#25--The Captive by Joyce Hansen

Kofi is the beloved son of an Ashanti chief who has been betrayed by a beloved family slave, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in Massachusetts, post American Revolution--when slavery was illegal, but often tolerated.  Kofi does not understand what is happening.  All he wants is to get back to his family and village. He even tries to convince his captors that if they return him they will be richly rewarded.  Which, of course, they all laugh at and continue in their nefarious ways.

On the route to America, he befriends two other young boys on the ship: one, Tim, is a white indentured servant, and the other, Joseph, a black orphan who was born on the ship.  These three boys become inseparable and are eventually purchased together by a Puritan man and his wife.  While slavery is illegal in Massachusetts, white indentured servitude is not.  The man is not kind to any of the help on the farm, but especially not to the three boys.  The mistress gives all three boys lessons and Kofi especially eats it up.  Kofi eventually tries to explain to the mistress, thinking she is his friend, that he wants to go back to Africa to his family and village.  She is horrified and from then on holds him at a distance, demanding that the three boys pray for their salvation--even though there is never any explanation to the boys why they go to a long building once a week or the purpose behind the kneeling every night while the master drones one.

Kofi and his two friends eventually escape and end up on a boat belonging to Paul Cuffe, who happened to be a free black and the captain of the ship, as well as a Quaker.  The boys are taken to jail because though the master claims he has paid good money for Tim's contract, the boys claim ill-treatment and that Kofi is a kidnapped African and Joseph is an illegal slave.  In order to sort everything out, there is a trial.  Paul Cuffe has promised to take the boys under his wing and make them his apprentices in ship-building.  The boys are eventually awarded their freedom and go to live with Cuffe and his family.

In the epilogue, Kofi is an adult, married, and working tirelessly with Joseph and other Quakers to end slavery and to make life better for blacks in America.

This book is based on a journal from the late 1700s.  I was able to find out a little more information about Paul Cuffe but Kofi is a creation of the author's imagination, based on the journal.

This was a quick, easy read that I will recommend to students interested in this time period, or to teachers working on a history of slavery lesson/unit.

Happy Reading!!

#24--My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen is a favorite with my students, especially my boys.  I remember reading Hatchet at some point in elementary or junior high and loving the adventure of it all.  As an adult I enjoy finding out about the author's themselves and if they have had personal experiences that have influenced their writing.  In reading My Life in Dog Years I discovered that Gary Paulsen has lived a very adventurous life, including running the Idiotarod a number of times.

My Life in Dog Years is autobiographical in that it recalls nine different dogs out of hundreds Paulsen has owned over the course of his life....from Snowball, his first ever puppy while the family was stationed in the Philippines to Josh, the trusty and brilliant border collie that was Paulsen's current dog at the time of publication in 1998.  There were stories that made me giggle as well as stories that made me sniffle.  This was a quick and easy read and I know it is a book that my students and dog lovers of all ages would enjoy.

Happy Reading!!

#18--The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen

This was another one of the titles I grabbed for vacation from the "books removed from the library, but I still want to read" pile.  This story is about a little boy with no name who sent to the wilderness of Canada to live with his grandmother during World War II while his mother works in a factory and his father is off to war.  The little boy befriends the men who are building the road into the wilderness and his grandmother is their cook.  The little boy is happy here, but he misses his mother.  Eventually he goes back to his mother and doesn't see his grandmother again for many years.

This was a quick, easy read.  I like Paulsen's work, however, I have trouble connecting to characters who have no name, like the protagonist in this story.  I would say that this story is more geared for an elementary reader than for a middle school reader, but a middle school student could still get something from it.

Not my favorite of Paulsen's works, but still pretty solid.

Happy Reading!!

#9--Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu and Andres Vera Martinez

Every once in a while I come across a book that I just have to read, for whatever reason.  This was one of those books.  The cover intrigued me; and I also couldn't tell for sure whether or not it should be included in the collection as fiction or nonfiction.  And the fact that it was told in beautiful pictures drew me in even further.

The author, Na Liu, tells stories about growing up in China during the time period immediately after Chairman Mao died (1976-1980).  The artwork, done by her husband, is gorgeous, especially the pictures that are meant to look like Chinese propaganda from the time period.  I felt like I was in China during this time period and it was brought to life for me.  The story is broken up into several chapters that tell a continuous story.  I would love to know more about Liu's life between the time period portrayed in this book and when she emmigrated to the US in 1999 as you don't often find stories of this time and place, written for children or teens. 

I must say that I'm pretty excited to get this title on the shelf soon!

Happy Reading!!

#38--The Exeter Blitz by David Rees

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/exeter-cathedral **

As I tend to dedicate much of my reading to historical fiction, I try to read about events that I don't always know much about.  Today's book is an example.  I have always heard about the Blitz occurring in London during WWII, and that there were other places that were bombed as well.  However, I was not aware that the Blitz was carried out far to the eastern side of London.  After the British destroyed the German port of Lubeck (of which there was very little point other than to try out new weapons), known for very little except its beauty and antiquity, Hitler was furious and then ordered the destruction of similar British cities: Norwich, Canterbury, York, Bath, and Exeter. 

The Exeter Blitz follows one fictional family as they experience and then survive the night of May 3-4, 1942.  The story is told from each family member's point of view at different times, which gives it a different feel.  I enjoyed learning about a specific event that I was not previously familiar with and this was a quick (128 pages), easy read.  This will be added to my list of recommendations when my students are looking for a WWII novel that is not specifically about the front or the Holocaust, so that they can get a sense of what it might have been like to live through an air raid as intensive as the bombing that destroyed much of Exeter, but, miraculously, left much of its famous cathedral in tact.

Happy Reading!!

**"Exeter Cathedral ." Exeter Cathedral. Sacred Destinations, 30 July 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2012. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/exeter-cathedral.

#20--Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps by Andrea Warren

So, as I was getting book talks ready after school today for a teacher I started flipping through this particular choice, mainly to see if it would work for the assignment the students will be doing, and I got sucked into it. 

Jack Mandelbaum was only 15 when he was deported to a concentration camp during Nazi Germany and he was shipped to a number of camps before finally being liberated on May 7, 1945.  At the first camp the man in the bunk next to him, Aaron, tells him to treat it like a game that he wants to win, that if he plays everything right, he might beat the Nazis.  Jack is determined to survive and meet back up with his parents, brother, and sister, who he is certain are still alive and waiting for him.  Jack eventually arrives in the United States and becomes an American citizen, marries, and has a family.  He does find a few family members, but his parents and siblings all perished at the hands of the Nazis. 

This would make a good introduction to the Holocaust for someone who wasn't very knowledgeable, or for a late elementary student.  It was a quick and easy read.  And it should do just fine for the project, so my students will be hearing about this one on Wednesday.  :)

Happy Reading!

#19--The Shadow Children by Steven Schnur

My 8^th graders study The Diary of Anne Frank as part of their Language Arts class and several teachers typically require the students to read an additional book about the Holocaust as part of this unit.  One day last week this title was turned in by a student and I noticed that it had a fantasy genre sticker on it (I put genre stickers on all my fiction books so that the students—and I—have an easier time picking out a specific genre), and I was curious as to why I had put a fantasy sticker on a book that also has a Holocaust sticker on it.  So, before putting it back on the shelf, I grabbed it and quickly read it.  (It took me less than 40 minutes to get through, so it is a quick read--less than 100 pages.)

The story takes place several years after World War II is over, in a small French town, Mont Brulant.  Etienne is looking forward to spending the summer with his grandfather and this is the first year his parents will not be joining him.  Etienne is surprised to notice on the drive back to his grandfather’s home from the train station that the town is much quieter than he remembers.  They also pass a group of children begging on the side of the road, but his grandfather doesn’t notice them.

As the summer goes on and Etienne goes exploring, he comes across a group of children living and hiding in the woods, who run and hide when they hear a train coming.  Etienne knows that the closest train is miles away and the children couldn’t be seen from it.  He doesn’t understand what they are hiding from. 

When he mentions the children to his grandfather, Grand-pere brushes it off, but Madame Jaboter (who comes to clean and cook for Grand-pere) overhears Etienne and begs him to promise he won’t go back to the woods.  Eventually, Etienne learns who the children are and why they are hiding…they are the souls of the children the people of Mont Brulant tried to save from the Nazis, but were forced to hand them over. 

This was a different story than I was expecting, but thought it was pretty well done.  (It has a fantasy sticker because we use fantasy whenever there are ghosts or anything supernatural in the story.)

Now it is going back on the shelf for another student to read.

Happy Reading!

#15--Connie Cobbler: Toy Detective by James DeSalvo

What do you get when you cross Strawberry Shortcake, Babes in Toyland, and a noir detective story?  Today's story, for sure.

The main character, Connie Cobbler, is a former TV star--she and four friends had a show called Connie Cobbler and the Pastry Pals.  When there was an accident on set and one of her friends and co-stars died, Connie left the world and fame behind forever....and became a private detective.  She takes on cases in her hometown, Toy Town.  Brenda Bombshell has come to Connie and asked her to find her lost dog, Foo-foo, who was wearing a very expensive diamond collar when he was dog-napped.  This case leads Connie on to an even bigger case--one where it looks like someone wants Connie out of the picture, for good!

I downloaded this story for free on my kindle.  It was a cute, fun story, but I don't think I would have paid for it.  It is available in paperback and it would be a cute addition to an elementary library.

Happy Reading!