Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

Follett Titlewave

On post-WW4 Earth, sixteen-year-old Cinder lives in New Beijing and works as a mechanic.

When Prince Kai brings his robot to her for repair and ends up falling in love with Cinder, she must make up some excuse why she cannot go the ball with him. After all, her  stepmother would never let her go. Worse yet, what would Prince Kai say if he knew that Cinder was cyborg?

This creative spin on Cinderella has many sub-plots, twists and turns with elements of science fiction, romance, and mystery all rolled together. The ending does not  resolve neatly, leaving the reader looking for the sequel, Scarlet.

Note: includes 2 instances of swearing (p.214, 261).

Book 1 in the Lunar Chronicles series.

Recommended for grades 7-10.

Follett Title

Fourteen-year-old Cecilia knows that she is  a true princess even though she has been raised as a peasant. Her parents, the king and queen of Suala, were killed soon after her birth and another girl, Desmia, took her place as a decoy in the royal palace.

One night,  Cecilia’s life is threatened. She decides it is time, with the help of her best friend, Harper, to take her rightful place on the throne. But who are her enemies? Will Princess Desmia cooperate?

Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of my favorite authors and very popular with the students at Webster Christian School. Her many stories are well-written and a safe choice for middle school readers.

While Cecilia was in hiding, a knight tutored her in all things royal (as well as chess) so that she would be prepared to one day assume the throne. Throughout the book, Cecilia quotes pithy sayings learned from her studies that are quite insightful:

“You can’t expect your opponents to think the same way you do . . . . You have to study their moves, look for the pattern of their thoughts, their strategy, their desires . . . .” (p.150).

At one point Cecilia explicitly prays to God (p.166) and in another instance Harper asks Cecilia her thoughts about God and fate (p.100).

The playful banter between Harper and Cecilia adds humor and a touch of romance. The ending is satisfyingly unpredictable.

Girls who enjoy Shannon Hale and Gail Carson Levine’s books will be drawn to this book which is a companion to Haddix’s Just Ella.

Follett Titlewave

It’s bedtime and little red chicken begs Papa for a bedtime story. As the book title, Interrupting Chicken, and the cover illustration clearly cue the reader, chicken has a problem with interrupting stories.  Despite her earnest declarations that she’ll refrain, chicken can’t resist jumping into the middle of three fairy tale stories (“Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Chicken Little”).  Just as each story reaches a scary part, a certain little read chicken leaps onto the page to rescue the day–and abruptly end the story.  Will Papa ever finish a story and tuck a sleepyhead into bed?

Ezra David Stein uses watercolor, water-soluble crayon, china marker, pen, opaque white ink, and tea to create the bold yet nighttime-hued illustrations for this 2010 Caldecott Honor Book.  The panoramic double-spread title page shows a warmly lived-in home complete with magnetic letters and a coloring picture proudly displayed on the refrigerator.  Toys and dropped food scattered about the floor hint that some little inhabitant is quite a handful! Stein switches to sketchy, sepia-toned pictures for the fairy tale storybook pages and yet again to crayons on lined paper to show chicken’s own artwork.

This book will evoke chuckles and warm feelings from children and adults alike that have experienced both the challenges and incredible bonding power of shared bedtime reading.  David Ezra Stein says that he will “never forget the experience of sitting in a beloved lap and having a whole world open before me:  a world brought to life by the pictures and the grown-up’s voice.  That wonder is what I want to re-create in my own books” (dust jacket).   Congratulations, Mr. Stein.  You’ve succeeded.

Highly recommended for story hours or lap-sit reading.

Check out the author’s web site (http://www.davidezra.com/Snappy1.html)  for directions on making a blank book for children to use in creating their own story.

Also, the see the publisher’s web site (http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763646814.kit.1.pdf) for a story-hour kit.

From the Christian Library Journal (June 2011); used with permission.

“Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead.”(Follett Titlewave)

As the first volume in the Sisters Grimm series, this book explains that Sabrina and Daphne are the great-great-great-great grandchildren of Wilhelm Grimm, one of the Brothers Grimm.    In fact, according to Sabrina and Daphne’s grandmother, Grimm’s Fairy Tales is actually a history book describing the days when fairy tale creatures (called “Everafters”) lived among men.  Now the Everafters live in Ferryport, NY, held there by a spell that can only be broken when the last relative of Wilhelm Grimm dies!

Filled with quirky humor and fairy-tale kind of magic, these books may be popular with readers who enjoy Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lots of girls still like reading about fairy tales after they’ve outgrown the picture books, so this series might satisfy them, too.

I loved the old-fashioned feel of the cloth-bound edition of the book that I read. The soft black-and-white illustrations suit the story and the book format well.

Several people recommended the series to me.  It seems to be popular because the first book in the series was always checked out when I tried to get it at our public library.

Therefore, I had high expectations for the book which were not quite fulfilled.  The book kind of dragged for me, and I kept looking to see what page I was on (never a good sign).

Have you read this book?  What do you think?

Interest Level:  grades 3-6;  Reading level 5.2

While riding the subway in New York City, eighth-grader Wilma treats an old lady with kindness.  As it turns out, the old lady is a good witch/fairy who grants Wilma one wish.

Wilma wishes to be the most popular kid at her middle school.  The spell immediately takes effect and Wilma enjoys a fabulous life complete with popular friends and an adoring boyfriend.  Unfortunately, the way Wilma phrased the wish means that she will suddenly become her usual unpopular self as soon as eighth grade ends.   Will she lose all her new friends?

Upper elementary and middle school girls who enjoy princesses and fairy tales enjoy other books by Gail Carson Levine such as her Newbery Honor Book, Ella Enchanted, and the books in her Princess Tales series.

Gail Carson Levine writes funny, witty, delightful stories and this one is no exception.  Popularity is very important in middle school, so this book hits the target for its intended audience.

I liked everything about this book except the fact that an eighth-grader and her boyfriend spent an hour alone kissing in the park.  I think that sends the wrong message about what is appropriate behavior; for that reason I will not place a copy of this book on the shelves at Webster Christian Library.

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Miller and her sister, Rosie, are left to manage the village wool mill after their father’s death.  The village folk would say that the mill is cursed, and as much as Charlotte would like to ignore their superstitions, strange things keep happening to defeat and destroy the work at the mill.

Finally, in financial desperation, Charlotte does enlist the “help” of a mysterious stranger who works magic–like spinning straw into gold thread.  Yet the more Charlotte relies on the stranger, the more she becomes entangled and indebted to him until he requires the ultimate sacrifice from her.

The cover of the book is very enticing –a young woman in late 1700′s dress with her hands bound by golden cords.   However, the picture is symbolic; Charlotte never literally has her hands tied by golden cords.

Just like the book cover, this book promised something more than it delivered for me.   Although the story had a satisfying resolution in the end, the book felt long (392 p.), dark and sad.  The mill was relentlessly battered by the effects of a curse, bad luck, and greed, and for me it was confusing and draining to sort through them all.

This fantasy, which is loosely based on Rumpelstitskin, includes ghosts, hexes, magic and charms, but most of the story is bound up with the human characters. 

Grades 8 and up.

Awards/Lists:  Best Books for Young Adults 2009; Bulletin Blue Ribbons 2008–Fiction.

Annika, left as a newborn on the church steps, is raised by Ellie the cook, Sigrid the housekeeper, and their employers–three older professors.   Annika is happy living in nineteenth-century Vienna where she learns to cook and keep house alongside of Ellie and Sigrid but also experiences the music, art, Lipizzaner horses, history and beauty of Vienna through the loving tutelage of the professors. 

Despite her happy childhood, Annika is thrilled when a well-dressed aristocrat shows up to claim her long-lost daughter and whisks Annika away to a castle in Germany.  What follows is a mystery filled with deception, intrigue, shady characters, stolen jewels, friendship, beautiful horses, daring escapes, and more!

I have to confess that this book started off slow for me.  I almost didn’t keep reading it because I thought that it wouldn’t capture and hold the attention of a middle school reader.  But the book received many great reviews, so I persevered.  And I’m glad that I did.

Here’s the thing to keep in mind.  This is a book to be savored, not rushed.  If you like books that let you get to know the characters and live with them for a while, then this book is for you.  While the pace does pick up as the book goes along and the plot has lots of twists and turns, its the many characters that you come to love or “love to hate” that make this book so satisfying. 

Readers who like princess stories by Shannon Hale or Gail Carson Levine might enjoy this modern fairy tale.      f you read this book and like it, then be sure to check out another orphan story by the same author–Journey to the River Sea.