Lemonade War

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Getting the Girl by Susan Juby

What if everyone at your school suddenly stopped talking to you? That is a real threat for the students at Sherman Mack’s school - Harewood Tech. It’s called Defiling. Someone posts a girl’s picture on the bathroom mirror and writes a ‘D’ beside their name. In no time at all the word will spread through the school and it’s like the girl doesn’t even exist.

What if you start to think that your friend will be the next one who will be Defiled? What would you do?

Sherman Mack finds himself in just this situation in Susan Juby’s Getting the Girl. Check out this hilarious book to find out whether or not his undercover investigation stops the Defiling at his school.
by Kayla Sommerville
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking class)

Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress by Maria Padian

Who is Brett McCarthy?
Is Brett doomed to social failure?
Will she become an outcast after the “phone thing”?
Is it possible that Brett is now a juvenile delinquent?
How long will Brett have to eat lunch with No Hare?
Will the mean gossip girls ruin her life forever?
Find out in this hard to put down pageturner. You might find yourself laughing.
You might find yourself experiencing a whole range of emotions as Brett sorts out what has happened, deals with the changes in her life and her story unfolds in this fast read. I truly enjoyed this book and I recommend it highly.
by Ann Gilmartin
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)

Peak by Ronald Smith

14-year-old Peak Marcello - yes, that's his real name; his father is a famous mountain climber - has a passion for climbing. But in New York City, where he lives with his mother, stepfather and twin sisters, there aren't any mountains to climb...but there ARE skyscrapers! (Read excerpt pg. 4)

Peak is arrested for scaling and spray-painting graffiti on the Woolworth Building in NYC. And this isn't his first incident - the police have been trying for some time to catch the mysterious climber that has been leaving a blue mountain peak tag on skyscrapers throughout the city. Now Peak is about to be sentenced to nearly 3 years in a juvenile correction center. That is, until Peak's father Josh, who Peak hasn't seen in over 7 years, suddenly bursts into the courtroom and strikes a deal with the judge. The plea bargain ensures that Peak will be long gone and out of sight while also guaranteeing positive publiciy and financial gain for Josh's Himalayan mountain expedition company. Less than 48 hours later, Peak finds himself on his way to Kathmandu in Nepal, to his father's base camp at the foot of Mt. Everest. Slowly, Peak starts to figure out why his father was so anxious to rescue him in New York. (Read excerpt pg. 74).

But, in order to be the youngest climber to summit Everest, Peak has less than 3 months to acclimatize, train, and reach the summit in his first attempt, before his 15th birthday in June. Can he make it? Or will Sun-Jo, the 14-year-old grandson of his father's head Sherpa, who just happens to have a birthday 6 days before Peak, make it ahead of him? Better watch your back, Peak!
by Kelley Gibson
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Billie Jo age 14. lived with her ma and Daddy in the panhandle of Oklahoma, during one of the hardest times in American History.

We will struggle with her through her sorrows, disappointments, and the never ending dust, and drought.

Her Daddy worked his wheat very hard hoping to have a good harvest and the end of the season. Many times the harvest was lost due to the dust and no rain.

Billie Jo watched her friends and her family leave the panhandle to search for a better place to live, only to find the same, no work. dust, and drought.

Billie Jo loved to play the piano, until there was a accident , and her hands were damaged.

One day when the children arrived at school, they had to dig out 2 feet of dust to get to their desks.

Billy Jo began thinking of that train that went through the panhandle heading west. One night she decided that she had to get out of the dust.... She walked through the calm night under the stars and headed to where the train stops long enough for a long legged girl to latch on and climb into the box car headed West.

Did she climb into the box car, where she could get Out of the DUST?
by Abi Chase
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)

Partly cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing by Gary Soto

"It's February, and love is in the air. Gary Soto has written a new book called Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing. The first half is titled Girls' Tears, Her Songs and the 2nd half is A Boy's Body, His Words. Let's hear one from the the girls'.

ROUGH HANDS

Lotion is a slippery, perfumed concoction,
Applied on a winter day

When an icy wind sings through the bare trees
But I prefer my hands rough

This way, when I hold yours,
You won't slip away.

From the Boy's:

RATIONALE

Already tall at thirteen, she walks
In platform shoes. I can't help

But think like a guy. We could use a center--

We're 0-3 at the start of the season,
And so ugly on the court

We could use a beauty.

---------------------------------------------------

My follow-up questions will probably be rhetorical since I suspect most will not willingly discuss such matters. Does Soto ring true to you? Have you ever known anyone who was lovestruck? Soto also has poems describing love for pets, which is a love most of have experienced. If you haven't read much poetry, give this a chance. I think you'll be delightfully surprised."
(Happy Valentine's day and pass out candy if permitted.)
by Barbara Thach
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

If you were stranded in the wild, what is the one thing you would you want to have with you? Why? (short discussion)

Imagine if all you had was a hatchet. In Gary Paulsen's book, Hatchet, Brian Robeson is a thirteen-year-old boy trying to adjust to his parents’ divorce. While flying to visit his dad, things go horribly wrong and Brian is left to fly the plane.

(excerpt p. 24-25) He repeated the radio call seventeen times at the ten-minute intervals, working on what he would do between transmissions…He did what he could, tightened his seatbelt, positioned himself, rehearsed mentally again and again what his procedure should be…Over and over his mind ran the picture of how it would go. The plane running out of gas, flying the plane onto the water, the crash—from pictures he’d seen on television. He tried to visualize it. He tried to be ready.

But between the seventeenth and eighteenth radio transmissions, without a warning, the engine coughed, roared violently for a second and died. There was sudden silence, cut only by the sound of the windmilling propeller and the wind past the cockpit.

Brian pushed the nose of the plane down and threw up.

This is a story of Brian’s survival. The hatchet he is wearing on his belt plays a key role as does Brian’s wits and resourcefulness. And, throughout the book, his Secret haunts him. This is a fast-paced book, with lots of action that leaves you wanting more. Check out Hatchet, and if you like it, there is a series of books about Brian and his adventures.
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)

Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton

Endymion Spring is a young man working for Johann Gutenberg in Germany in 1492 when he is inventing his printing press. Johann Fust came to visit and in his possession he had a book - a magic book. The pages were made of dragon skin and it contained secret knowledge of past, present,and future. Endymion Spring opens the book and takes a few of the magic pages.
600 years later, Blake Winters finds these pages in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England. He can read the riddles contained in the book, but to others, including his sister, Duck, the pages are blank. Blake learns that there is another book - The Last Book and the two parts must be joined. He and his sister decide they must find the Lost Book and return the lost pages, but others in the library world are also searching for the book. The book tells Blake that there is a Person in Shadow who will try to kill him to get the pages. Is it Professor Jolyon Fall, the book expert; Sir Giles Bentley, the book collector; Psalmanazer, the homeless man; or Diana Bentley, Sir Gile's wife. Some of these characters seem to be helping Blake and Duck but can they be trusted?
Great mystery! Both boys and girls would like it. Flashbacks are well marked.

Having reluctantly accompanied his academic mother and pesky younger sister to Oxford, twelve-year-old Blake Winters is at loose ends until he stumbles across an ancient and magical book, secretly brought to England in 1453 by Gutenberg's mute apprentice to save it from evil forces, and which now draws Blake into a dangerous and life-threatening quest. - OCLC

Sneak Peek: "" You've stumbled on to something much larger than you can possibly imagine." "In the dead of night, a cloaked figure drags a heavy box through snow-covered streets. The chest, covered in images of mythical beasts, can only be opened when the fangs of its serpent's-head clasp taste blood. Centuries later, in an Oxford library, a boy touches a strange book and feels something pierce his finger. The volume is blank, wordless, but its paper has fine veins running through it and seems to quiver, as if it's alive. Words begin to appear on the page--words no one but the boy can see. And so unfolds a timeless secret . . . . "From the Hardcover edition.

Iron Thunder by Avi

January, 1862, Tom Carroll goes to work in the ship yard to help earn money for his family. Mr. John Ericsson is building an iron clad ship called the Monitor. It is the first of it's kind - "a tin can on a raft". It is being built to fight the Merrimac, the first iron clad ship ever and to protect the Naval Blockade of the North. March 9, 1862, the Monitor met the Merrimac at Fortress Monroe and saved the flagship Minnesota. Both sides claimed to have won the battle, but the blockade held and the Merrimac was never used again. The Monitor only was used for one year. It sank in a storm, but it was a turning point in the Civil War that has gone down through history. This is told through the eyes of the young boy Tom as he works at the ship yard and later sails on the Monitor and takes part in the historic battle.

Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz

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The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie (Frances Rose Landau-Banks) attends exclusive Alabaster Preparatory Academy, where she is a sophomore. During the summer she meets a young man named Alpha at the beach. When she arrives at school, she receiving attention from Matthew Livingston, one of the most popular guys on campus. She also finds out Alpha is attending school there, too, and is a good friend of Matthew's. Matthew keeps disappearing at weird times, so one night she follows him. She finds out that Alpha and Matthew are the leaders of a secret society called The Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds. She wants to be included, but the society is only for boys. When they are planning their Halloween pranks, Frankie sees an opportunity to show them what she can do. She creates a fake email address in Alpha's name and plans and executes a great Halloween prank. Instead of figuring out that Frankie thought up the prank, Alpha takes the credit for it. Frankie decides she is going to really show them her stuff and pulls off one prank after another, getting the boys to do all of the work. Little does she realize that her actions may lead to Alpha getting expelled.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Elijah is an eleven year old boy living in a free settlement of former slaves in Canada. Many of the people living there are saving money to buy the rest of their family from slavery. One of the resident, Mr. Leroy does get the money to buy his family. One of the other residents, the Right Reverend Deacon Doctor Zephariah Connerly the Third, who is not always trustworthy, volunteers to take the money to American and buy Mr. Leroy's family through an abolitionist friend. Another resident of the community volunteers to go with him to be sure everything goes smoothly. Zephariah shoots his companion and takes the money to gamble. Mr. Leroy kidnaps Elijah and takes him to America to find Zephariah and get his money back. Mr. Leroy dies, but Elijah does find Zephariah and also a slave stable where he finds a family that has been captured and chained. What can he do to help?