Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Jack isn’t like most eleven-year olds.  His mom has “spinning” episodes when her mind spins out of control because she fails to take her medication properly.  She has one of these “episodes” when Jack and she are on vacation at Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor, Maine.  Jack wakes up in his small Hubba tent to find his mother has left him alone at the campsite.  When he gets his wits about him, he phones her cell phone and leaves a message, “Where are you?”  His mom never responds to his call.

Jack fends for himself--desperate to keep this abandonment from an authority figure.  He fears his mom will be arrested and he will be permanently removed from her care.  He has no one else who can take him in as his mom has told Jack his grandmother can’t be trusted.

But how does an 11 year-old without any money survive by himself so far from home?  Will he resort to stealing food?  Lying?  Will anyone help him?  And just where has his mother spun away to this time?

Small as an Elephant is a truly delightful, dear story of a young boy struggling to protect his mother yet fending for himself.

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

Laurel has a beautiful name. It means “stays green forever.”  The plant laurel will be green even in the middle of winter- -giving hope for the spring.

Laurel’s family in Pass Christian, Mississippi suffered a tremendous loss when her mother and her grandmother died in a hurricane.

Now it is just Laurel, her dedicated father and her much younger brother Jesse Jr. When Laurel and her family move to Galilee, Laurel meets Kaylee and T-Boom.  Laurel and Kaylee are both cheerleaders--full of life as 15 year olds.  T-Boom is the captain of the basketball team.  When he introduces Laurel to “Moon” (Meth), she is instantly transported to a state of mind where she doesn’t’ have to deal with her family’s losses.  Her drug use spirals out of control.

Will her father’s efforts to save her, keep Laure off Moon? Will his prayers and the church’s efforts reach her in time to save her life?

Read this sensitive portrayal of drug addiction--Beneath a Meth Moon-- gone awry to find out.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

Georges (pronounced as if the “s” is silent at the end of his name) has had to move with his mom and dad from a house to an apartment in Brooklyn.  His dad has lost his job and decided to start his own company.  Georges’ mom is a nurse.

At the apartment building he meets a rather strange family.  Candy (aged 10), Safer (Georges’ age) and Pigeon--an older boy and their much laid back “bohemian” parents who have home schooled the kids.

Safer befriends Georges.  He has a “spy club.”  He teaches Georges about making observations of people, the tracking of people’s daily habits, etc. to scope out potential problem people in their building. Georges stops playing along with Safer’s ideas when he suggests breaking into and entering the mysterious Mr. X’s apartment when he is away.

Georges has problems at school. Two relentless bullies, Dallas and Carter,  are making his life at school miserable. His standard response to them is to not respond; he just takes it. This is not the best way to deal with bullies.

Will Georges’ new friend Safer succeed in finding out about the mysterious Mr. X?  Will Georges’ parents have to intervene to end the incessant bullying at school?

Read Liar and Spy to find out.

 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein

Code Name Verity tells the story of two best friends in England during WWII. Maddie is a feisty, mechanically inclined, talented girl with her heart set on being a pilot. Queenie is the multi-lingual, very smart spy.

Their lives become entwined in many ways before the mission that eventually sends them to France.  When their tail wing is damaged by anti-aircraft fire, Maddie makes Queenie parachute.  Neither knows whether the other survives. 

Does Queenie land safely?  Does Maddie succeed in bringing the Lysander aircraft down safely without the tail wing?  Will either of them be able to survive in the French countryside where the Gestapo is firmly entrenched?

 

Read this historical fiction piece to find out what it takes to survive in war torn hostile France. This title is recommended for mature readers who can follow a complicated plot.

 

The Ghost of Flight 401 by John G. Fuller

I ordered The Ghost of Flight 401 after students requested the title. They had read a very intriguing part of this story in reading class and wanted to have the full story of the event.

John G. Fuller is an author of nonfiction titles. He usually investigates heady subjects such as nuclear disasters. One of his nonfiction titles is entitled: Fever: The Hunt for a New Killer Virus.  So he was very skeptical about the story he had heard regarding apparitions of a pilot and flight engineer who had passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly when the Eastern Airlines Lockheed Tristar  L-1011 they were piloting crashed in the Florida Everglades near Miami airport. Of the 176 people aboard, 75 survived the horrific crash.

Although this book is written for an adult audience, interested young adult readers can certainly understand it and benefit from the detailed research that John Fuller conducted in order to understand the strange sightings stewardesses and other pilots were having of the pilot—Bob Loft--and the flight engineer—Don Repo--after the crash on other airlines.

I really liked this book! It made me think about the possibility to life after death in a new way. I found the thorough way in which the author told the story to be most compelling.

Students who are mature readers and are open to new ways of thinking about ghosts will enjoy this title.