Jenn Laredo's Tween Database

Ballet Shoes

2008-12-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Goldbacher, S. (2008). Ballet Shoes. DVD, Koch Vision.
ASIN: B0019OP0GU
$24.98

Viewer's Annotation: Three orphan girls train for the stage in 1930's London, to help their beloved guardian raise money for their household.

Summary:Based on the book by Noel Streatfield, this is the story of three orphan girls who are raised together as sisters. The girls are brought together by Great Uncle Matthew, an adventurer who collects both fossils and orphaned babies. They are raised by Sylvia, or Garnie, and Nana in a house in 1930's London. Garnie has to take in boarders to raise money to keep the house and support the girls. The boarders they take in introduce the Fossil sisters to life in training to be child stars. Posy's mother left her with nothing but a pair of pointe shoes, and she has a natural gift for ballet. Pauline (played by Emma Watson, or Hermione from the Harry Potter movies) has a talent for acting. Petrova cares nothing for singing, dancing or acting, but would rather fly an airplane. Together the girls work to help Garnie manage the household expenses, and to put their name in the history books, because it is theirs and theirs alone.

Genre: movie, fiction, siblings, historical fiction, coming of age

Series : Though there are no other movies in this series, Noel Streetfield did write many other "Shoes" books.

Evaluation: One of my favorite books of all times has been made into a beautiful movie, about working hard to support your family and achieve your dreams. Really lovely.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This movie will appeal to tweens for probably one of three reasons. 1) They want to watch another movie with "Hermione" in it. 2) They've read the classic novel. or 3) They have ambitions of becoming a ballet dancer. Any of the three reasons are good ones for adding it to a tween collection.

Watchalikes :

Ice Princess
Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
Amazon.com
Based on the Noel Streatfeild novel Ballet Shoes, this is not the 1976 film starring Angela Thorne and Barbara Lott, but a 2007 BBC Northern Ireland production starring Eileen Atkins, Peter Bowles, Richard Griffiths, Gemma Jones, and Harriet Walter. The Fossils are an unconventional British family living in 1930's London. Orphans Pauline (Emma Watson), Petrova (Yasmin Paige), and Posy (Lucy Boynton) are being raised by an elder sister Sylvia (Emilia Fox) and her Nana (Victoria Wood) in the absence of their eccentric great uncle Matthew (Richard Griffiths). As Sylvia struggles to educate and support her three charges on very limited funds, she is forced to let rooms and enroll the girls in the Academy of Dance and Stage Training in hopes of furthering their education and preparing them to earn a comfortable living. While at the academy, each of the three ambitious girls discovers her own personal calling and labors intensively to achieve her dreams: Pauline studies to become a star on the stage, Petrova gravitates toward a career in aviation, and Posy trains to become a great classical ballerina. Their paths are difficult and full of adversity, but the sisters' steadfast support of one another and common resolve to earn a place in the history books based on their own merits propels each of them toward individual success. A compelling and inspirational film that encourages young women to strive for their dreams, Ballet Shoes is most appealing to ages 9 and older. --Tami Horiuchi

The Clique

2008-12-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

Lembeck, M. (2008). The Clique. DVD, Warner Home Video.

ASIN: B001H1I8KK
$27.98

Viewer's Annotation: Claire and Massie struggle to share the same house, school and friends.

Summary: Following the same basic plot as the first book of the Clique series by Lisi Harrison, the DVD begins with Claire moving into Massie's parent's guest house. Massie is the leader of the most popular clique at her school and Claire lacks the popularity prowess to keep up. Massie treats Claire badly and Claire eventually stoops pretty low to get her back. By the end, each has been kinder to the other than they might have thought possible.

Genre: movie, popularity, friends, new school, family, fiction,

Series : So far, only the first book of the series has been made into a movie.

Evaluation: An enjoyable flick, but not as good as the book.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: The Clique books are huge and though their content isn't enlightening or redeeming, a tween librarian will want to have them on the shelves. The same can be said of the movie version.

Watchalikes :

Mean Girls
High School Musical

Other Useful Info:

Clique Movie Website
Trailer:

Reviews:
from Amazon:

Amazon.com
Based on the popular The Clique Book series by Lisi Harrison, The Clique is an entertaining, if somewhat familiar film about a 12-year-old girl whose need to fit in threatens to overshadow her inherent sense of self. Massie (Elizabeth McLaughlin) is the undisputed leader of a clique dubbed "The Pretty Committee" and she and her fellow clique-mates Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen are completely obsessed by high fashion and being the most popular girls in the exclusive Octavian Country Day School for girls. Florida transplant Claire Lyons (Ellen Marlow) is the ultimate in fashion don'ts and when she moves into Massie's guest house and enrolls in her school, it quickly becomes apparent that Massie will stop at nothing to prove her own superiority and make Claire's life miserable. Claire wants nothing more than to fit in and be accepted at her new school, so when befriending Massie doesn't work, she turns to scheming and playing the four friends against one another in an effort to supersede Massie as the queen of popularity. The problem is, Claire's efforts to displace Massie have some very negative effects on Alicia, Dylan, Kristen, her relationship with her mother, and even Claire's ability to like herself. In the end, Claire realizes the importance of being true to oneself and there's the slightest glimmer of hope that even Massie might just consider changing her ways--or not. Something of a The Devil Wears Prada for kids meets Mean Girls, The Clique is a surprisingly likeable film that features a scrumptious palate of tween-sized high couture; healthy doses of insecurity, attitude, and angst; good acting; and an important message about believing in oneself. Bonus features include a featurette on casting the movie with executive producer Tyra Banks and director Michael Lembeck, interviews with the main characters and author Lisi Harrison, a 9-minute exploration of tween couture with Tyra Banks, casting contest winners, gag reel, and Clique Girlz in the studio recording "Here With Me Now." (Ages 7 to 14) --

So Totally Emily Ebbers by Lisa Yee

2008-12-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

Yee, L. (2007). So Totally Emily Ebers. (p. 304). Arthur A. Levine Books.

ISBN:0439838479

Price :$16.99 hardback

Reader's Annotation: Emily makes friends at her new school, some of whom are worth keeping, and others that aren't so great.

Summary: Everything is new in Emily's life. She and her mom have moved across country, without her dad. She's started volleyball, which she wasn't at all interested in. Her dad sent her a credit card, for "emergency uses." With her new-found spending power, Emily's making new friends at her school, but she's also getting into trouble with her card. There is a girl on her volleyball team, Millicent, who also doesn't want to be there, and she might be a good friend, but she sure has some secrets. And then there is Stanford Wong, a cute boy who catches Emily's eye. All in all, life is turned around for Emily, but maybe, maybe something good will come out of it.

Genre: book, family, friends, fiction, identity, new school, popularity, series

Series : This book is part of a trilogy. The other two books are Millicent Min Girl Genius and Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time. All three stories retell the same events from the perspectives of each character, so they can be read in any order.

Evaluation: This is a great choice for tweens. Emily is a perfect example of tweendom, sometimes shockingly wise, and other times glaringly dense.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: New school drama, popularity concerns, crushes, and plenty of fashion talk make this a tween staple. Two things I liked about Emily: 1) everyone admits she has a great sense of style, but she's not instantly popular for it. 2) She talks about wearing a double digit dress size, and she's fine with it. Great role model.

Readalikes :

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Allie Finkel's Rules for Girls books by Meg Cabot

Other Useful Info:

Lisa Yee's Website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–7—It's Emily Ebers's turn to tell about the summer she meets Millicent Min and Stanford Wong, each of whom has charmed readers in earlier books. Emily, who is effervescent and enthusiastic, has her own story to tell. She's just moved to Rancho Rosetta, CA, from New Jersey after her parents' divorce. She directs a lot of anger and unhappiness against her mom, who is also reeling from the change. She writes down her thoughts and feelings in a journal for her dad, who is on the road with a revival tour of his old rock band and has sent the 12-year-old a credit card for her birthday. Emily befriends Millicent at a girls' summer volleyball league where they're the worst players. The rapport between the girls is delightful, as Millie shares her idiosyncratic take on her hometown. Emily meets Stanford and assumes that he is tutoring Millie. When she finds out that her new friends have misled her about the situation, her disappointment is palpable. As in Millicent Min, Girl Genius (2003) and Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time (2005, both Scholastic), family is vitally important. In the end, Emily patches things up with her mom and realizes that some changes can be good, even though they may not work out as expected. It's a good message for preteens, as is Emily's insistence on treating others with kindness. Although this book stands on its own, kids will get more pleasure if they read the other two first. With a baby sister on the way for Millicent Min, dare we hope for another sequel?—Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

2008-12-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

Tan, S. (2007). The Arrival. (p. 128). Arthur A. Levine Books.

ISBN: 0439895294

$19.99 Hardback

Reader's Annotation: A father leaves his family for a foreign land in hopes of creating a better life.

Summary: The Arrival is an immigration story. The protagonist leaves his family behind to forge a better life for them in a strange, downright fantastical, new land. There are no words in this story, only a foreign alphabet, which gives the reader an idea of what it would be like to struggle in a place where you didn't speak the language. The protagonist finds a job in a massive factory and begins to make new friends, though he obviously misses his family very much. Though the sepia toned pictures that seem to come from an old family album, the reader understands how much struggling goes into setting up a life in a new place.

Genre: adventure, family, fantasy, fiction, graphic novel, friends, identity

Series : This graphic novel is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This is a lovely example of a compelling story with absolutely no words. Beautifully executed, and this book will make readers cry.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This immigration story is one that will be familiar to most readers but it is told in a way that is unlike any other book. Tan's graphic novel is a stunning example of visual storytelling, and thus a fantastic choice for reluctant readers. There is nothing "easy" about this rich and complex story, but the lack of words makes it perfect for those who struggle with reading.

Readalikes :

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Other Useful Info:
Shaun Tan's Webpage

Reviews:

from Booklist
*Starred Review* Recipient of numerous awards and nominations in Australia, The Arrival proves a beautiful, compelling piece of art, in both content and form. Tan (The Lost Thing, 2004) has previously produced a small body of off-kilter, frequently haunting stories of children trapped in surreal industrial landscapes. Here, he has distilled his themes and aesthetic into a silent, fantastical masterpiece. A lone immigrant leaves his family and journeys to a new world, both bizarre and awesome, finding struggle and dehumanizing industry but also friendship and a new life. Tan infuses this simple, universal narrative with vibrant, resonating life through confident mastery of sequential art forms and conventions. Strong visual metaphors convey personal longing, political suppression, and totalitarian control; imaginative use of panel size and shape powerfully depicts sensations and ideas as diverse as interminable waiting, awe-inspiring majesty, and forlorn memories; delicate alterations in light and color saturate the pages with a sense of time and place. Soft brushstrokes and grand Art Deco–style architecture evoke a time long ago, but the story's immediacy and fantasy elements will appeal even to readers younger than the target audience, though they may miss many of the complexities. Filled with subtlety and grandeur, the book is a unique work that not only fulfills but also expands the potential of its form. Karp, Jesse

Sports Illustrated for Kids

2008-12-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

Sports Illustrated Kids. The Time Inc. Magazine Company.

ISSN:1042-394X

Price :$47.88 for 12 issues

Reader's Annotation: Sports Illustrated Kids has sports news for kids ages 7-12.

Summary: Sports Illustrated Kids has just what you'd expect : sports news for kids. Unlike the adult version of the magazine, though, it's a pretty clean version of sports news. There is analysis of teams and leagues and players, but no talk of which big sports star got into trouble with the law for doing something foolish. The news is positive and encouraging. The magazine has plenty of stories of kids athleticism as well, and does a fairly good job of covering both men's and women's teams. I wouldn't be surprised to see a tween girl reading this mag, but it does still generally strike me as being a "boys read." On the downside, there are plenty of ads in the magazine, but on the plus side, at least some of them are for books. There are also articles about sports in the wider world. For example, in the December issue there was a story about Jewish and Muslim kids in Jerusalem playing on the same soccer teams.

Genre: magazine, environment, friends, identity, sports,

Series : --

Evaluation: This is a great choice for a tween section (though it would be an easier sell if it wasn't called Sports Illustrated KIDS.) Athletes, both boys and girls, will find something interesting for their reading pleasure.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Magazines, and particularly sports magazines, are going to speak to a particular segment of reluctant readers. For these readers, Sports Illustrated Kids will be a great find.

Readalikes :

Boy's Life
Youth Runner

Other Useful Info:

Sports Illustrated Kids Website

Reviews:

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

2008-12-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

Alexie, S. (2007). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (p. 240). Little, Brown Young Readers.

ISBN:0316013684

Price :$16.99 hardback

Reader's Annotation: Arnold Spirit decides to attend the white school instead of the reservation school and has to live with the reactions of his friends and family.

Summary: Life on the rez was pretty straightforward for Arnold Spirit. He played basketball with his good friend Rowdy, drew cartoons, went to school, and dealt with his family. When a teacher at his school encouraged him to dream bigger, to try harder, Arnold decided to change schools, and to travel long distances every day to attend the white kid school outside the reservations boundaries. Now, at school, he's an outcast, because he's the only Indian there. Worse, at home, he's also sort of an outcast, because it seems like he betrayed his people to go to the white school. Things get even more complicated with his family situtation, but ultimately, Arnold has to find a way to balance his Indian heritage with the desire to have a better life.

Genre: book, coming of age, family, fiction, friends, identity, new school

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This book is heartbreaking at times but impossible to put down.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Being a tween is about being stuck between two worlds, and Arnold's story will speak to that. The drawings make the book more appealing to struggling readers, and the humor makes the pathos more palatable.

Readalikes :

The Arrival by Shaun Tan
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

Other Useful Info:

Sherman Alexi's Website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7–10—Exploring Indian identity, both self and tribal, Alexie's first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit, WA. The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw. He says, "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." He expects disaster when he transfers from the reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples with questions about what constitutes one's community, identity, and tribe. The daily struggles of reservation life and the tragic deaths of the protagonist's grandmother, dog, and older sister would be all but unbearable without the humor and resilience of spirit with which Junior faces the world. The many characters, on and off the rez, with whom he has dealings are portrayed with compassion and verve, particularly the adults in his extended family. Forney's simple pencil cartoons fit perfectly within the story and reflect the burgeoning artist within Junior. Reluctant readers can even skim the pictures and construct their own story based exclusively on Forney's illustrations. The teen's determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner. Alexie's tale of self-discovery is a first purchase for all libraries.—Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library

Discovery Girls

2008-12-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

Discovery Girls. Discovery Girls Inc.

ISSN:1535-3230

Price :$27.00 for 6 issues/year

Reader's Annotation: Discovery Girls is created by and for girls ages 7-12.

Summary: Discovery Girls has articles about middle school, friends, celebrities, hairstyles, contests, quizzes and advice columns. Much of the content is informative and education, but there are also some articles about fashion trends and celebrities. Each issue features "Discovery Girls" from a particular state. This is a diverse group of girls that have been selected to help develop the content of the issue and have a photo shoot adventure with the magazine's adult staff.

Genre: magazine, friends, family, identity, siblings, popularity

Series : This magazine is published by the Discovery group folks.

Evaluation: A solid choice for tween readers, I actually enjoyed it more than American Girl, just because when I sit down with a magazine, I do like a few hairstyling tips. They could put hairstyling tips in National Geographic, and I'd think the magazine was better for it.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This is a magazine that tweens enjoy reading. It has some info on Miley Cyrus mixed in with book reviews and suggestions on volunteering in your community. It's a good compromise for parents and tween girls.

Readalikes :

New Moon
American Girls

Other Useful Info:

Discovery Girs Website

Reviews:

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American Girl Magazine

2008-12-01T12:43:00.001-08:00

American Girl. Pleasant Company.

ISSN:1062-7812

Price :$27.00 for 6 issues

Reader's Annotation: Created just for tweens, American Girl is an age-appropriate alternative to teen magazines.

Summary: American Girl magazine has all the same stuff teen magazines have, but with the content dialed down to be appropriate for tween readers. There are feature stories, quizzes, advice columns, games and crafts, and content developed by readers. Each issue is organized around a central theme, such as "pets" or "save the Earth," and has 40-70 pages of ad-free content. The articles are upbeat and focus on girls developing their self-esteem, without being overly preachy.

Genre: magazine, friends, family, identity, siblings

Series : This magazine is published by the American Girl folks, but it doesn't connect with their historical fiction series in any way.

Evaluation: A solid choice for tween readers, and I don't mind flipping through one on my lunch hour either.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This is a magazine that tweens enjoy reading (all the issues at my library are falling apart they've been read so often) and the most parents will get behind as a reading option. The articles are smart and positive.

Readalikes :

New Moon
Discovery Girls

Other Useful Info:

American Girl Website

Reviews:

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Fly Away Home

2008-11-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

Ballard, C. (2001). Fly Away Home. DVD, Sony Pictures.

ASIN: B00005LK94
$14.94

Viewer's Annotation: Fourteen year old Amy Alden and her dad lead a flock of geese on their annual migration using ultralight planes.

Summary: When Amy's mom dies in a car accident, she moves from New Zealand to Canada to live with her dad. She has a hard time adjusting to life at her dad's house. He is an inventor and sculptor and a pilot of ultralight planes. He also has a girlfriend he failed to mention. When developers knock down part of the woodland nearby, Amy finds several goose eggs that have been abandoned by their mother. She collects and incubates them until they hatch. When her dad, Thomas, discovers the hatchlings, he asks a local game warden for advice. The warden points out that the geese, raised without geese parents, will not know how to migrate. They will have the urge to fly, but will become disoriented and lost when they take off. Amy and Thomas decide they will lead the geese on their annual migration in ultralight planes.

Genre: movie, environment, adventure, family

Series : This movie is not part of a series.

Evaluation: One of the best movies I watched for this project.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Amy is a daring and likable heroine and tweens will probably find her inspiring. The environmental message will also speak to a tween audience. If neither of those two things call out to tween viewers, there is also about an hour of cute gosling footage, sure to win anyone over. This is another great family movie.

Watchalikes :

Flicka
Moondance Alexander

Other Useful Info:

Fly Away Home IMDB page

Reviews:
From Common Sense Media

FLY AWAY HOME is a thrilling adventure, exquisitely told, by the same director and photographer who made The Black Stallion. Ballard has the patience to let the story tell itself, and the quiet moments are breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreakingly touching.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

2008-11-30T13:06:00.001-08:00

Lowry, L. (2006). Gathering Blue. (p. 240). Delacorte Books for Young Readers.

ISBN:0385732562

Price :$8.95 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Kira is alone after her mother dies and must survive among the villagers who would normally leave a crippled girl to die in the forest.

Summary: Kira's mother has just died, and her father died long ago, attacked by beasts. Kira, who has a deformed leg, would normally be left to die in the forest. When she returns from burying her mother, her neighbors are fighting over her possessions. A council of the Guardians is called to determine the fate of Kira and her land. At the Council, a man named Jamison speaks of Kira's talent with needlepoint. She is offered the chance to live in the Edifice and work on a great task, repairing the Singer's robe. She is pleased at first. She has a comfortable place to live, plenty to eat, and friends to talk to. As she learns more about the Guardians, however, she begins to question everything about the way Village has been run. When she meets Christopher, a blind man living on the other side of Forest, she discovers the secret of her own past.

Genre: family, fantasy, fiction, friends, identity, mystery, series

Series : Though this book can be read as a stand alone, it is part of trilogy that also includes The Giver and The Messenger.

Evaluation: All three of the books in this series are simply written, but powerful in their message.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Lois Lowry is a well known tween author with a variety of styles and characters. Readers who loved her Anastasia Krumpnik books when they were younger will enjoy reading some of her works for older readers. Also, these are good choices for readers with a capacity to understand a complex plot and big ideas but who might have some trouble reading. The prose is simple, the ideas are huge.

Readalikes :

Skellig by David Almond
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Other Useful Info:

Lois Lowry's Website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9-In Kira's community, people's cotts, or homes, are burned after an illness. After her mother dies suddenly, homeless Kira finds her former neighbors coveting the land where her cott once stood. They also resent that Kira, who was born with a deformed leg, wasn't abandoned at birth, in accordance with the society's rules. The Council of Guardians recognizes her skill at embroidery and lets her live in the Council Edifice, the one large old building left after the Ruin. Her job is to repair and restore the robe that the Singer wears during the annual Gathering that recounts the history of her community and to complete a blank section, which is to depict the future. When her young friend Matt journeys "yonder" and returns with the plants Kira needs to create blue dye and knowledge of a wider world, she pieces together the truth. The power-hungry Guardians have lied and manipulated the villagers in order to maintain their status. Kira is united with her father, whom she had believed was dead, but decides to stay at the Edifice until she embroiders a peaceful future on the robe. As in Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993), the young protagonist is chosen by powerful adults to carry out an important task; through the exploration of this responsibility, knowledge grows, and a life-altering choice must be made. Lowry has once again created a fully realized world full of drama, suspense, and even humor. Readers won't forget these memorable characters or their struggles in an inhospitable world.-Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR MCNICOLL, Sylvia. Bringing Up Beauty. 204p. CIP. Stoddart. 2000. pap. $5.95. ISBN 0-7736-7479-9. LC C99-930791-6. Grade 4-6-A story of love, responsibility, growing up, and letting go. Elizabeth and her family have signed up as puppy trainers for Canine Vision Canada. It is their duty to teach an ungainly black Lab some of the elementary commands and behaviors she will need in order to become a guide dog, and most of the responsibility has fallen on Elizabeth. While she trains Beauty, the dog teaches her some useful lessons that help her deal with turning 13, finding and going beyond her first crush, and coping with loss. Elizabeth's voice is often too mature for a 12-year-old, and the story is sometimes overwritten. The real strength here is the bond that McNicoll develops between Beauty and Elizabeth. It is strong and heartwarming, resulting in an emotionally satisfying read.
Randi Hacker, Montgomery Elementary School, VT

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

2008-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hale, S. (2008). Book of a Thousand Days (Unabridged, 6 discs). Full Cast Audio.

ISBN:1599900513

Price :$17.95 hardback

Reader's Annotation: The Lady Saren and her maid Dashti are locked in a tower for seven years, because Saren wouldn't marry the man her father chose for her.

Summary: On her first day as a lady's maid, Dashti chooses to endure confinement with the Lady Saren. Saren is to be locked in a tower for seven years, as punishment for refusing the man her father has chosen for her to marry. Though they are locked away from the world, Dashti and the Lady Saren have food and supplies enough to last. Dashti tries to keep Lady Saren's spirits up, and she keeps a journal of their time in the tower. Then the girls get two visitors. One is the man Saren would like to marry, and the other is the man her father had chosen. In both cases, Saren makes Dashti pretend to be her, to speak to the men through the small opening in the wall of the tower. Saren and Dashti eventually break free of the tower, but the land they knew is gone, replaced by scorched fields of war. Dashti leads Saren on a quest for answers.

Genre: audiobook, action, book, fairy tale, family, fantasy, fiction, friends, love story, identity, royalty, war

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Another fantastic adaptation of a lesser-known fairy tale by Shannon Hale.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Shannon Hale already has a strong following of tween readers, for her books The Goose Girl and The Princess Academy, among others. Her fans will be anxious to get her hands on this books as well.

Readalikes :

Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Other Useful Info:

Shannon Hale's Website

Reviews:
from Booklist

The author of the Newbery Honor Book Princess Academy (2005) offers another captivating fantasy filled with romance, magic, and strong female characters. The story, based on a little-known fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, takes place in an imagined ancient Central Asia. Orphaned Dashti is a hardworking, pragmatic girl, who grew up in the open, windswept steppes. She finds work in the city with a young noblewoman, Lady Saren. Then Lady Saren refuses an advantageous marriage, and as punishment, she and Dashti are sentenced to seven years in a sealed tower. A tiny window is the tower’s only connection to the outside world, and it’s there that Saren’s two suitors, the terrifying Khasar and the handsome Tegus, come calling. Written in diary form in Dashti’s voice, the gripping tale follows the two young women through their imprisonment and their escape into a grim world of warring societies. Readers will quickly embrace Dashti, an invincible storybook heroine with a healer’s touch, who accomplishes battlefield heroics while nurturing a powerful, secret love for a lord. Fans of Gail Carson Levin’s Fairest (2006) will embrace this similar mix of exotic, fully realized setting; thrilling, enchanted adventure; and heart-melting romance.

— Gillian Engberg

Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock

2008-11-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

Murdock, C. (2008). Princess Ben. (p. 344). Houghton Mifflin.

ISBN:0618959718

Price :$16.00 hardback

Reader's Annotation: Benevolence never wanted to be a princess, but when her parents were killed she became the unwilling heir to the throne.

Summary: Princess Benevolence led a fairly quiet life. She and her parents lived in town, rather than at the castle, and she stayed out of the way of the court. Until the day her parents and the king were all killed by assassins. Ben moved into the castle and under the watchful eye of her Aunt Sophia, who is determined to turn the grieving Ben into a "proper" princess, and a puppet monarch. Sophia has ideas about Ben's demeanor and her figure, and her methods are harsh. Then Ben discovers a secret room off behind her own tower prison. Inside there is a spell book, and Ben begins to study magic. Ultimately, Ben will have to use all her royal skills, and her unroyal skills, to save her kingdom.

Genre: book, fairy tale, fantasy, fiction, family, love story, magic, war

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This is a good modern fairy tale with a spunky heroine. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't end up loving this book as much as I loved Dairy Queen and The Off Season, but it was still a good read.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: A new generation of princess stories, with smart girls and magic, has been a hit with tween readers. This one will be no exception.

Readalikes :

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Goose Girl or The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (for older readers)

Other Useful Info:

Catherine Murdock's Website

Reviews:

from Young Adults Books Central

A Bewitching Tale
a review by Ed Goldberg

In this fairytale, fifteen-year-old Princess Ben’s mother and her uncle, the King, are killed while on their annual trip to visit her grandfather’s tomb. Her father disappears and his whereabouts are unknown. It was assumed that Drachensbett, the neighboring country, is involved in the attack as they have been trying to annex Montagne for centuries. Ben is immediately moved from her small home into the castle and, under the tutelage of the Queen Regent Sophia, she begins to learn what it takes to be a queen…or rather what it takes to attract a potential husband who would make a good strategic alliance for Montagne. This involves comportment, dancing, table manners befitting royalty (i.e. eating very little and carrying on meaningless conversation). Unfortunately, her round figure and rebellious attitude frighten away most promising suitors.

Ben was used to running free while her parents were alive; used to a very loving family. The castle and its inhabitants are cold, bossy, clammy and totally uninviting. She doesn’t want a husband. She wants to do something important. After a particularly rebellious dinner, Queen Sophia has enough and decides to teach Ben a lesson. Ben is removed from her luxurious bedroom suite, moved to a tiny room at the top of a long, round stairway of stone and forced to sleep on a bed of straw. She is at the uppermost point of the highest tower in Chateau de Montagne. Hopefully her bleak surroundings will cause some introspection.

The walls in Chateau de Montagne are made of thick stone and each room has an antechamber two to three feet wide. Unintentionally, Ben finds that these thick walls hide secret stairwells, one of which leads to a room equipped for a witch, complete with a book of spells. Ben becomes intrigued and begins studying witchcraft every chance she gets. It is with this magic that Ben will fulfill her goal of doing something important.

Murdock, author of Dairy Queen and The Off Season, two excellent books, has written another winner in Princess Ben. The characters are marvelous. The story is exciting. The action is captivating. The writing is superb and descriptive. Readers will love Princess Ben and root for her to triumph and become the queen she is destined to be. Catherine Gilbert Murdock is one of my favorite writers and Princess Ben reminds me of another of my favorite writers, Shannon Hale, author of Princess Academy, Goose Girl, and Book of a Thousand Days. You will want to read Princess Ben in one sitting, it’s that good.

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

2008-11-30T10:30:00.000-08:00

Harrison, L. (2004). The Clique. (p. 220). Poppy.

ISBN:0316155772

Price :$9.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Claire moves to a new fancy school and has trouble fitting in, especial when super-popular Massie decides to make her life miserable.

Summary: When Claire Lyons and her family move from Florida to New York, they move into the guest house of a good friend of Mr. Lyons until they get settled. It's also the home of Massie Block, the alpha girl in the most popular clique at Octavian County Day school. Because Claire and Massie are both in seventh grade, their parents assume they will be good friends. Massie has no tolerance for Claire's lack of fashion sense, and is determined to make her life miserable. With the help of the other members of her clique, Massie sets to work. Claire is overwhelmed, but determined to get on Massie's good side.

Genre: book, fiction, friends, new school, identity, series, popularity

Series : This book is the first of the Clique series, which currently has 14 titles, including the Clique Summer books.

Evaluation: Surprisingly enjoyable. Obviously full of shallow characters and questionable morals, but these books are hard to put down, and even if I'm mad at the characters, I find myself getting on the hold list for the next installment.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: These books are wildly popular, and the concientious tween librarian will probably get multiple copies to keep wait lists down. Though the characters are shallow and frequently mean to one another, the books are still compelling, because they are fun.

Readalikes :

The Girls by Amy Goldman Kloss
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Other Useful Info:

The Clique Website

Reviews:
from Teenreads.com

Rich girl Massie is ticked off. She's missing out on her friends' Labor Day shopping spree and spa visit, because her father's friend is moving into their guesthouse with his family. Just because their daughter, Claire, is starting seventh grade at Massie's school, Massie is expected to pal around with her. Never mind that the new girl is a loser in old Keds and overalls who will never fit into Massie's tight circle. So that friend thing? It's never going to happen.

Meanwhile, Claire is nervous. Westchester, New York seems like a new planet compared to Orlando, Florida. And Massie and her friends are the opposite of welcoming. At school, Claire finds all the students dressed identically, and expensively. Massie's group is all about designer wear --- a whole new concept for Claire.

Massie's friends do a number on Claire, including viciously sneaking dabs of red paint onto the back of Claire's white jeans. When Claire's embarrassed male teacher sends her directly to the nurse's office, Massie's friends give her the wrong directions, sending her bumbling into the photography class darkroom.

The clique continues in its unrelentingly cruel tricks on Claire. Claire, however, earns a certain secret grudging respect by handling the harassment with graceful pride. Massie would never admit it to anyone, but she starts to feel a tiny magnetic pull to the new girl, and even feels the slightest twinge of remorse at the way she and her friends treat her. That doesn't change their behavior, though.

In the meantime, Claire wishes deep down that Massie and her pals could be her friends. Instead, she buddies up with fun and funny Layne, who is also not A-list. That friendship ends, though, when Massie steals Claire's new (and only) friend.

Claire enjoys the rare occasions when she is accepted into Massie's group, but she inevitably pays for the pleasure by being targeted with mean pranks by them afterward. Claire's grace under pressure finally cracks, and she deals Massie some payback, sinking low for revenge.

THE CLIQUE is a fun, fast read. The girls slowly reveal that they are more than the cardboard characters they appear to be. Claire is classy and intelligent, but occasionally shows some lapses in judgment. Massie and her friends gradually let slip intriguing hints that they are not quite the shallow monsters they seem.

Any girl who has struggled with wanting to fit in will no doubt gobble this book down, while eagerly reaching for the next one in the series. What will happen next with Claire and Massie? Stay tuned.

Peeled by Joan Bauer

2008-11-30T10:05:00.001-08:00

Bauer, J. (2008). Peeled. (1st ed., p. 256). Putnam Juvenile.

ISBN: 0399234756

Price :$16.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: Hildy Biddle is a teenage investigative journalist who is determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious haunted house in her small town.

Summary: Hildy lives in Banesville, a community of apple farmers. The last few years have seen bad crops, and the growers are nervous. Not to mention, there are strange things happening at the Old Ludlow House. The rumors say the place is haunted. Hildy, who is an investigative reporter isn't buying this story. She begins asking questions that upset some people in her town. A big company wants to buy some of the local apple farms and redevelop. Hildy's school newspaper is shut down. As Hildy continues to search for answers about the Ludlow house and the company seeking to buy orchards, the community becomes more and more divided. With the help of her family and some good friends, though, Hildy continues her quest for the truth.

Genre: mystery, environment, family, fiction, friends, love story

Series : This book is not part of a series, though it will certainly feel familiar to fans of Joan Bauer.

Evaluation: I'm a huge Joan Bauer fan, and love that her books are populated with hard working teen girls and solid family relationships. This one wasn't one of my favorite Joan Bauer books, but it's still a great read.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This book has a mystery at its heart, so fans of Nancy Drew and other tween slueths will find it a good fit. Also, Bauer always creates a great main character and supporting cast that will appeal to tween readers.

Readalikes :

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
Hoot by Carl Hiassen

Other Useful Info:

Joan Bauer's Website

Reviews:
from Teenreads.com

Rumors of a haunted house ignite the curiosity of teen reporter Hildy Biddle. She starts investigating the story only to have her school newspaper shut down. What Hildy uncovers and how she overcomes the obstacles that would have her silenced are at the core of Joan Bauer's new book, PEELED.

Bauer regularly writes about adolescents who work. Her Newbery Honor book HOPE WAS HERE is about a teen waitress. RULES OF THE ROAD features a young shoe salesperson. PEELED ambitiously takes on the subject of investigative reporting and responsible journalism.

The book is set in the community of Banesville, which has an economy almost entirely dependent on apple growers. Several bad harvests have the farmers and the town struggling. The mayor keeps promising a community redevelopment project without providing any details. The ensuing conflict --- pitting town farmers against the forces of commerce with an inevitable showdown against a bulldozer --- has a hint of melodrama some readers may have encountered before.

The story's villains --- a turban-wearing psychic, a muckraking journalist who goes by the name of Pen Piedmont, and an unscrupulous mayor --- are also stock characters from melodrama, as is the mysterious “haunted” house at the center of the controversy.

It is the other characters in the novel --- the “good guys” --- who make PEELED worth reading. Hildy's plucky heroism puts her in the company of other teenage sleuths. What makes her unique is her methods of investigation and reporting. Her extensive research and interviewing techniques provide excellent models for effective and responsible investigative journalism. Her journalism teacher --- a man who is clearly far more experienced and talented than his work as an advisor for a school newspaper would indicate --- is also an intriguing, original character.

But Hildy's biggest supporter is Minska, a Polish immigrant who grew up under Poland's repressive Communist regime. Minska tells her about Poland's solidarity movement and the prominent role female journalists played in the underground press:

"'They called the women in the underground press the Dark Circles,' she said. 'because they didn't get enough sleep; they wrote night and day. When you have something so important, something that you'll stay awake for, something you know that you were designed to do, well, it's worth getting a few dark circles, don't you think?'"

Drawing inspiration from Minska's stories about Poland's solidarity movement, Hildy and the rest of her school newspaper's staff run their underground newspaper from the back room of Minska's restaurant. Together they provide the momentum to get other members of the community to stand up for themselves.

PEELED works best as a fable about a community facing a campaign of fear-mongering to influence their behavior to the advantage of those who would control them. The book takes the often tedious work of investigative reporting and makes it interesting and relevant to the experience of young people. It is also a reminder that teens are an important part of every community and that the work they do matters.

Crispin Cross of Lead by Avi

2008-11-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

Avi. (2002). Crispin: The Cross of Lead. (Unabridged, 5 discs). Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books.

ISBN: 1402545533

Price :$32.95

CD audiobook

Reader's Annotation: Crispin must flee the only home he's ever known when he is accused of a crime he didn't commit.

Summary: When the book opens, Crispin, the main character, doesn't even know that his name is Crispin. He's known only as "Asta's Son." His mother has died, and life on the 14th century manor is not going to be easy for the boy on his own. Then he happens to overhear the lord of his manor say something incriminating. Suddenly, his very life is in danger. Crispin learns the secret of his true name from the priest of the manor, who says there is more to his birth and family than he knows. Unfortunately, the priest is murdered before Crispin learns the true story. He is declared a "wolf's head." Anyone who sees him may kill him like an animal, and get a reward for doing so. He runs away, carrying only the lead cross his mother wore before she died.

Genre: historical fiction, action, fiction, friends, identity, mystery, audiobook

Series : The sequel to this book is Crispin: At The Edge of the World.

Evaluation: I wasn't wild about this book, though I recognize a good adventure plot and fine writing when I see it. I frequently recommend it to kids who like similar books, but it wasn't my thing.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Crispin won a Newbery so any librarian would be remiss if they didn't have it on their shelves. The story gives a good look at life for a peasant in 14th century England, mixed in with a healthy dose of adventure. The story keeps on moving, so it will be a good choice for reluctant readers. The range of new words and concepts makes it a good choice for audio.

Readalikes :

Redwall by Brian Jacques
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

Other Useful Info:

Avi's Website

Reviews:
from Kidsread.com

He is a 13-year-old boy living in 14th century England, a time when life was hard for most people. He's less than a serf, working the land for people who are his betters and totally dependent upon them. He's really a nothing. He doesn't know why, but he and his mother have always been outcasts in their little village, and everybody seems to hate them. In fact, he is so despised that he doesn't even have a name --- he's just "Asta's son."

The village he lives in is owned entirely by Lord Furnival, who is always gone fighting wars for the king. So his steward, John Aycliffe, manages all Furnival's property, which includes the lives of everybody in the village. And Aycliffe seems to hate Asta's son even more than the villagers do. When Asta dies, her son's life becomes more unbearable than ever. Aycliffe declares that Asta's son must give his only ox to Lord Furnival's manor as a death tax for his mother. This means that the boy can't work the land for his meager livelihood. Then Aycliffe accuses Asta's son of stealing and declares him a wolf's head. This means that anybody who meets the boy may kill him on sight, since a wolf's head is not considered a human being.

The boy's only friend is Father Quinel. He knows things about Asta's son that the boy, himself, doesn't know. For example, he knows about the boy's father, and he says that Asta's son was christened with the name Crispin, even though his mother had kept that a secret. Father Quinel gives Crispin the lead cross that belonged to Asta and promises that he will tell him all about his father. But when he tries to help Crispin escape from the village, things don't go quite as they planned.

Crispin barely escapes, running for his life, with nothing but the cross and the knowledge that he has a real name. The cross has something written on it by Asta but Crispin can't read, and he's astonished to learn that his mother could. Does the writing somehow explain why his mother seemed to both love him and hate him? As Crispin flees his mind is filled with many questions about why he's been falsely accused by Aycliffe, why the people want him dead, and why he and his mother were so despised.

Eventually Crispin meets a giant juggler and jester named Bear, who befriends him, but Crispin isn't really sure whether Bear is a friend or foe. He doesn't know if there's anyone that he can trust. Will Crispin ever become a free man? Read his exciting story and discover the secrets about the life of the boy named Crispin.

--- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront

2008-11-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

Chopra, J. (2006). Molly - An American Girl on the Home Front. DVD, Warner Home Video.

ASIN: B000HEWEFS
$19.98

Viewer's Annotation: Molly wants to help the soldiers fighting oversees any way she can, but mostly by dancing Miss Victory in the school show.

Summary: Molly McIntire from the series of books by American Girl has come to the big screen. Molly is a typical tween living during the second World War. She and her friends go to school, watch movies, roller skate, and dream about their favorite teacher's wedding. They also practice black out drills, roll bandages, skip tea parties because there are no rations, and help sell war bonds. Molly's father is a doctor who ships out to England. Then her mother goes to work on an airplane assembly line. Then, her family takes in Emily, a refugee from England. Through it all, Molly is generous, but real and familiar. What she wants most is to star as Miss Victory in the school concert, to use her tap dance skills to show support for the soldiers fighting overseas.

Genre: family, friends, historical fiction, movie

Series : This movie is not part of a series, but it based on the Molly books which are part of the prolific American Girl series.

Evaluation: A great film--it took me four tissues to finish it.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Like Kit Kittredge, this movie has a great mix of story and history, which will get tweens interested in life during World War II. Molly is so familiar, it's impossible not to sympathize with her situation, and tweens will wonder what their lives would have been like in 1943.

Watchalikes :

Kit Kittredge
Nim's Island

Other Useful Info:

Official Molly movie page

Reviews:
New York Times TV review
Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front
A Girl, a War and a Bunch of Gentle Lessons

By ANITA GATES
Published: November 24, 2006

“Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front” is to sincere as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is to camp. So it’s both odd and satisfying, while watching this sweet holiday television movie (Sunday night on the Disney Channel), to come upon a “Mommie Dearest” moment.

When little Molly McIntire (Maya Ritter) refuses to eat the turnips served at dinner, the neighbor looking after her and her siblings orders her to sit at the table until she has cleaned her plate. “Which means I’ll be here until I die,” Molly announces woefully.

But unlike Christina Crawford, Molly has a mother (played by Molly Ringwald) who is willing to compromise. When Mom comes home from her job at the airplane factory, she warms up the turnips, mixing in a little butter and sugar (to heck with the rations!), and Molly happily finishes her meal.

It is wartime — 1944 to be exact — and Molly is learning about sacrifice, hardship, doing her part and the preciousness of family. As she does, viewers may be concerned about manipulation on more than one front.

First there’s Molly’s provenance. She is one of the dolls-with-historically-significant-back-stories that make up the lucrative American Girl empire. (The Fifth Avenue store has its own restaurant and its own on-site theater production, as well as floors of dolls, doll clothing, doll books and other accessories.) Clearly, at least one of the reasons the movie exists is to sell merchandise.

Then there’s the war. Granted, this is World War II, the one that even protesters in the Vietnam era could see as “the good war,” totally justified and noble. But it may seem to some viewers that Molly’s lessons in the necessity of the ultimate sacrifice are meant to persuade young viewers to see the current war in Iraq as equally noble.

Parents can talk to their children about that issue and then safely allow them to enjoy “Molly” for what it mostly is, a heartwarming, dreamlike vision of American small-town life six decades ago, with universal lessons around every corner.

In addition to loving her parents and tolerating her brother and sister, Molly has a rich life. She and her best friends go to the movies and learn about the world from the newsreels (in which young Princess Elizabeth of Britain makes a reassuring speech to children around the globe). They idolize a pretty young teacher, Miss Campbell (Sarah Manninen), and fantasize about her romance with and coming marriage to a handsome young soldier.

Molly desperately wants to win the lead in the big tap-dancing finale of the school’s Christmas show. She acknowledges that she isn’t a very good dancer but is willing to do whatever it takes to become one.

“I’ll practice day and night,” she announces, although she hates to practice. Her father (David Aaron Baker) supports her completely. “Once my girl makes up her mind, there’s no stopping her,” he tells her with an approving smile.

Molly’s trials include dealing with a wartime shortage of ice cream, saying a tearful goodbye to her father as he leaves for Britain, watching her mother take a job (horrors!) and, most intrusive of all, being forced to share her bedroom with a total stranger.

That stranger is Emily Bennett (Tory Green), a young refugee from London who modestly talks about living in a manor house and having the royal family to tea. (“It was only once.”) Not surprisingly, Molly’s resentment of Emily diminishes, and they become friends, even before Emily apologetically reveals her terrible secret.

“Molly: An American Girl” is poignant but carefully avoids difficult choices and long-term disappointment. A spelling bee that pits two major characters against each other is interrupted and declared a tie. Telegrams from the War Department arrive regularly, but really bad things happen only to minor characters. Hard work and sacrifice always pay off in victory. (Molly isn’t that great a tap dancer, but what are the odds of her winning the starring role in the show?) That, come to think of it, may be the most subversive message of all.

Nim's Island

2008-11-25T19:22:00.000-08:00

Flackett, J., & Levin, M. (2008). Nim's Island. DVD, 20th Century Fox.

ASIN: B001APZMJI
$29.99

Viewer's Annotation: Nim must protect the secret island home she and her father inhabit from invaders while her father is stranded at sea.

Summary: Nim and her dad live on their own tropical island in the South Pacific. Nim's mom died when she was a baby, and her dad works a lot, so her friends are a seal, a lizard, and a pelican. When Nim's dad goes on a research expedition and gets shipwrecked, Nim is on her own. She writes to the author of her favorite novels, Alex Rover, asking for help from the great adventurer. What she doesn't realize is that the author, Alexandra Rover, doesn't even like to leave her apartment, let alone rescue kids stranded on remote islands. Then, Nim spots invaders headed towards her beach. She must keep the island secret and safe!

Genre: movie, adventure, family, fantasy,

Series : This movie is not part of a series, but it is based on the book by Wendy Orr.

Evaluation: Plenty of adventure, a good choice for families with tweens.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This is another Abigail Breslin movie, so tweens who enjoyed Kit Kittredge may be interested in this film. Also, this is a great adventure title, with plenty of fantasy mixed in, so it's a good choice for thrill seekers or would be Swiss Family Robinsons.

Watchalikes :

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Swiss Family Robinson

Other Useful Info:

Nim's Island on IMDB
Trailer:

Reviews:
from The New York Times

If “Nim’s Island” were anything but a children’s movie, the casting genius who suggested Jodie Foster as a potential love interest for Gerard Butler would be looking for a new occupation. But miscasting isn’t the only problem with this sweet but ho-hum adaptation of Wendy Orr’s novel, a comedy-adventure that never quite finds its tone.

The island in question lies deep in the South Pacific (beautifully played by the Gold Coast of Australia) and is home to Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her father, Jack (Mr. Butler). Motherless and near-fatherless (Jack spends his days studying plankton), Nim amuses herself with a stable of performing pets and the literary adventures of an Indiana Jones-style hero named Alex Rover. When Jack is trapped by a storm at sea, and Nim sends an e-mail message to Rover for help, she’s unaware that the recipient is his agoraphobic creator, Alexandra (Ms. Foster).

Playing yet another tightly wound woman, Ms. Foster makes a slapstick meal of rushing to Nim’s aid. Yet this is a story about hiding from the world — whether on a remote island or inside your head — and the film’s sensitive notes are too often jarred by its attempts to score cheap comic points from sea lion flatulence and obese Australian tourists. The message that lifelong connections can be forged through books is a lovely one; too bad it’s obscured by flying lizards.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

2008-11-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Rozema, P. (2008). Kit Kittredge - An American Girl. DVD, New Line Cinema.

ASIN: B000WGVEAC
$28.98

Viewer's Annotation: Kit uses her ace reporting skills to help two friends who have been unfairly accused of stealing.

Summary: Kit Kittredge is nine years old during the Great Depression, and determined to be a reporter. There is plenty of news in her world. She and her friends have a treehouse club. Her mom has given work to two hobo children in exchange for food. Her dad has gone to Chicago to look for work. They have boarders living in their house now. Kit still finds time, after her chores to write to her father and to write articles for the Cincinnati newspaper. Then, two of her friends are accused of stealing, and Kit is sure they are innocent. Can she use her reporting skills to help her friends?

Genre: adventure, family, friends, historical fiction, movie

Series : This movie is not part of a series, but it based on the Kit Kittredge books which are part of the prolific American Girl series.

Evaluation: A sweet film with an amazing cast -- even my husband enjoyed it!

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Kit is nine years old, so this film may appeal more to younger tweens. Girls fresh from their American Girls years will want to see this film adaptation. It's a great choice for families, and a good way to get a glimpse of life during the Great Depression.

Watchalikes :

Nim's Island
Molly : An American Girl on the Homefront

Other Useful Info:

Official Kit Kittredge movie page

Reviews:
from Newsweek

Three TV movies have been spun off the popular American Girl book series (and the dolls, outfits, accessories and furniture that accompany them). Now we have the first feature film, "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl," aimed squarely—in all senses of that word—at the female demographic that's too young for "Sex and the City" (3-to-12 is the American Girl target audience). The movie, like the books, is both history lesson and inspirational tale, filled with commendable life lessons.

Kit's story is set during the Great Depression, and comes complete with bank foreclosures, soup kitchens, hobos and photos of Eleanor Roosevelt. When the producers (who include Julia Roberts) dreamed up the project, they couldn't have predicted that it would reach the screens amidst the home mortgage crisis, soaring gas prices and NEWSWEEK cover stories on recession, all of which give director Patricia ("Mansfield Park") Rozema's film added resonance—at least for the parents in the audience, some of whom may have to explain to their daughters that the American Doll ensembles are a luxury few in the Depression could have afforded.

Kit, the plucky 9-year-old heroine, is played by "Little Miss Sunshine"'s Abigail Breslin in a blond wig (read an interview with Breslin here). Kit wants to be a reporter: her dream is to convince the cranky editor (Wallace Shawn) of the Cincinnati Register to publish her child's-eye view of the Depression. Over the course of the movie, she gets an eyeful. Her dad (Chris O'Donnell) loses his car dealership and heads to Chicago to search for work, while her mom (Julia Ormond) is forced to take in boarders (and sell eggs) to hang on to their home. The colorful boarders liven up Kit's life (and the movie) considerably: Stanley Tucci's traveling magician; Jane Krakowski's husband-hunting dance instructor; Glenn Headley's prim, censorious mom accompanied by her sensitive, big-eared son (Zach Mills), and Joan Cusack's ditsy librarian. There is also a cute stray basset hound Kit takes in, along with two young hobos (Max Theriot and Willow Smith), who will figure in the tale's mystery. A rash of robberies has been plaguing the neighborhood, and the finger of suspicion--fueled by anti-hobo hysteria—points to the two boys, at which point Kit merges her reportorial expertise with a touch of Nancy Drew to uncover the true villains.

Rozema has a soft, unhurried touch (even the bad guys are more clownish than truly threatening), and Ann Peacock's screenplay, based on the Valerie Tripp stories, takes its sweet, didactic time getting its mystery plot in gear. Whether young girls, used to jazzier movie editing, will find this pokey, is beyond my expertise, but I like that Rozema doesn't condescend to her target audience, and there are only a few moments when the cuteness gets out of hand. Breslin, so pitch perfect in "Little Miss Sunshine," was a little too much the professional kid actress in "Definitely, Maybe": with her wide, laser-beam eyes, she can turn on spunk like a spigot and has to be carefully directed. Here, surrounded by a formidable cast, her go-get-'em energy works well. As role models go, an aspiring journalist with a dawning social conscience beats Barbie any day.

Aquamarine

2008-11-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Allen, E. (2006). Aquamarine. DVD, 20th Century Fox.

ASIN: B000FCW15A
$14.98

Viewer's Annotation: Claire and Hailey agree to help a mermaid find someone to fall in love with her in just three days.

Summary: Best friends Claire and Hailey are crushed, as Hailey is scheduled to move to Australia in five days. They make a wish for a miracle to keep them together. What they get is a mermaid tossed into their swimming pool by a freak storm. Aquamarine, the mermaid, has struck a deal with her father. If she can prove the existence of love in three days, she doesn't have to marry them merman her father has chosen for her. Aquamarine offers Claire and Hailey a wish, if they will help her find someone to fall in love with her over the next three days.

Genre: movie, fairy tale, family, fantasy, friends, love story

Series : This movie is not part of a series, but it is loosely based on a novel by Alice Hoffman with the same title.

Evaluation: A lighthearted movie that will provide entertainment, if not enlightenment.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: All three of the actresses in this movie will be familiar to tweens, and that alone would be a draw. Combine the big names with a fairy tale love story, and you've got a winning combination. Probably bound to be a slumber party classic.

Watchalikes :

Nancy Drew
The Prince and Me

Other Useful Info:

IMDB page for Aquamarine

Reviews:
from the Boston Globe
She lives in the sea, but still needs a hunk
By Wesley Morris 03/03/2006

I'm not a lust-ridden 'tween-age girl, but if I were and a mermaid happened to find her way into my swimming pool, the last thing I'd do is take her shopping and let her steal the boy of my dreams. But I'm catty and shallow. The two best friends in "Aquamarine" are sweet and fair. So when the bubbly Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) winds up in a Florida beach town after a storm, Claire (Emma Roberts, who's Eric's daughter and Julia's niece) and Hailey (the pop singer known as JoJo) try to give her what she wants. Love. Of course, at sundown Aqua's legs turn back into a tail, which means she doesn't have much time to find it.

According to Aqua, her father plans to marry her off to a merman she doesn't love. Dad doesn't believe love exists. She insists it does, and daddy gives her three days to prove it. The boy she picks is Raymond (Jake McDorman), the same permanently shirtless lifeguard Hailey and Claire have been wanting all summer. But if they help a mermaid, they get a wish, and since Hailey is about to move to Australia, they enlist in Project Love and plan to use their wish to stay together.

If I were these two I'd be wishing for filmmaking better than the ABC Family Channel stuff they've got. But 12-year-old girls won't care that some of the overdubbed dialogue in "Aquamarine" makes it seem like a lesser work of Italian neorealism. (The ones who do should write me. I might know some 13-year-old nerds who'd love to watch "Open City" with you.)

Most girls will just be pleased that Alice Hoffman's book has been faithfully adapted, that Roberts has inherited the family's good dental work, that Paxton is like Reese Witherspoon with a tail, and that JoJo is playing someone other than the underage vixen she does in her PG music videos. The town vamp is Cecilia (Arielle Kebbel), the dangerously tan, Mandy Moore-monster who is also in pursuit of Raymond. (He's the only boy in town worth wanting.) Girls will hate her, but if the intended audience is anything like Claire and Hailey, they will come to feel sorry for her, too.

"Aquamarine" is part "Splash" and part "Clueless" (when that dressing-room montage comes hurtling toward you, duck). But girls will know "Aquamarine" is unique because it's the rare movie that fiercely respects the altruistic loyalty that bonds girls to one another. Cute boys Hasselhoffing in slow motion on the sand come and go, but a best friend is forever.

Kiki Strike : Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller

2008-11-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

Miller, K. (2007). Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City (p. 387). Topeka Bindery.

ISBN:1417808128

Price : $17.50 library binding

Reader's Annotation: Ananka Fishbein, Kiki Strike and the rest of The Irregulars are determined to discover the hidden city beneath the streets of New York.

Summary: Ananka Fishbein's adventures begin when she looks out her window to see a pale figure climbing out of a hole that has suddenly appeared in the park across the street. The hole leads to an city beneath the streets of New York. The girl is Kiki Strike, who calmly responds to the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" by saying only "Dangerous." Kiki befriends Ananka, and together they gather other girls to form The Irregulars, a group of slueths determined to map the Shadow City. Then, Kiki disappears, and The Irregulars begin to wonder if she really was who she claimed to be.

Genre: action, adventure, book, friends, mystery, royalty

Series : The sequel to this book is Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb.

Evaluation: A fantastic read, with twists and turns in each chapter. This book was sassy and quick, I hardly noticed it was 387 pages long.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Kiki and The Irregulars are strong, smart and bold, and scoff at those who underestimate the power of tween girls. This is a fantastic longer read for fans of mysteries and adventure, or for anyone who thought Nancy Drew was too outdated for their tastes.

Readalikes :

The City of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

Other Useful Info:

School Library Journal with Kirsten Miller
Kiki Strike Website -- discover which of The Irregulars you are!

Reviews:

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. White-haired, leprechaun-size Kiki Strike is a new student at Atalanta School in New York City when she meets 12-year-old Ananka Fishbein, the narrator of Miller's debut novel. Together they begin a detailed exploration of the Shadow City, the subterranean rooms and streets under New York's subway system, and Kiki recruits a team of other precocious 12-year-olds, whose skills include hacking, chemistry, lock picking, forging, making handmade explosives, and mechanical engineering, to join them. Ananka, the team's urban archaeologist, will supply her family's extensive library and learn everything about rats, the current Shadow City inhabitants. As the girls try to obtain layered maps of New York City's infrastructure, they fear that terrorists with the same goals are putting the city in terrible danger. The peripheral plotline about a nefarious, exiled princess of Pokrovia, who is a fellow Atalanta School student, adds intrigue. First-time author Miller has created a fascinating, convoluted mystery-adventure, which features early-adolescent girls with talents and abilities far beyond their years. The novel will attract both male and female readers, as Harry Potter did, especially since many chapters conclude with perspectives on such universally appealing topics as "How to Be a Master of Disguise" and "How to Foil a Kidnapping." While some discerning readers may complain that the conclusion is too quick and tidy, readers will welcome the hints of sequels, all hopefully narrated by Ananka, the most intriguing and carefully developed of Miller's characters.

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

2008-11-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

Mass, W. (2008). Every Soul A Star (p. 336). Little, Brown Young Readers.

ISBN: 0316002569

Price : $15.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: Three fifteen year old strangers share two weeks and one life-altering experience at Moon Shadow Campground.

Summary: Ally has lived most of her life at the Moon Shadow Campground, which her parents bought when she was young because it would be in the path of a solar eclipse a decade or so after they bought it. Bree's parents are taking over the campground after the eclipse. This means Bree, who is beautiful and wants to be a model, will be living in the middle of nowhere and going to homeschool, while Ally, who doesn't remember to brush her hair most days will be moving to a public school in Chicago. Also, there's Jack, who is helping out on an eclipse tour to get out of going to summer school. He's a pudgy recluse who ends up in the middle of Ally and Bree's drama.

Genre: book, coming of age, family, fiction, friends, identity, love story, siblings

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: I loved this book. I found the characters to be well realized, even beautiful Bree, and though the circumstances were unusual, I was willing to go along with the plot. I've already recommended this book to several tweens.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: I think multiple POV books are good choices for tweens, because it's good to understand a situation or story from different viewpoints, and what better way to do that than to have several people telling the same story. The characters in this book feel familiar, and readers will find themselves in Ally, Bree and Jack.

Readalikes :

My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Other Useful Info:

Wendy Mass' Website

Reviews:

excerpt of School Library Journal Review, found in full here

I always enjoy a kid's book that works against my natural expectations of what's going to happen next. I mean, look at this equation: Popular girl meets unpopular girl at campground. There are only a couple of different ways you can go with a storyline like that, so Mass gets points for taking the road less traveled. For one thing, the kids in this book get along. I sort of expected this to be a novel where people fought, bickered, and came to learn about themselves through conflict. But this is a little different. The kids have essentially been tossed out onto their own by the adults in their lives, or have left those adults voluntarily for the first time. Adrift they end up clinging to people in similar situations. And Mass toys with her canny readers, TOYS I say! You simply cannot have a boy reading the Ray Bradbury story All Summer in a Day (it's never named but you know that's what it is) in the first act without implying that something similar is going to happen to him in the third. I won't give anything away, but it's nerve wracking to say the last.

Ally is one of the few homeschooled heroines I've found in middle grade fiction lately. That's neat. It's nice to have a detail like that interwoven with a tale about the death of the sun and that equally awesome event, our entrance into teenagerhood. And I really do think that you could sell this book equally well to the kid who loves books about science and realism as to the kid who'll only touch titles that contain fashion forward females. I could be wrong, but I think it's worth trying. Give it a look yourself. It's a pretty neat juggling act.

The Bat-Chen Diaries by Bat-chen Shahak

2008-11-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Shahak, B. (2008). The Bat-Chen Diaries (p. 110). Kar-Ben Publishing.

ISBN: 0822588072

Price : $16.95 library binding

Reader's Annotation: Selected writings, diaries and letters of Bat Chen Shehak, who was killed in 1996, on her 15th birthday, in a terrorist bombing.

Summary: In the same way the diaries of Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic have illustrated the day to day lives of tweens during the Holocaust and Bosnia, the Bat-Chen diaries paint a picture of life growing up in modern day Israel. Bat-Chen began to keep a diary when she was in the fifth grade, and she wrote frequent letters and poems. Collections of her writing have been published in Arabic, Japanese, Italian, Dutch and German. Her familiar concerns, friends, school, siblings, first romances are set against a backdrop of war and an enduring hope for peace.

Genre: book, nonfiction, war, identity, friends, coming of age, siblings, family

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This collection of journal entries, letters, and poems is all the more touching for the places in which it is sometimes overly dramatic or simplistic. It looks like the diaries we all wrote when we were tweens, and that is what makes it so powerful.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: First person accounts make history and current events real to readers. Tweens will identifiy with Bat-Chen, who fights with her siblings and hates homework even while she's contemplating living in a country at war. Bat-Chen will make Middle East politics real for tweens.

Readalikes :

The Diary of Anne Frank
Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic

Other Useful Info:

YouTube intro to the book

Reviews:

School Library Journal Review

he Bat-Chen Diaries released in February, 2008, nearly slipped beneath my notice. Perhaps because I love bats or the Chen portion may have caught my eye. Whatever reason, I'm glad that I read this title from Kar-Ben Publishing.

I know The Bat-chen Diaries have been published in other languages (Hebrew, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, Dutch, and German) and this is the first English translation of her work. There is a free teaching guide that can be downloaded from the publisher.

In March 1996, Bat-Chen Shahak was killed by a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Center. It was Purim, and it was her 15th birthday. Interestingly she had written a condolence poem to widow Leah Rabin after the assassination of her husband Israel's Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin in November, 1995. After Bat-Chen's death her family gathered together pieces of her writings in notebooks, diaries, letters, and drawings to produce this tribute to Bat-Chen's life and desire for peace.

Knowing the main character's fate and that there is no happy ending can make reading war diaries by children very difficult. Even reading grown-up accounts of tragedies is difficult to accept.

Raucous Royals by Carlyn Beccia

2008-11-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

Beccia, C. (2008). Raucous Royals: Test your Royal Wits: Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries, and Deduce WhichRoyal Rumors are True (p. 64). Houghton Mifflin.

ISBN: 0618891307

Price : $17.00 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: Learn about some of Europe's kookiest monarchs, and decide for yourself whether the rumors about them are true.

Summary: This book encourages tweens to be "history detectives" by asking questions about well known rumors about some of Europe's most notorious monarchs. Did Marie Antoinette say "Let them eat cake?" Did Richard III kill his nephews? Was Napoleon short? With plenty of factual information, humorous illustrations, and a thought provoking question and answer style, Beccia digs deep into the mysteries of royalty.

Genre: book, nonfiction, women's history, tudors, royalty

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This picture book for tweens has a good balance of fact and fun, and will capture the interests of even reluctant readers.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: It's history, but it's fun. It's non-fiction, but thoroughly readable. Keep this book around for tweens who need to liven up their history lessons.

Readalikes :

Oh, Rats: The Story of Rats and People by Albert Merrin
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voice from a Medieval Village by Laura Schlitz

Other Useful Info:

Carlyn Beccia's Website

Reviews:

"[Beccia's] stylish mélange of witty illustrations—silhouettes with speech bubbles, dramatic tableaux, caricatures—and interactive text demands reader participation: rather than provide a historical narrative, the author presents statements as true-or-false quizzes, then theorizes why a rumor might have come to exist." Starred, September 29, 2008 (Publishers Weekly, Starred )

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot

2008-11-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Cabot, M. (2009). Moving Day. (p. 256). Scholastic Paperbacks.

ISBN: 00545040418

Price : $15.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: Allie Finkle must stop her parents from moving into a haunted house away from her school and friends.

Summary: Nine year old Allie keeps a list of rules to remind her how to be a good person and a good friend. She knows that even good people sometimes have a hard time remembering all the rules, like "never stick a spatula down your friend's throat." When her parents announce they have bought a new house (which Allie is sure is infested with a zombie hand), Allie does all she can to prevent them from moving. She's not wild about her school or her best friend, but she knows being the new kid won't be great either.

Genre: book, family, fiction, friends, siblings, new school

Series : This book is the first in a series of Allie Finkle stories. There are two books out currently (Moving Day and The New Girl) with more planned.

Evaluation: Allie is wise and silly, gutsy and scared, smart and foolish all at the same time. The book is funny, approachable, and will be well liked by young tweens.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Allie tells it like it is. She's an animal rights activist, she doesn't like it when her best friend whines, and she's clever enough to try and thwart her parents move. Tweens will love this heroine. Also, Meg Cabot is a well known name, and younger tweens will be glad to have something just for them.

Readalikes :

Rules by Cynthia Lord
Anastasia Krumpnik by Lois Lowry

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. SignatureReviewed by Rachel Vail
In Cabot's (the Princess Diaries) first foray into novels for kids who are still in single digits, her trademark frank humor makes for compulsive reading—as always. The first installment of a new series presents a nine-year-old girl attempting to impose rules for living on her increasingly complex world. Allie is funny, believable and plucky (of course; all girls are plucky, at least in books), but most of all, and most interestingly, Allie is ambivalent.As the book starts, Allie learns that her family is moving across town. It is a mark of Cabot's insight to understand that, to a nine-year-old, a car ride's separation from the world she has known makes that distance as vast as the universe. Allie will be enrolled in a different elementary school, and will therefore be that most hideous thing: the new kid. To make matters worse, the Finkle family will be moving to a dark, old, creaky Victorian, which, Allie becomes convinced, has a zombie hand in the attic. Moving will mean leaving behind not only her geode collection but also her best friend. And here is where the story deepens. Allie's best friend is difficult. She cries easily and always insists on getting her own way. To keep the peace, Allie makes rules for herself, often after the fact, to teach herself such important friendship truisms as Don't Shove a Spatula Down Your Best Friend's Throat.Mary Kate is the kind of best friend anybody would want to shove a spatula down the throat of, is the thing.As Allie marshals her energies to fight the move in increasingly desperate ways, sophisticated readers may well conclude ahead of Allie that the friends she is meeting at the new school are more fun and better for her than spoiled Mary Kate and the cat-torturer, Brittany Hauser. Coming to this realization on their own, however, is part of the empowering fun. Told from the distinctive perspective of a good-hearted, impulsive, morally centered kid, this is a story that captures the conflicted feelings with which so many seemingly strong nine-year-olds struggle. Ambivalence is uncomfortable. It is also a sign of growing up. Early elementary school is all about primary colors, where rules, imposed by adults, are clear guidelines to good behavior and getting along. The more complex hues of the second half of elementary school, when complicated friendship dynamics begin to outpace the adult-imposed rules of home and school, leave many kids floundering and confused. In the character Allie Finkle, Cabot captures this moment of transition and makes it feel not just real, but also fun, and funny.

Babysitting Rules by Leah Browning

2008-11-11T18:30:00.000-08:00

Browning, L. (2006). Babysitting Rules: A Guide for When You're in Charge (p. 32). Capstone Press.

ISBN: 0736864644

Price : $25.26 library edition

Reader's Annotation: Tips and guidelines for babysitting -- read this book and you'll be sure to get asked back again.

Summary: A basic guide for babysitters, this book is packed with tips and ideas. Browning worked with certified babysitting training instructor Beth Lapp in putting this book together. Topics include following the rules, staying safe, being respectful (how to behave in someone else's home) and speaking up when you're being treated unfairly. There is an appendix with more babysitters resources listed.

Genre: book, nonfiction, babysitting

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: A short book good for young tweens just getting started in the babysitting business.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Tweens and babysitting go together like peanut butter and jelly. This is the sort of book a parent or kid will probably never buy in a store, but it's a great find in a library, and will probably circulate well.

Readalikes :

The Babysitter's Handbook by Caroline Greene
Everything You Need to Know about Being a Babysitter by Aileen Weintraub

Other Useful Info:

Leah Browning's Website

Reviews:

from the book recommendation blog of Gwinnet County Public Library
Book Recommended by Louseda D.

Grayson Branch

Babysitting Rules is a book about rules and advice to keep when you are babysitting. It talked about staying safe, keeping your eyes open and following the rules and many more. There is some information in the book that I never knew about, like checking on sleeping babies and young children every 20-30 minutes to see if they are crying or breathing. This book was very easy to understand and read. My favorite part in this book would be the part about staying safe and don’t answer the door even if it’s the child’s relatives. I would recommend other titles like Babysitting Activities and Babysitting Safety because safety comes first when babysitting.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

2008-11-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Miyazaki, H. (2005). Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. DVD, Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

ASIN: B0001XAPZ6
$29.99

Viewer's Annotation: Princess Nausicaa must protect her people from both the toxic poisons of the jungle covering the earth and her many warring neighbors.

Summary: Nausicaa's people live peacefully in a valley safe from the toxic jungle and the insects that live there. They are a self-sufficient peaceful people who do no harm to the jungle or the insects. When a ship carrying prisoners, toxic spores and an ancient weapon crash lands at the end of her valley, Nausicaa has to leave her people to search for answers. She learns that the forest they all dread is actually healing the planet that was polluted by humans. But she must convince her people to leave the forest and insects in peace, and stop a war between her neighbors if any of them are to survive.

Genre: movie, family, fairy tale, love story

Series : This movie is not part of a series, though there is a series of graphic novels about the same characters.

Evaluation: This is a fantastic movie with complex characters, a moving message, and spectacular artwork.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This is another film for fans of Hayao Miyazaki particularly and anime films generally. The content is suitable for most families, though there is some violence so parents of very young tweens might have concerns. Tweens, girls particularly, will identify and appreciate Nausicaa as an able and fearless heroine.

Watchalikes :

Castle in the Sky
Spirited Away

Other Useful Info:

IMDB page for Nausicaa

Reviews:
from allwatchers.com
The adventurous princess Nausicaa, who spends a large amount of her time exploring the Toxic Jungle, is the heiress to Jhil, ruler of the kingdom of the Valley of the Wind. One day that an aircraft from the city of Pejite crashes in the Valley of the Wind, leaving among its ruins a large stone. Shortly after, King Jhil is murdered by the invading Tolmekain army, which is led by Kushana, who intends to resurrect the monster contained within the stone for the purpose of burning down the Toxic Jungle which has been encroaching upon human land. Nausicaa believes that the jungle exists for the purpose of cleansing the earth of its ancient pollutants, an thus attempts to convince Kushana to both leave the Valley of the Wind and spare the Toxic Jungle.

--Adam , Resident Scholar

Nausicaä, the princess of a small nordic type nation in the Valley of the Wind, lives in a world devastated by the "Seven Days of Fire". Huge ecosystems have evolved to rid the world of pollutants, but the flora and fauna in them are extremely toxic to humans. Humans perceive these ecosystems as dangerous and a plague (they expand rapidly, and humans are unaware of their function as poison filters). Groups of humans flee the expanding ecosystems and end up in the Valley of the Wind. They try to take over the land from the previous occupants. Nausicaä comes to realize the real function of the ecosystems and tries to save them from being destroyed by other humans.

The most lyrical and beautiful of Hayao Miyazaki's films, was adapted from his manga. It is undeniably his best film.
Deals in an early manner with some of the issues that would show up later in "Princess Mononoke".
1984 / 116 minutes. (Avoid at all costs something called "Warriors of the Wind" it is an edited version of this excellent film). Highly Recommended.

--Herman the German, Resident Scholar

The Prince and Me

2008-11-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

Coolidge, M. (2004). The Prince and Me. DVD, Paramount.

ASIN: B00029NLGO
$9.98 widescreen dvd edition

Viewer's Annotation: Paige Morgan, farm girl from Wisconsin who wants to be a doctor, unknowingly falls for the Prince of Denmark.

Summary: A Cinderella remake, of sorts, this story features Paige Morgan, a junior in college, who has her life and career planned down to the last detail. She wants to be a doctor and see the world traveling with Doctors without Borders. Edvard, the Prince of Denmark, is not ready or capable of settling down to take up his kingly duties. After seeing a commercial for "Girls Gone Wild: America's Heartland" he decides to enroll at a college in Wisconsin. He falls for Paige, and learns a bit more about being a grown up. She falls for him, and learns to accept a little bit of the unexpected in her life. Then she finds out that he's the Prince of Denmark.

Genre: movie, family, fairy tale, love story

Series : This movie has two sequels, "The Prince and Me 2" and "The Prince and Me 3."

Evaluation: This isn't a fantastic film, and the plot is certainly predictable, but that's okay. Julia Stiles is great, and the story is heartwarming enough. There is a "Girls Gone Wild" commercial and a bit of drinking, and one college junior talks briefly about having sex with an older man, so this is probably not a good film for the younger tweens.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: While all the characters are in college, this movie will resonate more with tween viewers than with teens, I'd expect. The sweetness, and the familiarity of the plot will probably bore older teens. But the dresses and the romance will appeal to tween viewers. Though I was fairly worried as the movie drew to it's close, at the end, Paige does make some mature decisions about her future.

Watchalikes :

The Princess Diaries
Ice Princess

Other Useful Info:

IMDB page for The Prince and Me

Reviews:
from commonsensemedia.org

What's the story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

THE PRINCE AND ME stars Julia Stiles as Paige Morgan, a serious and hard-working pre-med college student who has her whole life literally mapped out. She has a map of the world with pins showing all of the places she wants to visit after she completes her medical training and joins Doctors Without Borders. Luke Mably plays Edvard, the heir to the Danish crown. His life is also planned for him, but he is not the one who made the plans. He wants to postpone the inevitable by having as much fun as possible before he has to take on the responsibilities of the life he was born to. He secretly enrolls in college in Wisconsin, incognito as "Eddie," a foreign exchange student. Once he meets Paige, Edvard learns what it is like to have to earn respect and affection -- and money -- and Paige learns what it is like to listen to her heart and use her imagination. They each get to explore the other's family and culture. He races a souped-up riding lawnmower in Wisconsin farm country and she stays in a castle and goes to a ball. But falling in love is easy; finding a way to make their dreams and responsibilities fit together is not.

Is it any good?

The title says it all. This is a classic Cinderella story about a hardworking girl from the Wisconsin dairy farm who wants to go to medical school but falls for a handsome and charming foreign exchange student who happens to be a prince in disguise. Does the course of true love run smooth? Not at first. Do they live happily ever after? What do you think?

Director Martha Coolidge has a sensitive touch in dealing with young female characters. She and Stiles do their best to make Paige more than the typical romantic comedy heroine. Mably shows some ease and charm as Eddie, who describes that other Danish prince, Hamlet, as though he is talking about himself: "The prince was young and scared and didn't feel ready for the choices he had to make." All of that helps to make up for a weak script that is too often too silly and too seldom original. By the time we have to sit through a scene of Paige trying on all the Crown jewels, they have long since run out of ideas.

Howl's Moving Castle

2008-11-11T08:29:00.001-08:00

Miyazaki, H., Dempsey, R., & Docter, P. (2006). Howl's Moving Castle. DVD, Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
ASIN: B000CDGVOE
$29.99

Viewer's Annotation: To break a spell that makes her appear old, Sophie leaves her life at the hat shop and seeks help from the dreaded Wizard Howl.

Summary: Based on the book by Diana Wynne Jones, this adaptation was created by Hayao Miyazaki, who is well known for movies such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. While the movie takes some surprising detours from the book, the heart of the story is the same. Sophie feels nothing excitng will ever happen to her, because she is the eldest of three sisters, and she thinks she is quite plain. She falls under a spell cast by the Witch of the Waste, that makes her appear to be old, though she is still in her teen years. Unable to tell anyone what has happened, she sets off to find help. She ends up in the mobile castle of the evil Wizard Howl. Here she finds friends, in the wizards young apprentice and the resident fire demon. After working as Howl's cleaning lady for awhile, she also begins to learn some things about the wizard. To break her own curse, she must find a way to help her new friends.

Genre: movie, adventure, coming of age, fairy tale, fantasy, friends, identity, love story, magic,

Series : This movie is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Even people who haven't read the book will enjoy the action and heart in this charming story. There's really something for everyone in this film.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This film has several "built in" audiences. Tweens who've read the book will want to see it. Fans of Miyazaki will want to see it. Families looking for something for all ages will want it. More than likely, you'll want to have two copies in your collection.

Watchalikes :

Whale Rider
Nausicaa, of the Valley of the Wind

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:

A-

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Lisa Schwarzbaum is a film critic for Entertainment Weekly

There's no confusing the wizards and goblins who populate the dazzling animated adventure Howl's Moving Castle with their relatives from Harry Potter's branch of the wiz biz. The conjurer named Howl — part romantic human dreamboat who fancies emerald earrings and tight pants, part massive bird — may be voiced with whispery gravity, in the English-language version, by Christian Bale (soon to be whispering gravely as Batman). But the worldview, the sense of childlike fun shaded with adult melancholy, and the joyful, serene attention to visual oddity and wordless beauty could only be made in Japan. And, specifically, made by Hayao Miyazaki.

When the peerless master of hand-drawn animation last cavorted with the supernatural, in Spirited Away, the director unfurled his marvelous tale from the perspective of a child, true to the real fears and equally real thrills experienced by a little girl learning how to separate from her parents. With Howl's, Miyazaki brings the wisdom of his 64 years to a story, dense with complications, about a workaholic teenage hatmaker named Sophie who comes into a true appreciation of love, passion, playfulness, and even politics, as well as of her own beauty, only after she is transformed by an evil spell into a stooped and wrinkled 90-year-old woman. (Long story short, Sophie's meet-cute encounter with Howl on a city street irks the jealous Witch of the Waste, a mountainous matron of a competitor for Howl's affections. This sorceress boasts the look of Marx Brothers regular Margaret Dumont and the imperious, Fancy Feast voice of Lauren Bacall.)

In other words, maturity is achieved working backward from experienced seniority rather than forward from wide-eyed youth. And in moments of developmental breakthrough, the young Sophie reemerges out of the contours of the old one. (Emily Mortimer voices young Sophie with a combination of Cinderella pluck and Notting Hill class; Jean Simmons gives old Sophie a lovable layering of tolerance and self-confidence.)

But enough about developmental psychology — how about that humongous castle?! Howl's mobile home heaves and clanks around the countryside (a landscape of indeterminate Euro provenance, over which a war of indeterminate provocation is about to be fought against an indeterminate enemy) on intrepid mechanized feet that appear to be part steel, part chicken. The fixer-upper is cobbled together from a million wheezing parts, the whole thing running on flames from a combustible blob named Calcifer (voiced by Billy Crystal). And naturally the ambulatory domicile is accepted by the populace as part of the regular way of doing things. Because, unlike the Muggles-vs.-Hogwarts crowd, the inhabitants of Miyazaki's enchanted universe understand that spirits are as much a part of everyday life as the fishmongers and soldiers and airplanes crowding the confines of the movie frame in set-piece scenes of spectacular detail.

And curses happen, many of them cast by Madame Suliman (Blythe Danner), resident magician and foreign-policy meddler in service to the king. A surfeit of mishaps and catastrophes accrue, requiring bravery along with a very Asian sense of acceptance. Unlikely alliances are made, primarily among squatters in the moving castle itself, as old Sophie's competence and unflappability work their own kind of domestic magic; even a barkless dog has his day, providing sweet diversionary canine silliness during times of darkest heroic crisis. As Howl's Moving Castle makes ravishingly clear, coming into one's own is the most heroic — and magical — experience of all.

Creative Kids

2008-11-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

Creative Kids. Prufrock Publishing.

ISSN:0892-9599

Price :$19.95 for 6 issues

Reader's Annotation: Creative Kids is the nations largest magazine with content written entirely by kids.

Summary: Creative Kids magazine is written by students from all over the world. Young writers submit stories, opinion pieces, poems, artwork, puzzels, and more. Kids can find penpals and ideas for their own writing at home. The content is as varied as the author, but usually covers issues important to tweens, such as friends and family and school. Some issues have themes, such as The Election. Authors wrote opinion pieces about why kids should be allowed to vote at 16, and why the electoral college doesn't make any sense.

Genre: magazine, friends, family

Series : This magazine is not part of a series.

Evaluation: It's amazing to see what tweens create when they have a venue.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This magazine doesn't fly off the shelves at our library, but it does have a devoted set of readers. I would recommend it for a collection because it's inspiring for kids to read what other kids have written, and to realize they can be published authors as well.

Readalikes :

Muse
Teen Ink

Other Useful Info:

Creative Kids won a Parent's Choice Award

Reviews:

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Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

2008-10-31T14:04:00.001-07:00

Lupica, M. (2008). Summer Ball (p. 272). Puffin.

ISBN: 0142411531

$7.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Though he's had plenty of success in basketball, Danny Walker is nervous that summer basketball camp will prove he doesn't have talent to compete.

Summary: Danny Walker should be on top of his game. Just back from the national championship with his travel team, and with his parents back together (finally!) he should be ready for anything. But thinking of spending the summer at basketball camp is making Danny nervous. For one thing, he's fighting with his best friend, Tess. For another, he hasn't had the growth spurt he's longing for. Though being short didn't stop him from being a star on travel team, he's secretly afraid that when he competes with bigger players from around the country he won't have the talent to keep up. When he gets to camp, things only get worse. He's in a bunk with kids a year younger than him. He gets the meanest coach at camp. And some familiar faces have come back to haunt him.

Genre: book, coming of age, family, friends, identity, sports, fiction

Series : The sequel to this book is "Travel Team."

Evaluation: Not as good as the first book, but still a compelling read, especially great for basketball fans.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This book is a great balance between the insecurities and emotions of tweendom and the fast paced action of sports. Danny has great friends and supportive parents. He's insecure about his talent, and he's meeting players who really want to beat him at basketball. He's got a tough coach, and trouble with his best female friend. All classic tween drama. But mostly, this is a book about basketball, and so a perfect read for any sports fan.

Readalikes :

Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery by John Feinstein
Football Genius by Tim Green

Other Useful Info:

Mike Lupica's Website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—This novel continues the story of Danny Walker, the basketball-obsessed hero of Travel Team (Philomel, 2004). In the interval between the two books, the 13-year-old and his friends went on to win the travel-team championship. Now that they are heading off to summer basketball camp, Danny is feeling the pressure of being number one. He plays as well as ever, but he's still the smallest boy on the court and anxiously hoping for a growth spurt. As the story begins, things quickly go wrong for him. He fights with his girlfriend before he leaves; at camp, he's separated from his friends and assigned a berth in the younger boys' cabin. There are many familiar elements and few surprises here, yet Lupica breathes life into both characters and story. Danny is a classic sports-story underdog, but he's also sympathetic and engaging. He is surrounded by a cast of supporting characters who add humor and whose interactions ring true. When Danny befriends Zach, who is a younger version of himself, readers see the protagonist grow in empathy and self-awareness. Sports fans will relish the on-court action, expertly rendered in Lupica's taut prose. This worthy sequel to Travel Team should earn a wide audience.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

Moondance Alexander

2008-10-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Damian, M. (2008). Moondance Alexander. DVD, 20th Century Fox.

ASIN: B0012KSUT0
$19.98

Viewer's Annotation: Moondance Alexander isn't well liked by her classmates, but she decides to make an impression by entering a jumping contest with her horse, Checkers.

Summary: Moondance Alexander has an unusual name, an out of date fashion sense, and no luck making friends at school. When summer rolls around, she is determined to find her place in the world. She stumbles upon a pinto pony, whom she names Checkers. When Checkers is reunited with his owners, Moondance offers to work in his stables in exchange for riding lessons. Though Dante the stable owner says Checkers won't get a fair shake at the Bow Valley jumping competition, Moondance enters him anyway and competes against her snooty classmates and their thoroughbred horses.

Genre: movie, horses, family, friends, identity

Series : This movie is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This was a warm, feel-good movie, though the plot was predictable.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Tweens and horses often go together like peanut butter and jelly. Plus, Moondance's struggle to fit in at school will be a familiar tale to the tween audience. Lastly, the whole family can enjoy this movie together, which will make it a hit with parents of tweens.

Watchalikes :

Flicka
Nim's Island

Other Useful Info:

Moondance Alexander IMDB page

Reviews:
From Parent Previews

Summer's arrival can't come soon enough for Moondance Alexander (Kay Panabaker). The high-spirited freshman just wants to fit in with her classmates. But with an unusual first name, distinct fashion choices and an over exuberance that often results in clumsy behavior, she is more of a target for teasing than anything else.

On the other hand, spending a summer at home with her eccentric, art-teaching mother (Lori Loughlin) has its drawbacks, too. Luckily, Moondance holds down a part time job as a delivery person for Mr. McClancy (James Best), the owner of a horse supply shop who keeps her busy dropping off supplements and other small items to the local ranchers.

It's during one of her runs that she discovers a lost pinto pony on a country road and decides to take him home. Unfortunately her mom is firm about returning Checkers to its rightful owner, the moody and gruff Dante Longpre (Don Johnson). Not to be deterred by the loss, Moondance offers to help Dante care for his animals at the riding stable in exchange for a chance to ride the black and white horse.

Arriving early in the morning, the eager, young stable hand carefully completes all of her responsibilities and slowly begins to earn the respect of the hermit-like Dante. Finally relenting to the girl, he helps Moondance saddle up Checkers and begins teaching her the finer points of riding. Only then does Moondance discover Dante used to be a world-class horse trainer.

Begging him to help her and her new mount prepare for an upcoming jumping event, she wheedles her way into his good graces just far enough to convince him to give it a try. But entering the arena brings back a deluge of bad memories for the man who turns to the bottle to help him forget the past.

However, it soon becomes evident that Moondance and Dante both have something to offer the other. She gives him a reason to engage in life again while the quiet horse owner becomes a calming presence for the girl, teaching her the value of individuality and discipline. Working side by side in anticipation of the Bow River competition, they bring out the best in each other.

While the story line might be as common as horseflies in the barnyard, this film manages to combine stunning cinematography, strong characters and some simple twists to create a fresh, warm-hearted tale for the whole family.

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka

2008-10-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Scieszka, J. (2008). Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka (p. 106). Viking Juvenile.

ISBN:067001138X

$12.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Author Jon Sciezka describes growing up one of six brothers, and answers the question "Where do the ideas for your books come from?"

Summary: Jon Scieszka has written many outstanding children's books, including The Stinky Cheese Man and Guys Write for Guys Read (well, he was the editor and contributed to this one.) In Knucklehead, he tells the story of growing up as the second oldest of six boys, in Flint, Michigan. Each chapter is its own story, and they are all between one and three pages long. One story describes the time his older brother tried to sell him his own shirt. Another is about what happens when you pee on an electric heater. They are all hysterical, and full of boyish adventures.

Genre:book, adventure, coming of age, family, nonfiction, siblings

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This book made me laugh out loud, even though I was trying to read it on the sly while I was at my desk working. A great, great, great nonfiction choice for reluctant readers.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Tweens will likely know Jon Scieszka from his pictures books or Guys Write webpage. The idea of growing up with five brothers will be appealing. Most of all, the humor and short, easy chapters will make this a great book to recommend for reluctant readers, and for "biography" or "nonfiction" assignments.

Readalikes :

Science Fair by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Guys Write for Guys Read by Jon Scieszka

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
From School Library Journal ages 9-12
To adults that don’t normally wander through the shelves of children’s literature the notion of the autobiography for kids is a pretty odd beast. You write a book about yourself, sure. But why would you make the primary audience for that book people who think that boogers and farts are the height of wit and sophistication? Fact of the matter is an autobiography written with a child audience in mind needs a hook. Your life, particularly your life as a kid, has to have had something interesting about it. Many of us probably look back on those years only to sigh and determine that absolutely nuthin’ interesting went on back then that would sufficiently engage a ten-year-old. Not Jon Scieszka. You want a hook? Try five brothers. Five brothers and Catholic school. Five brothers and Catholic school and a mess of stories involving bodily functions and super cool (and not so cool) toys. Mr. Scieszka proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that when it comes to recounting your youth, there’s nothing like a plethora of XX chromosomes to keep the readers reading. (read the rest here)

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

2008-10-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Jones, D. W. (2001). Howl's Moving Castle (p. 336). Eos.

ISBN: 006441034X

$6.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Sophie upsets a witch, who turns her into an old lady, and she seeks help from a wizard to get back to her true form.

Summary: Sophie doesn't expect much excitement in her life, because she is the oldest of her siblings, and interesting things don't happen to oldest siblings. She settles into a life of hat making, while her sisters are apprenticed to more exciting careers. But it is in the hatmaker's shop that Sophie runs into a witch, who, displeased with the service, turns Sophie into an old woman. Sophie cannot tell anyone who she really is, or explain the curse. She leaves the hat shop and ends up at Howl's Moving Castle, the home of the local wizard with an unpleasant reputation. Once there, Sophie makes a deal with the fire demon, that if she will help him, he will change her back. Life at Howl's Castle is unusual, but not unpleasant, and Sophie manages to have several adventures, even though she is the oldest of her sisters.

Genre: book, adventure, coming of age, fairy tale, family, fantasy, fiction, identity, love story, magic, siblings

Series : The sequel to this book is "The Castle in the Air."

Evaluation: A classic sort of fantasy story with an unexpected ending. The middle sections of the book may prove challenging for slower readers, but the payoff at the end is worthwhile.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Robin McKinley has written many fine books with strong girl characters and this is right up there with her classics. Her stories often advocate determined study to solve problems, and trial and error processes. Nobody has told Mirasol how to solve her problems, she has to try different things until she gets it right, and she has to trust her instinct. A good selection for fantasy readers. Also, like other McKinley classics, Chalice is full of animals helping the heroine. Bees and horses in this case.

Readalikes :

Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

Other Useful Info:

Diana Wynne Jones' Website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up Sophie Hatter reads a great deal and soon realizes that as the eldest of three daughters she is doomed to an uninteresting future. She resigns herself to making a living as a hatter and helping her younger sisters prepare to make their fortunes. But adventure seeks her out in the shop where she sits alone, dreaming over her hats. The wicked Witch of the Waste, angered by "competition" in the area, turns her into a old woman, so she seeks refuge inside the strange moving castle of the wizard Howl. Howl, advertised by his apprentice as an eater of souls, lives a mad, frantic life trying to escape the curse the witch has placed on him, find the perfect girl of his dreams and end the contract he and his fire demon have entered. Sophie, against her best instincts and at first unaware of her own powers, falls in love. So goes this intricate, humorous and puzzling tale of fantasy and adventure which should both challenge and involve readers. Jones has created an engaging set of characters and found a new use for many of the appurtenances of fairy talesseven league boots and invisible cloaks, among others. At times, the action becomes so complex that readers may have to go back to see what actually happened, and at the end so many loose ends have to be tied up at once that it's dizzying. Yet Jones' inventiveness never fails, and her conclusion is infinitely satisfying.

Nintendo Power

2008-10-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Nintendo Power. Future US, Inc.

ISSN: 1041-9551

Price :$59.88 for 12 issues

Reader's Annotation: Everything Nintendo! Game tips, insider information, game previews and reviews.

Summary: Not many surprises in Nintendo Power...it's video games, video games, video games. Reviews and previews, tips and tricks, ads and commentary, and plenty of screen shots grace it's pages. There are some interviews with video game creators, and a small section at the end called "Community" that talks about folks who like to play video games. There isn't much content designed to make you think about things other than video games, but if you like video games, then you'll probably enjoy this magazine.

Genre: magazine, video games

Series : --

Evaluation: This is certainly not a magazine I'd ever pick up and read (no hairstyle tips) but then I'm not a video game fan. However, the writing is solid, if not challenging, and for kids who like video games, this would provide incentive to read. There are plenty of ads in this magazine, but then that is to be expected. Adults should be aware that the magazine doesn't limit itself to covering games of a particular rating, but it does seem like Nintendo is shooting for a tween audience.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Tweens like magazines, and many like video games. What could be a better fit than a magazine about video games?

Readalikes :

Electronic Gaming Monthly (for older tweens)
Tips and Tricks (for older tweens)

Other Useful Info:

Nintendo Power Website

Reviews:

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Chalice by Robin McKinley

2008-10-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

McKinley, R. (2008). Chalice (p. 272). Putnam Juvenile.

ISBN: 0399246762

$18.99 hardback

Reader's Annotation: An untrained Chalice and a barely human Master must work together to save their land from a determined Overlord who would rule in their place.

Summary: Mirasol has been made the Chalice of Willowlands, though her previous life has only prepared her for beekeeping and woodscraft. She is deeply connected her land, though, and determined to succeed, though she has no one to tell her how a Chalice's magic should work. To add to her troubles, Willowlands has been badly managed by the previous Master, who died when the previous Chalice died. The new master is an elemental priest, called back to humanity and Willowlands from the burning fires of his order. Though both the Master and Marisol are untrained and lack the confidence of their people, they strive to save Willowlands from being taken over by the Overlord, who would add to his own power by setting up a puppet Master in place of the rightful heir.

Genre: book, fairy tale, fantasy, identity, love story, magic,

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Another great story by Robin McKinley, Chalice is a slow-starter, and heavy on the history and politics of the world of Mirasol the beekeeper. This is a good choice for someone who can stick with a book with plenty of backstory.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Robin McKinley has written many fine books with strong girl characters and this is right up there with her classics. Her stories often advocate determined study to solve problems, and trial and error processes. Nobody has told Mirasol how to solve her problems, she has to try different things until she gets it right, and she has to trust her instinct. A good selection for fantasy readers. Also, like other McKinley classics, Chalice is full of animals helping the heroine. Bees and horses in this case.

Readalikes :

Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Other Useful Info:

Robin McKinley's Website

Reviews:

Kirkus Reviews

This may not be Innisfree, but Yeats would recognize the "bee-loud glade" within its pages. McKinley's latest depicts vividly a rural world rooted in the earth and its powers-forces that are regulated by the concerted efforts of an estate Master, his Chalice and their Circle of advisors. In this world, the role of the estate Chalice is to provide balance to the earthlines and to bind Master and Circle to serve the land. Mirasol, a beekeeper, has assumed this role on an estate that's been driven to the verge of destruction by its former Master and his weak Chalice-with a new Master who is no longer fully human. McKinley is a master of fantasy writing: Elegant prose and lyrical descriptions capture reader interest while an increasingly tense plot maintains it. Primary characters, especially Mirasol and the new Master, are limned with care. The narrative's climax and resolution are satisfying and not at all pat. This tale will go down with fans like a spoonful of honey while attracting new readers to McKinley's previous works. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

Guru Guru Pon-chan by Satomi Ikezawa

2008-09-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Ikezawa, S. (2005). Guru Guru Pon-Chan 1 (p. 192). Del Rey.

ISBN: 0345480953

$10.95 paperback

Reader's Annotation: After licking a magic bone, Ponta changes from a golden retriever to a human girl. She tries to fit in at school, and catch the eye of the boy she likes.

Summary: Ponta's owner is an inventor who hopes to give his dog the power of human speech. His magic bone works differently than he expected, however, and changes the golden retriever into a human girl. Ponta runs into Mirai Ikawaki, the most popular boy at school when she is changing from a dog to a human. He knows her secret, and is supposed to keep her out of trouble at school. Though Ponta wants to make Mirai and her family happy, she is better equipped to be a dog than to be a human. She must learn human ways if she wants to win Mirai's affections.

Genre: graphic novel, manga, magic, love story, series, dogs

Series : There are currently nine volumes in this series, each with the title Guru Gure Pon-chan.

Evaluation: In 2000, it won this series won the Kodansha Manga award for shojo. This is a classic example of shojo manga.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This is a shojo manga series about a dog that turns into human girl with a crush on a cute boy. What's not to love? This will be loved by all readers of shojo manga, a large percentage of which are tween girls.

Readalikes :

Fruits Basket
Kiki's Delivery Service

Other Useful Info:

Guru Guru Pon-chan

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up–Lovable dog Ponta has become human after swallowing a new invention, The Chit-Chat Bone. Transformed into an attractive young woman, she nevertheless continues to act like a dog, enthusiastically jumping on her friends and eating greedily from her lunchmates' bowls. Ponta's transformation is not permanent, though, and she constantly switches between her canine and human states. Melodrama kicks in as she agonizes over her human crush, Mirai, sadly realizing that love between dogs and humans can never be. Goofy asides and sound effects fill the frames, and characters' features and emotional reactions are comically exaggerated. This exuberant, untidy style reflects Ponta's giddy and confused mood swings, and readers will find it hard not to root for such an endearing heroine.–Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nancy Drew

2008-09-29T17:01:00.001-07:00

Fleming, A. (2008). Nancy Drew. DVD, Warner Home Video.
ASIN: B00005JPO4
$28.98

Viewer's Annotation: Classy teenage super-sleuth solves the mystery of the famous movie star who used to own her house.

Summary: Based on the well loved books by Carolyn Keene, the movie features Emma Roberts, the niece of Julia Roberts. Nancy and her father move from their idyllic hometown to Los Angeles. Though she has promised to give up her detective work, Nancy has found them a house all set with a mystery. A famous movie actress died there under mysterious circumstances. Nancy tries to get interested in "normal" teenage things, as her father requested, she can't resist the lure of the mystery. Nancy has a hard time making friends at first, but she does catch the idea of Corky, a young boy at her high school, who helps her solve the mystery. Nancy ultimately saves the day by staying true to her own identity and following the motto her father has suggested, "others first."

Genre: movie, friends, mystery, identity, family

Series : This movie is not part of a series.

Evaluation: A fun film that the whole family will enjoy, with plenty of action, and a good book tie in.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: The movie will appeal to all those who've read the Nancy Drew books. The story is updated and modern, which will keep tweens interested, but still timeless. A strong, smart and bold heroine will also be a crowd-pleaser.

Watchalikes :

Whale Rider
Flicka

Other Useful Info:

IMDB page for Nancy Drew
Trailer :

Reviews:

from CNN

(CNN) -- In the new Nancy Drew feature film -- her first since 1939 -- the youthful detective celebrates her birthday, but she's careful not to reveal her age.

There's a good reason for that. Though the amateur sleuth has been foiling ne'er-do-wells in more than 170 adventures published over the past 78 years, officially she's just 18. (Emma Roberts, who plays her in Andrew Fleming's film, turned 17 in February.)

According to her publishers, Nancy has sold more than 200 million books. Regular makeovers every 15 years or so -- which can extend to rewriting the old books -- have sustained her popularity with generations of young readers.

But the formula remains very much as it was conceived by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which has manufactured the series for all these years (author Carolyn Keene is as fictional as her heroine): Nancy searches for treasure or a missing heir and is warned off the case by a note or a phone call, but this only convinces her she must be on the right track.

Then, an inspired ability to decipher random clues and her eagerness to leave no secret passageway unexplored invariably point her toward the solution.

The film "Nancy Drew" -- which seems to have been pitched as an unlikely combination of "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Clueless" -- is more faithful to this model than it first appears. Fleming and co-writer Tiffany Paulsen has set the story firmly in 2007, but their Nancy Drew is an anachronism who dresses in tweedy skirts, preppy knits and penny-loafers, and whose prim sense of right and wrong (she drinks milk and knows CPR) quickly marks her as a social outcast when she moves from provincial Riverside Heights to a new school, Hollywood High.

This is the Nancy Drew fondly remembered from the good old days. She even drives her original sporty blue roadster (upgraded to a Mustang in the books many years ago). The in crowd is understandably incredulous ("OMG, I'm sitting next to Martha Stewart" texts one) but Nancy is much too independent to worry about what they think.

In any case, she has a mystery to solve.

The house she and dad (Tate Donovan) are renting in Los Angeles once belonged to the old-time movie star Julia Draycock ("old-time" being relative: she was discovered dead in her swimming pool 25 years ago, shortly after re-emerging from an unexplained absence). The manse comes with the requisite creepy caretaker and it's not long before Nancy is uncovering false walls and tunnels that demand further investigation.

Crisply put together but just passably amusing, the movie is innocuous, light, and -- obviously -- very, very slight. It's hard to pinpoint just who the audience might be. Tween girls? Middle-aged fans? Neither group will be completely satisfied.

However, fans worried that their heroine isn't getting the respect she deserves need not fret. It's true that Fleming pokes fun at her rather prissy probity -- refusing to exceed the speed limit during a car chase, for instance -- but Nancy emerges with her virtue intact, as she always has.

Emma Roberts, who has something of her aunt Julia's guilelessness, plays her as a good-hearted innocent. Even her dress sense gets a thumbs-up as Nancy unconsciously kicks off the next big thing: the "New Sincerity." (As if!)

It's hard to remember that in the early 1930s libraries banned these books as tawdry and sensationalist distractions from real literature. Intrepid, capable and practically perfect in every way, Ms. Drew is a role model you would be happy for your teenage daughter to emulate. Of course it's hard to imagine her feeling the same way, but maybe her kid sister might.

"Nancy Drew" is rated PG and runs 99 minutes.

Flicka

2008-09-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

(VI), M. M. (2007). Flicka. DVD, 20th Century Fox.
ASIN: B000LV63MW
$14.98

Viewer's Annotation: Rebellious Katy attempts to tame Flicka, a wild mustang, though her father has forbidden her from trying.

Summary:Based on Mary O'Hara's classic "My Friend Flicka," this movie version has an updated feel and a female lead character. Set on a modern working ranch in Wyoming, Katy has come home from her boarding school for the summer far more interested in horses and ranching than in studying. She catches Flicka, one of the few wild mustangs left in the mountains of Wyoming, and wants to train her, but her father forbids it. Mustangs could ruin their quarterhores business, and he's afraid for her safety. The ranch is losing money and can't afford another expense. This is the story of a family that learns to communicate with one another, to take risks, and to value the sometimes unexpected dreams they all have.

Genre: movie, family, siblings, adventure, coming of age, horses

Series : This movie is not part of a series.

Evaluation: Though you know how the story will end from the moment you insert the disc into the drive, it's still a good film. Beautiful scenery, lovely music, and plenty of heartwarming action will make this a great family film.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This movie has a familiar plot, but it's beautifully done. The heroine is spunky enough to appeal to tween viewers, and who doesn't love a good horse story. Parents will feel good about their tweens watching this film as there is little violence or sex. A crowd pleaser all around.

Watchalikes :

Black Beauty
Dreamer
Becuase of Winn Dixie

Other Useful Info:

IMDB page for Flicka

Reviews:
Review from Variety magazine

Fashion Kitty by Charise Mericle Harper

2008-09-22T11:56:00.001-07:00

Harper, C. M. (2005). Fashion Kitty (p. 96). Hyperion.

ISBN: 9780786851348

$8.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Kiki Kittie transforms from a regular fashionable kitty into a fashion superhero, who saves others from fashion disasters.

Summary: While blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, Kiki Kittie was hit by a shelf full of fashion magazines, just as she made her birthday wish. She was transformed into Fashion Kitty! Now, in disguise, she saves others from fashion disasters, and helps mean kids see the error of their ways.

Genre: graphic novel, fantasy, siblings

Series :

Fashion Kitty
Fashion Kitty versus the Fashion Queen
Fashion Kitty and the Unlikely Hero

Evaluation: A sweet and charming story with illustrations done mainly in pink and black and white, this book will be a hit with young tween girls.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This graphic novel isn't going to change anyone's world view, but it may draw in a 9 year old girl who has been reluctant to read. Fashion Kitty is fun, and fun books are good.

Readalikes :

Babymouse by Jennifer and Matthew Holm
Catwings by Ursula LeGuin

Other Useful Info:

Hyperion's Fashion Kitty webpage

Reviews:
"Harper brings her comedic sense and flat, droll cartoons together in a graphic novel for young girls...A marvelous girly-girl response to the Captain Underpants books—with none of the embarrassing potty humor" -Kirkus Reviews 8/1/05 STARRED REVIEW

War, Women and the News by Catherine Gourley

2008-09-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Gourly, C. (2007). War, Women and the News: How Female Journalists Won the Battle to Cover World War I. (p. 198). Athenum Books for Young Readers.

ISBN: 0689877528

$21.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: This book describes how women journalists became war reporters and photojournalists on the front lines of World War II.

Summary: This book ends with a discussion of Christiane Amanpour, who has covered news in war zones for CNN for more than 20 years. She is following in the footsteps of women like Margaret Bourke White and Therese Bonney who struggled to be allowed to cover the news during World War II. Before the war began, women who wrote for newspapers were called "newshens" and their work was confined to the women's pages of newspapers. They wrote mostly society gossip and housekeeping tips. As the war began, however, a handful of brave women became the first female journalists to write and photograph from the front lines of battle. This book tells their stories.

Genre: nonfiction, war, career, women's history

Series : This book is not part of a series.

Evaluation: This book did a good job of describing how several women broke into the field of journalism during World War II, though it was occasionally difficult to keep track of who was who, or where in the War the story was. I still think it would be a great addition to any history lesson on WWII.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: The combination of photos, story, and clips from newspapers helped to keep what sometimes felt like a rather long book flowing. As an adult, I found it interesting to understand some of the backstory on photos I'd seen hundreds of times, but I'm not sure that same thrill would exist for tweens, but maybe it would. Also a good illustration for tweens about a time in history when women really had to struggle to break into a field dominated by men.

Readalikes :

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman
The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White

Other Useful Info:

Publisher's website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 6–8—Gourley's passion is sharper than her focus in this introduction to more than a dozen writers and journalists who "refused to be left behind." After opening with a glimpse of photographer Dickey Chapelle, who convinced a reluctant colonel that the lack of women's "facilities" in a war zone would be a solvable issue, the author launches into a lengthy but incidental account of how the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression opened the door a crack for female field investigators and "sob sisters," some of whom, though dismissively transformed into "paper dolls" or "newshens," courageously followed the GIs overseas in pursuit of the story. Darting from Europe to the Pacific and back (with a stop to record Dorothea Lange's long-suppressed coverage of the displacement of Japanese Americans on the West Coast), Gourley provides an overview of major events, but only fragmentary looks at what her subjects actually experienced or wrote. There are also frequent disconnects between the narrative and accompanying pictures; some pictures are tantalizingly described but not reproduced, others are irrelevant or details of shots shown later in full, and a quote inset into a view of German soldiers marching through Warsaw specifically refers to other-than-Polish refugees. Capped by massive resource lists, this is a worthy work, but more loosely organized and less likely to intrigue readers than Penny Colman's Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II (Crown, 2002).—John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kiki's Delivery Service Film Comics by Hayao Miyazaki

2008-09-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Miyazaki, H. (2006). Kiki's Delivery Service Picture Book, Volume 1

(1st ed., p. 111). VIZ Media LLC.

ISBN: 1421505967

$9.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: As she approaches her 13th birthday, Kiki begins life as a witch on her own, running a delivery service from a small town.

Summary: When witches turn 13, they have to spend a year on their own, away from their families, to hone their craft. Kiki, and her cat Jiji, set off on a perfect night, to find their new lives. They find a lovely town to settle in, and a kind baker takes them in. Kiki is determined to earn her keep, and at the suggestion of the baker, begins her own delivery service.

Genre: graphic novel, adventure, coming of age, fantasy, series

Series : There are four books in this series, titled "Kiki's Delivery Service Picture Book, Volume 1-4."

Evaluation: This series is adapted from the movie that was made in conjunction with Disney, which was itself adapted from the Japanese version of this comic. An extremely sweet series, that would be a good even for younger tweens.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Kiki is sweet and clumsy and in search of adventure, and should be recognizable to most tween girls. Because these are a retelling of the movie version with the same name, they would be a good choice for reluctant readers. Additionally, as she grows into her powers, Kiki must develop a healthy self-esteem to be the best witch she can be.

Readalikes :

Babymouse by Jennifer Holm
Nausicaa by Hayao Miyazaki

Other Useful Info:

Movie website

Reviews:
from animeworld.com/reviews/
In a place like a Europe of the 50s, untouched by the ravages of war, where witches aren't bad (as a matter of fact, they're just like the rest of us, and everybody knows about them), Kiki is a young witch just coming into her own. Having reached the age of 13, she follows tradition and sets out into the world to make her way, accompanied only by her knowledge of magic, her trusty flying broom, and her familiar, a cat named Jiji. Kiki finds her way to a good sized town, and is taken in by a kindly baker. Soon, she sets up shop as a one-girl flying delivery service (think the pizza guy only cuter and with a flying broom). While making her rounds and living on her own in the big city, Kiki meets interesting folks of all types, and runs into a number of adventures and misadventures.

Houdini the Handcuff King by Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi

2008-09-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Lutes, J. (2008). Houdini: The Handcuff King (Reprint., p. 96). Hyperion Book CH.

ISBN: 0786839031

$16.99 hardcover

Viewer's Annotation: A glimpse into the life and stunts of Houdini, whom the authors suggest is the first guy to be famous for having a cool job.

Summary: The entire graphic novel tells the story of one stunt performed by Houdini. Along the way, the reader learns not only how Houdini performed the stunt, but also about how much work went into his fame. Over the course of his day, he has to generate his own hype, he relies on his wife for support (both emotional and in his stunt), he faces prejudice for his religion, and he has to perform a death-defying stunt. While this isn't a biography, it is a glimpse into the life of a well known showman.

Genre: graphic novel, nonfictin, adventure

Series : none

Evaluation: I expected more information from this graphic novel, overall, but I do think it would be a good starting point, to get readers interested in the life of Houdini. The illustrations and storytelling were very straightforward and approachable.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This very short story would be extremely approachable for tween readers, and I think they would be interested to learn how Houdini pulled this stunt off. It would be a good starting point for a middle school homework assignment. I think too that tweens will be interested in someone like Houdini, as a celebrity figure from a different age.

Readalikes :

The Arrival by Shaun Tan
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Following Houdini on the morning of his leap (while handcuffed) into the frigid Boston River, readers gain a remarkably complete picture of his world. They will meet his wife, Bess; his strong-arm man, Beatty; reporters desperate to get a quote; and crowds hungry for a glimpse of him. Most of all, they get to know Houdini himself, who, as an extensive introduction notes, was probably the most famous man in the world at the time. Proud and obsessed--with his skill, his fame, and his wife--Houdini was a showman of the highest order who knew he represented hope to his adoring American public. He also knew that he had an unprecedented talent for self-hype. Avoiding overt, showy tricks themselves, Lutes and Bertozzi^B use clean, simple storytelling and crisp, clear black-and-white art to create not only a portrait of the man but also that sense of suspense and anticipation Houdini generated in his performances. Endnotes linked to specific pictures offer background on everything from anti-Semitism (Houdini was Jewish) to handcuffs. A bibliography of mostly older adult titles is appended. Jesse Karp

High School Musical

2008-09-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ortega, K. (2006). High School Musical. DVD, Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Disney.

ASIN: B000F2BNW2

$26.99

Viewer's Annotation: Two unlikely stars try out for the school musical and upset the delicate balance of their high school's clique system.

Genre: identity, friends, movie, historical fiction, love story,

Series : Though there are no other movies in this series, Noel Streetfield did write many other "Shoes" books.

Hannah Montana
Suite Life

Other Useful Info:

Disney's High School Musical Webpage
Trailer for HSM 3

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

2008-09-08T14:12:00.001-07:00

Oppel, K. (2005). Airborn (p. 544). Eos.

ISBN : 00060531827

$17.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: Matt, a cabin boy on a luxury airship, helps a girl discover a new creature, battles pirates, and tries to save the home he loves.

Summary: Matt Cruse was born in the air. His love for life aloft has led him to a job as a cabin boy on the Aurora, a luxury airship. One night he is stationed in the crow's nest, and he spots a balloon drifting aimlessly. The Aurora goes the aid of the balloon, and Matt finds an elderly man, nearly dead, in the basket. Before he dies, the man asks Matt if he's seen them. He tells Matt that Kate would love them. Matt has no idea what the man means, until a year later, when Kate de Vries, a wealthy girl about his own age, comes aboard the ship. She is the man's granddaughter, and she has his journal. The man saw flying creatures, something like cats or bats, unlike anything ever seen before. Kate wants Matt's help tracking them down. And then, the Aurora is boarded by pirates and makes a crash landing on an island. That's when things really start to get interesting.

Genre: fiction, fantasy, action, adventure

Series :

Airborn
Skybreaker
Starclimber (to be published in 2009)

Evaluation: A fantastic adventure story, with well developed characters and plenty of action. This is one of my favorite reads of the semester, I couldn't put it down. Beautiful descriptions of life in the air. I want to fly on the Aurora.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Plenty of fantastical elements and lots of action, this book would appeal to tween readers, either boys or girls. There is something in this book for nearly every reader. I have heard the full cast audio is also fantastic. This was a Michael L. Printz honor book, the winner of the Governor General's award, and several others. It is being made into a movie, as well.

Readalikes :

Maximum Ride books by James Patterson
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 6–10—Once in a long while, an adventure story captures the mind and the heart of listeners/readers, creating a miniature world that makes a deep impression on them. Such is the case with Kenneth Oppel's Printz Honor Book (Eos, 2004) which weaves a magical tale of adventure, treachery, friendship, and courage. Taking place in a future where airships and blimps travel across the Atlanticus and the Pacificus Oceans, cabin boy Matt Cruse, on board the Aurora, battles pirates and prehistoric cloudcats, accompanied by spirited heiress Kate DeVries. A cast of 32 actors, including high school sophomore David Kelly (as the voice of Matt Cruse), delivers riveting narration and excellent vocal special effects (such as the ship's captain speaking through his radio). Full of fun, adventure, and heart, Airborn makes for a one-of-kind listening experience. Fans of period history, science fiction, and adventure will cheer Matt along. This ALSC 2007 Notable Recording and YALSA 2007 Selected Audiobook for Young Adults is a must for young adult collections.—Larry Cooperman, Seminole High School, Sanford, FL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

2008-09-08T13:41:00.001-07:00

Patterson, J. (2005). The Angel Experiment (p. 432). Little, Brown Young Readers.

ISBN : 031615556X

$16.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: A family of genetically altered bird-humans return to the lab that created them to rescue their youngest sibling, who has been recaptured.

Summary: Fourteen year old Max, short for Maximum Ride, tries to look out for her adopted siblings, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. They're an unusual family (if you couldn't tell by their names) or rather, flock -- they are 98% human, and 2% bird. The flying part is great, but the flock has some big problems. They escaped from "The School," the lab that created them and kept them in cages for testing for the first years of their lives. Now, the Erasers, genetically engineering werewolves, are after them. They capture Angel, the youngest. The others return to the School they've always dreaded to free her. They make new friends, and are betrayed by old friends. Then Max starts to hear a voice in her head, telling her she needs to do more than protect her flock....she needs to save the world.

Genre: fiction, sci-fi, siblings, fiction, adventure, action

Series : Maximum Ride Series

The Angel Experiment
School's Out -- Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
The Final Warning
Water Wings (to be published March 2009)

Evaluation: An exciting tale for anyone who's ever wished they could fly, I tore through this book in a matter of hours. The book is violent, with scientific experiments being conducted on children as if they were lab rats. I would give this book out with a warning, most likely.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: A fast paced action story that is hugely popular with tween readers, a tween collection would not be complete without it. There is a movie in the works, and Patterson is well known for both his books for young readers and his books for adults.

Readalikes :

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Eva by Peter Dickinson
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up–A group of genetically enhanced kids who can fly and have other unique talents are on the run from part-human, part-wolf predators called Erasers in this exciting SF thriller that's not wholly original but is still a compelling read. Max, 14, and her adopted family–Fang and Iggy, both 13, Nudge, 11, Gazzy, 8, and Angel, 6–were all created as experiments in a lab called the School. Jeb, a sympathetic scientist, helped them escape and, since then, they've been living on their own. The Erasers have orders to kill them so the world will never find out they exist. Max's old childhood friend, Ari, now an Eraser leader, tracks them down, kidnaps Angel, and transports her back to the School to live like a lab rat again. The youngsters are forced to use their special talents to rescue her as they attempt to learn about their pasts and their destinies. The novel ends with the promise that this journey will continue in the sequel. As with Patterson's adult mystery thrillers, in-depth characterization is secondary to the fast-moving plot. The narrative alternates between Max's first-person point-of-view and that of the others in the third person, but readers don't get to know Max very well. The only major flaw is that the children sound like adults most of the time. This novel is reminiscent of David Lubar's Hidden Talents (Tor, 1999) and Ann Halam's Dr. Franklin's Island (Random, 2002).–Sharon Rawlins, Piscataway Public Library, NJ

The Redheaded Princess by Ann Rinaldi

2008-09-05T13:39:00.001-07:00

Rinaldi, A. (2008). The Redheaded Princess: A Novel (p. 224). HarperCollins.

ISBN : 0060733748

$15.99 hardcover

Reader's Annotation: Elizabeth navigates the complex and dangerous courts of Tudor England, struggling to survive and longing to be the Queen of England.

Summary: As the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth has grown up in the midst of the drama of Tudor England. She longs to be the Queen, but doubts she will ever get her chance. She has been in and out of the line of succession for the throne, and in and out of favor with various reigning monarchs. She needs all of her wits, and advice from good friends to not only stay alive, but to have her chance to be the Queen of England.

Genre: historical fiction, royalty

Series :not part of a series

Evaluation: This is a great story, fairly historically accurate, as best I could tell, if occasionally vague in detail. The characters and tone of the story will keep a tween reader engaged. There were a few pages of description of the relationship between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour, where he was tickling or spanking her, that would make me a little nervous about handing this book to a young tween. I would probably mention it to a parent if they were with the tween.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Historical novels can help tweens wrap their heads around their history assignments, and the royalty element will definitely capture some readers interest.

Readalikes :

Beware, Princess Elizabeth : A Young Royals Book by Carolyn Meyer
Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:

Courtesy of Teens Read Too, March 18, 2008

In Rinaldi's spectacular new book for young adults, she's moved beyond American history to British, and the tale of a young redheaded girl who yearned to be queen.

Despised by her father and sister, shoved aside by the nation's leaders, and motherless, young Elizabeth I grows up at her country estate where she learns from a young age the dangers of crossing paths with monarchs. She realizes that even though her sister and her brother stand between her and the Crown, she will one day be queen.

THE REDHEADED PRINCESS is her sharp, fast-paced, and beautifully wrought story of how that came to be.

Wonderfully detailed and breathtakingly accurate, this is perhaps the most engaging book that tells of Elizabeth's plights and triumphs.

Boy's Life Magazine

2008-09-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

Boy's Life. Boy Scouts of America.

ISSN:0006-8608

Price :$24.00 for 12 issues (half off for members of the Boy Scout Association)

Reader's Annotation: Boys' Life is a magazine for boys age 8-14, particularly those boys interested in scouts.

Summary: Boys' Life has a variety of articles, including fiction stories, non-fiction features, advice columns, games, sports stories and stories about scouting and the outdoors. Though the magazine says it is for "all boys," really, their target audience are Boy Scouts. The featured readers are scouts, there are plenty of stories about earning badges, and the stories that aren't directly scouting related are still tangentially so. Still, that's a good audience, members of the Boy Scouts of America.

Genre: magazine, friends, family, identity, siblings, coming of age, career

Series : --

Evaluation: A great choice for those who are scouts or agree with the scouting philosophy. Others may find the ads and/or the (relatively small number of) Christian references unappealing. Still worth adding to a collection, for those who will appreciate it.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: While many older tweens may be moving beyond their scouting years, younger tweens are right in the thick of the pack, as it were, and will want to keep current on their BSA news.

Readalikes :

Sports Illustrated Kids
National Geographic Kids

Other Useful Info:

Boys' Life Website

Reviews:

--

Stormbreaker : the Graphic Novel by Anthony Horowitz and others

2008-08-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Horowitz, A. (2006). Stormbreaker: The Graphic Novel (Alex Rider) (p. 144). Philomel.

ISBN : 0399246339

$14.99 paperback

Reader's Annotation: Alex Rider attempts to avenge his murdered uncle by helping a British spy agency stop a terrorist from unleashing a deadly virus.

Summary: An adaptation of the book by the same title. Alex Rider knows something is suspicious about the car accident that killed his uncle, and only living relative. But he is surprised to discover his uncle, whom he always knew as a banker, is actually a spy for Britan's top spy agency, MI6. Even more surprising, the MI6 folks want Alex's help. He's given a bit of training, and sent in to finish the mission his uncle started. Darrius Sayle is an entrepreneur who has developed a new supercomputer, the Stormbreaker. He's offered to give one to every school in Britain, and a ceremony has been planned to commemorate the occasion, with the Prime Minister flicking the switch to activate all the computers at once. The MI6 officers think there is more to Sayle than generosity, and it's up to Alex to find out what the computer are really supposed to do.

Genre: adventure, series, action

Series : Two Alex Rider graphic novels have been published to date:

Stormbreaker
Point Blank

Evaluation: Having read this back to back with the novel, I was rather put out by the changes that were made to the story. With a bit of research, I decided the graphic novel was closer in plot to the movie version than the novel version of the story. I enjoyed the graphic novel more than the book, even with the changes.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Having another version of this popular story in a tween collection would be a good idea. Tweens who have read the book might pick up the graphic novel, and reluctant readers could be drawn to the novel via the graphic novel version.

Readalikes :

Hardy Boys graphic novels by Scott Lobdell
Redwall graphic novels by Brian Jacques

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:
From Booklist
An ode to rampant commercialism, this is not exactly based on Anthony Horowitz's thrill-a-second novel about 14-year-old Alex Rider, who discovers that his deceased uncle was a superspy and that Alex himself must face an evil businessman and his multitude of gruesome killers. No, this graphic novel springs from the screenplay for the recent movie, which is based on the novel--which, itself, is a clever compilation of James Bond movies. If it's possible, this is even more rapidly paced than the novel. Alex remains an appealing hero here, and the idea of a heroic teen up against insidious adults continues to be an extremely powerful draw for readers. The female art team casts the action in exciting manga style, and the digital colors produce an anime-like sense of depth and motion. Readers who already like Alex Rider will want this; even adventure lovers unfamiliar with the books will find it difficult to resist the hyperkinetic fun, although they may feel they have sold a bit of their souls to get it. Jesse Karp
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

2008-08-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Horowitz, A. (2004). Stormbreaker (p. 256). Puffin.

ISBN : 014240165X

$17.99 hardback

Reader's Annotation: Alex Rider attempts to avenge his murdered uncle by helping a British spy agency stop a terrorist from unleashing a deadly virus.

Summary: Alex Rider knows something is suspicious about the car accident that killed his uncle, and only living relative. But he is surprised to discover his uncle, whom he always knew as a banker, is actually a spy for Britan's top spy agency, MI6. Even more surprising, the MI6 folks want Alex's help. He's given a bit of training, and sent in to finish the mission his uncle started. Herod Sayle is an entrepreneur who has developed a new supercomputer, the Stormbreaker. He's offered to give one to every school in Britain, and a ceremony has been planned to commemorate the occasion, with the Prime Minister flicking the switch to activate all the computers at once. The MI6 officers think there is more to Sayle than generosity, and it's up to Alex to find out what the computer are really supposed to do.

Genre: adventure, series, action

Series : Seven Alex Rider novels have been published to date:

Stormbreaker
Point Blank
Skeleton Key
Eagle Strike
Scorpia
Arkangel
Snakehead

Evaluation: This was certainly a non-stop action sort of book. While it's not exactly my favorite sort of book, I would certainly have no trouble recommending it to readers in search of action adventure stories.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: This would be a great pick for a reluctant reader who craves action stories. There is no extraneous descriptions, the writing is tight and focused. Alex is a great hero, well trained and rarely complaining, smart and strong. Additionally, there are six more books to read after this one, plus graphic novel adapations and a movie tie in. With all the slick publicity surrounding these books, a tween collection without them would be unthinkable.

Readalikes :

Young James Bond books (Silverfin, etc) by Charlie Higson
Maxium Ride series by James Patterson
Among the Hidden series by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Other Useful Info:

Reviews:

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-Alex Rider's world is turned upside down when he discovers that his uncle and guardian has been murdered. The 14-year-old makes one discovery after another until he is sucked into his uncle's undercover world. The Special Operations Division of M16, his uncle's real employer, blackmails the teen into serving England. After two short weeks of training, Alex is equipped with several special toys like a Game Boy with unique cartridges that allow it to scan, fax, and emit smoke bombs. Alex's mission is to complete his uncle's last assignment, to discover the secret that Herod Sayle is hiding behind his generous donation of one of his supercomputers to every school in the country. When Alex enters Sayle's compound in Port Tallon, he discovers a strange world of secrets and villains including Mr. Grin, an ex-circus knife catcher, and Yassen Gregorovich, professional hit man. The novel provides bang after bang as Alex experiences and survives unbelievably dangerous episodes and eventually crashes through the roof of the Science Museum to save the day. Alex is a strong, smart hero. If readers consider luck the ruling factor in his universe, they will love this James Bond-style adventure. With short cliff-hanger chapters and its breathless pace, it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers. Warning: Suspend reality.

Lynn Bryant, formerly at Navarre High School, FL

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

2008-08-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Nix, G. (2003). The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 1: Mister Monday (p. 368). Scholastic Paperbacks.

ISBN : 0439551234

$16.45 school and library binding

Reader's Annotation: Arthur Penhaligon discovers a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Mister Monday wants his key back, and Arthur's adventure begins.

Summary: Arthur Penhaligon is an unlikely, asthmatic hero. He was destined to die, until a small key, shaped like the minute hand of a clock, saves his life. The key was delivered by a stranger, Mister Monday, from another dimension, along with a plague that threatens to destroy the world Arthur knows. He takes the key into a house that only he can see, in an attempt to save everything he knows. This key is only the first of seven, and Arthur's adventures have only just begun.

Genre: fantasy

Series : First of seven books in the "Keys to the Kingdom" series.

Mister Monday
Grim Tuesday
Drowned Wednesday
Sir Thursday
Lady Friday
Superior Saturday
Lord Sunday (not yet released)

Evaluation: I had been meaning to read this one for a while, given how popular they are with older readers in the Kids Room at my library. The cover art and clever titles have also appealed to me. I found the story very compelling at the start, I had a hard time tearing myself away from the book. As it went on though, my interest waned a little, and I found myself ready to get to the end. I'd read Tuesday, though, for certain.

Why it belongs in a Tween Collection: Readers finished with Harry Potter and looking for their next fantasy series would enjoy these books. The world is fully realized, the characters are approachable (boys and girls are friends, so far no romance) and while the violence is fairly tame, the overall timbre of the book is slightly dark, which makes it feel unlike a children's story. The plot and vocabulary are rich and varied, but not prohibitive. Additionally, the hero is asthmatic, which is an unusual character trait, and could possibly be inspiring to a reader with the same condition.

Readalikes :

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer (for younger tweens)
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
The Wrinkle in Time books by Madeline L'Engle
The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

Other Useful Info:

Wikipedia entry for Keys to the Kingdom series (good for sorting out who ruled what house, what their deadly sin was, etc.)
Scholastic's Keys to the Kingdom website
Author's website

Reviews:
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Arthur Penhaligon's school year is not off to a good start. On his first day, he suffers an asthma attack while running cross country and dreams that a mysterious figure hands him a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. However, when he wakes up, he still has the key. That's when strange things begin to happen. Mister Monday dispatches terrifying, dog-faced Fetchers to retrieve it, a bizarre sleeping illness sweeps the city, and only Arthur can see the weird new house that appears in his neighborhood. The seventh grader knows it all has something to do with the key, one of seven elusive fragments of the Will to which he has become heir apparent, and a mysterious atlas. When he ventures inside the house, he meets more strange characters than he could have imagined, none of whom are what they seem. And, of course, he must battle Monday, who will do anything to get the key back. With the help of the key, Arthur must fight his way out. The first in a seven part series for middle graders is every bit as exciting and suspenseful as the author's previous young adult novels. Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequels.
Ginny Collier, Dekalb County Public Library, Chamblee, GA