The secret to everlasting life?

Hold on to your hats and get ready for nonstop action when you read The Alchemyst by Michael Scott.  Sophie and Josh are 15-year-old twins living in modern day San Franscisco, but once they start helping to recover a stolen book called the Codex (not a biggie...it only contains the secret to immortality!), their world is filled with a 14th-century alchemist (Nicholas Flamel), various gods, magic, and myth.  The twins learn that not only do they have magical powers that were predicted in the ancient Codex, but it may be up to them to save the world from the evil Elder Race.  It's a hard book to put down, since the end of almost every chapter ends in a cliff-hanger, and at the end of the book...aauugh!  What happens now?  You'll have to pick up the next book in the series, The Magician, to find out.  

A book to savor

I tend to read quickly - probably because there are so many books I want to get to - but I wanted to slow down while reading The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer.  I knew what the story was about, but I was surprised by how moving it was.  Gabe is a sixth-grader who has been shuffled between foster homes for years.  He finally ends up living with Uncle Vernon, a Vietnam veteran he's never met, who's cranky, gruff, and amazingly caring.  One day Gabe comes home and discovers his uncle has died.  Gabe is overwhelmed and tells nobody, but then the body disappears and he starts to receive mysterious notes.  As Gabe corresponds with the secret letter writer and copes with his uncle's death, he's surrounded by a the routine of school, a good friend, a wonderful dog, and caring and compassionate adults.  

What special ability do YOU have?

I don't know why it took me two or three times to get into Savvy by Ingrid Law, but once I did, it was a pretty cool journey.  Mibs Beaumont is about to turn thirteen, and in her family, that means she'll get her a "savvy" - a very special, very unusual ability.  (One of her brothers, for example, can whip up hurricanes, and another can create electricity.)  But just when Mibs is discovering her new talent, her father is injured in a car accident, and she becomes desperate to get to the hospital where he's staying.  Soon she's a stowaway on a the bus of a Bible salesman, trying to head to Salina, Kansas, with her two brothers, the local preacher's two kids, and big-hearted Lill.  The story alternates between being funny, sweet, and touching, and will keep you interested until the last page.  Another great Caudill nominee!

Absolutely unthinkable

I was so caught up in Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy that I read it in one day.  In 1939 Lodz, Poland, was invaded by the Germans, and all of the Jews were forced to move to a certain part of the city, the ghetto.  Over the years, more than a quarter of a million people were sent to the ghetto, but when it was liberated in 1945, there were only about 800 survivors, twelve of whom were children.  This story is told in free verse, and it's based on the the actual survival story of Sylvia, one of those children and the aunt of the author.  The horrific sights and sounds, the terror of being sent to the trains, the fear and hope...told through the voice of a child was mesmerizing.

Navajo Marines of World War II

It's November, the month of Veterans Day and Thanksgiving - what an odd coincidence that I would choose this month to pick up Code Talker by Native American author Joseph Bruchac. Told in first person, like a grandfather talking to his grandchildren, this book is about Ned Begay, a Navajo who is sent to a boarding school with other young Navajos to learn the English language and the ways of the white people.  It was a miserable experience, and the children were expected to completely give up their cultural identity.  How incredibly ironic that these Najavos were then actually recruited to join the Marine Corps during World War II to become code talkers, using their native language to create a code that the Japanese couldn't break.  A fascinating look at a part of American history that was kept secret for decades.

Take me out to the ball game

I just love the voice of author Deborah Wiles, and I wasn't disappointed in her book The Aurora County All-Stars.  It helps if you've read Love, Ruby Lavender, since many characters are the same, but this story still stands on its own.  House Jackson and his friends have a problem: the one and only game that the All-Stars play is scheduled for the same time and day as the county's Fourth of July pageant, which all the ball players are expected to participate in.  While trying to figure out what to do, House confronts secrets, betrayal, the powerful Mamas, a soap opera star, interesting facts about baseball and segregation, a dog named Eudora Welty, and the obnoxious Frances "Finesse" Shotz.  You'll love the feel of the slow Mississippi life, the hot summer sun, and the smooth combination of humor and loyalty.