• Dragons of Silk

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5½ Rating:90 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.590%
    Dragons of Silk
    Laurence Yep
    HarperCollins, 2011
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0060275189
    352 pages

    Synopsis

    The Weaving Maid wove robes of silk for Heaven, but when she met the Cowboy, she abandoned her loom to be with him. But Heaven would not allow this, and put the Milky Way in between them.

    Silk binds the lives of four girls from different generations with the fate of the Weaving Maid. Across a span of seventy-five years both in China and America, each girl shows the strength and courage of a dragon as she fights and sacrifices for the survival of her family and the pursuit of passion.

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    Posted in 2011, Classroom, English/Reading, Fiction (non-fantasy), Geography/Culture, Historical Fiction, History/Period, Recommended, Reviews, Series | No Comments »

    Escaping the Tiger

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:88 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:4.4★ Rating:88 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:4.4★ Rating:88 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:4.4★ Rating:88 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:4.4½ Rating:88 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:4.488%
    Escaping the Tiger
    Laura Manivong
    HarperCollins, 2010
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0061661775
    224 pages

    Synopsis

    When you’re so skinny people call you Skeleton Boy, how do you find strength for the fight of your life?
    Twelve-year-old Vonlai knows that soldiers who guard the Mekong River shoot at anything that moves, but in oppressive Communist Laos, there’s nothing left for him, his spirited sister, Dalah, and his desperate parents. Their only hope is a refugee camp in Thailand—on the other side of the river.

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    Posted in 2010, Best Of, Classroom, Fiction (non-fantasy), Geography/Culture, History/Period, Recommended, Reviews, Social Commentary | No Comments »

    Marcelo in the Real World

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5½ Rating:90 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.590%

    Marcelo in the Real World

    Fransisco X. Stork

    Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009

    Fiction

    ISBN: 0545054745

    320 pages

    Synopsis

    Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear–part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify–and he’s always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after his junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm’s mailroom in order to experience “the real world.” There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm.

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    Posted in 2009, Best Of, Classroom, English/Reading, Fiction (non-fantasy), Geography/Culture, Recommended, Religious/Mythology, Reviews, Social Commentary | No Comments »

    Boys Without Names

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7½ Rating:94 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.794%
    Boys Without Names
    Kashmira Sheth
    Balzer + Bray, 2010
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0061857602
    320 pages

    Synopsis

    For eleven-year-old Gopal and his family, life in their rural Indian village is over: We stay, we starve, his baba has warned. With the darkness of night as cover, they flee to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family until school starts, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer.

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    Posted in 2010, Best Of, Classroom, English/Reading, Fiction (non-fantasy), Geography/Culture, Recommended, Reviews, Social Commentary | 2 Comments »

    Solace of the Road

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7★ Rating:94 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.7½ Rating:94 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:4.794%
    Solace of the Road
    Siobhan Dowd
    David Fickling Books, 2009
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0375849718
    272 pages

    Synopsis

    Holly’s story will leave a lasting impression on all who travel with her.

    Memories of mum are the only thing that make Holly Hogan happy. She hates her foster family with their too-nice ways and their false sympathy. And she hates her life, her stupid school, and the way everyone is always on at her. Then she finds the wig, and everything changes. Wearing the long, flowing blond locks she feels transformed. She’s not Holly anymore, she’s Solace: the girl with the slinkster walk and the supersharp talk. She’s older, more confident—the kind of girl who can walk right out of her humdrum life, hitch to Ireland, and find her mum. The kind of girl who can face the world head-on.

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    Posted in 2009, Best Of, Classroom, English/Reading, Fiction (non-fantasy), Recommended, Reviews | No Comments »

    Story of a Girl

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:76 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.8 Fraction:3.8★ Rating:76 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.8 Fraction:3.8★ Rating:76 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.8 Fraction:3.8½ Rating:76 Star Piece:0.8 Fraction:3.8☆ Rating:76 Fraction:3.876%
    Story of a Girl
    Sara Zarr
    Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0316014532
    208 pages
    National Book Award Nominee

    Synopsis

    Caught having sex with an older boy in the backseat of his car by her father, thirteen-year-old Deanna quickly becomes branded a slut. Three years later, Deanna is still dealing with her reputation, a father who can’t look her in the eye, and her personal struggle with her identity and self-perception. Through a series of seemingly mundane events, Deanna decides to begin pursuing a path that will ultimately lead her to become the person she wants to be.

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    Posted in 2007, Award Winners, Best Of, Fiction (non-fantasy), Reviews | No Comments »

    After Tupac and D Foster

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:85 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.25 Fraction:4.25★ Rating:85 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.25 Fraction:4.25★ Rating:85 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.25 Fraction:4.25★ Rating:85 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.25 Fraction:4.25½ Rating:85 Star Piece:0.25 Fraction:4.2585%
    After Tupac and D Foster
    Jacqueline Woodson
    Putnam Young Adult, 2008
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0399246541
    160 pages
    Newbery Honor Book

    Synopsis

    A summer of adventure and loss, the unnamed narrator gains a new best friend named D Foster. Mysteriously coming out of nowhere, D quickly becomes friends with the narrator and her best friend Neeka. Throughout this coming of age text, the narrator takes us on a journey throughout her summer, starting when D shows up, just after Tupac gets shot for the first time, and ending when Tupac gets killed and D leaves to go live with her real mother. Woodson takes us back a few years to show the reality of living in Queens as an African American family, and many of the personal and national events that effect the block the narrator lives on.

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    Posted in 2008, Best Of, Classroom, English/Reading, Fiction (non-fantasy), History/Period, Recommended, Reviews | No Comments »