Susan Beth Pfeffer’s the dead & the gone (Harcourt 2008) is a companion story to her previous YA novel Life as We Knew (Harcourt 2006).  The novel takes the same cataclysmic disaster, but this time tells the story from the perspective of Alex Morales, a seventeen-year-old boy living in New York City.

When a meteor hits the moon and pushes it closer to the Earth, the change in gravitational pull causes massive worldwide destruction.  Tides rise, magma surfaces, tectonic plates shift, and soon the earth is enveloped by natural is –tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes.  Volcanic ash darkens the sky, temperatures plummet, crops fail.  There are evacuations, power outages, food and fuel shortages, deadly epidemics.  Lines of communication shut down–no radio, internet, cell phones, tv. 

 Thousands of people are dead, and most of Alex’s family are among “the gone,” as Alex refers to them.  These include Alex’s older brother Carlos who is deployed with the Marines, Alex’s aunt and uncle who evacuate soon after the disaster, Alex’s mother who has never returned home from her shift at the hospital, and Alex’s dad who has never returned from a family funeral in Puerto Rico.  They are “the gone”–never confirmed dead but nonetheless absent.  Just like Alex’s aunt and uncle who evacuate NYC soon after the disaster. 

Thrust into the role of protector and provider for his two younger sisters, Alex second-guesses his decisions and struggles to come to terms with overwhelming responsibilities  (including a nightmarish visit to Yankee Stadium–now morgue–to look for the body of his mother).  Dreams of being elected senior class president and getting accepted to a good college are totally irrelevant   in a world where survival is the only goal.

 What is essential?  What is important?  If life all changed tomorrow,  what would really matter?  Author Susan Beth Pfeffer offers another great novel that makes you question your needs, your wants, and your priorities.

 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.

The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) takes the images of the Biblical Garden of Eden and reworks them into a poignant novel about life, death and love.

When ten-year-old Evie’s mother dies of cancer, her father decides to buy an old apple orchard far away in Beaumont, New York.  Evie longs to stay in her childhood home, a home full of memories of her mother.  These very memories break her father’s heart again and again, and he feels must leave in order to move overcome his grief.  

But when Evie and her dad arrive in Beaumont, they discover the old orchard hasn’t produced fruit in years.  Years ago a girl disappeared in the orchard, and the locals claim it is cursed.  Evie’s mother taught her to believe in wonder and miracles and the magic of fairy tales, but a cursed garden seems awfully hard to believe.  If only Evie’s mother were there.  If only her dad would stop working in the orchard constantly and give her more attention.  If only Evie could turn back time . . .

The Garden of Eve creates a fairy-tale world of magic seeds, an otherworldly tree, and a mysterious ghostly boy.  But more importantly, the novel creates the magic that is found in the deepest relationships.  “Remember, there are many kinds of magic–there’s the magic of trees that grow and birds that fly and there’s the magic of growing up and getting older, but mostly there’s the magic of love, which cannot be contained, not even by death.”

When you’re a sister sandwiched between two sets of twins, you pretty much get ignored.  It’s the twins everyone finds interesting, they’re the novelty–you’re just an extra.  At least that’s how Miri feels in The Magic Half (Bloomsbury, 2008).  This middle grade novel by Annie Barrows weaves a story of family and friendship with a unique time travel twist (and a surprise ending to boot).  

When Miri’s family moves to a new house, Miri has no one to hang out with.  Older brothers Ray and Robbie, and younger sisters Nell and Nora, all have built-in friends, their twin.  Mom and dad are swamped with work and unpacking.  So Miri, a girl with ”a dazzling imaginative capacity”  is on her own.   

Soon Miri finds herself in trouble.  She hits her brother with a shovel and gets sent to her room.  Miri’s old, quirky bedroom with its ugly orange and purple wallpaper was once part of the attic.  Miri explores the room and discovers a small piece of pinkish glass.

As Miri looks through the glass, the room seems “to bend and collapse in the middle, as though the center of the house were being sucked into a whirlpool.”  Miri has been transported to 1935.  She’s in the same bedroom, but it looks completely different.  The bedroom also belongs to Molly, a girl who is in grave danger from a vicious cousin and a jealous aunt. 

Soon Miri finds herself travelling back and forth through time trying to save Molly.  Molly begs Miri to take her away, back to future.  What should Miri do?  Will she get trapped in 1935?  Can she get Molly to the future? And what will she tell her parents when brings home a complete stranger, a girl with no family, no money, and nowhere to go?  Read The Magic Half and find out!

Caddie Woodlawn, Hermione Granger, Violet Beauregarde, Anne of Green Gables–you gotta love the girls that are smart and spunky, clever and courageous.  Author Kelly Easton gives us another plucky heroine in her middle-grade novel The Outlandish Adventures of Liberty Aimes (Random House, 2009).

Liberty Aimes, nicknamed Libby, lived in a decrepit old house on 33 Gooch Street.  It was so run down, “If it could walk, it would limp.  If it could talk, it would stutter.  If it could smile, it would have rotting teeth.”

Libby’s father, Mal, was a sort of Count Olaf, Vernon Dursley, and an evil magician all rolled into one.  Libby’s mother, Sal, sat on the couch all day watching TV and eating nonstop.  She complained that “because of Libby, she was now fat, married to a dud, and stuck in her life.”  (Turns out her mother was bewitched by one of Mal’s evil spells.)  Libby never left the house;  she was a prisoner (Think Sarah Crewe in A Little Princess).

Libby led a dull, relentless existence of chores, cooking, and non-stop dishes while her dad cheated people with bogus insurance policies and her mother ate and watched TV.  Luckily, Libby discovered a secret stash of books hidden under a loose board, so at least she could read.

Then Libby finished her last book.  “She could read them again, but there wouldn’t be the surprise.”  Next she overheard her father say that he was going to force her to help with his nighttime plumbing business, and she would be the one to stick her hands down toilets and be lowered into sewers.

One day Mal burst through the door, fresh from being sprayed by a skunk.  While Mal bathed in tomato juice, he left his keys to his secret basement laboratory unguarded.  Libby’s chance to escape! 

But it would be a very short novel if Libby’s problems all ended then and there.  No–Libby, who starts using her real name, Liberty–has many more troubles and many more adventures.  Nevertheless, through it all she has hope.  “Hope is, of course, the belief that if you are patient and trusting, terrible times will pass and the future will be bright.” 

And sure enough, for Miss Liberty, the future is very bright indeed.

I regularly run across news stories about the decline of the newspaper industry, but I was shocked when I saw the newspaper stand at my local gas station.  The papers are so puny now, printed on shrunken, skinny paper, a telltale sign of the Internet takeover of media.

Sue Corbett’s The Last Newspaper Boy in America (Dutton, 2009)  explores a similar theme.  Protagonist Wil has been dying for his twelth birthday because he’ll finally be old enough to inherit the family paper route.  In the small town of Steele, Pennsylvania, Wil’s family has delivered the paper for four generations.  Grandpa, dad, and two older brothers all delivered the paper, and now it’s finally Wil’s turn.  Finally, a chance to beat dad’s speed record.  A chance to perfect a near-perfect aim.  A chance to save up for a laptop (no more having to go to the library to surf the Internet).

But the day before his birthday, Wil discovers that his route is about to be cancelled.  The town of Steele is just too small, especially since the hairpin factory closed, to justify a route.  Wil rides twelve miles on his bike to complain to the editor.  But it’s a corporate decision made by higher-ups in a far-off city.  Wil’s parents try to help him face the hard facts of business.

But “Wil of Steele,” as he is called, won’t take no for an answer, and soon he’s on a mission for change.  In the end, Wil’s determination (along with some help from family and friends), not only save his route but his town as well.

I’m a big fan of Sharon Creech and have read almost everything she’s ever written.  I love her lyrical, creative use of language and her endearing characters.  Her new book The Unfinished Angel  (HarperCollins, 2009) is a short masterpiece with characters that you can’t help but love.

There is an angel that lives in the tower of the Casa Rosa in a tiny village in the Swiss Alps.  She flishes, and flooshes, beaming warm thoughts on “peoples.”  But she’s uncertain what her mission is.  Is she an unfinished angel?

In moves Zola Pomodoro.  Zola is “skinny like a twig-tree, with hair chip-chopped in a startling way” and her eyes are “gray with large black poppils in the middle.”  And as you can see from this quote, one of the charms of this book is its delightful coined words, words like “attractiful,”  ”impressifies,” and “explaterate.”

Zola is a happy gypsy of a girl with a spirit as bright as the peacock-colored skirts she wears.  Zola is one of the few people that can actually see the angel, and, chippy-choppy quick, Zola gets that angel hopping to help solve some of the town’s problems. 

The angel doesn’t much like being bossed around: “I do not like it when peoples tell me I have to do something.  It makes me want to not do the something.”  The angel worries when Zola tells her that the angel is supposed to know everything:  “I am?  This is a little shock to me.  No, it is a big shock.  Because I am not knowing many, many things.”

But in the end the angel says, “Zola, she is intrigueful to me.  In her many-layered clothings, with her chippy-choppy hair and the eyes with the big black poppils, in her sometimes bossy way, she has also the soft heart of a bunny.  The soft heart is also a smart heart because it is not soft for every puny silly thing, but over the things that are matterful.” 

Zola is an unfinished angel.  Aren’t we all?

Guaranteed, Malia and Sasha Obama are going to be famous first daughters.  But long before  Malia and Sasha made the White House their home, long before Jenna and Barbara, Chelsea or Amy, was Alice Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s oldest daughter and perhaps the most famous and celebrated first daughter ever.

What to Do About Alice?  How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic, 2008) tells the story of rambunctious Alice Roosevelt, who greeted White House guests with her pet snake, joined an all boys club, zoomed around Washington D.C. in her roadster, and danced all night at parties.  Her father Teddy “called it ‘running riot.’  Alice called it, ‘Eating up the world.’”

“I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice.  I cannot possibly do BOTH!” said President Roosevelt.  Although her mother died when Alice was two and Alice wore leg braces for many years as a child, Alice possessed just as much “bully” as her bold and adventurous father.  Her “zest for fun” made her a 1900′s celebrity and irresistible material for gossip columns.  Nicknamed “Princess Alice,” Alice had babies named after her, songs written about her, and famous shenanigans that boosted her father’s popularity.   

Spunky kids everywhere (and kids who wish they were) will love reading What to Do About Alice?  The book offers an adventurous romp into the life of the spunky first daughter who was so famous she was called “the other Washington Monument.”

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.

Seems like everyone likes a treasure hunt.  Add to that a web of historical artifacts, ancient symbols, and mythic beliefs, and you’ve got such stuff as The DaVinci Code and National Treasure are made of (to paraphrase Shakespeare).  You’ve also got the stuff of the YA Novel Ring of Fire: Century Quartet #1by Pierdomenico Baccalario and translated by Leah D. Janeczko (Random House, 2006) has mystery, action, and seemingly endless clues that make you think everything is an ingeniously interconnected web of cosmic importance.  

The novel takes place on Rome on December 29 as four teenagers from across the globe–all born on February 29–meet by chance at the hotel Domus Quintilia.  A mysterious blackout leads them outside, a stranger fleeing for his life thrusts a briefcase into their hands, and they find themselves searching a trail of ancient clues and stalked by a deadly international assassin.  

That’s all I’m giving away.  But be prepared:  the book ends on a cliff-hanger.  You won’t be satisified at the end of this book because you’ll be wishing for the next one.