Monday, May 23, 2005

School is Out, Find time to READ!


Gavin
Originally uploaded by The Blake Slate.
It is time for teachers and students to work off some stress. Go for a walk, a swim, a bike ride, or play with your pets. This a picture of one of our family pets. He is chilling at the lake-- in the shade. When the summer temperature hits the 90s and it is too hot to play outdoors, head for the cool AC of the public library and check out a book.

READ something. "The more you read, the better you read."


Adams, Richard                        Watership down          
An allegorical tale of survival in which a band of wild rabbits leave their
ancestral home hoping to build a more humane society.


Alvarez, Julia                            Before we
were free
     Twelve-year-old Anita becomes more aware of the boys
around her and of the mounting danger to her family in the Dominican
Republic in 1960.


Anderson, M.T.                        Feed                           
For Titus and his teenaged friends, having transmitters implanted in their
heads is as normal as going to the moon or Mars on vacation. Everyone's
"feed" tells them everything they need to know-- there's no need to read or
write.


Anthony, Piers                        
On a pale horse            Zane shoots Death only to discover he must
take Death’s place.


Austen, Jane                            Pride
and prejudice
       Vivacious Elizabeth Bennett is repelled and
attracted by the arrogant Mr. Darcy in this story of their spirited
courtship.


Bass, L.G.                                Sign of
the Qin:  outlaws  of Moonshadow Marsh
                     In long-ago
China, Prince Zong, the mortal young Starlord chosen to save humankind from
destruction, joins the twin outlaws, White Streak and Black Whirlwind, to
fight the Lord of the Dead and his demon hordes. “A Chinese Lord of the
Rings
.”


Blackwood, Gary                     The year of the
hangman
           In 1777, having been kidnapped and taken forcibly from
England to the American colonies, fifteen-year-old Creighton becomes part of
developments in the political unrest there that may spell defeat for the
patriots and change the course of history.


Brinton, Elizabeth S.                 My American
Eden:  Mary Dyer, martyr for freedom
     The gripping story of a
remarkable woman of faith who dared to challenge the dark side of an
emerging America.


Bronte, Charlotte                      Jane Eyre                    
Hired to teach his daughter Adele, Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester in
haunted Thornfield Hall.


Bunch, Chris                             Corsair                        
Gareth Radnor is only a boy when Linyati slavers attack his village, killing
or capturing everyone there. Murder, mayhem, and magic all combine in this
rousing tale of pirates and strange beings that view humans as commodities.


Butler, Octavia                         
Kindred                        A black woman living in Southern
California suddenly finds herself cast back in time to the pre-Civil War
South, to rescue a hostile white child who turns out to be her
great-grandfather.


Cadmun,
Michael                     Blood Gold.                 After an
arduous journey, Will Dwinelle and his friend Ben finally reach California
in 1849 intending to bring home the man who betrayed the honor of a girl
back home in Philadelphia, but find themselves tempted by the riches of the
Gold Rush.


Chotjewitz, David                     Daniel,
half-human and the good Nazi (Daniel Halber Mensch)
            In
1933, best friends Daniel and Armin admire Hitler, but as anti-Semitism
buoys Hitler to power, Daniel learns he is half Jewish, threatening the
friendship even as life in their beloved Hamburg, Germany, is becoming
nightmarish. Also details Daniel and Armin’s reunion in 1945 in interspersed
chapters.


Cooney,
Caroline                     Goddess of yesterday               Taken
from her home on an Aegean island as a six-year-old girl, Anaxandra calls on
the protection of her goddess while she poses as two different princesses
over the next six years, before ending up as a servant in the company of
Helen and Paris as they make their way to Troy.


Crichhton, Michael                   The Andromeda
strain
              A team of scientists struggle to define and contain
a deadly bacteria brought back from outer space by a satellite.


Crossley-Holland,
Kevin           The seeing stone (and sequels)  In late
twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how
Merlin gives him a magical seeing stone
which shows him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose
life seem to have many parallels to his own.


Crowe, Chris                            Mississippi
Trial
            In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds
himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping
and murder of a fourteen-year-old African American from Chicago.


Crutcher,
Chris                        
Whale talk                    Intellectually and athletically gifted,
TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho
athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and
recruits some of the school's less popular students.


Curtis, Christopher
Paul            Bucking the sarge        
 
Deeply involved in his cold and
manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan,
fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy
Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and
becoming a philosopher.


Dickens, Charles                      Oliver Twist                 
The story of an orphan who is caught up in the life of the streets of London
with a man named Fagin who runs a young gang of thieves.


Farmer,
Nancy                         The sea of trolls            After Jack
becomes apprenticed to a Druid bard, he and his little sister Lucy are
captured by Viking Berserkers and taken to the home of King Ivar the
Boneless and his half-troll queen, leading Jack to undertake a vital quest
to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.


Gavin, Jamila                            Coram boy                  
Eighteenth-century England and a home for foundling and unwanted children
serve as the backdrop for this Dickensian tale of romance, faithful friends,
dastardly deeds, murder, and mystery.


Hayes, Daniel                           The trouble
with lemons
            Tyler and Lymie, eighth grade misfits, discover a
dead body in a quarry and work to uncover the mystery behind it.


Hemingway, Ernest                   The old man and
the sea
           The tragic yet triumphant battle between an old Cuban
fisherman and a giant marlin.


Hite,
Sid                                   The king of Slippery Falls         
While on a single-minded quest to catch an elusive giant trout,
sixteen-year-old Lewis Hinton’s life in a small Idaho town is turned
upside-down when he learns that he is adopted and might be a descendant of
French royalty.


Hobbs,
Will                              The maze                      Rick,
a 14-year-old foster child, escapes from a juvenile detention facility near
Las Vegas and travels to Canyonlands National Park in Utah, where he meets a
bird biologist working on a project to reintroduce condors to the wild.


Hoeye,
Michael                        Time stops for no mouse (and others in
the series)         When Linka Perflinger, a jaunty mouse, brings a watch
into his shop to be repaired and then disappears, Hermux Tantamoq is caught
up in a world of dangerous search for eternal youth as he tries to find out
what happened to her.


Hoover, H.M.                         
The dawn palace : the story of Medea   Having been trained in
supernatural knowledge, 13-year-old Medea finds herself in a unique position
to help when the Greek hero Jason comes to her father’s kingdom in search of
the Golden Fleece.


Howe,
Louise                           The Adventures of Blue Avenger          
            On his 16th birthday, still trying to cope with the
unexpected death of his father, David decides -- or does he -- to change his
name to Blue Avenger, hoping to find a way to make a difference in his
Oakland neighborhood and in the world.


Ibbotson,
Eva                           The star of Kazan         “One
foundling girl, two kindly servants, three eccentric professors, a glamorous
stranger, and a mysterious legacy yield a story as frothy and fragrant as a
pastry from Vienna—where this story just happens to be set.”


Jarvis,
Robin                             The dark portal         
While on a rescue mission, a few daring mice journey below to the sewers to
an evil world populated by rats that peel mice before eating them and
worship the Dark Lord.


Jordan,
Robert                         The eye of the world                
As ancient forces of evil converge on three frightened boys -- Rand, Matrim,
and Perrin -- whom can they trust? A witch and her warrior companion? A
storyteller with a past he won’t discuss? A man who hunts with wolves?


Kerr, M.E.                              
Deliver us from Evie                  Sixteen-year-old Parr Burrman
and his family face some difficult times when word spreads through their
rural Missouri town that his older sister is a lesbian.


Kidd, Sue
Monk                      The secret life of bees               In
the summer of 1964, 14-year-old Lily breaks her African American caretaker
out of jail, and the pair finds a home with the Calendar sisters, who keep
bees in a small South Carolina town.


King,
Laurie                             The beekeeper’s apprentice     
Sherlock Holmes meets an intellectual equal, 15-year-old Mary Russell, who
challenges him to investigate yet another case.


Klass,
David                             California Blue:  a novel           
When seventeen-year-old John Rodgers discovers a new sub-species of
butterfly which may necessitate closing the mill where his dying father
works, they find themselves on opposite sides of the environmental conflict.


LeGuin, Ursula                         
Earthsea cycle              An apprentice wizard tries his powers
before he is ready, and has to fight the evil he releases. Book I : A
wizard of Earthsea
.


Lubar,
David                            Wizards of the game                
Eighth grader Mercer, whose passion is the fantasy role-laying game Wizards
of the Warrior World, hopes to use a fund raiser to bring a gaming
convention to his middle school, but instead he attracts four genuine
wizards who are trapped on Earth and want his help in returning to their own
world.


Mori,
Kyoko                            Shizuko’s daughter       After her
mother’s suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with
her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother’s
family, and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy


Napoli, Donna
Jo                     Bound              In a novel based on Chinese
Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing Xing endures a life of
neglect and servitude, as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child’s
feet so that she alone might marry well.


Nicholson, William
                   The wind singer            After Kestrel Hath
rebels against the stifling rules of Amaranth society and is forced to flee,
she, along with her twin brother and a tagalong classmate, follow an ancient
map in quest of the legendary silver voice of the wind singer, in an attempt
to heal Amaranth and its people


Nix,
Garth                                Shade’s children           In a
savage postnuclear world, four young fugitives attempt to overthrow the
blood-thirsty rule of the Overlords with the help of Shade, their mysterious
mentor.


Ortiz Cofer,
Judith                    The meaning of Consuelo          Coming of
age in the 1950s, when American influence threatens to dilute Puerto Rico’s
traditional Spanish customs, as well as to harm its fragile ecology,
Consuelo watches her family being torn asunder—much like the island itself.


Paulsen,
Gary                           Soldier’s heart              Eager to
enlist, 15-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing the
horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.


Peck,
Richard                           The last safe place on earth      
Fifteen-year-old Todd sees his perfect suburban world start to unravel when
his little sister has her mind influenced by a member of a fundamentalist
sect and he begins to notice signs of censorship in his community.


Pope, Elizabeth
Marie               The perilous gard          In 1558 while
imprisoned in a remote castle, a young girl becomes involved in a series of
events that leads to an underground labyrinth peopled by the last
practitioners of druidic magic.


Pratchett,
Terry                        The colour of magic                 
Twoflower, an insurance salesman, sells insurance to an arsonist, is rescued
by the Wizard Rincewind and tours Discworld.


Rees,
Celia                               Witch child                   In
1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from
England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a
community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.


Smith,
Betty                              A tree grows in Brooklyn         
Story of Francie Nolan growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn from
1902 to 1919.


Spinelli,
Jerry                            Stargirl                         In
this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and
the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica
High School forever.


Tingle, Rebecca                        The edge on
the sword
In ninth-century Britain, fifteen-year-old Aethelflaed,
daughter of King Alfred of West Saxony, finds she must assume new
responsibilities much sooner than expected when she is betrothed to Ethelred
of Mercia in order to strengthen a strategic alliance against the Danes.


Tolan,
Stephanie                       Surviving the Applewhites        
Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty
and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers
talents and interests he never knew he had. Newbery Honor.


Turnbull,
Ann                            No shame, no fear        In England in
1662, a time of religious persecution, fifteen-year-old Susanna, a poor
country girl and a Quaker, and seventeen-year-old William, a wealthy
Anglican, meet and fall in love against all odds.


Twain, Mark                            A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
   A Connecticut  Yankee with a perfect
knowledge of machinery is transported back in time to the Court of King
Arthur.


Verne, Jules                              20,000
leagues under the sea
    Captured by the megalomaniacal Captain Nemo,
the central characters of this tale travel in an early submarine while
trying to plot their escape.


Wallace, Rich                           Shots on
goal
                While pursuing his goal of helping his soccer team
win the league championship, 15-year-old Bones tries to deal with his
resentment of his best friend, on whose girlfriend he has a crush.


Whelan, Gloria             Homeless bird             
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she
must either suffer a destiny dictated by India’s tradition or find the
courage to oppose it.


Woodson, Jacqueline                Miracle’s boys             
Twelve-year-old Lafayette’s close relationship with his older brother
Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames
Lafayette for the death of their mother.


Yolen, Jane                              Briar Rose                   
Grandmother Gemma always told the story of Briar Rose, and after she dies,
her granddaughter discovers that Gemma was a real-life Sleeping Beauty, a
Holocaust survivor.


 


SHORT STORIES:


Crutcher, Chris                        
Athletic shorts : six short stories


Johnson, Angela                       Gone from home
: short takes


Salisbury, Graham                    Island Boyz :
short stories


Appelt, Kathi                            Kissing
Tennessee and other stories from the Stardust Dance


NON-FICTION:


Bausum, Ann                            With courage
and cloth:  winning the fight for a woman’s right to vote


Bryson, Bill                               A walk in
the woods : rediscovering America on the Appalachian
        
                                                Trail


Hoose, Philip M.                      The race to
save the Lord God Bird


Krakauer, Jon                          Into thin air


Nelson, Peter                           Left for
dead : a young man’s search for justice for the USS

                                                Indianapolis


Pelts, Kathy                             
Discovering Christopher Columbus : how history is invented


Philbrick,
Nathaniel                   Revenge of the whale : the true story of the
Whaleship Essex
    


Shulman, Mark                     
  Attack of the killer video book: tips and tricks for young directors


POETRY:


Appelt, Kathi                            Poems from
homeroom : a writer’s place to start


Nye, Naomi Shihab                  19 varieties of
gazelle : poems of the Middle East


Stavans, ed.                              Wáchale :
poetry and prose about growing up Latino in America


BIOGRAPHY:


Allen, Thomas B.                      George
Washington, Spymaster:  how America outspied the British

                                               
and won the Revolutionary War


Bolden, Tonya                          Wake up our
souls:  a celebration of black American artists


Gingerich, Owen                       The book
nobody read:  chasing the revolutions of Nicolaus

                                                 Copernicus


Howard, Arlene                        Elston and me
: the story of the first black Yankee


Jiang, Ji-Li                                Red
scarf girl : a memoir of the cultural revolution


Man, John                                Gutenberg :
how one man remade the world with words


 

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