The Amazing Race, American Idol, Project Runway, The Biggest Loser, Man vs. Wild, Dancing with the Stars–reality shows are all over television. But what if winning Survivor meant being the last one left alive? What if the bloody battles of the Roman gladiators had been broadcast as reality TV? Reality TV meets Lord of the Flies in the gripping new YA thriller The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games takes place in a brutal and...
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...
When you were young, did you love reading Little Women? Ever long to be on Prince Edward Island with Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables? Then you will love the Penderwick family. There are two Penderwick books (and my daughter adores them both): The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (Knopf, 2005) and The Penderwicks On Gardam Street (Random House, 2008). Author Jeanne Birdsall has created a charming family of four sisters: responsible oldest sister...
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (Henry Holt, 2008) is a fantastic young adult book–a sci-fi novel that has the creepy thrill of a scary movie. Teenager Jenna Fox wakes from a coma to discover that she remembers nothing of her past. She has to relearn how to talk, walk, eat, live. Her adoring parents have taken video after video of her childhood, and Jenna watches old family movies of herself in an attempt to discover who she is, or at least...
What if your family had no soap, milk, sugar or shoes? Such is the case for Katje and her family in Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003). Set in Holland just after World War II, Katje and her little town of Olst are struggling to get by. Katje is thrilled when one spring morning she gets a surprise package from America, “the land of plenty.” The box contains a cake...
