Reading Review with Christal

Title: Turtle in Paradise Author: Jennifer L. Holm Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Honor Book (2011); Golden Kite Award for Fiction Age: 9-13 This book is about a young girl who dreams of living in Paradise. Turtle is a young girl growing up through the Great Depression, and she's a typical eleven-year-old girl although she hates Shirley Temple. She believes life isn't what it's like in the movies and knows that it's complicated, messy and sometimes there aren't happy endings. Her mom is a hard-working housekeeper ad her latest boss doesn't allow children so Turtle gets sent to live with her Aunt Minnie, her mother's sister, in Florida. Growing up she was always mocked for never having her own house, but when she got to Florida, she realizes that the place is basically a dump. Turtle showed up on her aunt's doorstep and took her in even though she hadn't seen her sister in years. During her time here she got to know her cousin Beans and hu...

Title: Hello Universe Author/Illustrator: Erin Entrada Kelly/Isabel Roxas Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Medal Book (2018); Texas Bluebonnet Nominee (2018-2019) Age: 8-12 In the beginning Virgil and Valencia both have their problems, but neither was willing to admit it. Virgil was shy and felt like she he was nothing but a failure. Valencia is deaf, and believes she may be alone for the rest of her life. Virgil really likes Valencia and doesn't know hot to tell her and approach her. They both go to see a "psychic" named Kaori. In the first meeting with the psychic Virgil sees a dark place, but is afraid of the dark. He told him that he had feelings for a girl and she told him that he needed to bring five stones to his next meeting with her. He didn't tell the psychic the name of his girl he likes, but does give the initials to her name. Valencia saw the ad for the psychic and at first isn't sure if she can trust the psychic, and lies to her and gives h...

Title: 26 Fairmount Avenue Author/Illustrator: Tomie DePaola Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Award Honor Book (2000) Age: 7-11 This book is about how 26 Fairmount Avenue came to be. his story is told through little Tomie's eyes. At first they lived in an apartment on Columbus Avenue, with another family living upstairs. A big hurricane hit where they lived, and they had just started building their first house, only for it to be destroyed by the hurricane. Once the hurricane was over, there was a lot of cleaning up to do. So they came together and got it fixed up. It then talked about what the parents went through in their process deciding to build a house, and then it got destroyed. When Tomie was supposed to start Kindergarten he and his mother waled to school until they reached a corner and he wanted to walk by himself. He go to class and asked the teacher when he would learn to read and she told him not until 1st grade and he turned around and left and went home. His ...

Title: The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13 Author/Illustrator: Honest Lee & Matthew J. Gilbert/ Joelle Dreidemy Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Texas Bluebonnet nominee (2018) Age: 8-10 This book talks about how one teacher became not so unlucky. Mrs. Linda LaCrosse was normally so very unlucky until one day when she realized she won the lottery which was worth $28 billion and she and all the students made a treaty if she had won she would split it with them all equally. Unfortunately, one student Santiago wasn't there to sign the treaty so he didn't get a cut of it.It then goes into talking about how each student spent their portion of the money. Each student, except one, Olivia spent their money on materialistic things and things of importance to them now. Only to later realize that something would happen to their items and they were left with nothing in return. Even the teacher spent money on a massive mansion only for it to swallowed up by a sinkhole. At the ...

Title: The Wishbone Wish Author/Performed by: Megan McDonald/Amy Rubinate Genre: Fiction Age: 6-9 Judy and her brother Stink were getting ready for the annual Turkey Trot Race. Judy was preparing her costume as the Sarah Josepha Hale, the inventor of Thanksgiving, she told her brother how for 38 years she wrote letters to the Presidents saying they should celebrate Thanksgiving once again, but one listen until Abraham Lincoln came along. He listened and agreed to make a Thursday in November, a holiday for Thanksgiving. She told him she also wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Judy had planned on wining the Turkey Trot Race and the prize to go with it, a real turkey, so she had already called her Grandma Lou and told her not to by one, that's how confident she was that she was going to win, her brother didn't think that was such a good idea. They both wished on a chicken wishbone and Judy got the bigger half so her wish was bound to come true. Judy trained her brother...

Title: The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) Author/Illustrator: Barbara Kerley/ Edwin Fotheringham Genre: NonFiction Awards: CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book Award (2010); Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee and many other awards and nominations Age: 7-11 This book is about how Susy, Mark Twain's daughter, wrote a biography of her dad's life as she was growing up. Throughout this book there are little excerpts from Susy's journal that she kept on her father and how he carried himself and how he acted. In one of her journal excerpt she talked about his life when he was younger and how he would skip school, and that eventually went into the newspaper business and hopped around to many different things after that, and then ended up being a lecturer based on his friends recommendation. She mentioned his writing habits and that he would start just after breakfast and not be finished until just before supper, and he almost always skipped lunch. If he had a moment of in...

Title: Rosa Author/Illustrator: Nikki Giovanni/Bryan Collier Genre: Biography Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (2006) Age: 4-8 This book is about the life of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress and one day her supervisor let her go home early since she was just about done with the piece she was working on, and they knew that if she didn't she would be there all night trying to get it finished on time. When she got on the bus, she had her fare ready and remembered she had to enter through the "Colored" doors. She saw that the section for blacks was full, and she noticed an open seat in the neutral section next to a man she knew., so she sat next to him. As the bus made several stops, people got on and off, there wasn't any room in the white section, so the bus driver told her she had to give up her seat. The man she was sitting next to got up because he didn't want any trouble, and a few onlookers from the black section said she shouldn't have...

Title: Ballerina Dreams: a true story Author/Photographer: Lauren Thompson/ James Estrin Genre: Biography Award: Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Award (2008) Age: 4-8 This book is about five little girls' journey to become ballerinas, and it wasn't an easy journey for them because they had cerebral palsy or other muscle disorders. These girls had worked hard all year long and were finally getting to perform in their own recital. They did everything a normal child could, with the help of their helpers as needed. Leading up to the recital these girl worked harder, and practiced until they couldn't anymore. When it was time for the show their helpers helped them get ready for their first performance which was the Nutcracker, then after that they performed Swan Lake, and their finale was Wish upon a Star. During the finale each girl had a star and boldly said their name and they swayed and turn and the music ended with them being the stars of the night. Their teacher Joann wa...

Title: I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Author/Illustrator: Walter Dean Myers/Leonard Jenkins Genre: Non-fiction Age: 5-8 This book is about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This book talks about how Dr. King got involved in Civil Rights Movements and how he believed the American people should be treated, all while holding a non-violent view. It talked about how he got involved with the bus boycotts after Rosa Parks denied giving up her seat, and was then arrested because of it. The people felt that they shouldn't have to pay money to ride the bus if they were going to have to give up their seats, just because they weren't white. At the time Dr. King was a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, and people were impressed with him and asked him to lead the boycott. There were many groups that did everything to stop black people from being treated equal. Dr. King was even arrested so they could harass him, and ...

Title: Through My Eyes Author/Compiler & Editor: Ruby Bridges/ Margo Lundell Genre: Non-fiction; Autobiography Major Awards: Jane Addams Children's Book Awards; Carter C. Woodson Book Award Age: 8-12 This book is about Ruby Bridges life and how she changed a world's view and was the first child to be integrated into an all-white school system. In the beginning pages of this book w get a background of her early life and all the things she's experienced so far, and how when they were considering children to be integrated they had to take this test and how it was made to be super hard, because they figured if none of the black children passed the test they wouldn't have to integrate that school year, but Ruby and a few others passed that test and were set to be integrated. At first her father was unsure because he fought in the Korean War and knows how segregation can affect them, but ultimately it was her mother who convinced him that they should do it. As she l...