In many a SCBWI conference, I have heard the name of Amber Brown, one of those unforgettable characters.  Likewise her creator, author Paula Danziger, who from what I can tell, was quite a character herself.  Paula Danziger has written over thirty books, several about divorce.  Amber Brown is Feeling Blue (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1998; this edition illustrated by Tony Ross) is one of these.

Amber is what you’d call a character. She’s got what you’d call personality.  She paints the dog’s toenails.  She puts candy corns on pizza:  “It’s a new reciple.  Try it.”  She loves her name Amber Brown (although she used to hate it because it’s also the shade of a crayon):  “It’s a very colorful name for a very colorful person.” 

But Amber’s also got a problem.  Where should she spend Thanksgiving? Her parents are divorced. Amber lives with her mom who will soon be marrying Max.  Mom and Max want Amber to go to Walla Walla, Washington to visit Max’s sister for Thanksgiving.   Amber’s dad lives in Paris, but he is moving back to New York.  He want Amber to spend Thanksgiving with him.  The grownups tell Amber, “. . . whatever you want to do, we’ll go along with it.”  And Amber thinks, “Why do I have to make the decision?”  

Amber thinks, ”I wonder if there is a kind of a dream that is worse than a nightmare.   Because that’s what I’m having right now.  If I go to Walla Walla with Mom and Max, Dad’s going to be unhappy.  If I stay here wth Dad, Mom and Max are going to be unhappy.  Either way, I lose.  Either way, one of my parents loses. At least, one of them wins.  But no matter what, Im going to be the loser.”

All this serious talk is mixed in with a lot of day-to-day fourth grade stuff–Halloween, new kids at school, book reports–and it doesn’t come across heavy-handed.     The book is honest about the emotions of divorce.  Amber thinks about the way things used to be.  When mom and dad were married.  When mom and dad got along.  And she wishes things could be the way they used to be.  But she has positives as well.  She likes Max, Mom’s new boyfriend. And she likes her new babysitter.  And she likes having two houses to stay in.

In the end Amber says, “I have to make the choice because I have no choice.  Sometimes life is confusing.  Sometimes it’s not easy.  This is one of those times when it’s both . . .  confusing and not easy.”  Amber Brown is Feeling Blue takes readers on that amazing roller coaster ride known as growing up, complete with all its ups and downs.

Have you ever wished you were an only child?  No annoying brother or sister.  Parents all to yourself.  Your own room and fantastic presents and giant birthday parties and fancy vacations and maybe even a pony (ok, maybe not the pony) . . . 

Abigail Iris has four kids in her family, schoolteacher parents that are always on a budget, and the same spring break camping trip to the same campsite with the family crammed in the same tent–year after year.  If only Abigail Iris was an “Only”–like her three best friends.

When eight-year-old Abigail Iris gets invited to vacation with “Only” friend Genevieve and parents, she jumps at the chance.  A fancy hotel, expensive restaurants, room service, lots of shopping.  How exotic.

But is being an Only really as wonderful as Abigail Iris imagines? 

Abigail Iris: The One and Only, written by Lisa Glatt & Suzanne Greenberg and illustrated by Joy Allen (Walker & Co., 2009), is a happy, light-hearted look at friends and family life (the cover illustration captures Abigail Iris’ spirit).  If you enjoy the literary heroines Amber Brown and Clementine, you’re sure to like Abigail Iris.

What do you do if you’re the new girl at school and no one smiles at you or talks to you or sits by you at lunch?  Well, if you’re Lissy, you make a friend.  You make an origami crane to be your new friend at your new school.

Author/illustrator Grace Lin uses wonderfully vibrant patterns and colors to tell the story Lissy’s Friends (Viking 2007).  As the new girl, Lissy hasn’t made friends yet, so she makes a paper crane to be her friend. 

After school Lissy’s mother asks her, “Did you make any friends in school today?”  She answers, “Well . . . I did make one friend.” 

Lissy makes herself more and more origami animals.  Soon she has a whole flock of origami friends.  And these paper friends keep her company and help her . . . until she can make people friends of her own.

As a girl, I read every Nancy Drew mystery written.  A few years later, I graduated to Agatha Christie.  Recently I ran across the book Nancy Drew and Clue Crew #1:  Sleepover Sleuths (Simon and Schuster, 2006).  I was surprised to see the author as Carolyn Keene since the original Carolyn Keene (a pseudonym for Mildred Wert Benson) died in 2002.  

A google search led me to this Fantastic Fiction link by a UK bookstore that shows just how many Nancy Drew spin-offs there are.  I don’t know if their list is exhaustive, but it blew me away.  Graphic novels, early chapter books, teen romances, Nancy teaming up with the Hardy Boys–Nancy really gets around. 

According to the BBC, “When [the author] attended the first Nancy Drew convention in 1993, she was reported to have told a friend: ‘I’m so sick of Nancy Drew I could vomit.’”  After seeing all the Nancy books on the Fantastic Fiction website, I can see why.

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew is a series for the same set that reads the A to Z Mystery or Magic Tree House series.  In Book #1, Sleepover Sleuths, eight-year old Nancy and her two chums solve the mystery of “Who took Deirdre’s City Girl doll at the sleepover?”  The story is a modern day setting with computers, blogs, and American Girl doll knockoffs.

Needless to say, these books are nothing like the original Nancy Drew.  Nevertheless, the story is one that elementary school girls can relate to and enjoy.  And who knows?  It just might lead them to snoop out the real Nancy Drew when they get a bit older. . .

 I first heard about Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me (Random House 2009) from a  book editor who said, “There is so much buzz about this book, I think it might win the Newbery.” 

Set in the 70′s in New York City, the story centers on sixth grade Miranda and her best friend Sal.  Miranda (a girl) and Sal (a boy) live in the same apartment complex, both are from single-mom families, and they’ve been best friends forever.  Then one day Sal gets punched in the face by a random kid on the street, and suddenly Sal wants nothing to do with Miranda.  Miranda’s on her own and has to learn how to make new friends and fit in. 

There is so much going on in this novel I hardly know where to start.  It’s a coming of age story, it’s a story about mother/daughter relationships, it’s a story about friendship.  But it’s also a mystery with unexplainable, unsigned letters, a missing apartment key, and a crazy homeless guy on the corner, all wrapped up with a sci-fi twist a la Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.

When You Reach Me has a bit of a retro feel, kind of like the 70′s style t-shirts I see popping up in stores right now (although it may feel this way to me since I’m a child of the 70′s myself).  The novel is also proof that you don’t need international killers, vampires, or evil plots by fiendish ne’er do-wells to create a sense of suspense and mystery.  

The novel quotes Albert Einstein who said, “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.”  For children, life is full of mystery.  Author Rebecca Stead beautifully captures the biggest mystery of childhood, the mystery that is known as growing up.

Over the years we’ve read just about every Junie B. Jones book there is.  Another fun series is Ivy + Bean.  We just finished Doomed to Dance where Ivy and Bean decide they want to take ballet lessons.  They have seen a video of a gorgeous ballet with a thrilling fight scene.  Ivy and Bean are dying to take ballet lessons.  Ballet lessons would absolutely be the perfect thing. 

Both of their mothers remind the girls of all the activities they have started and then quit.  If they decide to do ballet they will have to STICK WITH IT–all the way through to the recital.

Ivy and Bean go to their first ballet practice and discover–shock!–ballet lessons are REALLY boring.  Mostly standing around pointing toes and an occasional hop.  Worst of all, Ivy and Bean are chosen to be squids for the ballet recital.  How horrible!  Can they solve this disaster?

With two fun characters that kids can relate to, Ivy and Bean books are great for kids who have moved onto chapter books and love to follow their favorite characters through book after book of a series.  I got my daughter three more Ivy and Bean books from the library just last night, and she’s already devoured one.  Ivy and Bean books are great for kiddos who are beyond beginning readers but still struggle with some of the unfamiliar terms in other series like The Magic Tree House or A to Z Mysteries.

Since it’s summer, probably the last thing you’re thinking about is a snow day.  But in some ways, summertime seems like one long snow day–no school, a change in the schedule, extra family time.

Snow Day! by Lester Laminack and illustrated by Adam Gustavson (Peachtree, 2007) praises those magical days (to kids and teachers at least) when school is cancelled and everyone gets to stay home. 

It all starts when a boy hears the weather report:   “Did you hear that?  Did the weatherman just say what I thought he did?  Did he say . . . SNOW?  Oh please, let it snow.  Lots and lots of snow.”

Think of all the great things a snow day means:  “No alarm clock ringing.”  “Tomorrow we’ll have a PJ day.  We’ll pile on the sofa and snuggle under that old blue blanket.”  “We can build a snow fort down by the walk.”  “We’ll go sledding in Mrs. Cope’s field.” 

The snow begins to fall and the weather report says it’s getting colder.  “Maybe we’ll get TWO snow days.”  The family goes to bed as snow begins to fall.  Except . . .

. . . sometimes the weatherman is wrong.  And everyone has slept in.  And no one’s ready on time.  And you’d better hurry because you can’t be late! 

Sometimes the weather just won’t cooperate.  “Drat!  I really needed a snow day.”

Lost and Found (Atheneum, 2008) is another fun school story by Andrew Clements (author of one of my all-time favorite books–Frindle).  Lost and Found tells the story of two identical twins, Ray and Jay, who move to a new school.  Since Ray is sick on the first day of school, Jay attends alone and quickly realizes that the school has accidentally combined their files.  No one at school knows there are two boys. 

For the first time in his life, Jay is seen solely as an individual rather than as part of a pair.  It is fantastic.  He tells Ray they should keep up the ruse:  ”I mean, think of it, Ray–every other day you could stay home!  And do whatever you wanted to.  And when you do go to school, you’ll be completely on your own there.  You’ve got to try it out Ray.  No offense or anything, but not being a twin?  At school?  It’s really great.”

The boys hatch a scheme and take turns going to school.  No one knows–not their parents, not their teacher, not the school administrators.  The plan starts to crack, though, when the boys individuality starts seeping through.  One is good at math but the other is a great soccer player.  One is a natural ladies man while the other is more reticent.  The boys may look alike, but they are two very different people.  And much to their surprise, instead of being able to be more of an individual, they have to start pretending to be more like each other.

As I read, I was reminded of my father-in-law, also an identical twin.  He and his brother never tried Ray and Jay’s trick, but they did sometimes switch classes to trick their teachers.  Perhaps bait and switch just comes with identical twin territory.