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by Alan Gratz

Prisoner B-3087 is based on an astonishing true story of a young Jewish boy, Yanek Gruener, from Poland in the 1930's. Everything and everyone he knows has been brutally snatched from him and he becomes a prisoner of the Nazis. During his time as a prisoner re recounts  his time in 10 different concentration camps where he relives the torture, starvation, work, and horror he endured. He remembers not only how he nearly escapes death, but the experience of becoming of age under such brutal circumstances. Gratz does a phenomenal job writing from a child perspective to captivate the thoughts and language of the time. The target audience is Prisoner B-3087 is middle school. I believe he takes a dark experience and does an amazing job of a child's interpretation and understanding and is able to reach past middle school to an older audience as well. I would highly recommend Prisoner B-3087. The holocaust can be a difficult subject and Gratz managed to write about a boy's experience that people will be able to relate to.
Leanna

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The Spider and the Fly originally written by Mary Howitt and adapted with illustrations by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Tony DiTerlizzi, is a cautionary tale about a spider and a fly.  This story begins with what seems like an innocent meeting between a sinister, yet dapper spider and a dainty little fly. As a guest of the spider’s, the fly is invited to dine with him in his creepy “bug filled” dining room. The setting is a large, dark mansion that alludes to that haunted house feel, while offering multiple clues and foreshadows the death of any bug that encounters the spider’s hospitality. At first, the lovely fly is suspicious and uses her smarts to get away from the spider. However, she makes the fatal choice to return and soon realizes the spider is the smarter of the two. He easily identifies her weakness...Vanity. In the end the spider uses this to his advantage. Sadly, the beautiful fly meets her demise. The author’s decision to create a narrative poem to show the plight of the fly makes this story a fun and energetic read for all age ranges. Furthermore, this is an excellent piece for educators everywhere. The story is written in a way that any teacher would be able to use to to teach student’s characterization, inferencing, summarizing, figurative language just to name a few.  This cautionary tale is a must read for all children and even some adults. If for no other reason , it gives a fun and creative visual on the importance of remembering those two powerful words, “Stranger Danger!”

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The Spider and the Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi

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The “I Survived” series is emotional and fascinating with historical accounts of events from different time periods. The series tells the story through the eyes of a young boy or girl ready to confront struggles that come their way.  Readers are instantly hooked with tales of courage and survival. These books are best suited for a second grade reading level and up. The stories are written from a child’s perspective based on real events in history. Children who enjoy non-fiction will find it easy to merge the two together into one exciting story. The plots take place in historical events such as The Great Chicago Fire, Battle of Gettysburg, The Japanese Tsunami, The Attack of September 11, and The Bombing of Pearl Harbor.

My third grade students were highly engaged and furthered their interest in the “I Survived” series by creating their own tales of how they survived a historical event.Students wrote tales such as “I Survived Pompeii” and “I Survived Living on Easter Island.” A wonderful opportunity for the students to expand their love of reading and writing while expanding their  background knowledge on a specific event and use it in their own survival story.

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The Secret written by Rhonda Byrne is centered on the law of attraction. It is the driving force behind the creation of the vision board which was a big movement years ago. What I find most compelling in this book is the shift that occurs in the way that one thinks. There is a requirement to go from negative to positive thinking. The belief that we have the power to change our lives through words, intentions, visualization, expectations and gratitude is pretty amazing! This book helps to unleash the potential we have as humans to be the creator of our reality. Through the use of quotes and share experiences of teachers, inventors, philosophers, entrepreneurs and average people we are able to witness and understand “the secret” at work. Byrne does a great job of removing the mystery surrounding exactly how a person should go about tapping into the power of the universe. With the turn of each page the reader learns how to become keenly aware of their feelings and the exact frequency they are emitting while communicating desires for their lives with the universe. According to “The Secret” your life is a reflection of the images in your mind. Now, I carefully consider what I focus my thoughts, conversations and energies on. I have shifted from a state of passivity to a state of unlimited possibilities. I highly recommend this book to anyone ready to remove self-imposed limits while embracing the power found within the words you speak!
Angela Stephens
Literacy Specialist (Mahaffey Elementary)

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The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom BookWritten by: Don Miguel RuizThe book, “The Four Agreements” written by Don Miguel Ruiz, is a “personal guide to personal freedom”. Ruiz expresses how living by these four agreements; be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best; will allow you to be free from the world’s harshness and judgment and take on life from finding joy and peace within yourself. As Ruiz explains in his book, “to be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans.” Adopting these four agreements in your everyday life transforms the way you see life and its experiences because you have inwardly accepted yourself and love yourself. “We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves.” Ruiz targets adult readers who enjoy self-improvement, self-reflection, and want to transition into a life of joy and peace by analyzing and implementing the four agreements. Truly accepting these agreements will create the road to your personal freedom.  

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The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom BookWritten by: Don Miguel RuizThe book, “The Four Agreements” written by Don Miguel Ruiz, is a “personal guide to personal freedom”. Ruiz expresses how living by these four agreements; be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best; will allow you to be free from the world’s harshness and judgment and take on life from finding joy and peace within yourself. As Ruiz explains in his book, “to be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans.” Adopting these four agreements in your everyday life transforms the way you see life and its experiences because you have inwardly accepted yourself and love yourself. “We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves.” Ruiz targets adult readers who enjoy self-improvement, self-reflection, and want to transition into a life of joy and peace by analyzing and implementing the four agreements. Truly accepting these agreements will create the road to your personal freedom.  

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Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate EpidemicWritten by Sam QuinonesFrom a small town in Mexico to the big pharmacy companies, this book gives a shocking account of addiction and black tar heroin in the heartland of America.Sam Quinones use his narrative skill and storytelling to help the reader see inside how capitalism, addiction and the prescribing of pain medication in the 1990’s reached it’s peak laying waste to communities from Ohio, Tennessee and beyond.Throughout the book, he intermingles how black tar heroin from Nayarit, Mexico made it’s way into small towns across America and how the marketing campaign Purdue Pharma lead to the addiction to OxyContin.The reader travels the journey of the drug traffickers from Mexico,and  the life of an addict. The reader is introduced to the law enforcement officers trying to stop illegal drugs and you get to meet the families of addicts. Traveling this journey makes the reader keenly aware of just how drugs are affecting life in the United States.This book is a must read for everyone trying to understand both sides of this tragic story of drugs, addiction and how pharmaceutical companies lead to the abuse of drugs in America.

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Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate EpidemicWritten by Sam QuinonesFrom a small town in Mexico to the big pharmacy companies, this book gives a shocking account of addiction and black tar heroin in the heartland of America.Sam Quinones use his narrative skill and storytelling to help the reader see inside how capitalism, addiction and the prescribing of pain medication in the 1990’s reached it’s peak laying waste to communities from Ohio, Tennessee and beyond.Throughout the book, he intermingles how black tar heroin from Nayarit, Mexico made it’s way into small towns across America and how the marketing campaign Purdue Pharma lead to the addiction to OxyContin.The reader travels the journey of the drug traffickers from Mexico,and  the life of an addict. The reader is introduced to the law enforcement officers trying to stop illegal drugs and you get to meet the families of addicts. Traveling this journey makes the reader keenly aware of just how drugs are affecting life in the United States.This book is a must read for everyone trying to understand both sides of this tragic story of drugs, addiction and how pharmaceutical companies lead to the abuse of drugs in America.

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The love for reading was reignited because of Pam Munoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising!  The story begins with a girl on the verge of celebrating her thirteenth birthday.  Her family was wealthy, owned land and good to their servants and field workers.  The untimely death of her father has Esperanza and her mother immigrating to the United States and learning to live a new way of life.  The strengths of this novel was the outstanding way the character transforms.  The only weakness is you desire to want to continue to follow the heroin on her journey after the last word is read.  Esperanza Rising impacted my way of thinking because it was so cleverly written that you felt like you struggled along with her.  It opened my eyes to the thoughts and experiences of what immigrant families go through.  I would recommend this book to anyone age 8 and older!  Not only did the main character have a transformation but the students in my classroom transformed to lovers of the written word!  That is every educator’s dream response, right?  If I could suggest anything to Pam Munoz Ryan, it would be to please write a sequel.  I highly recommend this book!

Melissa

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The Fourth Stall                 Chris Rylander has a gift for writing.  His story about young Christian “Mac” Barrett begins right in the middle of his lucrative business he runs from the East Wing Boys restroom fourth stall from the window.  His business hours are during 2 recesses and lunch and he provides services ranging from providing test answers to selling video games that parents don’t want their kids playing.Mr. Rylander uses many fiction elements to make Mac’s story colorful including figurative language, allusion, well-chosen word choice, humor, varied sentence patterns, and detailed character descriptions.  “Terell Alishouse is a kid obsessed with spying on people and lurking in the shadows and stuff like that.  Most kids avoid him because they think he’s a creepy weirdo, and he avoids most people because you can’t be a spy if you’re always being seen. His idols are Nancy Drew, James Bond, some guy named Shaft, and two dudes called the Hardy Boys” (Rylander 135).One part of the book puts me in a difficult decision, even if I turn off my mom brain while reading it.  "I wanted to tell my dad. I really did. I mean, I always try to keep my business and family separate but someone had just tried to kill me. There’s nothing I wanted to do more right then than to tell my parents. But I still couldn’t say anything. The Cubs game is too important and getting my parents involved would only risk us not being able to go. For one, they’d call the cops and once the cops got involved I’d run the risk of having to come clean about my Funds. No adult was going to let a kid keep six grand in his closet" (Rylander 154).Because the main character chooses to keep his death threat a secret from his parents in order to go to the Cubs game, I can not in good conscience recommend this book to students or fellow colleagues.  Maybe the author could have at least had Mac go to another adult in the cast of characters to ask for help.  This decision on Mr. Rylander’s part forces me to give 2 thumbs down for The Fourth Stall.

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The Fourth Stall                 Chris Rylander has a gift for writing.  His story about young Christian “Mac” Barrett begins right in the middle of his lucrative business he runs from the East Wing Boys restroom fourth stall from the window.  His business hours are during 2 recesses and lunch and he provides services ranging from providing test answers to selling video games that parents don’t want their kids playing.Mr. Rylander uses many fiction elements to make Mac’s story colorful including figurative language, allusion, well-chosen word choice, humor, varied sentence patterns, and detailed character descriptions.  “Terell Alishouse is a kid obsessed with spying on people and lurking in the shadows and stuff like that.  Most kids avoid him because they think he’s a creepy weirdo, and he avoids most people because you can’t be a spy if you’re always being seen. His idols are Nancy Drew, James Bond, some guy named Shaft, and two dudes called the Hardy Boys” (Rylander 135).One part of the book puts me in a difficult decision, even if I turn off my mom brain while reading it.  "I wanted to tell my dad. I really did. I mean, I always try to keep my business and family separate but someone had just tried to kill me. There’s nothing I wanted to do more right then than to tell my parents. But I still couldn’t say anything. The Cubs game is too important and getting my parents involved would only risk us not being able to go. For one, they’d call the cops and once the cops got involved I’d run the risk of having to come clean about my Funds. No adult was going to let a kid keep six grand in his closet" (Rylander 154).Because the main character chooses to keep his death threat a secret from his parents in order to go to the Cubs game, I can not in good conscience recommend this book to students or fellow colleagues.  Maybe the author could have at least had Mac go to another adult in the cast of characters to ask for help.  This decision on Mr. Rylander’s part forces me to give 2 thumbs down for The Fourth Stall.

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The Seventh Wish               Kate Messner

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The Seventh Wish               Kate Messner

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Abby's love for her sister was immeasurable, but lies and addiction threatens the family.  In this enchanting story, Abby found a fish that talks and grants wishes. Thinking it was the solution to the problems that surround her, the fish became her hope, only to realize that hope is something that she creates inside her heart. The author's courage to write about a critical and sensitive topic presents itself as a timely message for parents and educators to be aware of the truth. Do we show the realities to our children or let them uncover it themselves? The Seventh Wish is thought-provoking and yet a necessary story for readers of all ages.