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Eleven Kids, One Summer By Ann M. Martin

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Eleven Kids, One Summer By Ann M. Martin

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(Liz Swan)

Looking back, I did not read a lot of realistic contemporary fiction as a child. One book that does spring to mind is Eleven Kids, One Summer by Ann M. Martin. The sequel to Ten Kids, No Pets is about the Russo family and their summer adventures. I remember loving this book due to the different characters and their perspectives. Each family member gets to narrate a chapter.  I suppose, as a kid, I loved having all the different viewpoints on the events that were transpiring. I also found it fascinating that the parents named their kids based on the alphabet, probably so the reader could keep track of who was the eldest, who was the youngest, and everyone in between based on their name.

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(Karen Penda)
This is the first realistic fiction book that I absolutely loved as a child.  Leigh's letters to his favorite author tell about his new life in a central Californian town, with his single mom and estranged father living on the road as a trucker. Over the course of a school year, Leigh finds his identity and his own voice. I think this story resonated with me because, like Leigh, I was a quiet, shy kid who didn't stand out for any particular reason. I also wanted to be a writer, and this book inspired me to write letters to some of my own favorite authors.

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"Holes" by Louis Sachar (Jennifer Lowrey)

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"Holes" by Louis Sachar (Jennifer Lowrey)

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I did not read many realistic fiction novels as a child. I'm not sure if it was because I did not have an interest or if this genre was not presented to me often, but in any case, I distinctly remember reading Holes.

Holes centers around a seemingly cursed boy named Stanley who gets sent to a juvenile corrections camp in a desert in Texas. He was falsely accused of stealing a pair of athletic shoes belonging to a famous baseball player. Every day in the camp, the inmates are ordered to dig a hole in order to build character, thus the title of the novel.

This novel is still emblazoned in my memory because of its dark themes of racism and homelessness. This was the first book I read dealing with heavy subjects and because of that, my interest was piqued to continue to explore books with more coming-of-age themes. I think the age at which I read this book had an influence as well, because it was a pivotal time in my own maturity.

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(Emily Onufrak)

As a young kid, my favorite books were always the Amelia Bedelia books! To this day, it is probably still my favorite realistic fiction series. There was no one particular title that I liked; I loved them all! I enjoyed how I could picture Amelia Bedelia as a real person doing all of the crazy things that she did. The settings, characters and problems in these stories were always realistic, making it seem so real. The humor in these stories is what drew me in!

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"There Are Two Kinds of Terrible" by Peggy Mann.

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"There Are Two Kinds of Terrible" by Peggy Mann.

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(Holly Atkinson)
I had such a hard time remembering the title to this book. It was an older book. My grandmother sent it to me in the mail. It was a sad story about an 11/12 year old boy whose mother was dying of cancer. Having gone through a similar experience with a death of a loved one as a child it was a book that I could relate to. I don’t really remember the details all that well but it was the first book that came into my mind. Even though I think it was perhaps tough to read in parts it was also helpful in many ways to hear the words from a child’s point of view. There were a lot of other life challenges as well and I think the boy Robbie also broke his arm and he had a distant relationship with his father. I think in the end that bond grew stronger.

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"Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli (Brenna Carrellas)                                

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"Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli (Brenna Carrellas)                                

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I'm sure I read realistic fiction as a child but can't think of a book. Last semester I took LSC 531 and I read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and I really enjoyed it. It's about a boy named Leo in high school that falls for the new weird girl named Stargirl. She has been homeschooled up until the tenth grade. She becomes popular but then the things that make her unique causes the school to shun her. I enjoyed this book because it's about staying true to yourself even if you are different from others. This book may be suited more for young adults (13 +) but the message of "be who you are" is relevant to children too.

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(Kristen Barenthaler)
The Nancy Drew series was always special to me as a child because it reminded me that girl's can do anything we set our minds to. Throughout the series, Nancy and her friends solve numerous cases around her small town, that has an unusually high crime rate apparently. However, there's no supernatural reasons for the crime and the villain is always someone reader's met earlier in the story. It's easy to imagine a young girl like Nancy running around town inquiring about things that really aren't her business. In fact, I loved the series so much that I once tried to solve a mystery in my town when I was six. The police beat me to it though.

Nancy Drew also holds a sentimental place in my heart because my grandmother always bought me a hardcover copy of a Nancy Drew book for my birthday. When I was fifteen, she passed away and I never got any more of the books in series because I couldn't imagine reading them without her. However, I've recently rediscovered them by reading them with my five-year-old goddaughter and I'm thinking I may need to go buy some more to continue the tradition with her.

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(Mollie Goldblum)

I read "The School Story" in 3rd or 4th grade , I believe listening to it as an audio book. This books is about two friends Natalie and Zoe, who take on the task of getting Natalie's book published. With the help of one of their teachers, Ms. Clayton, they manage to get it published by Natalie's mom (who works for a publisher) without her knowing that Natalie is in fact the author. Throughout the book Natalie deals with her grief about her father's death through writing her book, and going through the process to get it published , it opens up opportunities to process and talk about it.
There were and are so many things I like about this book. First it talks about kids as capable, smart, and creative, without being totally unrealistic. They ask for and get help from adults they trust and learn from their mistakes. Also, at the core the story is about friendship , and although it's not a typical "adventure book" it has a sense of that in the way these two girls take on something that seems unlikely for two kids, and manage to succeed .

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"Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

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"Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

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Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

One book that comes back to me now and again is "Island of the Blue Dolphins".

We learn of Karana, a 12-year-old Nicoleño Native Californian, whose people are leaving San Nicolas Island, off the coast of California, by “large canoe” for a better life after many of the Nicoleño men (including her father) were killed by Russians due to a battle that erupted after breaking their hunting agreement with the Islanders. Knowing that her younger brother is fetching his fishing gear, Karana tries to convince the Aluet captain to wait, but there is an impending storm. Diving off the boat, she stays on the island to be with Ramo, but, at only age six he ends up being attacked by feral dogs and dies. So, for 18 years, Karana is alone using her wits and knowledge to hunt and fish, to make shelter and canoes, and to domesticate other animals including Rontu, one of the feral dogs.

The story is told from Karana’s point of view, so as the reader we understand the full working of her mind. How she knows the dogs will be back to get her as well, so she needs to create a shelter to protect herself. How she “demolishes” her traps and hiding places so that other hunters visiting the island won’t realize she’s there. And, how seeing a young girl with some of the Aluets who visit makes Karana realize her loneliness and isolation.

One day, Karana dresses in her best clothes and waits for the Aluet ship to return, so that she can be with other humans. We learn that the ship that sailed away with her people long ago sank during the storm, explaining why no one came back for Karana or her brother. We also learn that she is the last of her people, so she has no one to communicate with in her language when she lands in Santa Barbara, California around 1853.

I was impressed that Karana seemed to know what to do when, and she kept her wits about her. Avenging her brother’s death, she vowed to kill as many of the feral dogs as she could. But, as she grew wiser with each passing day, she exhibited a tremendous amount of maturity and restraint to the point of learning to live with the dogs and to domesticate some of them. I don’t think I could have survived a day. And, to find that this was actually a true story based on “The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island” was even more profound.

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"Frindle" by Andrew Clements (Lilli Paknis)

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"Frindle" by Andrew Clements (Lilli Paknis)

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I read Frindle in 5th grade, at the same age as Nick, the book's main character. When I first found it on the shelf, I laughed out loud at the title- I loved the silliness of it. This book tells the story of how class-clown Nick invents a new word for "pen" (frindle). The word gains intense popularity, at first just at Nick's school but eventually across the nation. I've always really loved words so the idea that a 5th grader could invent a new word for fun and have it stick was so exciting to me. It's a very funny and enjoyable read, and it convinced me that kids can make a difference with their ideas, no matter how silly.

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"Rules" by Cynthia Lord (Mackenzie Donnelly)

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"Rules" by Cynthia Lord (Mackenzie Donnelly)

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I first read this book when I was in 5th grade. It was part of the Rooster Game's reading list and it quickly became one of my all time favorite books. I still have it on my bookshelf to this day but it wasn't until this past year when I was in my student teaching placement and found it in my school that I picked it up again. This book is about a young girl, Catherine, who so badly wants a normal life but has a brother, David, who has autism and she is always teaching him different rules to help him get through life so that he doesn't act out or embarrass her. This book opened my eyes as a young child to the differences of the world and had me facing the true fact there's no such thing as "normal". David opened my heart up to those facing differences and Catherine opened my mind up to having more patience. This is a story that could most definitely occurred in real life and allowed me to imagine myself in Catherine's position as well as envision Catherine's life in the world that we live in.

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"Ramona Quimby, Age 8" by Beverly Cleary (Wendy Gustavel)

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"Ramona Quimby, Age 8" by Beverly Cleary (Wendy Gustavel)

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I read all of the books in the Ramona series before I turned 12. "Ramona Quimby, Age 8" was definitely my favorite. My sister and I both read this book for the first time over 30 years ago and, to this day, we frequently reference Ramona's antics in this book. Beverly Cleary humorously and tenderly presents Ramona's struggles to fit in at her new school and to be supportive of her family.  When the kids at Ramona's new school start a fad and begin bringing hard boiled eggs to school for lunch so that they can make a show of cracking them on their heads,  Ramona is eager to join in. Unfortunately, her busy working mom accidentally places an uncooked egg in her lunch and Ramona literally winds up with egg on her face. After school each day, Ramona has to go to a neighbor's house until her mother returns from work. She is expected to entertain her sitter's granddaughter,  Willa Jean, and gets in trouble when Willa Jean misbehaves. She hates being at the  sitter's house and knows that her family is counting on her not to make trouble because her mom needs her new job. Although, as a child, I was much more like Beezus, Ramona's older, responsible, rule following sister, Ramona made me laugh and I related to the strong bond that her imperfect family members shared. At the end of the book, her family goes out to dinner at the end of a long, trying week. An older man who observes them enjoying their time as a family pays their check. As a child, every time I went to a restaurant with my family, I hoped someone would see how much we loved and supported each other, too. I think that this is the power of realistic fiction. It allows us to see ourselves in the pages of the story and discover new things about ourselves at the same time.

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"The Penderwicks" by Jeanne Birdsall (Rebecca Lelli)

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"The Penderwicks" by Jeanne Birdsall (Rebecca Lelli)

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I do not recall what age I was when I first read "The Penderwicks", but I know it is appropriate for 3rd grade reading levels and up. I would describe it as a modern version of "Little Women", in the sense that there are 4 girls, they befriend a boy, they only have one parent, and they all have very different personalities. I remember only being able to appreciate "Little Women" when I was older because I did not connect well to it. I did connect to these girls however. They are 4 girls on summer vacation who get in a lot of trouble running wild at the cottage they rent every summer. They befriend a neighbor boy and essentially run amok through the whole book but it ends well. I realized later that there are  5 Penderwicks books, and that the 4th one deals with some heavy themes around death and guilt. Reading that one was certainly a surprise! Very different tone to the light-hearted take in the rest. But I enjoyed "The Penderwicks", and I think many children do too, for it's realistic portrayal of what it means to be a family.