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Page history last edited by Kathleen A. Bjorklund 15 years, 9 months ago

Middle School Fiction Books/Only the Best (Edited by Kathy Bjorklund)

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(Click on links to the right to see lists of books.)

 

Featured Reviews...

 

Fire from the Rock

By Sharon M. Draper

     Sylvia is an African American who lives with her family in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.  It is a tumultuous time in American history because the Supreme Court has ordered schools to become integrated, and Arkansas Governor Faubus is adamantly opposed to school integration.

It is against this backdrop of unsettled and troubling change which has many people in Little Rock fearful and on edge, in which Sylvia must play out her adolescence. 

Sharon Draper’s book is fiction, but is so filled with accurate historical information from the archives of our country’s past that it easy to forget that Sylvia and her family are not real.

      As Sylvia, an excellent student in junior high, prepares to go to Horace Mann High School, the school for “Coloreds,” she is asked by her teacher to become one of the first few students to integrate all white Central High School the next fall.  She and the others have been chosen because of their academic strength, nonviolent attitudes, and personal resilience.  They are then trained in nonviolent skills and prepared for the ordeal as much as possible.  It is, however, expected that this integration will be a severe and taxing ordeal for the young black adolescents brave enough to be the first to test the law of the land in Arkansas, which at that time was ruled by a racist governor.

      Sylvia’s parents are against her participation in the experiment.  They are naturally opposed to their child being used as a “guinea pig” to pave the way for future generations.  But they are eventually resigned to her determination, spirit, and desire to improve her position in life by attending a school with a better educational program.  Sylvia’s sister and brother are also opposed to the dangerous stand she is planning, as is her boyfriend.  Sylvia will break ties with all of her friends, all she has known and loved, to enter a completely foreign environment where she will be treated as a “Martian,” as she puts it.  She will not be able to participate in sports, activities, or clubs.  The school board is concerned about her bathroom habits; they do not want her using the same bathroom as the white students.  She must be strong enough to endure four years of this environment.

      There is seething anger in this society of 1957.  There is anger among many in the white community; they do not want change and have always been taught that society consists of unequal groups and whites are above people of color.  There is anger among black parents who are tired of being treated like second class citizens and want better for their children.  There is extreme anger among black adolescents such as Sylvia’s brother and her boyfriend, who want action now and are now willing to wait for Martin Luther King’s call to nonviolent protest.  Then there is Sylvia, whose anger is deep-seated and more in the form of outrage.  She is outraged that she cannot attend the best high school in the city and get the best education to improve her chances for the future.  She knows that she is not inferior to anyone, no matter the color of her skin, yet she lives in a world where her chances are being limited.  She feels she must take action.

      The purpose of good historical fiction for young people is to present a true feel for what it would have been like to live the life of someone in a tumultuous period of history.  Sharon Draper’s novel gives students a spine-tingling glimpse into the early days of school integration and the lives of those who actually lived it.  For a few hours while reading this fine novel, students are able to step into the shoes of young black adolescents who are facing one of the most trying moments of the Twentieth Century, the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.  This book reveals the part of the movement which concerns students the most, school integration, something which we take for granted today.

      The rising action begins with the possibility of Sylvia’s becoming one of the first to integrate the white high school.  The climax is evidenced by the eruption of violence simmering within both whites and blacks of her own neighborhood.  The falling action after Sylvia’s final decision leaves readers with the knowledge that the drumbeat of integration has begun, but there is far to go.  This fine novel will keep the reader quickly turning pages for the action, suspense, a bit of romance, family conflict, and school setting.  On a deeper level, readers will gain a sense of the increasing maturity of  a youth as she making a difficult and momentous decision.  They will gain knowledge of a fair amount of history about school integration during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.  And they will learn about the theme of violence vs. nonviolence as a means of change.  This is a fine historical fiction not to be missed by students in grades 5-8. 

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Diamonds in the Shadow

By Caroline B. Cooney

Jared and Martha (Mopsy) Finch live in Connecticut in a well-to-do suburb.  Their parents decide to take in a refugee family from Africa, which has different effects on each member of the Finch family.  Jared is irritated that he has to share his room with Mattu.  Mopsy is thrilled at the prospect, as she is with everything, much to the disgust of her brother Jared.  Mrs. Finch is busily trying to work out the details, and Mr. Finch has his mind on other problems.  Then the family finds out that the refugees are not really who they claim to be, and that smuggled diamonds are a part of their immigration story.  Cooney has written another book filled with suspense and action which will appeal to all young readers.

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100 Cupboards

By N.D. Wilson

In the first of a new fantasy series, young Henry, whose home is in New York, is staying with his aunt and uncle and his three cousins in Kansas because his parents are missing in South America.  His room is in the attic, and he soon finds that one whole wall is full of mysterious cupboards behind the plaster, cupboards which are portals to other worlds.  Though it seems an implausible plot, it is no more implausible than going between two platforms in a train station and hopping the Hogwarts Express.  N.D. Wilson, whose Leepike Ridge was delightful, now brings us the beginning of Henry's strange adventures, and readers will be clamoring for the next installment.

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The Ghost's Grave

By Peg Kehret

Twelve year old Josh can't play baseball as he's planned with his new friends in Minneapolis because his mom and stepfather are shipping him off to a little town near Seattle to spend the summer with his Great Great Aunt Ethel while they go to India on business.  Only Josh thinks it won't be so great spending the summer with an elderly woman in the middle of nowhere.  He soon finds out that the village is able to extend all of the excitement and action he can bear, including a ghost, a graveyard with a secret, a criminal who is after something he has, and his aunt, who is anything but boring.

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Bearwalker

By Joseph Bruchac

In another fine book especially aimed at younger readers, Bruchac tells of Baron, a young boy who goes on a trip with friends to a camp in the Adirondacks.  There he begins to wonder if the legend he has heard about so often from his Mohawk family about the monster, half human and half bear, is really merely a legend.  Perhaps the monster really is roaming the forests of the Adirondacks, as strange events at the camp would seem to suggest.  This is a wonderful suspense and adventure story for young adolescents, filled with the essence of Native American tradition.  Joseph Bruchac's story of Baron, a member of the Mohawk Bear Clan, rings true.  Readers will enjoy the mystery and suspense and learn something of the Mohawk culture along the way.

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Nightrise

By Anthony Horowitz

Twins Scott and Jamie can communicate by reading each other's minds.  They learn of a company called Nightrise which is trying to take over the world and threatens to open the "gate of evil."  The Nightrise people are backing a candidate for U.S. president who is under their control, and have kidnapped Scott in order to force him to help them carry out their dastardly plans.  This is a fantasy book which takes place half in the present world and half in a world ten thousand years ago.  It has many things to say about "the past learning from the future and the future learning from the past."  The action is non-stop and the twists and turns keep the reader engaged until the very end.  Nightrise is the third in the series of books called The Gatekeepers; the reader will be happy to know there are more to follow.

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Eleven

By Patricia Reilly Giff

Sam lives with his grandfather.  He finds a newspaper clipping in the attic which makes him believe that he might not even be Mac's real grandson.  Sam is a resource room student who cannot read very well, so he enlists the help of Caroline, a friend from school to help him find the truth.  This is a heartwarming book, a mystery, a story of school problems and family conflict, and a wonderful coming of age tale.  It is short enough for reluctant readers and would have special appeal for those students.  The characters ring true and the action keeps the pages turning.

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Double Identity

By Margaret Peterson Haddix

Bethany is confused about why her parents have moved so much.  Now they are moving again.  They have taken her out of school suddenly, her father is very upset, and her mother is sobbing in the front seat of the car as they travel into the night to who knows where.  They drop her at an aunt's house, an aunt she never even knew existed!  Then they leave and make it clear they probably won't ever, can't ever, return for her.  Bethany, her aunt, and her aunt's daughter, who is a minister, try to solve the mystery surrounding the strange appearance of Bethany and disappearance of her parents.  This is a fast moving, quick read which should appeal to reluctant readers and others who have enjoyed Haddix novels which have a science fiction slant.

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Penny from Heaven

By Jennifer L. Holm

It is 1953 and 12 year old Penny lives with her mom and her mom's parents, whom she calls Me-Me and Pop-Pop.  She'd rather be with her dad's big Italian family though, and any time she can, she goes over to Nonny's house.  Nonny is her dad's mother, her dad who died when she was little.  No one will exactly explain how he died, so Penny keeps wondering why they are keeping it a secret from her.  Then, to make matters worse, her mother starts dating the milkman!  Penny's life gets more and more complicated.  This is a wonderful, tender story of a girl growing up in the early fifties when we think things were simpler, but were they really?

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Elijah of Buxton

By Christopher Paul Curtis

Eleven year old Elijah lives on the Buxton Settlement in Canada, founded in 1849 by a white Presbyterian minister.  The people in the settlement are all former slaves, except for those born there, and Elijah is the first free person to be born in the settlement.  This is the heartwarming story told in seemingly authentic dialect of the everyday lives of the people in that settlement, the new former slaves who arrive there afraid and confused, and the horrific stories which linger in their minds long after freedom is won.  It is the story of a man named Leroy who wants to buy freedom for his wife and children so they can be with him and live in freedom.  The reader sees it all through the narrator, an inquisitive, naive, and intelligent eleven year old.

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