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In this issue:
Book Reviews, Music and Poetry
By: Jone Yolen
Briar Rose opens with two girls begging their grandmother to tell them the fairytale Briar Rose. Briar Rose is a version of Sleeping Beauty. But in the next chapter the girls are grown up and their baby sister, Becca, is in her early twenties. Becca and her sisters go to visit their grandma (Gemma) in the hospital. Near the end of their visit, Gemma keeps repeating, “I am Briar Rose”. Becca talks to Gemma and Gemma makes her promise to find the castle in the woods. Gemma dies and Becca’s only clues to the “castle in the woods” are newspaper clippings, a photo, passport papers and a ring. Becca can’t figure anything out and her co-worker comes with her on a trip to For Oswego, which was where one of the clippings was from; Becca didn’t learn much though. She decided to go to Poland because, on the passport, the last address is Kolmhof in Poland. Kolmhof was a concentration camp and nobody escaped; it confused Becca. When Becca gets to Poland, she meets a man named Josef Potocki, who was a prisoner and a partisan in WWII. He had a very long and interesting story to tell Becca. Becca listened carefully and found out mostly everything she needs to know about her grandmother. You have to read the book to find out about Josef’s story and his adventures.
-Allison
By: John Peterson
This book is about tiny people with tails, who live in the walls of Mr. and Miss Biggs house. The Biggs went on a trip, while other people came to stay in the house until the Biggs were back. There was a problem - the people didn’t take care of the house – and mice arrived. The Littles had a plan to dress up as a mouse and make the people know that there are mice. Will the plan work? Read this book to find out!
I thought this was a nice book, even though it only had eighty pages, I still enjoyed it.
-Anonymous
By: Gordon Korman
Football star Wallace Wallace is forced to read the old classic, “Old Shep, My Pal”. (Boooring) Mr. Fogelman assigns a book review. Wallace always tells the truth, but the truth is he really hated the book. When he turns in his review, Mr. Fogelman is not satisfied. He does not believe that Wallace understands the true beauty of the book, but as far as Wallace is concerned, “Old Shep, My Pal” is the worst book in the world. Wallace refuses to write a proper review. As punishment, Wallace is ordered to attend drama club, which just happens to be working on “Old Shep, My Pal”. He is also banned from playing football on the team. At first, Wallace thinks the play is stupid and makes everyone miserable. Wallace can’t wait until he can play football again, but until he turns in a proper review, he must continue to meet with drama club. As days turn into weeks, Wallace finds himself becoming more and more involved in the play. Read this book to find out if Wallace Wallace will ever be allowed to play football again.
-Emily
By: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Ryan wants to be a cowboy. More than any thing else, he wants to work on the ranch where his father is the caretaker. But his father never pays attention to him; he always is going on about Gil, Ryan’s nineteen year-old brother. Gil was never a good cowboy, but he seemed to have found his place in with Mountain Patriots, a rural militia near their Wyoming hometown. As time goes along, all his pals join and he gets excited too. But when they start trying to “protect” everyone from the “inferior” races that are non-white, Ryan starts to wonder. Swastikas are sprayed on houses of some “unwanted” people! His parents don’t even allow him to be near some “bad influences”, like one of his Jewish teachers! It all seems like a game until something irreparable happens…
I give this book five stars because it really makes you think about how prejudice can be disguised. The author is detailed and has realistic characters.
-Alicia
Even if you aren’t in the Battle of the Books, Holes, by Louis Sachar, is a witty mystery, with the humor found in Sachar’s famous Wayside School series. This creative tale is anything but a disappointment.
The main character, Stanley Yelnats, is under a curse. It has been following his family ever since his great-great-grandfather left Latvia for America, two hundred years before the tale set in the 1990’s, in Texas. Because of the curse, Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boy’s detention center, Camp Green Lake. Camp Green Lake has no lake. The only green is the two half-dead oak trees, the rattlesnakes, and the venomous yellow-spotted lizards. The boys are forced to dig holes exactly five feet deep and five feet wide every day. Stanley soon realizes that they are not digging to “build character”. The Warden is looking for something. But what?
I highly recommend Holes. It is a creative, well-written story, and you won’t want to put it down.
-Jaclyn
By: Ivy Rudeman
“Tornado Alert, Tornado Alert” and then dead silence. Dan Hatch and Arthur (two best friends) were watching a TV program when this notice came slashing across the screen. Dan’s mom left shortly before, and Dan’s dad went out of town. Dan, Arthur, and Ryan (Dan’s baby brother) started making their way to the basement. “Boom. Woosh. Bang.” The storm had started. What will happen to them? Will they be safe? Will Arthur’s foreign family know to go in the basement? What about Dan’s parents and elderly neighbor, will they be okay? Find out the answer to all these questions in this exciting book. I really enjoyed this book and I hope you will too!
-Samantha
Do you like incredible movies and stories? Do you like stories and movies about famous sports players? If you answered ‘yes’ to both of these questions, you should go see Bagger Vance. This movie is about an old man remembering his childhood. He admired a famous golf player, John. When John disappears, he decides to make a mission to find him. When John was brought back to his home, he lost all his skill. The young boy and a mystery man, Bagger Vance, work with to get John into the golf tournament. Will John ever stop feeling sorry for himself? Will he make it to the tournament? Find out in this exciting, encouraging movie.
-Samantha
By: Lurlene McDaniel
Chelsea James is in need of a new heart. While waiting for a transplant, she meets Jillian Longado, who needs a new heart and lungs. They become best friends, but as the need for a transplant becomes desperate, the two girls find themselves in competition for their lives. When a donor comes, they each are called as possible receivers. But there are two people in need and only one heart. Who will get it? Will they turn out ok?
-Kathryn
By: Judy Blume
This book is about a girl named Deenie. She was named Deenie because, right before she was born, her mother saw a movie about a girl named Deenie. She was very beautiful, but in the end of the movie she went crazy. As soon as her mother saw her daughter, she knew she was going to be very beautiful, so she named her Deenie right then and there. Her mother told her just to ignore the part about when the girl went crazy. As Deenie got older, however, she felt like she was the girl in the movie. Her mother had a dream of Deenie being a model. Deenie was always going to an interview to a modeling studio. One week it was here, the next there. The modeling studio always said the same thing: sorry but your posture is just not correct. So when they drove home, Deenie always got lectured on her posture and had to practice for hours in front of the mirror. At the end of one day, Deenie got called down to the gym teacher. The gym teacher made Deenie bend down and touch her toes. After she did that she said Deenie could go back to class. She called her parents and her parents took her to the doctor. The doctor made her do the same thing as her gym teacher. He said he thought she might have a back disease, but wasn’t sure, so he made a call to the back doctor. They went to the appointment and the back doctor made her do the same thing: bend down and touch her toes. What is wrong with Deenie and why is everybody making her touch her toes?
I really enjoyed this book, but then again I enjoy all Judy Blume books. This is just my personal opinion, but I think girls might like this book better than boys. But like I said, that is just my personal opinion. This book is about the same size as the other Judy Blume books. This book is just right for middle school age groups, but again that is just my personal opinion. This was a great book and I am not the only one who says so, so please try reading it.
-Katie
The Good Earth
By: Pearl S. Buck
The Good Earth is a long novel that many high school students are required to read. The story is written by an author that lived many years of her life in China, and who wrote this novel during the Depression in the United States (early 1930s). In the beginning of the book, Buck introduces the main character, Wang Lung, and his precious farm. This Chinese man starts out very poor, but soon marries a slave woman from an affluent house. They began their married life having two boys and one girl. Boys are considered superior in Chinese society as they can do work on the farm. But soon a famine develops in the society, and they move south for a while. Wang Lung makes money as a rickshaw puller while in the southern town. But not too much later, a big change happens in Wang Lung’s life. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens in the climax of the book.
This book has themes that should be pointed out. One being that this book was written during the time of the Depression, and that money has always been a problem in China (although this book took place in the late 19th century). Another theme in this book relates to family, as Chinese culture has a strong base around it. For example, during this novel Wang Lung is constantly taking care of his elderly father, something that he is expected to do in Chinese culture. Through family and children it can be seen that generations are deeply respected.
Some middle school students will probably not enjoy reading this book, as it requires a lot of analyzing and deep thought in order to comprehend the true meaning. On the contrary, this book is a fairly easy read as Buck doesn’t use a lot of difficult vocabulary. The book is about 300 pages, but an interested reader will have no trouble getting through this work of fiction.
-Michael
This Month’s
Feature
Perspective of the YAAB from a 5 Year Member
By: Michael
I remember when I was first approached by Sharon Vincent (a former YAAB advisor) the summer before I was about to enter middle school. I was interested and I made my way into the meeting at the Hills branch in September with all these crazy high school boys; there were few middle school kids on the board. There were snacks galore at the table and Stacy Charlesbois (current advisor at Farmington) was just being introduced to us a new helper to Sharon. During the meetings, we read reviews and discussed things (such as creating the summer reading club for teens) that pertained to us. And then there was the end of the year party in May, where we all ate pizza. Going ahead two more years, the board added Merry Beth Tacy (the current advisor at Hills) and we rotated every other month between the two libraries as Stacy started working full time at the Farmington Branch. And now the high school students were all graduating and no longer were meetings so clamorous.
When I entered high school (two years ago), the board was separated into two
groups, one that met at the Farmington Branch, and one that met at the Hills
branch. I joined the Farmington group and ended up being one of the only high
school students in the group. Food was still the same and the meetings were
basically conducted the same way. There were some crazy occurrences still (like
when I locked a pizza behind a sliding door) that made everyone unhappy. But
as I enter my fifth year of the board (which is very similar to my fourth),
things are different from when I joined several years ago, but many similarities
still remain.
Special Thanks To:
Animated.gif(c)Kitty Roach
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