  Readers are bound to start looking at people and trees through new eyes. 

Highly recommended.

Remarkable, by Lizze K. Foley

Remarkable is a town that is filled with remarkable people and remarkable things.  Everyone is pretty much the best at what they do, and special talents abound.  As the front cover reads, "Welcome to the town of Remarkable where every day in this remarkable place filled with remarkable people is positively remarkable for absolutely everyone except Jane".

Poor Jane.  Born to remarkable parents and wedged in between a remarkable older brother (Anderson Brigby Bright Doe III - excellent painter in the style of photo-realism) and a remarkable younger sister (Penelope Hope Adelaide Catalina -- a remarkable mathematician) Jane is an average kid.  She is used to being overlooked and underestimated, and she takes this in stride.  Only her Grandfather Jonathan is less remarkable than she.

Jane is spending her lonely days as the only student at the public school (the rest of the children go to the Gifted school) when a couple of events start some big changes in motion.  First off, there are the Grimlet twins.  They are a nefarious brother/sister duo who are always up to no good.  They adore loud noises and chaos, and always have a plan in the works.  They have been trying their darnedest to land themselves in public school, and their latest prank proved just the thing.

Next is the arrival of the pirates.  First came Captain Archibald Rojo Herring, who seems rather obsessed with the new bell tower that is being constructed as a part of the post office to keep it from being so ordinary.  Following the Captain,  stinky Jeb, Ebb and Flotsom land in Remarkable making the pirate population quite unacceptable.

What follows is an adventure exploring the idea that things aren't always what they seem.  With a missing composer, unrequited love, a lake serpent, a public school teacher with a secret identity, and plenty of shenanigans, readers will have a rip roaring time figuring out what makes Remarkable tick.  Over-the-top characters will have you laughing out loud, and readers are sure to cheer for Jane and those Grimlets in equal measure.  Fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society as well as Lemony Snicket should approve.