The Book Shelf: 2010

Gossamer

Lois Lowry

176 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Gossamer is the story of dreams and where they come from. It tells the story of Littlest One, one among the youngest or the dream givers. It takes the reader through Littlest One's lessons on how to gather memories and then bestow dreams on humans an animals. In particular, Littlest One and her trainer are set to watch over the home of an elderly lady. This woman decides one day to take in a child in need of a home. She had hoped for a little girl, but decided that she could handle the boy they wanted to give her instead. However, when the boy arrives, he is less than welcoming. He is miserable and bitter. However, the woman is able to calm his emotions a little after comforting his nightmares. Gossamer learns how to give him good dreams and counteract the nightmares given by the Sinisteers. She becomes one of the most gifted dream givers and soon receives a little one of her own to teach.

Jack and the Beanstalk

The Story of the Three Little Pigs

Mouse and Mouser

Mr. Fox

The Willoughbys

Lois Lowry

176 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

The Willoughbys is the story of four siblings who decide that they would be better off as orphans. The sad part about it is that they were right. Though the siblings are not perfect, their parents are no where near the fact. To be honest, their parents despised three of the children and did not even remember that they had a fourth. When a baby mysteriously turns up on the children's front porch, the mother proceeds to cut off all of its beautiful blonde curls and tells the children to get rid of it. They take it to a nice looking house and place it on the doorstep. The old man who lived in the house had lived in squalor for the past few years. His life was a mess mainly due to the fact that he had lost his wife and his son when their train car was buried under an avalanche. However, with the arrival of the little baby girl, the ld man began to pull himself out or squalor. The Willoughby children came up with a plan in which they would send their parents off on a vacation from which they would not return (as happened in so many old fashioned stories). Unfortunately, after every turn of events their parents managed to survive. While their parents were away, the children were taken care of by a Nanny whom they came to adore. When the parents sold their house out from underneath the children, they were forced to leave. They sought refuge with the old man who took in the baby girl and lived there with two people who loved them while their parents ended up dying trying to climb an unclimbable mountain.

Inkspell

Cornelia Funke

656 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Inkspell is the continuation of the story of Inkheart. One year passes between the two books. Dustfinger is in desperation to find someone who will read him back into his own story because Mo refuses to. Dustfinger comes across one man who can and convinces him to read him back into the book. He does but leaves Farid out. Desperate to be reunited with Dustfinder, Farid catches up with Meggie who reads both herself and Farid into Inkheart. there they encounter tight rope walkers, fire eaters, and many other minstrel players. The villains from the first book catch up with Mo and his wife and force him to read them back into the Inkworld. Mo reads them in but also takes himself, his wife, and Inkheart's author. Resa gets her voice back when she is back in the world of Inkheart only to have her husband shot by a real world gun. They take refuge among the minstrels where they discover that Mo is actually the famous thief "bluejay" who steels from gentlemen and gives to those less fortunate. Mo and Meggie wind up in castle of the Adderhead who forces them to make him a book that will cause him to live forever. Mo creates the book but leaves out the clause that if three specific words are written on the pages then the owner of the book will die. the magpie finds out about it and gives the book to Firefox instead of the Adderhead. Firefox is killed when the three words are written in the book. The Magpie then erases the words and writes in the name of the Adderhead which makes him immortal.

Inkheart

Cornelia Funke

535 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Inkheart is one of my all time favorite books. It is a book about a book. Mo loves to read. He used to read so magically and fluently that things would come alive off the page. However, there is a trade. For everything that comes out, something has to go back in. Mo hasn't read since the night he was reading to his wife and daughter from the pages of a book called Inkheart. They night he read out the villain of the book as well as a couple other characters. In exchange, his wife was trapped in the pages. Nine years later, this mistake has come back to haunt Mo and his daughter Meggie. Mo and Meggie try to dodge the villain Capricorn with the help of Dustfinger (one of the characters he read out of Inkheart), but are ultimately unsuccessful. Capricorn tries to get Mo to read him riches out of a book but a boy comes out instead. Mo tries to explain that he doesn't have any control over what comes out and Capricorn gets upset with him. They all escape and track down the author of Inkheart because Mo thinks that he might be able to read his beloved wife back out of the book, but the author's copy had been stolen long ago. Meggie gets captured by Capricorn once again and realizes while in captivity that she has the same gift as her father. Capricorn learns this and tries to get her to read his assassin out of Inkheart. The plan ultimately fails when she turns the assassin on its master and has the shadow kill Capricorn instead.

Jingle the Brass

Patricia Newman and Michael Chesworth

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

Jingle the Brass is an adorable little book about the different terminology used on older trains. It follows the story of a little boy who is invited to be a guest aboard a train. The conductor gives him the tour and explains the different jobs that people would have on a freight train. The boy learns when you need to ring the bell so as to let people know that the train is coming. What I liked most about the book was that the very last page was dedicated to the train's terminology. There you will learn exactly what each of the special words means and exactly when to use them.

Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident

Eoin Colfer

277 Pages

Young Adult

Summary

The second Artmeis Fowl book almost completely switches gears from the first. Instead of Artemis being the bad guy, he is not turned into the LEPs one last chance for help. When the LEP are ambused by goblins with banned technology, Holly immediately suspects that Artemis Fowl is the one to blame. Mean while, Artemis has just discovered that his father is alive and is probably being held by the Russian Mofia. On his way to rescue his father, he is kidnapped by the LEP and taken under ground. When he has been cleared from all involvement, he requisitions help from the LEP in his father's reasque attempt in exchange for his help with their goblin problem. When all fairy technology fails, Foaly is then thought to be the one in charge of the goblin uprising when in reality he is locked in his laboratory without access to any of his instruments. Only with the help of Mulch Diggums are Artemis, Butler, Holly, and Root able to break in to Opal Koboi's office building (the real mastermind behind the attack). With Foaly's help in secretly recording Cudgeon stating that he was only using Opal in order to take revenge on the LEP, the group was able to turn both Opal and the Goblin masses against their leader. Artemis gets to Russia and with the help of the LEP are able to rescue Artemis Fowl I.

How music Came to the World

Hal Ober

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

This book is a retelling of an old Mexican myth. It tells about how the sky god and the wind god got together and realized that the world was too quiet. The sky god told the wind god that what the world needed was music and that the only place to find it was in the house of the sun. So the wind god climbed a bridge to the sky and snuck into the house of the sun. There he found musicians and singers, but when he was about to make his move, he was spotted by the Sun. The sun told the musicians to be silent or else the wind god would steal them away. The wind god cried out the musicians to come to him. The they did not move. Again the wind god told them to come with him. They remained silent. Finally, the wind god let out all of his fury in a mighty hurricane. The musicians and singers jumped into his lap and he carried them to the earth. And that is how music came to the world.

I think what I liked most about this book were to elaborate pictures. They're not detailed in the way that a master piece is. However, the book is illustrated in a style that closely resembles aztec art. It's blocky and has many similarities to wall carvings. Over all, this is a wonderful book and would be beneficial for teaching children about myths and legends.

Asbjörnsen Fairy Tales

The Master Thief

The master thief follows the story of a boy who became the master thief. It was said that he could steel anything no matter what it was. When the squire heard of this, he did not believe it. He set up three tasks for the thief to do. If he could steel all three items then he would give the master Thief his daughter to wed. The master thief completed all three tasks, the last of which being steeling the squire's bed sheets out from under him and his wife, and left with the squires daughter and a good bit of money too.

Why the Bear is Stumpy Tailed

Why the Sea is Salt

The Fox as Herdsman

Odd Boy Out

Young Albert Einstein

Don Brown

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

As a child, Einstein was never completely understood. He was a baby with a fat head. He was an angry infant. He was a boy who never did what his teachers ask of him. He did well in school subjects that he liked and completely disregarded the ones that did not hold his interest. He had a great love for music and would practice his violin endlessly. Einstein was a high school drop out and therefore, even with his mathematical genius, could not get accepted to university. He actually went back to school to earn his high school diploma so that he could attend college. After college, he wanted to find a job teaching in university, but there was no one who would hire him. Instead, he got a job at a government patent office, married, and started a family. This did not stop him from wondering about space, light, and time. Though Einstein was a miss understood child, he grew up to be one of the world's greatest thinkers.

Percy Jackson and the

The Lightning Thief

Rick Riordan

400 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Who would have ever thought that Percy Jackson would be a hero? Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old boy with ADD and dyslexia, finds himself thrown into a world where the greek gods still walk the earth and monsters hunt him from around every corner. The son of a mortal mother and Poseidon, Percy winds up at a summer camp fro kids just like him--demigods more commonly known as half-bloods. It is there that Percy learns of the impending war between his father and Zeus, the god of the skies. It turns out that Zeus' lightning bolt was stolen and he blames the young Percy Jackson for the theft. Percy goes on a quest to retrieve the bolt from Hades and stop the war that would be the end of western civilization.

I have always had a soft spot for mythology. So, naturally, when I learned about what these books were really about, I could not stop myself from picking them up and losing myself in them. The writing style is absolutely hilarious and it is one series that you will never regret reading.

Other Books in the Series:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian

Landed

Milly Lee

40 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Landed is the story of a young Chinese boy who was sent to join his father and brothers in America. However, there was a long and difficult process in order for him to be allowed into the country. For him to be accepted, he would have to pass a series of tests and answer a bunch of questions about his family and his home. Sun did not want to disappoint his family and was pleased when he was assigned a tutor to help him prepare for the questioning. Though he boarded the ship with his father, his father was let off straight into the harbor as a returning merchant. Sun, however, was sent to Angel Island where he was detained until they could question him. Sun wasn't too concerned when they asked him about his family. But he never could fully grasp the concept of direction. When he was asked which way certain houses faced, he could not answer. One day, he was handed a package of cookies that had come from his father. Inside the package was his brother's compass. With the help of the compass, Sun answered all of the questions correctly and was allowed to join his father and his brothers in San Francisco.

Though this was one of the longest picture books I have read in a little while, it was still fantastic. What captivated me most was not the story line, but rather it was the sheer amount of detail about Sun's journey. It told exactly what he wore and ate. It told of his friends and their background stories. And it told about every little worry and concern that entered his mind. Normally I don't think that would have interested me that much, but it was presented so well in this book.

Saving Strawberry Farm

Deborah Hopkinson

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

This story takes place in the great depression when no body had much money to spare. On the fourth of July, Davey's family decided that, no matter how tough times were, they could spare something to celebrate the nation's birthday. The family decides to have a picnic and the mother sends Davey and his little sister down to the store to get some ice. It is at the store that the boy learns that one of the nicest ladies in town could not afford to make the payments on her farm and was about to lose it in an auction. The own gets together and decides to turn the auction into a penny auction (where all the people decided to keep the bid as low as possible so that the true owner can buy her farm back). That summer, they saved strawberry farm.

The New Girl... and Me

Jacqui Roppins

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

This Books is not long at all but it is a darling little story about learning to talk to other people. The story follows a little girl who just had a new girl come to class. There the teacher tells her to tell the class her name. When all she says is "I have an iguana" the teacher tells the class that her name is Shakeeta and that she wants them all to make her feel at home. The girl doesn't really understand the phrase. She wonders what Shakeeta's home must be like if she could ever feel "at home" at school. At school all of the girls want to show her around. But there is a mean boy who makes fun of her and won't let her play soccer with the rest of the kids. The two girls become friends after the main character's shy inquiry about Shakeeta's iguana.

He Took My Lickin' For Me

Timothy Robinson

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

Many of you have probably heard this story circulated through emails--I know that is the first place that I heard it. So when I fond it in picture book, I knew that I had to read it. This is the story of a group of wild boys who seemed to chase every teacher out of the class room. However, one young teacher believed that he had what it took to tame these boys. The first day he was there, he had the boys draw up rules for the class that everyone would have to follow. The boys shouted out some rules that they thought would be good ones to have. One shouted out "no stealing." In response to this, the teacher asked what the punishment should be for stealing. After all, without a punishment, no one would obey the rule. The boys came up with the idea that if someone was caught stealing then they should get ten lashes without a coat. Well the days past and all seemed well. However, the day came when Big Tom came in and told the class that someone had stolen his lunch. The teacher questioned the boys and fond the thief to be a little boy named Jim. He called the boy to the frond of the class and told him to take off his coat. The boy told the teacher that he would take his licking but asked that he be allowed to keep his coat on. The teacher told the boy that he had agreed to live by the same rules as all of the other boys and that included taking his coat off for the licking. Jim took off his coat to reveal that he was not wearing a shirt. When the teacher questioned him, Jim told him that his dad was dead and his mom was very poor. He only owned one shirt and it was currently being washed. It was then that Big Tom stood up and insisted that he take Little Jim's licking. The teacher agreed but after the fifth stroke the rod broke.

I have to admit that the first time I read this story, I cried like a little baby. If this is the first time you've heard of this story, I'm sorry that you read it here and not the actual story. Please, if you have not read the story, please find it. It is a story that should be read by every one at least once in their lives.

A Year Down Yonder

Richard Peck

130 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

This story is set in the years of great depression. No one in the U.S. has a lot of money and so young Mary Alice is sent to live with her grandmother in the country until her parents are able to take care of her once more. Mary Alice isn't too keen on the idea. Her grandmother has never exactly been normal and the couple weeks she usually spent with her in the summers was more than enough. To add more on to the situation, her brother--who was usually with her during the summers--was sent away to work and would not be with her this time. Mary Alice arrives in the little town knowing what to expect but still wary. She is taken to school where she realizes at once she won't fit in. As a big city girl in a small town, most people didn't like her. Over the course of months, she comes to know and understand her grandmother a little better and makes a friend of one of the younger girls. Mary Alice sees her grandmother for who she is--a hardworking and fiercely loyal woman who does what she has to to bring balance into her little world.

A Year Down Yonder is a wonderful book filled with incredible humor. The grandmother is wild and out of control with a surprise every which way she turns. I have never really been one to thoroughly enjoy historical fiction, but this book broke down that wall. The humor will captivate you and granny will never seise to amaze.

Other Books in the Series:

A Long Way from Chicago

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of

Beauty and the Beast

Robin McKinley

256 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

This is a marvelous book that gives a wonderful twist to an old story. This is the story of Honour, a girl who never really liked her name. When she was young, she insisted that people call her beauty. Although she never grew into it, the nickname stayed. She was one of three daughters of a wealthy merchant until one day he lost everything. The family was forced to move north to the home of one of the sister's fiance. There they learned about how to work hard. Most importantly, they learned of the existence of magic. Their life seemed to be picking back up. Everything changed when the father stumbled across the mansion of a prince on his way home from a distant city. There he discovered a beast ready to kill him. The father begged the beast to let him go, telling him of his daughters and how he must return to them. The beast let him leave with the promise that he would return one month later with one of his daughters. The father didn't like the idea, but Beauty insisted that she be allowed to return in her father's place. Though the beast was nothing but kind and doting on Beauty, she could not bear to be around him. Every night he asked her to marry him and every night she told him no. Beauty became homesick and pleaded for the beast to let her return home. He let her leave but made her promise that she would only be gone a week because he would die with out her there. She ended up staying home for more than a week, but on the eighth day she had a dream that told her the beast was dying. She hurried back to the castle and found the beast as he lay dying. There she told him that she truly did love him and that she would marry him. There, the enchantment was broken and the beast turned back into a human.

I liked this book mainly because of all the little twists and turns. It is a classic story but with little tweaks that keep it interesting. For instance, there are the servants of the beast who are invisible. Where ever she goes in the castle, the door to her room will follow. Its the little things like that that made me smile and want to keep reading.

The Story of Ruby Bridges

Robert Coles

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

This adorable picture book tells the story of young Ruby Bridges who was one of the first children chosen to begin integrating public schools. It begins by telling the reader about Ruby and how her family went to church every week. On the first day that Ruby went to school, there was an angry mob outside of the school and she had to be escorted to class by the National Guard. Inside the class room, there were no children and only one teacher. All of the parents refused to send their children to school with a black girl and all of the teacher refused to teach in a school with a black girl. Ruby was all alone except for the one teacher who volunteered to teach the little girl. One day, as the teacher watched Ruby walk to school, she saw her stop in the middle of the crowd and start to speak. The teacher was horrified and knew that if she didn't keep moving that the crowd was likely to harm her. When she asked Ruby why she had stopped, Ruby told her that every day on her way to school, she stopped about a block away and said a prayer for the angry people. That day she had forgot to say her prayer and did so as soon as she remembered.

This story is truly inspiring. It is hard to imagine what it would be like to be in Ruby's shoes. But I know one thing for certain. It would be hard to keep up the moral that that little girl had. I don't think that I would have had the temperament needed to be willing to pray for the people who threatened her life every day. Ruby had to endure death threats and so much more. On of the most vivid things that sticks out in my memory is that every day someone brought a casket with them to the school and displayed a black doll inside the casket. That is unnerving to me. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for the little girl. This book, however, does not go into much detail about all of the gruesome aspects of Ruby's experience. Rather, it focusses on Ruby's courage and is a wonderful book for any age.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Katherine Paterson

160 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Gilly never really knew her mother. The young girl had been in foster care since before she could remember and she hated it. Gilly hated everything. She lived on the philosophy that the only way to survive was to look out for your self and take advantage of other people if it served your purposes. Gilly hadn't always been so cynical. She had once been loved by a family. She had even gone so far as to call her foster mother "momma." This was a thing of the past. Gilly's philosophy emerged on the day that the family moved to Florida, leaving her behind with the "trash." Ever since that day, Gilly set her mind to doing everything she could to drive away her foster families and figure out how to be reunited with the mother she had never known. From her third foster home, Gilly writes to her mother, telling her outrageous lies in order to provoke her to come get her daughter. When this doesn't seem to work, Gilly begins stealing money to save for a bus ticket. However, Gilly comes to love her new foster mother and just as she decides that she doesn't want to leave, she is picked up and taken away by her grand mother. It is at her grandmother's house that she learns that her mother had never cared about her. The woman she had been obsessing over for some time didn't love her at all.

This is an amazing book about learning to love and be loved. It is both hilarious and heart wrenching to read about the snot-nosed little girl who put up so many walls around her. She is a trouble maker and yet should be a heroine for every troubled child.

The Cello of Mr. O

Jane Cutler

32 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

I absolutely adored this book. In the past, I haven't really been too crazy about historical fiction books, but I highly recommend this book. This picture book follows the life of one young girl who is still getting used to the changes the war has brought to her. She lives in Germany during WWII and is still not quite comfortable with her new life. She tells of how the supply truck comes every wednesday to bring food to the people in the town. While all the neighbors wait outside in the cold, the girl introduces the readers to one old man in particular. She tells of how none of the children like Mr. O because he doesn't seem to like any one else. They pull pranks on him and do everything they can to upset his life. Nevertheless, Mr. O generally stays in his room and just plays his cello. One day, when the supply truck came, it was bombed. After that, the supply truck didn't come to their town. The next Wednesday, when everyone was reminded about how there would not be any more outside help, Mr. O carried a chair and his cello out side and sat in the middle of the square. There he played the cello and made everyone fell much better about their predicament. This was not allowed to last. Too soon, one day when Mr. O took his cello out in the middle of the square, someone blasted his cello into pieces. The girl realizes what this might mean to the accomplished musician and continues to draw him a picture and give him a harmonica so that he might continue to play his magnificent music.

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Five Star Rating

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