Webster Christian School Library Blog

In a future society, 5 teenagers are chosen to re-enact the fatal South Pole exploration of Robert Scott and his team for a reality TV program.  Unfortunately, the fourteen-year-olds are given no adult chaperones, and even worse, certain calamities are written into the script to increase the viewer ratings.

Readers who enjoy survival stories will probably relish this book.  A plot about surviving in Antarctica is interesting to begin with, but the skillfully interwoven quotes and  facts about Scott’s real-life expedition add a satisfying dimension.  The meticulous endnotes, permissions, and bibliography show the depth of the research behind the story.

Unfortunately, I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins just prior to reading this book, and Surviving Antarctica:  Reality TV 2083 pales in comparison.  But there’s still lots to like about this book–interesting characters, questions about government control, and unpredictable twists.

Highly recommended, grades 5 and up.

Awards/Lists:  Virginia Reader’s Choice, 2008-2009–Middle Nominees; Stimulus Funding Lists–Struggling and Reluctant Readers–High Interest Books; Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominees, 2009–Tween Books.

A Boy Scout troop hikes into a remote beach area in Hawaii, expecting some hardship, adventure and amazing natural beauty.  What they didn’t plan on was an earthquake and the resulting giant wave that destroyed their camp and threatened their lives.

Based on a true story, this book may appeal to those readers who enjoy true rescue stories likes those often featured in The Reader’s Digest.

Recommended for grades 5 and up.

Awards/Lists:  Books for the Teen Age – 2008; Children’s Books of the Year, 2008 – Ages 9-12.

Sixteen-year-old Jenna gets a summer job driving an elderly business woman from Chicago to Texas. 

I loved the main character in this book, a red-haired, 5′11″ girl who describes herself as not very pretty and socially awkward.    In truth, she’s witty, perceptive, and loyal.  And in the end she gets some fashion help that brings out her beauty and her self-confidence.

There are a lot of things Jenna experiences and learns in her travels, but perhaps most predominantly Jenna discovers that “there’s power in truth” (p. 84).  She uses this new knowledge to boldly face her alcoholic father whom she has protected and alternately loved and hated through the years.

As a school librarian, can I sell this book to the intended teenage audience?  I’m not sure.  The title is off-putting,  the cover doesn’t grab you, the print is rather small, and the story starts in a shoe store.  (How boring is that?)

Because of all these things, I almost didn’t finish reading the book.  But in the end I did read it, and I’m glad.   Are there any middle school/high schoolers who have read this book and would care to comment?

Awards/Lists:  Notable/Best Books, American Library Association,1999.

Five neighborhood kids form the Get Rich Quick Club in hopes of making a million dollars. 

This is a quick, spoofish read that ends up teaching a lot about business practices, the unreliability of the media, and “the boy who cried wolf” principle.  Kids will enjoy the humor but almost subconsciously learn a lot along the way, too.    

Readers who enjoy this book might like Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen.

Lists and awards:  Math Books for Grade 5 Classrooms.

Recommended for grades 3-6.

Imagine a small town nestled in the Smoky Mountains where the pace of life is slower, friends meet to eat and chat at the local drug store, and amazing gourmet meals are served up in generous portions at rustic inns. This is  exactly what awaits you in Bryson City. 

In this third book by Dr Larimore, we get to know  some familiar, friendly faces even more intimately  and we are introduced to new and colorful  personalities.  Many tales are laced with abundant  humor but also sorrow and death are faced. Some very poignant moments of grief and loss bring tears to your eyes and a feeling of deep sympathy towards the bereaved families.

Dr. Larimore shares the incredibly heartbreaking and true story of why he and his family left the town which they had just started to embrace as home. He shares with honesty and great sensitivity the situation through which God gave them wisdom, peace, and a real sense of His presence. The Larimore family’s rock solid faith in Jesus Christ is so apparent and inspiring. God brings light to the truth and healing begins.

Again, this book is a must read!  Dr Larimore’ heartwarming storytelling  keeps you laughing and crying through a book that is hard to put down.

Drafted into Major League Baseball right out of high school, Josh Hamilton was on track for a long and illustrious professional baseball career.  Josh was a natural at baseball, and some who saw him play compared him to Mickey Mantle.

But then Josh was in a car accident that left him with mysterious back pain and time off from playing baseball.  At loose ends and with nothing to fill his time, Josh drifted into alcohol and drug addiction.  What followed was a downward cycle of substance abuse that ravaged his body, his relationship with his family, and any hope of playing baseball.

 Countless trips to rehab were ineffective.  Only when Josh hit rock bottom and called out to God in desperation–humbing himself, asking for God’s help, quoting Scripture–was Josh able to gain victory over his addiction. 

Josh says about himself, “I am an addict.”  He knows that every day of his life he will need God’s help to not give in to his cravings.  In fact, Josh did suffer a minor relapse (January 2009) since the writing of this book, but he was very honest about that and immediately sought help from his wife and other support team members.

Because this book was not published by a major Christian publisher but rather an “inspirational division” (Faith Words) of a non-Christian publisher (Hachette Book Group, formerly Time Warner Books), I was not sure what to expect.  However, overall I found the book to be more grounded in Scripture than I had expected.

And at times Josh does talk about dreams that he’s had and a vision of Satan or Jesus in usual places, but they are outweighed byreferences to Scripture, being saved, surrendering his life to God, attending church, praying, getting baptized, and having devotionals.

Josh is very transparent about what happened to him.  He takes full responsibility for his actions and gives God the credit for the change in his life.  Katie, Josh’s wife, is a testimony to the possibility and power of forgiveness. 

I found the story very inspirational.  We all struggle against the sin nature.  Josh’s willingness to not blame others,  and Katie’s choice to forgive totally impressed me.

I think Josh’s testimony can reach a lot of people.  I wish him the best, and pray that his walk with the Lord will stay strong.

Highly recommended for grades 9 and up.

Laura Fountain found out she had liver cancer while pregnant with her fourth child.  Advised to abort the baby and begin life-saving chemo, Laura chooses to give life to her baby and die in the process.

Soon after Laura’s death, mysterious “Aunt Cheryl” shows up on the Fountain family’s doorstep, offering her temporary help with caring for the 4 Fountain children. 

Now Reed Fountain, their father, is dead, too–accidentally killed by the youngest Fountain child–two-year-old Tristan.   Crushed by grief, the older Fountain children can hardly bear to look at Tristan (the one responsible for the death of both of their parents!) or even talk with each other about what has happened to their family.

In the midst of the tragedy, Aunt Cheryl is taking over their house, their family, their very lives.  But something is not right.  Can the Fountain children come together as a family again to figure it out and protect Tristan from those people who would destroy him?

It’s 1861, and twelve-year-old Jesse Sherman is hunting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore when a female fugitive slave grabs him from behind and holds him at knife point. The slave is about to give birth and needs Jesse’s help to fetch a midwife. 

Unfortunately, the slave and her baby die in childbirth, but not before the woman makes Jesse promise to take her seven-year-old  son to relatives in Baltimore where she believes he will be safe from the bounty hunter that is tracking them.

Jesse and Perry encounter all kinds of danger and difficulties as they travel through Maryland, a border state during the Civil War–including skirmishes between Federal and Confederate soldiers and civilians sympathetic to both causes.

Mary Downing Hahn usually writes ghost stories, and the title of this book and the shadowy cover combine to give the impression that this might be another of her ghost stories.  In truth, it is historical fiction like her book, Stepping on the Cracks, which won the  Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

The Maryland setting for this story was a nice change of pace from the usual deep South locale.  I especially appreciated it because I was born and raised in Maryland, and I suspect Mary Downing Hahn chose it because she was able to write into the story the account of her great-grandparents’ first meeting in Baltimore in 1861 (according to the afterword).

The story was quite engaging,  and I did not anticipate the ending.  Anyone who enjoys this book about the Civil War should check out titles by Ann Rinaldi as well as Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells.

Recommended for grades 5-8.

When 101 guinea pigs get rescued from a lab, Stink and his friends travel with the guinea pigs in an old camper to various tourist sites in Virginia trying to find new homes for the guinea pigs.

This is the first book I’ve read in the Stink Moody book series.  I thought it was a light, pleasant read, perfect for reluctant readers in lower elementary grades with generous illustrations, plenty of white space, and large print. 

A lot elementary kids enjoy the idea of owning a pet, so the topic should appeal to a wide audience. The author inserts interesting facts about guinea pigs between the pages which adds to its educational value and fun. 

Recommended for grades 2-4.

When his grandmother gives him a used riding lawn mower for his birthday, a twelve-year-old boy starts mowing the neighbors’ lawns for a summer job.  Before he knows it, his business grows out of control with more clients, employees, money, and dangerous competition than he could ever imagine.

This hilarious quick read is pure magic.  Paulsen tricks the reader into swallowing a pill–a pill filled with knowledge about free-enterprise economics–without us even knowing that it happened.

Highly recommended for grades 5-8