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.

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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)