Shipwreck Island by S.A. Bodeen

Sarah is very angry with her father. Her mother has been dead for six years.  It has been just the two of them- -her father and herself-- against the world.  Now he has met and married Yvonna and moved her two sons Nacho and Marco into their luxurious California home from Texas.

“Tears welled up in Sarah’s eyes, and her throat felt thick. She whirled around striding away from their gate. How could he do that? How could he trust a virtual stranger like that? She’d read about these kinds of things happening, people meeting people online, marrying them, then stealing all their money.”

Her father and Yvonna decide to change their plans for a honeymoon to instead include Sarah, Marco, and Nacho.  It will be an exotic trip to Fiji.  They will sail among the islands and get to know each other as a family blended together.

When the ship Moonlight from Ends of the Earth Luxury Cruises turns out to be a ship in need of repair, both Marco and Sarah goad her father and Yvonna to continue with the excursion in the hopes that it will break up their parents’ month old marriage so their own lives can return to normal.

No one counted on a terrible sudden storm and the death of the ship’s captain!

Will the family “blend together” under the stress of this catastrophe? Will they survive Shipwreck Island?

Read Shipwreck Island to find out! There will definitely be a sequel to this book!

Hidden by Helen Frost

When Wren was eight years old, her mother’s car was stolen.  The scary part was that Wren was in the car but managed to remain hidden!

Days passed as Wren struggled to find a way to escape from the man’s home and garage where he was hiding the stolen vehicle. 

Wren didn't realize that people thought she may have been killed by whomever stole the car. No one knew that the perpetrator didn't even know she was in the car!

Fast forward six years. . . and the daughter of the man who stole the car, Darra, is at the same summer camp with Wren. Neither wants to discuss what happened. 

Read Hidden to find out if they can overcome the dramatic event which has linked them together.

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Ally Nickerson has made it to sixth grade but struggles daily with certain aspects of school-- basically reading and writing.

Here is how she describes how she succeeds in school:

                “I’ve always had one important rule in the classroom which is to try to lie low.  If I’m called upon, I’ll say, ‘I don’t’ know,’ even if I do.  I discovered that giving a teacher an answer makes them expect more from me, and then everyone gets disappointed.  If they never get an answer from me, they stop asking.”

Ally’s picked on mercilessly by a girl named Shay and her cohort Jessica.  Shay manages to make Ally feel stupid and dumb.

When a substitute teacher named Mr. Daniels takes over for Ally’s teacher while she is on maternity leave, he finds Ally to be extraordinarily talented in drawing and math.

Here is the advice Mr. Daniels gives Ally:

“Now don’t be so hard on yourself, okay? You know, a wise person once said,  “Everyone is smart in different ways.  But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it’s stupid.”

Will Ally finally be taught a method to read and write which will work for the way her brain processes the written word?

Read this second book by the author of One for the Murphys to find out.

Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff & Laura DeLuca

There has been a lot in the news about the 4,000 “Lost Boys of Sudan” who started coming to our country in 1999.  Little has been known about the Sudanese refugee girls.  This is largely due to the way girls are treated culturally in Sudan.  Boys in the refugee camps were placed in one area together-thus they were more visible when United Nations workers came to relocate them.  Girl refugees were fostered by families who would take them in so that they could profit by arranging their marriages.

Lost Girl Found is the fictional story of a Sudanese girl named Poni.  When soldiers begin killing villagers and when bombs hail down from the sky, everyone in Poni’s village runs for his/her life. As Poni is swept with others who are fleeing, she loses her mother and siblings.  

Days stretch into weeks before the survivors arrive at Kahuma. Kahuma was supposed to be their refuge.  Instead the camp is very overcrowded.  It is desert land. The dust is everywhere.  There is barely enough food to feed the masses.

Poni helps her foster mother erect a shelter with a piece of corrugated tin and a few chunks of wood.  This will hardly keep them safe.  Life will be constantly filled with dust and dirt.  All sense of time and passage of years are lost to Poni.  One day her foster mother tells her she has found a man in the camp who wants Poni for his wife.

Since this is the worst fate Poni can imagine, she strives to find a way out of the camp to a life where education and promise of a better future await. 

Imagine the obstacles she must overcome.  Read Lost Girl Found to understand her plight.

Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan

This novel is set in Tanzania, Africa in current day.  Habo is thirteen and the narrator of the story.

“Mother and I have always been like the two posts of a door frame, unable to move closer or farther away, and the emptiness that sits between us is the shape of my missing father.”

Habo’s father left the family as soon as he saw his fourth child – a “ghost child”- albino--born in a country where everyone has deep brown skin. Habo’s two other brothers are hostile to him.  Both brothers have to work extra hard in the coffee plantation to earn money for the family’s existence.  Habo’s fair skin and his ultra-sensitive eyes make it difficult for him to do much work outside due to sunburn and the blistering of his fair skin.

When his mother can no longer pay the rent for the farm where they live, the family travels a great distance to seek help from his mother’s sister’s family. In Mwanza where her sister lives, there is little room for extra guests, yet they are allowed to stay there until the mother can make enough money to locate somewhere on their own.

Habo and his family are totally unprepared to learn that it won’t be safe for the family to stay in Mwanza. The problem is quite dire.  Any albino is being hunted down, killed, and the body parts are being sold as good luck pieces. Even albinos who have lived long lives in Mwanza are being butchered in their homes by men much like the poachers of animals who kill endangered animals for their ivory tusks or their horns.

In the small home of his aunt, they arrange a hiding place for Habo behind stacks of corn. Here he spends his days while the rest go out to work or school. Only his youngest nephew is at home with him. When one of the animal poachers finds Habo, Habo knows he must flee or be the next albino killed. His is a hallowing tale of escape and then of the redeeming of his life in a totally new city.

What will Habo’s family do now to survive? How will they protect him? Read Golden Boy to find out.

Far Far Away by Tom McNeil

Far Far Away begins thus:

“What follows is the strange and fateful tale of a boy (Jeremy Johnson Johnson), a girl (Ginger Boultinghouse), and a ghost.  The boy possessed uncommon qualities, the girl was winsome and daring, and the ancient ghost (the teller of this fairy tale) intentions were good.”

The ancient ghost lived once as a mortal man known as Jacob Grimm.  Yes, the very Grimm who along with his brother Wilhelm wrote Grimm’s Fairy Tales.  Jacob, it seems, after he died went to Zwischenraum- the space between death and the afterlife.

Jeremy Johnson Johnson can hear the voice of the ghost of Jacob Grimm.  For that reason, “Jeremy hears strange whisperings” are taunted about him.  In the town of Never Better, Jeremy Johnson Johnson is definitely an outcast.

“There is yet another player in this cast, the Finder Of Occasions, someone who moved freely about the village, someone who watched and waited, someone who watched and waited, someone with tendencies so tortured and malignant that I could scarcely bring myself to them….”

Jeremy’s mother has run away.  His father has shut himself in his bedroom--forgoing of any normal life.  Their bookstore and home are being foreclosed.

If Jeremy Johnson Johnson can possibly win in the TV game, Uncommon Knowledge, there might be a hope for him and his father.

If you like fantasy and fairytales, this will be an enjoyable read.

Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus

If you are interested in fiction about the Holocaust, this historical fiction novel set in Norway during World War II might interest you.  It surely interested me as I had no knowledge about the Nazi occupation of Norway in 1940.  At one point 400,000 Nazi soldiers occupied Norway!  In fact, the Norwegian people were very worried that even after the war was over in 1945, these forces would still control Norway.

The story revolves around a fourteen year old character named Espen.  He has friends and plays on a competitive soccer team.

When the Nazis invade on April 9, 1940, the Norwegian army is only able to hold them until June 9, when Norway capitulates.  Despite this, nearly all Norwegian citizens conspired against the Nazis and committed resistance against their enemy by spying, by meeting secretly, by hoarding food, and other acts.  Espen decides he will aid the effort by carrying secret messages which will help the allies locate where the Nazis are located.  The work is extremely dangerous yet Espen perseveres for the resistance effort. 

It is interesting to see which of Espen’s soccer buddies decide to actually join the enemy.  They are the very students who would bully others at school or on the team.

Norway’s bitter winters and mountainous terrain are a great setting for the adventures that Espen is involved in.

When you realize that the character of Espen (Erling Storrusten) is based on an actual boy from this period of tumult, you appreciate the book all the more.

Read Shadow on the Mountain to find out more about this period in history.

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

It’s not easy being the younger brother of a high achieving older brother who is great looking,  tall, athletic, and smart.

Nate Foster is thirteen while his brother Anthony is sixteen.  Nate doesn’t like sports, is barely five feet four inches tall, and prefers singing and acting to sports.  Nate is constantly under attack from bullies at school. 

Luckily for Nate his best friend Libby appreciates his theatrical abilities and makes life bearable in Jankburg, PA.

When Libby finds out there is going to be an open casting call for E.T. The Musical in New York City, together they hatch a bold plan for Nate to take a Greyhound bus into the Port Authority in NYC so he can get to the casting call while his parents are away celebrating their 17^th wedding anniversary.

One stumbling block is Nate’s small size and his young looks.  Not to worry!  Libby has figured out all the details that Nate will need to use to navigate this daring escape from Jankburg, PA to the Big Apple.

What adventures await Nate once he gets to New York City by himself? How do his plans change when his parents end up coming home early due to a serious sports injury for his older brother Anthony?

Read Better Nate than Ever to find out!

Note: Nate’s next adventure is Five, Six, Seven, Nate!

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Love….love….loved this book!  Why? The main character, Willow Chance, is so endearing, so innocent and so special.

Willow has such a unique perspective.  She is obviously very intelligent, yet she has many obsessive tendencies.  She also has trouble fully understanding social situations.

When her class is given a standardized test, Willow finishes before all others in a very short time.  Her score is perfect! Her teacher believes she has cheated.  Willow is referred to a counselor- Dell Duke. Dell is pretty dysfunctional himself. He does pick up on Willow’s genius, however.

When a life changing event occurs, Willow becomes completely changed.  She can’t speak. She stops counting by 7s.  She can’t function normally at all.

Read this book! Willow’s recovery is endearing!  Her effect on others who respond to her plight is well worth the read.

Saving Bone by Shelley Stoehr

I loved, loved, loved the special relationship of the two main characters in Saving Bone!

Izzy (short for Isobel) and Seven (really Steven, but his father left off the “t” on his official birth certificate) are true best friends.

When Seven shows Izzy that a dog in their neighborhood is being abused by its owner, they hatch a plan to rescue the dog they affectionately call Bone.

There are reasons that Seven is so intent on rescuing the defenseless dog Bone. His home life has left him powerless and fueled his anger to undo any injustice he sees.

Read this charming book about friendship.

Just how far will Izzy and Seven’s friendship be tested?

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

I really enjoyed Jenny Han’s other books: The Summer I Turned Pretty and It’s Not Summer without You.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved is a delightful read.

Lara Jean has the greatest respect for her older sister Margot.  When Margot leaves for college in Scotland, Lara Jean must assume some of the roles Margot played in the family.  Their father is a busy doctor.  Katherine (Kitty) is Lara Jean’s much younger sister. Their mother has died many years ago.

Before she died, her mother gave her a teal colored hatbox. Lara Jean has used this special possession to put all her secret keepsakes inside. She has written some letters to boys she has “loved” or been infatuated with since she was in middle school. When her prized hatbox goes missing, she is very disturbed.

Lara Jean enjoys writing.  She is quite reserved as a high school junior.  When some private letters which were in her hatbox are mailed, Lara Jean is overwhelmed by the attention that two of the male recipients share with her.  The letters reflect her feelings from seventh grade not her feelings now as a junior in high school!

Josh, Margot’s ex-boyfriend is one of the boys! Since Lara Jean would never do anything to hurt Margot, she wants to make sure Josh doesn’t become interested in her.  Peter, a very popular Lacrosse player, who has just broken up with his girlfriend of four years, is the other boy who received one of the letters.

Lara Jean decides to engage in a make believe relationship with Peter so that Josh won’t be interested in her.  Peter is very willing to entertain this fake relationship because he is anxious to make his ex-girlfriend Gen, jealous.

Neither Lara Jean nor Peter actually expects that they might actually end up really liking each other!

Read this excellent Jenny Han novel to find out just how complicated life can become for Lara Jean!

Surrounded by Sharks by Michael

Davey’s family has taken a vacation to Aszure Island in the Florida Keys.  His parents need this vacation to relax as well as to reflect on their import business which hasn’t been doing well.

Davey, in typical thirteen-age fashion, finds the island “boring.” When he decides to leave the hotel room he is sharing with his mom and dad and younger brother Brandon early in the morning before anyone else is awake, it is to find some solitude to read.

When his family awakens to find Davey’s bed empty, they begin to search the hotel, island, dock area to no avail.

What they don’t realize is that Davey has waded into the water where an undertow and riptide current have taken him out to sea.

Davey’s trial at sea begins.  When he sees a blue shark in the water beneath him, he tries many different ideas to deter an attack which becomes more imminent as two black-tipped sharks and a huge tiger shark also circle around him.

How will his family figure out what has happened to their son? 

Will help arrive in time to save Davey?

Read Surrounded by Sharks to find out!

The Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

I am only recommending this book to mature readers.

Children need parents to raise them.  Even eighteen-year-old Hayley Kincain needs her father Andy’s guidance and wisdom.  The only problem is that Andy is what is known as a “damaged” dad.

Andy has served two tours of duty in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan.  His personal demons from these tours of duty have affected every area of his life.

Unable to hold down a steady job, Andy and Hayley have moved around a great deal. Finally, they have returned to the small town where Hayley was born so she can attend high school for the first time.

Hayley’s mom Rebecca died when she was very young.  Haley’s grandma raised Hayley after her mom died while Andy served in the war.  Since her grandmother’s death, Andy has tried to be her father.

The trouble with Hayley is that Andy has become an alcoholic.  He doesn’t sleep well, and depends upon Hayley to be the strength of the family.

When Andy’s second wife Trish comes to town, Hayley can’t forgive her for deserting them.

Will Hayley be able to overcome those major issues- fear of abandonment, a father who resists any help offered, a step-mother she can’t tolerate, and a high school schedule she finds restrictive? Will Finn, the boy she meets in high school be able to cope with Hayley’s many issues?

Read The Impossible Knife of Memory to find out.

The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

If you have an interest in history and an interest in medicine, this book will definitely appeal to you!  I found it to be easily accessible and a pleasure to read

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London, 1854

“Eel” and his younger brother Henry have lost their father and then a few years later their mother.  Before she passed away, she made the unfortunate decision to marry “Fisheye” Bill Tyler as her second husband. Little did she know Bill wanted the boys as beggars. “Eel” fled his nasty stepfather with Henry when his mother died. “Fisheye” Bill has been on the lookout ever since.

Eel received his nickname because he is so fast and can usually flee from pick pockets and other less than desirable street people. Eel has to come up with money each week to pay for Henry’s keep and schooling.

Eel has a few jobs. He is known as a “mudlark”- a boy who scavenges the mudflats of the Thames River which flows through London for bits of reusable coal, metals, and anything else he can sell. Mudlarks are often easy prey for criminal types. Eel also works at the Lion Brewery- sweeping their floors and for a Dr. Snow- cleaning the cages of his experiment animals and feeding them.

Eel’s life and those in the area of London where he works and lives takes a most serious turn when The Great Trouble- blue cholera- begins to strike.

Eel’s ability to earn enough money for Henry’s keep is also in jeopardy when he is accused of stealing from his boss at the Lion Brewery. How will he clear his name? How will he be able to pay Mrs. Miggle for Henry’s lodging and schooling?

How will The Great Trouble- the cholera epidemic-- be solved with El’s help?

This story and the eventual solving of the cause of cholera are based on historical fact.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I really enjoyed this well-written book.  However, I am only recommending this title to mature readers.

The narrator, Cadence Sinclair Eastman, has suffered a major trauma which affects her ability to remember clearly the events of her fifteenth summer. The memory loss makes her an inconsistent narrator. As a reader, one cannot truly guarantee that events occurred as Cadence recalls them.

Cadence’s extended family (her mother’s two sister and families) spends summers on their privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts. Beechwood Island has four huge houses (one for each of the Sinclair daughters and one for their father & mother.) Cadence has spent each summer of her life at Beechwood.

Her two cousins, Johnny and Mirren, are her best friends. The three have always been affectionately known as just “the cousins,” but the year they were eight, Gat Patil came to the island with Cadence’s Aunt Carrie. After that the four were known as the liars.

Gat was different from the line of Sinclairs. His skin bore the color of Indian dissent. Cadence’s granddad and grandma did not accept him.

Cadence’s affection for this boy who is different is evident, “Gat was my love, my first and only. How could I let him go?”

The trauma that occurs shatters the entire Sinclair line, but especially Cadence.

Read, We Were Liars to find out what could possibly have gone so wrong on such an idyllic summer island.

Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes

What would it be like to live in a Nazi occupied city (Florence, Italy) in 1944, during World War II? Shirley Hughes has given us a novel through which to find out what it would be like to be a thirteen-year-old boy named Paolo.

So many things I have never thought about during war time became evident to me. Food rationing and just the scarcity of food in general was a daily trial.  Wondering who would turn you in to the Nazis if you were found resisting their control in any way, i.e. breaking curfew, harboring an escaped allied prisoner of war, helping the Partisans (Italians working against the Nazis), and not showing them their due respect were just a few ways you could end up being shot!

When I thought how restricted daily life was for an occupied city, I could fully understand how “boring and confining” life for a teenager would have been.

With Paolo’s family (his mother Rosemary and his older sister Constanza) being constantly on the Nazi’s suspect list, Paolo is wanting to do something exciting to help the Partisans.  Little does Paolo realize how dangerous his attempts will be.

I loved this highly accessible piece of historical fiction.  I also found the book jacket image to be reflective of the graphic art of the 1940’s.

Read Hero on a Bicycle to find out how a thirteen-year-old boy on a bike can help fight against Nazi control.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Mature readers should really enjoy this book.  Warning- -strong language is used infrequently in this book.

Jamaica (Jam for short) Gallahue has suffered a devastating loss.  Teeve Maxwell was Jam’s first love.  The loss of him has completely derailed Jam.  Since Jam is still in mourning after a year, upon the advice of her family and her therapist, she is sent to The Wooden Box, a special type of boarding school in Vermont.

“Although no one comes right out and says it, The Wooden Box is sort of a halfway house between a hospital and a regular school.”

The transition to this special school isn't the easiest for Jam.  The other “unhinged” fellow students have their own personal traumas through which to work.

When Jam is selected with five other students for a special English class entitled “Special Topics,” Jam’s roommate DJ is crushed.  She has been at The Wooden Box for two years and has never been offered the opportunity to be in this class.

Mrs. Quenell has decided since this will be her last semester teaching, the sole author the five students in Special Topics English will explore is Sylvia Plath.  They will be studying her poetry as well as her most famous work The Bell Jar. Each student is given a very special red leather bound journal in which to write his/her thoughts.

What they don’t know initially is that the journals transport them back to the trauma with which they are suffering.  The five discover that all of them are experiencing the same effect of the journal writing.  They decide to term this out of body experience “going to Belzhar”-- thus the title of this book.

Will traveling to Belzhar help each of them cope or will it induce more trauma into their already troubled lives? Read this title to find out!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I really enjoyed this well-written book.  However, I am only recommending this title to mature readers.

The narrator, Cadence Sinclair Eastman, has suffered a major trauma which affects her ability to remember clearly the events of her fifteenth summer.  The memory loss makes her an inconsistent narrator.  As a reader, one cannot truly guarantee that events occurred as Cadence recalls them.

Cadence’s extended family (her mother’s two sister and families) spends summers on their privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts. Beechwood Island has four huge houses (one for each of the Sinclair daughters and one for their father & mother.) Cadence has spent each summer of her life at Beechwood.

Her two cousins Johnny and Mirren are her best friends.  The three have always been affectionately known as just “the cousins,” but the year they were eight, Gat Patil came to the island with Cadence’s Aunt Carrie.  After that the four were known as the liars.

Gat was different from the line of Sinclairs.  His skin bore the color of Indian dissent. Cadence’s granddad and grandma did not accept him.

Cadence’s affection for this boy who is different is evident, “Gat was my love, my first and only. How could I let him go?”

The trauma that occurs shatters the entire Sinclair line, but especially Cadence.

Read, We Were Liars to find out what could possibly have gone so wrong on such an idyllic summer island.