The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Dave Mckean
Year: 2008
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 320
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2009 Newbery Medal, 2009 ALA Notable Books for Children, 2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2008 Horn Book Fanfare Award

Genre: Gothic fantasy
Location: A forgotten graveyard in Britain
Time Period: Present Day (2008)

Plot: When a baby boy hides in a graveyard while a man named Jack murders the rest of his family, the inhabitants of the graveyard agree to adopt him. They name him Nobody (Bod) Owens, and bestow on him the power of the graveyard, which allows him to fade from sight, walk through walls, and see in the dark. Bod spends the next fourteen years in the graveyard. He makes friends with the inhabitants, learns to read by deciphering gravestones, and learns English history from people who lived it. While Bod wants to learn all he can about the world, his not-quite-dead and not-quite-living guardian, Silas, warns him that the man Jack is still out there, searching for him. SPOILER! When Jack discovers where Bod is, he and his band, the Jacks of All Trades, infiltrate the graveyard. It will take all that Bod has learned and the help of all of his friends in the graveyard to defeat this mighty foe. However, when this is done Bod no longer needs the protection of the graveyard, and he is allowed to leave the graveyard and seek his fortune in the world.

Comments: I did something I don't normally do when I read—instead of actually reading the book, I listened to the book on CD, which is narrated by the author. Gaiman is a great storyteller, and it was fun to hear the story come to life in his telling of it. He gave different inflections to most of the characters in the book, sounding young and youthful whenever Bod spoke, ghostly and ethereal when a character from the graveyard spoke, and deep and harsh whenever the man Jack spoke. My favorite voice, however, what the Scottish accent Gaiman used whenever Bod's only living friend, Scarlet, was on the scene.

The story itself is interesting, and it grabs your attention from the very first sentence: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." Although the wording and the setting are both dark and tense, Gaiman keeps this book light, allowing the reader to experience Bod's wonder and pleasure in the world around him. The book follows Bod's adventures as he grows up, and for awhile I wondered if the tense scene at the beginning with the man Jack would ever be referred to again. The time Gaiman takes in telling the story pays off, however, when Bod uses the knowledge he gained from almost every chapter before when the man Jack finally makes another appearance.

It's the small touches Gaiman adds to this book that really make it great. With every new character introduced, the epitaph on their gravestone is read. Bod is a precocious main character, and he learns life lessons that even adults will find interesting and applicable. Even though Bod is in a situation that would never really happen, it seems completely natural that a boy in this situation wouldn't find death scary or frightening at all, which makes the book more believable. Oddly enough, despite all that happens in this book, the scenario I had the most trouble accepting was that fact that Bod was allowed to leave the graveyard and seek his fortune at the young age of 15. This is a fact that will be appealing to younger readers, however, and it's not a hinderance to the story.

I really enjoyed this book. My only regret from having listened to the book instead of reading it is that I missed Mckean's dark, jagged drawings, a few of which I have seen and which I think would add just as much character and life as Gaiman's inflections added. I'll just have to read the book again, won't I?

Themes: Murder, Family, Definition of Home, Seeking one's Fortune, Destiny, Standing up for what you believe in.

Red Flags: Bod deals with bullies, Silas gets run over by a car (but that's okay, because he's not alive), the book contains (good) werewolves, goblins, ghouls, murderers, and other creepy things that go bump in the night.

These Happy Golden Years

Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Year: 1943
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 288
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 1944 Newbery Honor

Genre: Historical Fiction/Western
Series Information: Eighth book in the Little House series
Location: De Smet, North Dakota
Time Period: Mid 1880's

Plot: Laura is growing up, and she is experiencing many firsts. She now has the opportunity to help earn money to send her older sister Mary to a school for the blind. Even though she's only fifteen, and hasn't officially graduated, she passes a teacher's exam, and takes a teaching job. The job is far away from home, and Laura is lonely until Almanzo Wilder is willing to make the long journey through the snow to let her come home for the weekend. In the summer, Laura helps Almanzo break horses by going on Sunday buggy rides with him. SPOILER! When Almanzo proposes, Laura embraces the chance to go on the biggest first of them all, and the two get married.

Comments: I grew up loving these books, as you may be able to tell, so when I picked up and skimmed through a non-fiction book about Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, I suddenly felt the compulsion to re-read a few of the stories again. I skimmed through The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie, but I just had to read this one all the way through.

As I read the books, I came to realize that perhaps the reason why these books are so popular is that even though Laura led a life completely different from my own, I could still relate to her. Her characters are believable, and I could see my family in hers. Laura also makes learning about an earlier time interesting.

One thing I wasn't expecting was to feel sorry for Nellie Oleson. I don't remember feeling sorry for Nellie when I was younger, but her story is such a pathetic one that I couldn't help feeling sorry for her now.

Themes: Growing Up, Prairie Life, School Teachers

Red Flags: Weather-related danger, including the stories of a boy being killed by a tornado and Laura and Almanzo almost freezing to death.

Kira-Kira

Author: Cynthia Kadohata
Year: 2004
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Pages: 244
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2005 Newbery Medal

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Location: Chesterfield, Georgia
Time Period: 1950s or 1960s

Plot: Five year-old Katie is upset when she discovers that she and her Japanese-American family are moving from their home in a Japanese community in Iowa to a small, grungy apartment in Georgia. Her family is a close-knit one, however, so they weather the storms together. Katie's parents work long hours at a chicken processing plant in an attempt to make ends meet, so Katie and her younger brother Sammy must look to their older sister Lynn for care and guidance. When Lynn falls ill, Katie must take up her sister's role as psychological head of the family in order to keep the family together. SPOILER! When Lynn dies, the family almost falls apart. Katie, her brother Sammy, and her parents must each realize that Lynn would want them to move on in life and enjoy the beauties of the world instead of mourning.

Comments: I think I would have been very depressed if this was an adult novel instead of a story written for older children. Katie's family goes through a lot, and I kept thinking to myself, "what else is going to happen to this family?!" As it is, Kadohata glosses over some of the more depressing aspects of the story, and tries to focus on the one good thing this family has: each other. The family's unity was actually one of the most relatable parts of the book for me, and one of the parts I could appreciate the most. This isn't a story about the trials this family goes through, instead it's a story about how they stick together through it all.

I have one small complaint about this novel: Glossing over some important issues may make this book more appropriate for children, but it also made it harder to follow in some instances. The best example of this I have is that I know time was passing in the novel, but I wasn't sure how fast. I spent much of the book thinking that Katie was a little older than five, when she was actually around ten. This was especially confusing when Katie was talking about making dinner for the family and taking care of both Lynn and Sammy. I guess this vagueness gives a more accurate view of how children are presented with the world when their parents are trying to protect them from something, but it was still frustrating.

Themes: Cancer, Unions, Racism, Death, Unfair Working Conditions, Mourning, Illness, Family Unity, Sisters

Red Flags: Death, Sammy's leg gets caught in a bear trap, Katie's father crashes a windshield

Multicultural Elements: Japanese-Americans

Criss Cross

Author/Illustrator: Lynne Rae Perkins
Year: 2005
Publisher: Greenwillow/Harper Trophy
Pages: 337
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2006 Newbery Medal

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Coming of Age
Series Information: Sequel to All Alone in the Universe
Location: Seldem, a small town somewhere in America
Time Period: 1970s?

Plot: At the beginning of her summer vacation, Debbie wishes for something good to happen. At the same time, Hector is learning to pursue the goals and ambitions in his life. As the summer progresses, Debbie helps an old arthritic woman and discovers what love might be. Hector learns to express himself through music. Hector and Debbie's friends also go through experiences, and together they get closer to discovering their true selves and their place in the world.

Comments: I had a hard time defining what the purpose of this novel was. There isn't a solid plot that ever gets resolved. In fact, the premise of the novel (and the title) is that we're all just wandering around, trying to find ourselves.

The lack of solid plot wasn't as annoying to me as it usually is because Perkins' writing style is a lot of fun and explores different ways of communicating ideas. There's a chapter written from the perspectives of two different people, written in columns placed side by side. Another chapter is written in haiku. Sometimes pictures are used to explain parts of the text. My favorite chapter had Debbie following instructions written by someone whose first language was not English. For example, "Easy Basin Wrench . . . is favored with the patronages of common sense and wisdom." If only I was blessed with those patronages!

All in all, I liked the book, I liked the writing style, and I liked the characters, I'm just still confused as to what the point of it was.

Themes: Coming of Age, Relationships, Discovering your place in the world

Red Flags: A woman has a heart attack

Number the Stars

Author: Lois Lowry
Year: 1989
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Pages: 137
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 1990 Newbery Medal

Genre: Historical Fiction (World War II/Holocaust)
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Time Period: World War II (1940s)

Plot: During World War II, when the Germans threaten to arrest all of the Jews in Denmark, Annemarie's Jewish friend, Ellen, and Ellen's family are suddenly in trouble. Annemarie and her family must put themselves in danger to help Ellen's family escape to safety. SPOILER! Annemarie's family helps sneak Ellen's family to Gilleleje, a small fishing village on the seashore. There, under the cover of night, Ellen's family and many other Jews are hidden in the fishermen's boats and taken across the sea to safety in Sweden. Along the way Annemarie and her family encounter many dangers. Annemarie especially must be brave when a special package is left behind. Annemarie must get the package to her uncle's fishing boat before the Germans come search the boat.

Comments: The thing I appreciated most about this book is the fact that this book discusses a true incident during World War II wherein people helped Jews escape the German concentration camps, and for the most part were not discovered. Annemarie learns hard lessons about the value of human life and the importance of helping others and standing up for what you believe in. The afterward explaining what elements of the story were true and what elements were not was especially helpful. While I would not recommend this book as the only book a child should read in order to understand the Holocaust, this is a great example of little-known stories of humanity that happened during that time that need to be shared.

Themes: Friendship, World War II, Denmark, Anti-Semitism

Red Flags: Hard themes, People injured trying to run underground organizations against the Nazis.

The Higher Power of Lucky

Author: Susan Patron
Illustrator: Matt Phelan
Year: 2006
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pages: 144
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2007 Newbery Medal

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Location: Hard Pan, California, a small town on the Mojave Desert.
Time Period: Present (2006)

Plot: Ten year-old Lucky worries about the future. Her mother has died, her father doesn't want her, and her guardian, Brigitte, is homesick for her native France. Lucky is sure that one day Brigitte will get tired of being Lucky's guardian, and will hop a plane back to France, leaving Lucky in the care of the Los Angeles welfare system. In a desperate attempt to convince Brigitte how much Lucky means to her, Lucky decides to run away for a week. Things do not go as planned when a dust storm hits the day Lucky decides to run away. SPOILER! The entire town sets out to find Lucky and her neighbor Miles, who has gotten lost in the dust storm. Lucky and Miles are found hiding in an abandoned mining dugout. Lucky learns that contrary to her suspicions, Brigitte has actually been trying to get the paperwork approved to officially adopt Lucky so they can be a real family.

Comments: Patron does a good job with giving each of the characters in this story a personality. There's ten year-old Lincoln, who loves tying knots; five year-old Miles, who loves to mimic sounds, eat cookies, and read Are You My Mother?; Short Sammy, whose captivating story told at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting makes Lucky decide to search for her Higher Power; there's Lucky herself, who longs for a permanent place in the world and carries around a survival pack so she can survive in any situation, and there are many other well-drawn characters.

Although I enjoyed reading about such well-rounded characters. this book has so many back stories that it takes a long time to get to the point. When the plot does pick up it is very engaging, but the resolution comes very quickly and as a slightly jarring surprise which doesn't really fit with the rest of the plot. This makes this a book I wouldn't willingly recommend to reluctant readers. The pencil drawings found throughout the book are interesting additions that work well with the text, and they help give the book a lighter tone.

Themes: Death, Families, Adoption, Finding Your Place in the World

Red Flags: This book is sometimes banned because of a word included twice in the text. Also, the description of what Lucky's mother's ashes looked like was kind of unsettling to me. I've never thought of ashes like that before.

Hoot

Author: Carl Hiaasen
Year: 2002
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 292
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2003 Newbery Honor Book

Film Tie-ins: Hoot, New Line Cinema, 2007

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Location: Coconut Cove, Florida
Time Period: Present (2002)

Plot: Roy Eberhart has just moved to Coconut Cove, Florida, from his beloved Montana, and he's not enjoying the sunny weather or the warm temperatures. Instead, Roy is too busy dealing with being the new kid—again—and dealing with the school bully, Dana Matherson. One morning when Dana is terrorizing Roy on the bus, Roy notices a barefoot boy about his same age running in the opposite direction of the school bus. Intrigued, Roy is determined to figure out who this free spirit is. He follows the boy's tracks across town and stumbles across a problem much bigger than any bully—a Mother Paula's All-American House of Pancakes is being constructed in an area where some endangered burrowing owls have made their home. Roy, his new friend Mullet Fingers, and Mullet Fingers' sister Beatrice unite together to try to save the owls. SPOILER! Roy and his friends find a way to save the owls after getting media attention by holding a demonstration at the Mother Paula's groundbreaking ceremony. The public learns of the endangered owls and Mother Paula's is no longer allowed to build a pancake house in Coconut Cove.

Comments: My grade: B- It's always difficult to write a novel with a message without hitting the reader over the head with that message. For the most part, Hiaasen succeeds in writing a funny, engaging novel that gets the message of environmental protection across without being too preachy. My main complaint about the novel is that the characters are a little too black and white. The bad people are obviously bad and somewhat dim-witted, and the good people are good and smart and strong. This typecasting does make for some engaging reading and for some fun situations, but it may be a detraction to older audiences. Those who are bothered by overarching generalizations should be cautioned to skip the Epilogue, which details how all the bad guys got their comeuppance and how all the good guys were rewarded.

Themes: Bullies, Owls, Environmentalism, Franchises

Red Flags: Description of pranks involving poisonous or dangerous animals, Fist fights, Mooning

Hatchet

Author: Gary Paulsen
Year: 1987
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 195
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 1988 Newbery Honor Book, Other Awards

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Adventure
Series Information: First book of the Brian Saga
Location: Canadian Wilderness
Time Period: Present Day (1987)

Plot: When the pilot of a two-seater plane suddenly has a heart attack and dies, Brian Robeson finds himself flying alone over the Canadian wilderness and unable to contact any help. He manages to land the plane in a lake, and is washed on shore with only the clothes on his back and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present a few hours before. For the first few days, Brian tries to do the absolute minimum to survive, convinced that a search and rescue team will come to his aid. As the days progress, however, Brian realizes that he is on his own and he learns to adapt to his new surroundings: creating a shelter, building a fire, making tools, finding food, and learning about his environment. SPOILER! A tornado runs through the area, ruining Brian's shelter and dragging the plane from the bottom of the lake to the shore. Careful to avoid the pilot's body, Brian goes through the contents of the plane in search of supplies. As Brian is rummaging through the things he found in the plane, he unknowingly trips an emergency transmitter that sends out a signal for help. Brian is rescued 54 days after he originally crashed.

Comments: This book was recommended to me by three different people over the course of one week. After reading it, I can see why. Every day, Brian has to fight for his life. He has to relearn how to do the simplest things—things we take for granted in today's society with today's technology. I'm not sure I could have lasted as long as Brian did, or that I could have figured out how to survive as well as he did.

I did have a few problems with the book, but they were very small:

1) I'm not sure this story could happen now, simply because of the strict airline codes of our post-9/11 world. Even though Brian is flying on a private two-seater plane, I'm not sure he would have been allowed to take a hatchet with him.

2) The "Secret" that Brian worries about isn't central to the plot, and never even gets resolved. I know Paulsen introduced the Secret as a means of showing that Brian is upset about his parents' divorce, but it's completely unnecessary and detracts from the survival theme of the book.These two problems are slight, however, and I don't think they should dissuade someone from reading this book. Suspend your belief in reality when you get to these parts and enjoy the ride—you'll be glad you did.

Themes: Survival, Divorce

Red Flags: Plane Crash, Description of Injuries, Instances of Peril, Dead Body

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Author: Avi
Year: 1990
Publisher: Orchard Books
Pages: 210
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 1991 Newbery Honor Book, 1991 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, many others

Genre: Adventure
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: The Seahawk, a ship on the Atlantic Ocean
Time Period: Summer of 1832

Plot: Thirteen year-old Charlotte Doyle is the sole female passenger onboard the Seahawk, which is making a two month-long sea voyage from England to Providence, Rhode Island. When Charlotte she arrives at the port, she immediately becomes suspicious of what is going on when various members of the crew advise her to get off the ship before it is too late. Unable to turn back, Charlotte finds herself in the middle of a feud between the cruel Captain Jaggery and his vengeful crew. SPOILER! When the captain tries to blame Charlotte for his cruel deeds, including the murders of two members of the crew, Charlotte attempts to atone and regain the crew's trust by joining them. After going through many adventures including being dismasted during a hurricane, the captain is accidentally killed and Charlotte is named the honorary captain of the ship. When she arrives home and tells her father of her adventures, she is punished for making the story up. Charlotte longs to be free again, and runs away from home to become a sailor.


Comments: Avi takes a fresh new look on the theme covered by classics such as Treasure Island and Moby Dick. The adventures and intrigue of the novel give it a very fast pace, and I found it easy to get through. There were plot twists aplenty, and most of them were original enough to catch me off guard. There are also handy diagrams and definitions of seafaring terms in the back that I found useful. The fact that the main character of this high adventure story is a girl is refreshing, but was also one of the problem points of the book for me. Because this book tries to be historically accurate in every other sense, some of the things Charlotte did in the book were hard for me to accept. Would she really suddenly become so tough that she could perform daring deeds during a hurricane? After she arrived home, would she really crave freedom from oppression so much that she would run off to become a sailor for the rest of her life? Would the men on the ship really allow Charlotte to do such things? This is a small complaint, however, and one that is easily forgotten when the reader lets him or herself get caught up in the narrative of the story. Read this book for the action, for the adventure, and for the plot twists, and you won't be disappointed.

Themes: Sailing, Adventure, Gender Roles, Loyalty

Red Flags: Murder (but not too descriptive), Mutiny, and Instances of Peril

Multicultural Elements: Charlotte's friend Zachariah is a black sailor from Africa.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Illustrator: Robert Byrd
Year: 2007
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 85
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12—written for 10-15 year-olds to perform)

Awards: 2008 Newbery Award

Genre: Plays, Monologues
Location: An Un-named English Medieval Village
Time Period: Medieval Times (1255 A.D.)

Plot: 22 monologues/short plays of different characters who would have lived on the grounds of an English manor in 1255 A.D. The plays are set up to tell the stories of children in all social stations in the village, from the Lord’s nephew and daughter to the tradesmen’s children to the falconer to the villein (local peasant) to the traveling beggar, to the Jewish money lender.

Comments: This is an interesting book. Although it won the 2008 Newbery Award, this book doesn’t have a solid narrative or a plot. While some of the plays intertwine with others, most of them do not. Despite this, it is fairly well written. Each play is interesting, and the characters do come to life in each monologue. I especially appreciated the footnotes, which explained Medieval words that we do not use today. There are also brief sections that explain important facts about the time period (such as a description of the Crusades or a description of why Jews were money lenders). This book takes an interesting approach to teaching children about Medieval times that I haven’t seen before.

Red Flags: None