With the Might of Angels

There are three things Dawnie Rae Johnson really loves:  her pogo stick, baseball, and school.  Well, she loves learning and writing and the people at her school, but she doesn't love the school itself.  Mary McLeod Bethune is falling apart, the books are old and tattered, and even the pencils are beaten and eraserless, but change is coming.

Dawnie's father gave her an article from the New York Times about school integration to paste into her diary.  This diary will follow all the changes in Dawnie's life from the end of her 6th grade year through her first year at Prettyman Coburn, the white school in Hadley, Virginia.

People are excited about integration, but not everyone thinks it's such a great idea.  In fact, Dawnie is the only African American at her new school.  At first, that fact doesn't matter much because Dawnie has big dreams to become a doctor, and she knows she needs the better materials and supplies she will get at Prettyman, but every day is a new challenge for Dawnie, her family, and the rest of the community.  Prettyman may be beautiful and well supplied with learning materials, but Dawnie will struggle to find support there.  The Johnsons will face threats and intimidation on all sides, but they will also find strength and support when they most need it.  

Based on accounts of real students who bravely integrated all white schools and informed by Andrea Davis Pinkney's, the author's, own experiences as the only African American at her school as a child, With the Might of Angels is a portrait of a girl who learns that she will have to rely on her own determination to achieve her dreams.

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives!

Before his death, Benjamin Franklin and an the Promethean Society devised a plan to keep Franklin in suspended animation until some time in the future when he would be needed again.  Now, a stray bolt of lightning has awakened Franklin, but he can't find his caretakers anywhere.

He does find Victor, whose mother owns the house where Franklin has been "sleeping" in a secret subbasement for all these years.  Victor loves science,but he also loves perfection.  He can calculate odds and risk factors based on past experiments to create a science project with a 97% chance of winning the science fair, but this new friend will challenge all his assumptions.

With a mix of science, guesswork, humor, and happy accidents, Victor and Ben will make amazing discoveries, figure out a way to keep Franklin from turning into an starved electro-zombie, and learn that science is all about risk.

This books is filled with illustrations and charts that are part science and part science fiction.  It's a fun mix of monster movie, science fiction, and American history.  Check out the website here!

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! is on the 2012-2013 Bluebonnet list and on the Campbell 6th grade reading list for next year.

Fake Mustache

This is the new book from Origami Yoda author, Tom Angleberger, and it's another winner!  The subtitle pretty much says it all:  or, How Jodie O'Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (and Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind. Hilarity ensues.  One of you lucky gators will win an autographed copy of this book at the Biggest Reader party, too!  (We also have signed copies of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper.)

It all starts when Lenny Flem's best friend Casper buys a new man-about-town suit and the Heidelberg Handlebar Number Seven, a fake mustache with amazing powers of hypnotism and deception.  Soon a string of highly successful robberies begins.  Lenny suspects his friend Casper, but no one believes the robber is a kid.  He's just a sort of short man about town with a mustache, and Casper is too young to have a mustache.

But Casper's plans are bigger than just robbing banks.  He is hungry for power, and with the Heidelberg Handlebar, no one can stop him.  Even Lenny considers giving up until he come face to face with Jodie O'Rodeo, preteen cowgirl and star of her own (recently cancelled) TV show.  Can these two foil Casper's plans?  And perhaps more importantly, can a preteen cowgirl queen ever love a slightly nerdy, slightly short, regular seventh grader?  Read to find out!

No trailer yet, but I'll add one when I can find it. :)

Unstoppable

OK, I am cheating a little with this one since it won't be published until September, but I liked it so much, I had to go ahead and write about it!  :)

This is a picture of the author, Tim Green, signing the book at TLA.  My friend and I were first in line (who wouldn't want to meet this guy) to meet him and get the books signed.  (One of you will win the very copy he is holding at the Biggest Reader party!)

We chatted with him for a few minutes, and he asked us to make sure we read the letter in the front cover of the book.  Green writes about his wife's battle with cancer and how cancer survivors, not athletes, are the real heroes.  What an inspiration!  Look for more news on Unstoppable next fall as it will figure prominently in our library activities.  (I won't tell you how just yet, but it is going to be awesome!)

Harrison has been in a string of foster homes for years.  He has a bad rap for being aggressive, but that is only because he is trying to protect the other kids.  Life on the Constable farm is one of the worst so far.  The Constables are cold and demanding, and Harrison's life is filled with hard work and anger.  He is starting to believe that nothing good will ever happen to him.

When a traumatic event strikes the farm, Harrison's life changes for the better.  He gets new foster parents who seem to really care about him, and his new foster father is the coach of the middle school football team.  Harrison loves football, but he's never been able to play.  Once he gets a shot on the field, everyone is amazed at his determination.  Harrison is unstoppable!

Now life seems too good to be true:  family, friends, football.  Harrison can't shake the nagging fear that everything is about to go wrong like it always does.  Will this new struggle be too much, or will Harrison remain unstoppable?

This book isn't out yet, so there isn't a trailer, but here is a video of Tim Green talking about writing, reading, and one of his other books.

The Fourth Stall

Mac is a kid who can make things happen.  If you have a problem, he's the guy who can fix it...with the help of his best friend, Vince, of course.  Together they are the secret rulers of the school from their office in an unused, out of the way bathroom.  They use their profits to expand the business and to feed the Game Fund in hopes that maybe this year the Cubs will make it to the World Series.

Things are going great for Mac.  There's a line of kids outside his office everyday clamoring for his services.  If they can't pay with case, there is always the favor option, or for real hard luck cases, Mac might do the work pro bono.

Things are great, that is, until a third grader named Fred shows up with a story about gambling debts and the biggest bully in town, a bully so big that kids have been telling stories about him forever, so big that Mac always sort of believed he was just a story, a horror story, but no one to really worry about.  But Fred insists that Staples is real and that he is running an extensive gambling ring on Mac's turf.

Mac knows this case will be tough, but he has no idea how bad things will eventually get.  Maybe he's not as smart as he thought.  Maybe Staples really can take down his business and destroy his life.

What a great read!  This book is part mafia saga, part hard boiling private detective story, and part middle school; it has action, suspense, baseball, and humor.  You won't be able to put it down!

Don't forget to check out Chris Rylander's website.  It's also pretty entertaining. :)

2012-2013 Lone Star List

Watch this video from Chris Rylander.  It's AWESOME!

Wish

Fifteen-year-old Bee is a perfectionist.  She makes perfect grades and is president of her class at school.  She is even perfect in her devotion to her younger brother, Tommy, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, a disease that causes his lungs to fill with mucus and makes his breathing difficult, but Bee doesn't resent Tommy.  The siblings have a deep and loving relationship, and they understand and respect each other better than anyone else.

Tommy's interest in sharks has won a trip to dive with them from a foundation that grants wishes for children with terminal diseases, so Tommy, Bee, and their mother are headed from New Hampshire to California.  His cystic fibrosis will make everything about the trip a little more dangerous, but Bee is always by his side to make sure he has everything he needs from medication to breathing treatments to a special vest that vibrates the mucus in his lungs.

Before the plane even lands, things are not perfect.  Bee is frustrated by her mother's constant need to for male attention, and even this trip for Tommy is no different.  Her mother begins a flirtation on the plane that irritates perfectionist Bee.  The dive trip itself is not what Tommy had hoped, but he tries to keep a positive attitude.

It isn't until Bee and Tommy set off on an unscheduled adventure of their own that Tommy can really enjoy the trip.  Not only will he have a once in a lifetime experience, but they will both meet real friends who give them the kind of understanding and support they have been craving.

For Bee, this trip started as an experience for Tommy, something to make his wish come true, but she will discover some truths about herself including some wishes of her own.

I love this book!  It is a beautiful story about the sea and love.  You should read it!

Link to the author's website here.

2012-2013 Lone Star List

Belly Up

Teddy Fitzroy spent his childhood in Africa with his mother, the gorilla expert, and his father, the wildlife photographer.  It was a life filled with adventure and animals, but now his parents have decided that he might need something a little more stable for teen years.

That's where FunJungle comes in.  FunJungle is the most amazing zoo in America with the best animal habitats and some of the best zoologists and zookeepers in the world.  It's not Africa, but Teddy does enjoy his days of freedom in zoological theme park.

Then, disaster strikes.  Henry the Hippo dies unexpectedly, and Teddy is suspicious.  Maybe someone took out Henry on purpose; maybe it was murder.

At first no one believes Teddy, so he investigates on his own, but this leaves him in some disgusting and dangerous situations.  By the time his mother starts to believe him, he is in danger of becoming the hippo killer's next victim!

This was a great mystery with humor and plenty of plot twists.  I also liked the relationship Teddy has with his parents.  It's great to see a kid in a YA book who has reliable, trustworthy, and trusting parents!

Click here to link to the author's website.

2012-2013 Lone Star List