Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

One of this year's Newbery Honor books, Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage is a great mystery.  The story is about a young girl named Mo, short for Moses because she was found as a baby floating on a river after a hurricane.  Luckily, she is taken in by Miss Lana and the Colonel, a man who lost his memory due to a car accident during the hurricane.  She spends her time looking for her "Upstream Mother", but is side-tracked from her search when a stranger turns up at her family's diner.  The stranger is Detective Starr, who is trying to solve a murder that happened in a nearby town.  Unfortunately, the next person that is murdered is Mr. Jesse, a patron of the diner, and now the story really starts rolling.  Read along as Mo and her best friend Dale start gathering clues to help solve the mystery and protect their families from danger.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage is an amazing book! It is about two kids named Dale and Mo. Just on an average day for the two kids they figure out that someone in their small town in North Carolina has been murdered. As they try to figure out who the murderer is, a mysterious man comes to solve the murder mystery. Read the book to find out who will really solve the crime first. I haven't really read lots of mystery books but my mom and I sometimes watch mystery shows and they kind of remind me of this book, because of the mysterious murders.

What I really like about the book is you don't know what is going to happen next. At one moment you may think that you know who the murderer is, but the next thing that happens may change your guess about who is the murderer. Once you read this book you'll know why I love it so much!    

Reviewed By: Sunset Baller

An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo

An Elephant in the Garden is written by Michael Morpurgo.  You may know him as the author of War Horse, which was recently made into a movie.  This story is set in World War II Germany, in the city of Dresden, right before it is bombed by the Allied forces.  It is a tale of a family fleeing the city accompanied by an elephant, a young elephant, named Marlene, whom the family took home from the zoo to protect her from the bombing they knew was about to happen.  Along the way they come across a Canadian bomber who ejected from his plane when it was hit by the Germans.  Will they be able to help each other survive despite the positions their countries have taken as enemies?  I have always been fond of World War II stories.  I began reading them in school as a child, and have never really stopped.  This is a wonderful story inspired by true events.  Yes, the elephant really happened...  Enjoy!

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

If you like gutsy girl characters, The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis might be the book for you.  Set in the time of the Great Depression, you can revisit Deza Malone, who Curtis introduced in his Newbery Medal winning book Bud, Not Buddy.  The book revolves around Deza, a plucky, smart, African American girl.  Her family is beset with problems, but it seems that nothing makes Deza stop fighting back, not bullies, not moving away, not illness, not poverty.  Read along and watch her triumph over the issues of her time.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Do you know what it means when your teacher tells you your writing has "voice"?  He or she is letting you know that they can hear your personality shining through your words.  It is as if the writer is speaking directly to the reader.  With Home of the Brave, Katherine Applegate speaks with the clear, heartwarming voice of her character Kek.  He is a young boy chased from his home in Africa by men "with their knives and their guns and their mysterious hate."  But despite all Kek has to be sad about, (he doesn't even know if his mother is still alive), he struggles to fit in to his new life in the cold winter of Minnesota and never gives up hope.  This is a "must read" book!  First you must read it, and second you must tell me if you loved it as much as I did!  And if you still need convincing, it's a fast read, written in short unrhymed poems.  K.A. Applegate is also the author of The One and Only Ivan and the Animorph series.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

The PS Brothers by Maribeth Boelts

The PS Brothers by Maribeth Boelts will make a great classroom read aloud.  Basically it's about two boys, Shawn and Russ, who want a dog to protect them from all the bullies in school that pick on them because of the clothes they wear, and the fact that their families don't have much money.  Russ lives in a pop-up camper behind his Uncle's house, because his father is in jail.  Their lives are hard, but the friendship between the two boys is heartwarming.  The boys come up with a scheme to raise money to buy a puppy, and yes, it involves poop!  They also make a frightening discovery about the guy who is selling them the puppy.  With so much stacked against these two young heros, can they beat the odds and win out in the end?  Read the book and find out!

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is Jonathan Auxier's first novel and it's a good one.  If you like fantasy books, as I'm sure you know I do, you'll like this one.  Honestly it took me a little while to get in to it.  I think I was grossed out by the beginning of the book, when it explains that Peter Nimble is blind, found as an infant floating on the sea with his eyeballs pecked out by a raven.  See what I mean, gross!  But there is a reason for everything in a book and in the end you'll understand the strange beginning.  This is an adventure story, Peter, a thief and orphan is sent on a quest to find someone who needs his help.   He must follow the clues left on a note that was placed in a bottle and sent adrift on the sea.  There is magic and mystery, danger and swashbuckling fight scenes, monsters and of course a maiden in distress.  Are you interested yet?

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Jacobson

Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Jacobson is a gripping story about a boy named Jack, who is left at a campground in Maine by his mother.  He attempts to make it home to Boston by himself, and keeps the fact that his mother is gone a secret.  Two big problems are that he's only eleven years old and the campground is three states away from his home.  How will he survive with no place to sleep, no food, almost no money, and no adult to take care of him? I felt so sorry for Jack as I read this story and was touched by the love and understanding he had for his mother and her "spinning" problems.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann is a terrific book.   The main character in the story is Alex, an Unwanted, who has a twin brother, Aaron, a Wanted.  Unwanteds are creative kids who are eliminated from a futuristic world where they live, named Quill.  Yes, eliminated, sent to die in a lake of boiling oil.  Alex is separated from his brother and sent away to meet his end.  Except that he and his friends don't die.  They are taken in by a wise magician who teaches them how to use their creativity and their magic to fight back against the Wanteds (the strong and intelligent people who are controlled by Quill's leaders).  Together the Unwanteds live in a secret, magical place called Artime.  Can Artime and its group of Unwanteds win against the stronger Quillens?  Can Alex recruit his twin brother, or will he have to fight against him?  Read and find out for yourself. I couldn't put this book down.  If you enjoyed reading The Hunger Games, you will be reminded of that series.  I'm hoping this will not be the last book about the Unwanteds.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

The Unwanteds was written by Lisa McMann. This book is now in my definite top five favorites. The Unwanteds is an amazing fantasy book that starts in the bland world of Quill under the reign of the evil High Priest Justine.  Every year there is a purge where kids with infractions are sent to their doom to be thrown in the lake of boiling oil. Alex has several infractions and is being sent to the death farm but he finds it's actually the magical world of Artime. This is an amazing book and I DEFINITLY recommend this book.  If you are reading or have already read this book, please tell me if you enjoyed it in the comment section below. 

This review was written by MidgetMayhem

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is the 2013 Newbery winner.  I read it in just over two hours this morning.  It is a story told from the point of view of a gorilla named Ivan.  He lives in a cage in a mall, with an elephant friend Stella, and a small dog named Bob.  When a baby elephant, named Ruby is brought to the mall, Ivan makes a promise to Stella that he now must find a way to keep.  But how will he help Ruby to live with other elephants, so that she will not become a solitary elephant, the way he is the one and only Ivan?  Loosely based on true events in the life of Ivan, a real shopping mall gorilla, this book brought me to tears.  It would make a great read aloud for teachers and should be on all students' "must read" list.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate is a RICBA nominee of 2014. Ivan is a gorilla that used to live in the wild with his family. Now, he lives in a mall with other animals. There are some sad parts with his best friend Stella. Stella is an elephant. I loved the ending and I think you will too!

I liked the part when Ivan lives in a house with Mac and his wife. I liked this part because it is funny when a gorilla lives in a house. This book reminds me of animals I see locked in cages. Kids bother them by scaring the animals and hurting them. It also reminds me of when people play with animals. This is a great book I recommend it to animal lovers.

Reviewed by: #hashtag

The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman

What better time to read then during a blizzard?  So, for the Blizzard of 2013, I cracked open Dan Gutman's, The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable.  It's about a pair of twins, brother (Coke) and sister (Pepsi).  I know, funny names, right?  They are two really smart kids who are targeted by a dangerous group of adults who are trying to kill them.  Their parents are oblivious to the danger they are in, and set out on a cross country road trip.  Thinking they'll be safe once they leave their hometown, the kids have no idea that trouble will follow.  I personally enjoyed following the kids' road trip on the map, as they dodged danger in real places from West to East across the U.S.  Lots of adventure involved in this book and there is an ending that will make you want to read the next Genius Files book, because this is the first in a series.  We have a ton of Gutman books in the library, so if you like his style of writing, you'll enjoy this too.

Reviewed by Mrs. Castro