2005 National Book Award Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  A mean man hits a dog, who yelps in pain and retreats to its owner.

Sexual Content:  12-year-old Rosalind has a crush on 17-year-old Cagney, the gardener boy. She spies him kissing another girl and wishes it were her he were kissing, wondering what it might feel like. Children eavesdrop on a boy’s mother, who kisses her boyfriend and talks about marrying him.

Adult Themes:  Jeffrey’s mother is portrayed as an unkind, impatient, demanding woman who yells at her son and his friends a lot. She threatens to send Jeffrey to military school, where he’ll learn real discipline and proper behavior. Whether this borders on actual verbal abuse is probably up to the reader (if you’re a child, then yes; if you’re a parent, then perhaps not.) There is no physical abuse whatsoever.

Synopsis

The four Penderwick girls, their widowed father (a kindly botany professor), and their dog rent a cottage in the Massachusetts countryside for three weeks one summer, where they encounter all the delightful adventures one could possibly hope for in such a short span of time.  The cottage is actually a guest house on an enormous estate called Arundel, owned by the fabulously wealthy and equally snobbish Mrs. Tifton, whose own sweet 11-year-old son Jeffrey is in need of new and adventurous friends. He finds them, of course, in the Penderwicks–much to his mother’s chagrin, who considers the girls a very bad influence. Rosalind, who is 12, experiences the pangs of her first unrequited love when she meets the gardener boy, Cagney–seventeen, handsome, charming, and naturally inclined to see Rosalind as just a little girl. Then there is Skye, who is 11 and feisty, and hasn’t yet learned that speaking one’s mind (especially in front of Mrs. Tifton) can sometimes cause trouble. Ten-year-old Jane is an aspiring author with several unpublished books under her belt already, but just may find fodder for her new novel here at Arundel. Then there is four-year-old Batty, in butterfly wings and ever accompanied by faithful Hound, their pet dog. Together these four girls with Jeffrey in tow will escape a charging bull, ruin Mrs. Tifton’s garden party, discover a trove in Jeffrey’s attic, save runaway bunnies, and find the courage to face off to the tyrannical Mrs. Tifton herself. What more could one hope for in three short weeks?

The subtitle to this endearing novel is: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. And really, that is all the formula one needs for summer adventure. This book follows in the tradition of the classic children’s novel about families (think Alcott’s March sisters, or Nesbit’s Bastables), where siblings stick together through all sorts of mishaps or disagreements and come out better in the end. It requires no wizardry to make children fall inlove with this kind of simple formula, but the result is indeed magical. My 9-year-old daughter devoured this book, as did everyone in her little girls’ book club, and all agreed that a summer at Arundel Cottage would be ideal (in spite of having to deal with the dreadful Mrs. Tifton and her obnoxious boyfriend, Dexter). Now they are all eager to read the sequel, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. Highly recommended.

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  There are many instance of fighting with muskets, knives or fists.  Many people die and there is some description of the various ways.  There are many chase scenes.  Brusenna is frequently treated roughly.  She is shot, hit, bound and gagged.  There is a type of war between soldiers and the witches and many people die.  Brusenna almost drowns.

Sexual Content:  A boy taunts a girl and then grabs her breast.  Senna strips naked and applies a potion to her body.  When a girl changes from a seal to a human, she is naked.  A boy jumps on top of her to cover her up.  Someone asks, “oh, you’re ashamed of being naked?”  There are some kisses throughout.

Adult Themes:  There is some severe prejudice against the witches.  They are treated unfairly and ostracized for who they are, even though they do not harm anyone.  Brusenna experiences this in her village as people will not sell to her and she is forced to pay exorbitant prices for everything.  Her mother leaves her to seek out the other witches and Bresenna feels abandoned.

Synopsis

Once upon a time the witch song controlled the world and it’s elements, keeping everything in balance.  Then things started to change and the witches began to disappear.  When Brusenna’s mother, one of the last remaining witches, is also taken captive by an evil traitor witch, Brusenna realizes that she is the last hope for a dying world.  Unfortunately, she is also very young and inexperienced in the ways of the witch.  Her journey is frightening and dangerous but she is not alone.  Her quest brings many loyal and true friends to her cause.  But will that be enough to stop the evil before it grows to strong?  Will Brusenna’s song be enough to save them?

This book was filled with adventure and action.  I enjoyed the interesting take on witches and the beautiful world that was created in my mind.  Brusenna’s own personal journey is heart warming.  She has spent most of her life being treated poorly by everyone around her.  Her self esteem is low.  She feels weak and uneducated.  But through trials and experiences her confidence grows and she begins to realize the extraordinary power that lies within her.  There were many things to like about this book.  This book is labeled for 11 years old and up and while I’m not sure I’d let my 11 year old read it, I’ll be passing this one on to my 14 year old.  She will love this book.

Ratings Explanation

Language:  There are some exclamations involving Deity.  A girl calls her father a jackass.  Pisser is used as a name and mentioned several times.

Violence:  A father hits his daughter across the face.  Two girls get into a fight at school.

Sexual Content:  A girl thinks about her first kiss.  There is an “almost” kiss.

Adult Themes:  Mental disabilities, prejudice, social classes and family issues are all touched upon lightly.

Synopsis

The first time Juli saw Bryce she flipped.  Even at 6 years old those baby blue eyes had her convinced that Bryce was the only boy for her.  The first time Bryce saw Juli he ran away.  Juli was an annoying pest that just wouldn’t go away.  Bryce has been dodging Juli since 1st grade, but now that they are in eighth grade, something is changing.  Bryce is beginning to see Juli in a new light, but now Juli has decided that Bryce and his baby blues are not all she thought them to be.

This story is told from the two different points of view of Juli and Bryce.  Through them we get a glimpse of the events and thoughts that shape who they are becoming.  Riddled with misunderstandings and comic errors, this book will leave you smiling.  It is a light, easy read that young teens and pre-teens will enjoy.  This book was recommended to me by a friend and I’m glad I picked it up.  I believe Flipped has even been made into a movie (although I haven’t seen it).  Recommended reading level of 10 years and up, 5th grade and up.

Ratings Explanation

Language:  A comment is made about giving someone the finger.  There are a couple of references to someone swearing but no actual swearing occurs.  For example, someone “let out streams of curse words.”

Violence:  A woman has a dream that a dragon is terrorizing the city.  The dragon grabs a van with screaming occupants and then drops it back to the earth.  It grabs and then drops a woman to the ground.  People are hiding and trying to escape.  In the dream, the woman is clawed down her back by the dragon and wakes up to find the claw marks on her back.  Tori and Jesse fight.  A fireball singes Tori’s hair.  In training, people get hurt.  Tori breaks through a window.  Guards are shot with tranquilizer guns.  Tori is captured by bad men and chained up.  Guards are tackled.  There is a fight with a dragon, with fire and chasing.  The dragon is killed.  Tori is shot at.

Sexual Content:  There are a couple of kisses.

Synopsis

Tori did not sign up to save the world.  She just wanted to attend a dragon camp for the summer.  As the Senator’s daughter, she might be spoiled but she is also smart and uncommonly gifted at many things, like archery and shooting.  Now she is being told that she has powers passed down from ancient knights who used to fight against dragons.  Oh, and by the way, dragons are real.  Very real.  And very dangerous.  That’s why Tori is being asked to train and hone those powers to save the world from the hands of an evil man who holds the eggs of the dragons.  If she and the few others like her don’t stop him, many innocent lives will be lost.

This was an exciting, fun read from beginning to end.  My daughter actually got to this book before me.  She handed it back to me the next day and said, “this was a really good book, mom.  We should buy this book.  When is the next one coming out?”  I completely agree.  This is a book I’ll want to read again.  The story and the characters were great.  I could visualize this book as if it were a movie.  I loved the humor too.  It was right up my alley.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book.  ”That will teach you, she told herself sternly, not to fall for guys just because they’re gorgeous and have superpowers.  It never ends well.”  This book is labeled YA.

Rating Explanation

Language:  There is frequent profanity and mild swearing (hell, damn) often amplified by the use of “bloody”.  Bloody is also used on it’s own.

Violence:  There is a brawl at a pub and men are fighting.  Kiki is chased when someone catches her stealing.  Kiki is attacked in an alley and treated roughly.  There is more stealing and chasing.  Fey attack Rieker and Tiki several times, hurting them.  Rieker remembers his family drowning in a violent storm.  There is a fight with the Fey.  Tiki hits a faery in the face making her bleed.  Rieker is clawed and bleeding.  A faerie is stabbed with an iron knife and killed.

Sexual Content:  A girl is kissed roughly by a faerie in an alley.  There is a kiss.

Adult Themes:  Kids work the streets stealing from people.  They are orphans or kids who have been discarded by their parents.  They steal to survive.  There are a few instances of drinking, including minors.  There is reference to the health issues of the time and the inability to treat those conditions.

Synopsis

For Tiki, life is about stealing enough each day to be able to feed her “family”, a group of kids banded together by circumstance.  Orphaned and discarded, these kids work the streets each day in a desperate struggle to survive and avoid getting caught.  When the opportunity to steal a gorgeous, mesmerizing ring literally falls in front of her, Kiki seizes the moment, thus setting off a chain of events that she could never have imagined.  The ring holds the promise of peace between the human and fey worlds.  In the wrong hands, it could bring destruction.  And everyone, it seems, wants that ring and will do anything to get it.

This was a fast moving story that drew me in from the first moments and made me want to keep reading.  Tiki’s desire to take care of and protect her “family” of orphans is touching and admirable.  I love the setting in England and I love the ring at the center of this story.  If I could erase the language from this book, I would be shouting my book love here.  This is a well written, engaging story.

Ratings Explanation

Language: The Herdmans take the Lord’s name in vain twice. “Hell” is used once, as well as “shut up.” The book says that the Herdman children “say dirty words” and “swear.”

Violence: The Herdmans are bullies. They hit, bite, and otherwise physically torment their peers. They are vandals and set things on fire.

Sexual Content: Brief reference to the Herdmans “talking about sex” and how they look at “dirty books.”

Adult Themes: Imogene Herdman (and other siblings) smoke cigars. The children in the community are afraid of the Herdmans.

Synopsis

The six Herdman children are the town delinquents. They spend their days stealing, lying, smoking, bullying and vandalizing the community. “The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.” So tells Beth, a child herself, who narrates the hilarious story of how those outrageous children end up invading the only “Herdman-free” place in town—the church. After they bully their way into taking over the main Christmas pageant parts, the Herdman children learn the nativity story for the first time. Their crazy interpretations of the Christmas Story help the whole town to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas, while they reinact the most memorable and “best Christmas pageant ever.”

This is a children’s classic!! I love the funny, unforgettable characters who take over the Christmas pageant and worm their way into our hearts. This makes for a great December read-aloud for classrooms or families alike. Countless stage productions are acted out annually across America, or there is a great movie version that can be enjoyed after reading the book. Years ago the Herdmans, and their antics, became one of our family’s best-loved Christmas traditions. Maybe it can be yours, too.

Ratings Explanation

Language:  There are a couple of instances of name calling.

Violence:  Elijah is chased by something unknown.  Elijah’s whole family is killed.  Elijah is hit across the face by the chancellor and then hit across his hands with a stick that has thorns on it.  He bleeds.  Someone is trying to whip Samuel.  Samuel mentions that he has been hit before.  Someone almost falls over a ledge but is rescued.  Something is trying to get Elijah.  Samuel is kidnapped and Elijah’s room is thrashed.  A guard is hit and is knocked unconscious.  Hannah is kidnapped and the ropes that bind her hands tear into her skin.  A Maliphist sends lightning and knocks kids off their horse.  One kid is knocked unconscious.  The earth rumbles and breaks apart causing the Maliphists to fall in.  Elijah breaks into a prison, is caught and hit across face.  There is a chase.  The Maliphists and Magi have an encounter using elements to fight each other.  Elijah’s uncle was tortured in prison.

Sexual Content:  A young child is running around naked.

Adult Themes:  Elijah’s family is killed and his Uncle is missing, leaving him alone.  Samuel’s family doesn’t care about him.  Maliphists prey on young boys with problems.

Synopsis

After witnessing his family’s murders, thirteen-year-old Elijah Hawk is left alone, confused and scared.  His instincts saved him, but he couldn’t save his family.  Now he senses someone or something is still after him, someone other than the detective hauling him away to some far-off boarding school.  Through a kind and patient professor, Elijah learns of a new world of people and powers unlike any he has ever known.  The Magi take Elijah in and begin to teach him of their ways.  But, another group of people, the Malaphists, demand that Elijah be theirs and they will stop at nothing to get to him.  When two of Elijah’s friends are taken in place of him, he knows he must do something.  He cannot continue to let people suffer because of him.  But what can one thirteen-year-old kid do?

The Magi was a pleasure to read from beginning to end.  A couple of times I completely forgot I was reviewing because I was so caught up in the book.  There were so many great things to love about this book.  I appreciated the “clean” nature of this book.  There was no swearing or sexual situations that would make me hesitant to pass this book on to my kids.  It was filled with growing relationships of friendship, action and suspense.  Here is my favorite quote from the book.  ”The soul is the fingerprint of the Creator.  Once a soul connects to another soul, they unite and become one.  So if your soul is able to access the soul of an element, you can control that element the same way you would control your own body.”  Cool.  This is a family friendly book for all ages.  My thanks to Kevin Turner for offering this book to me for review.  I’ll be looking forward to the next installment!

Ratings Explanation

Language: Name calling and belittling

Violence: Fighting with fists, brooms and mops.

Adult Situations: Spencer’s father has left their family. Adults lie to children. Garth uses children to help him gain power.

Synopsis

Spencer Zumbro is starting sixth grade at a new school. So far, things aren’t going so great. To make things worse, he keeps falling asleep in class. During one of his little naps, the class bully draws on his face with permanent marker. Spencer runs to the bathroom to clean it off. The only thing he can find is a mysterious bottle of pink soap which burns his face but removes the marker. That is when he first notices the strange creatures roaming the school. The problem is, no one else can see them, except for maybe the janitors, who seem to be chasing them down with their cleaning equipment. Everyone starts to think Spencer is a little crazy. Everyone that is except a mysterious man named Garth Hadley. Garth convinces Spencer to follow him out to his van one day after school, where he promises to explain everything. The van is loaded with all kinds of janitorial supplies, which Garth explains are actually magical. Garth tells Spencer that he is from the BEM, a special division that protects students from evil, magical janitors. Spencer is not quite sure how to take all of this in, but when Garth invites him to help debilitate the evil warlock janitor who reigns in his school, he can’t pass it up. Spencer is given a few magical tools to help him locate the bronze nail and hammer which are the source of the warlock’s power. Spencer decides he needs help and recruits his gullible classmate Daisy. After exposing her to the mysterious soap, Daisy too can see the magical creatures and joins Spencer in his quest to save their school. After unwillingly becoming involved in all kinds of menacing and rule breaking activities to help Garth, Spencer and Daisy are suspended from school and given detention with the dreaded janitors. After a few days working with the ‘evil’ janitors Marv and Walter, they learn the story of the strange creatures from a different perspective. The janitors tell them that it is actually Garth Hadley who is the evil one and they are only trying to protect the school from him. They explain that Garth is actually trying to keep the strange creatures around to drain the smarts out of all the kids. That changes everything. Spencer and Daisy join the janitor team and learn to use a whole new set of magical cleaning supplies. It is now up to them to try and save their school from Garth and his BEM team.

This book has been a huge hit at our school, especially with the upper elementary kids. Who would have thought that cleaning supplies would make such an impact on the literary world? I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot up to the very end which opens up all kinds of possibilities for a sequel. A great book for all ages.

Rating Explanation

Language:  The B word is used more than a handful of times.  Frequent mild swearing (hell, damn, ass), profanity, and terms such as piss and suck.  The phrase “dicked her out” is used.

Violence:  A convenience store is held up by a man with a gun.  There are hostages.

Sexual Content:  Guys are somebody if the popular girl makes out with them.  People are dancing MTV style, gyrating on the dance floor.  Someone talks of bumping crotches.  ”It’s no wonder everyone on the debate team is still a virgin.”  Kids playing truth or dare make out – one couple for 20 seconds, the other locked in the bathroom with the lights off.  Someone asks someone else how many people she has slept with.  She confesses to being a virgin.  A couple kisses and his hands are “everywhere”.  There is kissing.

Adult Themes:  Brooklyn is involved with trespassing, under-age drinking and arson.  She is taken to jail.  She has a hangover.  High school kids smoke cigarettes.  There is more under-age drinking of champagne.  A girl’s dad is arrested for stealing his client’s money.  Brooklyn’s sister takes a drug to help her “deal better” with school pressures.  She overdoses and is taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Synopsis

Brooklyn just cannot seem to help herself.  Bad decisions seem to come absolutely naturally.  When she is arrested for trespassing, arson and under-aged drinking, life comes to a screeching halt.  Being grounded for life and doing community service are nothing compared to being socially snubbed by your best friend and losing your social life.  Brooklyn decides that enough is enough.  She is going to quit making decisions for herself and instead, blog to the world and have them decide the things that she should do.  It seems like the perfect solution.  Or is it?  Would you put your fate into the hands of blog readers?

The premise of this book is fun.  It has a very contemporary setting and we probably all have known somebody exactly like the main characters.  This book has a very high school feel to it and took me right back to all the exploits of so many people I went to school with.  This book is labeled YA (ages 15-25).  I would recommend the upper end of that spectrum based on content.

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Jen is physically abused by her father.  He made her stand still and shot a gun all around her.  He also beats her.  He is killed by police in a shootout.  Jen’s mother kills a man who is trying to rape her daughter by stabbing him to death.

Sexual Content:  Jen makes a show of taking her clothes off to show bathing suit underneath.  There is hand holding and frequent kisses throughout the book.  Jen talks about her mom’s boyfriend trying to rape her after she begins to develop.  Kids go to a party where there are couples making out.

Adult Themes:  Jen is put into the foster care system after her abusive father is killed and her mother is put into prison.  She is frequently in trouble, going to parties, doing drugs, drinking alcohol and sneaking out.  Jen’s mother abandoned her and tells her she left because of abuse and because she hated Jen and resented her.  There is underage drinking and drug use.  Social groups at high school are portrayed.

Synopsis

Jen has grown bored and is looking for a new challenge, so on a whim she makes a bet with her friends.  She will turn the good boy geek, Trevor, into a bad boy.  As Jen starts spending time with Trevor she begins to see him in a different light.  The activities she attends with him begin to change her mind and her heart.  The hard protective shell she has built around her from years of disappointment and abuse begins to soften.  Jen realizes that she might be able to find some peace, happiness and love from her new foster family and maybe even from Trevor, but there is one problem.  The bet.

This is one of the best contemporary YA books I’ve read in awhile.  I found the developing relationships with Jen, her family and Trevor to be endearing.  I could feel the struggle Jen had as she wanted to be loved, but was so afraid of being hurt and abandoned again.  The emotional transformation as well as the physical transformation Jen makes is genuine and sweet.

I know this book touched on many heavy, sad topics.  But, for all that, it was still hopeful and happy and fun too.  It was real but not overdone.  The happily ever after wasn’t easy and it didn’t just fall together.  Jen made mistakes and I liked that there was an accountability for that.  This book left me feeling like love can make a difference.  Helping and understanding people takes effort, but it is worth it.