Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool is one of the 2015 Rhode Island Children Book Award Nominees.  Vanderpool has also written Moon Over Manifest, a Newbery Award book.   Navigating Early is a true adventure story that takes place in the mountains of Maine.  In Vanderpool's story, her character, Early Auden is fascinated with the story that the number pi (3.14...) tells him, about a boy named Pi.  When Jack Baker moves to Maine from Kansas, to attend a boarding school for boys after his mother's death, Early and Jack become friends.  Both of the boys have had to face the loss of beloved family members, Jack's mother, and Early's brother.  The story of Pi is set within the story of Early and Jack.  Early and Jack set out on a quest together to search for Pi, who is missing.  The quest is a dangerous one.  The boys will be threatened by frightening gun-toting men, hunted by dogs,  and faced with a huge bear.  Can the boys survive the wilderness and find what they have lost?  Read Navigating Early to decide if you want to vote for it in February of 2015.

At the end of the story the author references Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant: A Memoir by Daniel Tammet.  I was glad that I had already read this book and remember how fascinated I was by the author, who saw numbers in colors and sizes and shapes, just like Early Auden.   If you are interested in understanding someone who thinks differently than you, you can listen to Daniel Tammet giving a talk about how he sees numbers and words.  He shows paintings that express how numbers, including pi, look to him.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead is the third of Stead's books.  I've read the other two, Light, and the Newbery Medal winner, When You Reach Me.  I enjoyed both, but I think Liar and Spy may have just become my favorite.  Stead does a great job creating a cast of very quirky characters.  They instantly become very real to the reader and you care about their struggles.  The story takes place in Brooklyn, NY and alternates between a school setting and an apartment building.  The main character, Georges, has just moved from the home he grew up in, to an apartment nearby because his father was laid off from his job.  As Georges struggles with the bullies in school, his loner status, and his mother's absence, he is distracted by his funny new neighbor Safer.  They start a Spy Club together and begin to keep an eye on one of the mysterious tenants in the apartment building where they live.

I truly loved the characters in this book and Stead does such a masterful job at creating a story line steeped in mystery, that I hesitate to say much about the plot.  I'll just say that there is mystery, danger, friendship, spies, humor and sadness all rolled together in a great story.  Liar and Spy is one of the 2014 RICBA Award Nominees.  You still have time to read it and see if it would get your vote!

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

The Janitors Boy by Andrew Clements

The Janitor's Boy, by Andrew Clements, is a realistic fiction book about a boy named Jack.  Jack's dad is a night janitor at Jack’s school.  Jack gets embarrassed by his dad.  Then he get’s an idea.  He chews gum all through the school day. When 7th period comes along, he sticks all of his chewed gum under a desk in the music room.  He did that so his dad would have to clean it up.  Jack gets in trouble.  What will his punishment be?  How will things work out between Jack and his dad?  Find out how their relationship will be by the end of the story.  I would recommend this if you like realistic fiction.  It’s a quick and easy read and a very unique story everyone should try! 

Reviewed by 8infinity8