5^th Grade Book Talks for 2/8/08

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

One of my favorite books. Maniac is a legend, he can outrun a dog, he can hit inside the park homeruns, he can untie any not, he never goes to school—but what’s the real story? Who knows the real Maniac Magee?

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Sort of like Maniac, only a girl. She named herself. She sings Happy Birthday to strangers in the cafeteria. And the narrator falls in love with. But he changes her. There’s also a sequel.

Wringer by Jerry Spinelli

A dark book about peer pressure. Suspenseful. In Palmer’s town, boys must participate in this pigeon-killing ritual once they turn ten. They have to wring the birds’ necks. But Palmer has a pet pigeon. Will he do what he supposed to do or will he rebel?

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

This is Billie Jo's story. She lives on a farm in Oklahoma during the Depression, doing her best to deal with the constant dust and the hard times that have befallen her entire community. Her dream is to become a pianist, but a tragic mistake puts that future in jeopardy and changes her family forever.

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

A neat little book about a young girl looking for answers to life's tough questions, which is all the more interesting in her case because she has a nontraditional family and an obsession with 12 Step groups.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Do you love dogs? Opal goes to the store one day and comes back with an old dog she names Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie changes Opal's life for the better..

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Annemarie lives in Denmark in 1943. Her best friend, Ellen, is suddenly in grave danger because she is Jewish and the Nazis are coming. Annemarie and her family struggle to save Ellen's life: Will they succeed? Can they get Ellen to Sweden and safety?

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

It's the Depression and Bud's just a kid on his own, scraping by as best he can. He tells the story of how he travels by himself to find a man he thinks is his father. It's a pretty funny book, too. You'll really like Bud.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Recipes! Primrose is an orphan, but she doesn't believe her parents are dead. She lives in a small town where her favorite place is a little restaurant that serves everything on waffles.

Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers

14-year-old Jimmy lives in Harlem. He hasn't seen his father "Crab" in nine years, but then Crab shows up and wants to take Jimmy across the country.

Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins

An everyday life book about 14-year-olds yearning for a first love. There are pictures and a whole chapter written in haiku.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

An action-packed historical narrative that follows the frantic flight of a 13-year-old peasant boy across 14th-century England. After being declared a "wolf's head" by his manor's corrupt steward for a crime he didn't commit (meaning that anyone can kill him like a common animal--and collect a reward), this timid boy has to flee a tiny village that's the only world he's ever known. Feudal system. Serfs and lords.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The first strange thing about Sunset Towers was that it faced East, and had no towers. But when the diverse group of tenants who move in discover that they've been brought there for a reason, things get very strange indeed. You as the reader and the Westing heir are the only ones who hold all the clues. Can you solve the puzzle?

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan

Jake is a bad kid - so bad that he's been kicked out of all the schools in Rhode Island. His last resort is the Creative Academy, a home school run by the zany Applewhites, all dramatic artist types, except for E.D., the only organized, structured one in the bunch. Can Jake survive the Applewhites? Can they they survive him? This is a funny, enjoyable read.

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Twelve-year-old Moose has a lot on his mind: his family just moved to Alcatraz, where his father is working double shifts so that they can send his older sister to school.  Moose has to take care of Natalie all the time, he has to get used to his new school and find new friends to play baseball with and on top of all this there's always the chance that Al Capone will break out and kill him. Set in the 1930s.