The Wednesday Wars

From Publisher's Weekly...
2008 Newebery Honor Award 

On the first day of the 1967–68 school year, Holling Hoodhood thinks he's made a mortal enemy of his new teacher when it turns out he's the only seventh-grader who does not leave early every Wednesday to attend Hebrew school or catechism. (Holling is Presbyterian, and though eminently likeable, he does have a knack for unintentionally making enemies.) Stern Mrs. Baker first gives him custodial duties, but after hilarious if far-fetched catastrophes involving chalk dust, rats and freshly baked cream puffs, she switches to making him read Shakespeare. He overcomes his initial horror, adopting the Bard's inventive cursing as his own to dress down schoolyard bullies. Indeed standing up for himself is the real battle Holling is waging, especially at home, where his architect father has the entire family under his thumb. Schmidt, whose Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy won both Printz and Newbery Honors, delivers another winner here, convincingly evoking 1960s Long Island, with Walter Cronkite's nightly updates about Vietnam as the soundtrack. The serious issues are leavened with ample humor, and the supporting cast—especially the wise and wonderful Mrs. Baker—is fully dimensional. Best of all is the hero, who shows himself to be more of a man than his authoritarian father. Unlike most Vietnam stories, this one ends happily, as Schmidt rewards the good guys with victories that, if not entirely true to the period, deeply satisfy. Ages 10-14. (May)

Good book!  I enjoyed it, although I thought that Holling's grasp of Shakespeare was a little unrealistic for a 7th grader.  I think this is a good book for middle schoolers.  

Antsy Does Time

From GoodReads...

Fueled by friendship and sympathy, Antsy Bonano signs a month of his life over to his "dying" classmate Gunnar Umlaut. Soon everyone at school follows suit, giving new meaning to the idea of "living on borrowed time." But does Gunnar really have six months to live, or is news of his imminent death greatly exaggerated? When a family member suffers a heart attack after donating two years to Gunnar, Antsy wonders if he has tempted fate by playing God. Fans of "the Schwa" will welcome favorite and new characters in this wholly fresh tale, which is as touchingly poignant as it is darkly comical.

Another good book by Neal Shusterman...funny and touching.  Good for middle school and good for guys.  

One Crazy Summer

From Publisher's Weekly...
2011 Newberry Honor book, 2011 Coretta Scott King Award, National Book Award Finalist
Williams-Garcia (Jumped ) evokes the close-knit bond between three sisters, and the fervor and tumultuousness of the late 1960s, in this period novel featuring an outspoken 11-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. Through lively first-person narrative,readers meet Delphine, whose father sends her and her two younger sisters to Oakland, Calif., to visit their estranged mother, Cecile. When Cecile picks them up at the airport, she is as unconventional as Delphine remembers (“There was something uncommon about Cecile. Eyes glommed onto her. Tall, dark brown woman in man's pants whose face was half hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades. She was like a colored movie star”). Instead of taking her children to Disneyland as they had hoped, Cecile shoos them off to the neighborhood People's Center, run by members of the Black Panthers. Delphine doesn't buy into all of the group's ideas, but she does come to understand her mother a little better over the summer. Delphine's growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers. Ages 9–12.(Jan.)

Adorable book...although a little young for middle school.  

The Schwa was Here

From Amazon...

Gr. 6-9. When Anthony "Antsy" Bonano and his friends meet Calvin Schwa, they are impressed and puzzled by his ability to appear and disappear before their very eyes. Antsy concocts a moneymaking scheme based on the Schwa's invisibility that seems promising until he and his friends overreach and are caught by the town's legendary mean millionaire, Mr. Crawley. Their resulting community service project--walking the 7 virtues and 7 vices (Crawley's 14 afghan hounds) and going out with Crawley's granddaughter Lexie--cements and ultimately challenges friendships. The humor is just right for boys, but the complexity of plot, the depth and richness of the characters, and the underlying seriousness of the issues belies the easy-to-read comedy. Schwa is an average kid who hangs on the periphery of the crowd and longs to be noticed and included, not simply ignored. His character is extreme, but far too many adolescents--and the adults who work with them--will sadly and guiltily recognize him. Frances Bradburn

I really enjoyed this book...it's both funny and touching. Several of the main characters are boys so it's a great book for guys.  

Speaking from Among the Bones

From Publisher's Weekly...

Memorable, often funny prose complements the crafty plot of Bradley’s fifth Flavia de Luce novel (after 2011’s I Am Half-Sick of Shadows). The year 1951 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of St. Tancred, who gave his name to 11-year-old Flavia’s local church in the village of Bishop’s Lacey. That the occasion will include the opening of the saint’s tomb excites Flavia, whose curiosity about the excavation leads her to find the body of a murder victim. The precocious and irrepressible Flavia (who was booted from the Girl Guides for “an excess of high spirits”) continues to delight. Portraying a 11-year-old as a plausible sleuth and expert in poisons is no mean feat, but Bradley makes it look easy. The reader never loses sight of Flavia’s youth, but also never wonders at the likelihood that someone with her qualities exists.

Loved it!  And for once I understood the title!

Heart of a Samurai

2011 Newberry Honor
From Publisher's Weekly
In picture book author (The Peace Bell) Preus’s excellent first novel, based on the true story of Manjiro Nakahama, Manjiro is 14 in 1841 when he is shipwrecked in a storm. An American whaling ship eventually rescues him and his shipmates, and while his fellow fishermen are fearful of the “barbarians,” Manjiro is curious about them and the world. Knowing Japanese law forbids him from returning home because he’s left the country, he learns English and whaling, gets a new name and family with the captain, and eventually seeks his way in America as the first known Japanese to set foot there. He finds innovative ways to challenge both hardships and prejudice, and never loses his curiosity. Preus mixes fact with fiction in a tale that is at once adventurous, heartwarming, sprawling, and nerve-racking in its depictions of early anti-Asian sentiment. She succeeds in making readers feel every bit as “other” as Manjiro, while showing America at its best and worst through his eyes. Period illustrations by Manjiro himself and others, as well as new art from Jillian Tamaki, a glossary, and other background information are included. Ages 10–14. (Aug.)

Loved it!

Turtle in Paradise

2011 Newberry Honor
From Publisher's Weekly...
Turtle, the witty 11-year-old narrator of this standout historical novel, is a straight shooter: “Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I’ve lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten.” When her romantic and unrealistic mother, who’s always falling in and out of love, gets a housekeeping job that won’t allow children, she sends Turtle to her estranged family in Depression-era Key West. Though her mother hails Key West as paradise, Turtle initially think it’s a dump (“Truth is, the place looks like a broken chair that’s been left out in the sun to rot”). Two-time Newbery Honor author Holm again crafts a winning heroine who, despite her hardened exterior, gradually warms to her eccentric family members, including her unruly cousins and waspish grandmother (who Turtle thought was dead). Infused with period pop culture references, a strong sense of place, and the unique traditions and culture of Key West natives (aka “Conchs”), this humorous adventure effectively portrays Turtle as caught between her mother’s Hollywood-inspired dreams and the very real family and geography that offer a different kind of paradise. Ages 8–12. (May)

I thought this was an adorable book!  But, a little young for the older middle school students.

How I Live Now

Printz Award 2005
From Publisher's Weekly...

This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century. Told from the point of view of 15-year-old Manhattan native Daisy, the novel follows her arrival and her stay with cousins on a remote farm in England. Soon after Daisy settles into their farmhouse, her Aunt Penn becomes stranded in Oslo and terrorists invade and occupy England.
Daisy's candid, intelligent narrative draws readers into her very private world, which appears almost utopian at first with no adult supervision (especially by contrast with her home life with her widowed father and his new wife). The heroine finds herself falling in love with cousin Edmond, and the author credibly creates a world in which social taboos are temporarily erased. When soldiers usurp the farm, they send the girls off separately from the boys, and Daisy becomes determined to keep herself and her youngest cousin, Piper, alive. Like the ripple effects of paranoia and panic in society, the changes within Daisy do not occur all at once, but they have dramatic effects. In the span of a few months, she goes from a self-centered, disgruntled teen to a courageous survivor motivated by love and compassion.
How she comes to understand the effects the war has had on others provides the greatest evidence of her growth, as well as her motivation to get through to those who seem lost to war's consequences. Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

Good book, although probably not appropriate for younger middle school students.  

The Fellowship of the Ring

From Amazon:

The first volume in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure THE LORD OF THE RINGS

 

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

“A unique, wholly realized other world, evoked from deep in the well of Time, massively detailed, absorbingly entertaining, profound in meaning.” – New York Times

I enjoyed this book, although not as much as The Hobbit.  It's more complicated and there's more references to history and places not involved in the story.  I want to eventually read the rest in the series.  

The Hobbit

From Amazon.com

Now a major motion picture

A great modern classic and the prelude to THE LORD OF THE RINGS

 

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

“A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible . . . All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will takeThe Hobbit to their hearts.” – New York Times Book Review

I re-read this book in anticipation of the movie, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's an engaging, entertaining story.  The movie, however, I did not like as much as another story line was added.  I think this additional story line detracts from the original story.