Ballet Shoes

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:

• IMDB page for Ballet Shoes
• Information about Noel Streatfield
• Trailer:
  
  
  

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

Discovery Girls

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

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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Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

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

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.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot

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:

• Meg Cabot's Website
• Allie Finkle's website
  

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.

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka

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:

• Jon Scieszka's Website
• Guys Read Website
  

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

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.

Flicka

(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

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

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

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

1. The Angel Experiment
2. School's Out -- Forever
3. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
4. The Final Warning
5. 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:

• Maximum Ride Website
• James Patterson's Website
• IMDB Movie Page
  

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

Boy's Life Magazine

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:

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