Zen and the Art of Faking It

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick *

When thirteen-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out when his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, gained in his previous school, provides the answer - and the need to quickly become a Zen master.

My thoughts: San has to decide if it is better to be himself or pretend to be something he isn't, which is something that we all have to decide at some time or another.

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Weedflower

Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata *

After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on an Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.

*Summary taken from CIP data.

The View from Saturday

The View from Saturday by E. L. Koinigsburg *

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.

* Summary taken from CIP data.

Deliver Us From Normal

Deliver Us From Normal by Kate Klise *

With a mother who buys Christmas cards in August and a younger brother who describes the Trinity as a toasted marshmallow on a graham cracker, life for eleven-year-old Charles Harrisong is anything but normal in Normal, Illinois.

* Summary taken from CIP data.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban *

Ten-year-old Zoe Elias, who longs to play the piano but must resign herself to learning the organ, instead, finds that her musicianship has a positive impact on her workaholic mother, her jittery father, and her school social life.

My thoughts: I loved Zoe! She has a wonderful sense of humor about the turn her dream to learn to play the piano and be onstage at Carnegie Hall took.

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Jumping the Scratch

Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks *

After moving with his mother to a trailer park to care for an injured aunt, eleven-year-old Jamie Reardon struggles to cope with a deeply buried secret.

My thoughts: This was a great story that was both funny and suspenseful!

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Yellow Star

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy *

From 1939, when Syvia is four and half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during Nazi occupation.

My thoughts: This was a powerful and moving story told in free verse poetry. Syvia was one of only twelve children to survive the Lodz ghetto, that at one time held over a quarter of a million people.

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Tangerine

Tangerine by Edward Bloor *

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Eirk, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Airhead

Airhead by Meg Cabot *





Sixteen-year-old Emerson Watts, an advanced placement student with a disdain for fashion, is the recipient of a "whole body transplant" and finds herself transformed into one of the world's most famous teen supermodels.

My thoughts: This was a fabulous read that lets you see things from both points of view: the nerd and the supermodel!

*Summary taken from CIP data.

How to Ditch Your Fairy

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier *

In a world in which everyone has a personal fairy who tends to one aspect of daily life, fourteen-year-old Charlie decides she does not want hers - a parking fairy - and embarks on a series of misadventures designed to rid herself of the invisible sprite and replace it with a better one, like her friend Rochelle's shopping fairy.

*Summary taken from CIP data.

Every Soul a Star

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

One summer, the lives of Ally, Bree and Jack intersect at Moon Shadow Campground just in time for a total solar eclipse. Each of them is facing major changes in their lives, most unwelcome and unwanted. As their lives converge, they are each forced to examine themselves and find out who they really are. Three teens who on the surface seem to have nothing in common become friends and allies as they await a total solar eclipse that may change each of their lives forever!