Bet your summer isn't like this one

Your "what I did on my summer vacation" essay will probably never tell of an experience like that in One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. The year is 1968, and 11-year-old Delphine has been sent to Oakland, California, with her two younger sisters to spend a month with Celine, the mother she barely remembers. With no sign of a motherly bone in her body, Celine sends the girls to a community center run by the Black Panthers to spend every day, orders them out to pick up Chinese food for every dinner, and clearly tells her daughters, "No one told y'all to come out here." The story is told in the voice of Delphine, who is trying to care for her sisters, learning a new (to her) aspect of the black community, and hoping to gain some sign of affection from her mother. The humor of sisters bugging sisters blended with the serious historical information of a turbulent time make for a great read.

A fantastic book to listen to

I recently took an unexpected road trip by myself, and I thought that listening to an audiobook might help pass the time. Wow, did I luck out! Love, Ruby Lavender, written by Deborah Wiles and read by Judith Ivey, was a huge treat. Ruby lives in Halleluia, Mississippi, and her best friend is her feisty grandmother, Miss Eula. When Eula decides to visit her new grandbaby in Hawaii, Ruby is devastated. The two trade frequent letters, and Ruby describes how she's raising chickens (humorously "liberated" by Ruby and Eula in the opening of the book), making a new friend, Dove, and figuring out how to deal with irritating Melba Jane, whose father died in the same accident as Ruby's grandfather. Ivey's Mississippi accents were just amazing - every time Eula mentioned "Hu-wah-yuh" I felt like I sitting across the porch from her, sipping lemonade. Going on a road trip yourself? This audiobook will make the time fly.

Not your typical fairy tale

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson is a fascinating story based on a Charles Perrault fairy tale. Set in pre-colonial India, stepsisters Diribani and Tana individually encounter the goddess Naghali-ji. Afterwards, gems and flowers tumble from Diribani's lips when she speaks, but Tana speaks toads, frogs, and snakes. Each of these abilities is a gift, and when the girls are separated, they are determined to discover the purpose behind the goddess's blessings. Although it seems as though Diribani is the luckier of the two, she's not as happy as one might expect. Alternating chapters focus on one stepsister or the other; the sights, sounds, and smells of the different cultural settings and customs that the girls encounter are vividly described. Read along, and in your imagination you can join the journeys, too.

A true gem

What an absolutely enchanting book! Diamond Willow by Helen Frost is told in first person; twelve-year-old Willow's narration is in diamond-shaped verse, each one containing a secondary message in bold type. Willow lives in remote Alaska. She helps her father care for their sled dogs and is finally allowed to mush the dogs to her Grandma and Grandpa's by herself. On the way home she has an accident that blinds her favorite dog, Roxy. After learning that her parents plan on putting Roxy to sleep, Willow enlists the friend of her friend Kaylie to rush Roxy back to her grandparents', but a blinding blizzard leaves them stranded in the forest overnight. Unbeknownst to the girls, the spirits of their ancestors, in the form of various animals, provide protection and guidance. A surprising family secret is revealed about two-thirds of the way through the book, and the voices of the animal ancestors become even more meaningful. The touches of magical realism are simply delightful.

On a more serious note

With a title as goofy as Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, written by Jordan Sonnenblick, I figured this book would provide a light-hearted read. Yes, some parts were pretty funny, but others were deadly serious. Steven is an eighth-grader concerned with typical middle school issues: his impressive drumming talent, a mild obsession with beautiful Renee, and his annoying little brother Jeffrey. Then Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, and the roller-coaster begins. Their mother quits her job to deal with doctors, hospitals, and endless cancer tests and treatments; their father worries about finances and becomes withdrawn; Steven takes refuge with his drums and the All-City High School Band which he was talented enough to join. His emotions are realistically described, ranging from elation after a conversation with Renee to fury at feeling neglected by his parents, from being "in the zone" with his drumming to worry for Jeffrey. Get the tissues - you'll want to laugh and cry with this book.

No lie...this was mesmerizing

I absolutely couldn't put down this his sophisticated story, best for readers in 8th grade and up. What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell takes place at the end of World War II. Fifteen-year-old Evie, her stepdad Joe, and her movie-star-beautiful mother Beverly go to Palm Beach, Florida, supposedly on a vacation. It's the off-season - an unusual time to visit. While there, Evie meets charming and handsome Peter, an army buddy of Joe's, and falls in love with him. But all is not as it seems, and (spoiler alert!) after Joe, Beverly, and Peter go on a boating trip, Peter ends up dead, while Joe and Beverly become murder suspects. Blundell's writing was incredibly evocative of the post-war 1940s, from the slang and clothing to racism and the relations between different socioeconomic groups. Winner of the 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

From the mountains of North Carolina

Twelve-year-old Dovey is the likable, plain-spoken narrator in Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell. This fast-paced story takes place in the 1920s in small and poor Indian Creek, North Carolina. Dovey's beautiful older sister Caroline dreams of going away to a teacher's college, but that idea doesn't sit well with Parnell Caraway, son of the richest man in town. Parnell want to marry Caroline, but Dovey lets us know he's "the meanest, vainest, greediest man who ever lived. Seventeen years old and rotten to the core." After being publicly rejected by Caroline, Parnell gets revenge by locking up one of the dogs of Amos, Dovey and Caroline's brother who is deaf. When Dovey goes to retrieve the dog, things go wrong - Dovey gets knocked out, Parnell has been killed, and Dovey is falsely accused of his murder. The mountain dialect used in this book is authentic (although some readers may struggle with it a bit), the setting is described in a wonderful way, and ending is definitely a satisfying one.

A book for book lovers

Since school is out, I thought I'd tackle a longer book, and this one was definitely worth the effort. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is a wonderful story, but it's especially enjoyable if the reader loves not just books, but the whole reading experience. The main character is Meggie; she loves to read, and her father Mo is a book-binder. A mysterious stranger named Dustfinger appears; first, he gives Mo a warning, but then he betrays Mo and takes him to the village of the incredibly evil Capricorn. Meggie learns that nine years ago, while Mo was reading out loud to Meggie's mother, he read some characters out of a book and brought them to life, while sending Meggie's mother into the same book. Capricorn, one of these characters, now wants Mo to read someone (or is it something?) else out of the book...the terrifying "Shadow." Each chapter begins with a quote from another book that gives an idea of what to expect. These were great, but my favorite quote was from Inkheart itself. Meggie learns that she may have the same gift as her father, and she was getting ready to read aloud something of great importance: "Every letter, she thought, every single letter matters! Let the words echo, ring out, whisper and rustle and roll like thunder."