| ‹ Holiday '11 | |
Hours |
Summer 2011 |
Summer Favorites |
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| The Penderwicks at Point Mouette Jeanne Birdsall Birdsall surpasses herself with each new book about the Penderwick family, and that's a real compliment – as the original was a wonderful throwback to modern classics like Gone Away Lake or Understood Betsy. In 'Point Mouette' Birdsall shakes up family dynamics when 3 of the sisters head to Maine with their aunt, while the eldest sister is away on her own well-deserved vacation from responsibility. Birdsall adroitly balances the ocean-side mishaps that the girls handle on their own with a much more serious family mystery that requires adult presence to untangle. There is independence in the Penderwick world, but refreshingly there are also helpful, respectful adults to call on when needed, and kindness and love connecting all. |
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The Romeo & Juliet Code - Phoebe Stone Fans of The Penderwicks will enjoy The Romeo & Juliet Code, as its author provides the same mix of adventure and stability. Set in the early days of World War II, a British girl comes to live with slightly eccentric relatives in Maine, and family loyalties are tested as she and a cousin become involved in untangling a spy code. The backgrounds of a small town and the windy, wild beaches and ocean are lyrically described. |
| Between Shades Of Grey - Ruta Sepetys Orchards - Holly Thompson A short synopsis of each of these YA novels makes them sound much grimmer than they are. Between Shades: Stalin's purge of the Lithuanian intelligentsia in the 1940s, families split up and sent to labor camps in Siberia. Orchards: a teen involved in a bullying situation that led to a classmate's suicide is sent to live with relatives in Japan for the summer. Yet grim is absolutely the wrong word for each of these intelligent and beautifully written novels. They are engrossing stories that focus on emotional growth, and ultimately are hopeful affirmations of the human spirit. Throughout Lina's journey across Russia to Siberia, she and her brother take care of each other. They refuse to let depredations and harsh conditions take away the essence of what kinds of people their parents raised them to be.Lina, like the main character Kana in Orchards, is a very likable and believable heroine. Orchards also includes a strong emphasis on family, as Kana absorbs some of the cultural ways of her Japanese cousins, yet stays in touch over the internet with her sister in New York. The global settings of these books also offer a refreshing change from the myriad set in a generic, suburban US high school. |
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Shipbreaker - Paolo Bacigalupi Lately, there has been a spate of new books imagining what a future with a scarcity of oil would be like. (Empty, Carbon Diaries 2015, etc) In Shipbreaker, it's worth risking your life to crawl into old ship hulls in search of pockets of oil or valuable scrap metal, and Nailer is one of the many poor hoping to strike it big with a find. When a luxurious sailboat from one of the powerful controlling oil cartels is stranded on a beach, Nailer finds a trapped girl in the wreckage and is faced with a dilemma. Should he make a fortune off the contents of her boat, or risk his life for the uncertain reward of returning her to safety? |
| Me, Jane - Patrick McDonnell Enjoyable as a picture book of a nature obsessed young girl (with illustrations that cleverly use some of Jane Goodall's early sketchbooks), and also as an example that childhood dreams are worth following and perhaps even the most outlandishof them will come true. |
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The Voyage of Turtle Rex - Kurt Cyrus Large scale artwork brings to life a pre-historic sea and the giant turtles that roamed it. A great mix of science and storytelling. |
| Clever Jack Takes the Cake - Candace Fleming One of the best recent read alouds! You have to feel for Jack as his scrumptious cake takes abuse from an enchanted forest full of hungry fairy tale creatures. By the time he shows up at the castle birthday party the cake hardly looks like a treat fit for a Princess. But she, and this story, have a great deal of humor and heart. |
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| ‹ Holiday '11 | |
