THREE TIMES LUCKY

Book: Three Times Lucky

Author: Sheila Turnage

Publisher: Dial

Pages: 256

Grade Level: 5^th Grade and up

Rating: 4 Stars

Mo LeBeau is a plucky Southern girl living in a small town in North Carolina where everyone knows everyone’s business. Mo was found on a stormy night and while she constantly searches for her birth mother, a new mystery sweeps the town and Mo and her best friend Dale are on the case to bring justice where it is due.

This book has a pretty slow beginning but suddenly becomes a true page turner. The protagonist is a fun, quirky girl who is fun to follow, and her drive to solve the mystery of the town is an extremely productive way for her to spend her summer vacation. All of the supporting characters truly bring this Southern town to life. For older children looking for a great mystery- part adventure story, this book is highly recommended. 

LIAR AND SPY

Book: Liar and Spy

Author: Rebecca Stead

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

Pages: 192

Grade Level: 5^th Grade and up

Rating: 5 Stars

Life isn’t easy for Georges. His name lends itself to unpleasant nicknames (like “Gorgeous”) , his father just lost his job so his mother is forced to work extra shifts as a nurse and he must move from his home to a smaller apartment in Brooklyn. While making friends was never easy for Georges, he befriends a boy in his new building, Safer, who is an excellent spy and has a “mission” to find out what another neighbor, Mr. X, is mysteriously up to. He recruits Georges as an assistant, and Georges begins a wild ride of deceit, secrets and truths that may ruin their new found friendship forever.

This book is written so well that you become so engrossed in the mystery that you can’t put it down until you are finished. Stead is the master of quirky writing, and even though you are never sure what will happen next, everything comes together perfectly in the end, with a twist I am sure you didn’t see coming! It is an excellent book choice for reluctant readers and definitely a “boy book”, though I am sure many girls will enjoy it as well!

DRAMA

Book: Drama

Author: Raina Telgemeier

Publisher: Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic

Pages: 233

Grade Level: 4th Grade and up

Rating: 5 Stars

Drama is the story of 7^th grader Callie who loves theater and is part of the set design crew for her school play along with her best friends. However, her dreams for the stage are big and the budget is small and drama is surrounding her both on stage on and off! When two cute brothers join the scene, things start to get even crazier for Callie, but she knows how to keep it all together and make a true show-stopper!

Drama, which focuses on Middle School Theater in graphic novel form, is the book version of the television show Glee. Some characters can really sing, others are more artistic, some have personal secrets, some flaunt their talent more than others and all of them are aware that no matter what happens on opening night, the show must go on! The book is such a fun read and the pictures make you fly through each “act”. The novel tackles the most important issues of Middle School: hobbies, crushes and friendship. The graphic novel is perfect for any child or young adult who loves the stage!

Note about the author: This is Raina Telgemeier’s second graphic novel. Her first, SMILE, is based on her traumatic dentistry adventures when she was young. I highly recommend that book as well!

Caddy's World

Book: Caddy’s World

Author: Hilary McKay

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pages: 272

Grade Level: 4th Grade and up

Rating: 4 Stars

In the sixth book in the Casson Family series, Caddy is twelve years old and life is bringing her a lot of changes. Her friends are growing up and going in different directions, her mother is pregnant and her father now runs the household. When her mother delivers the baby prematurely, Caddy is ready with a helping hand to everyone around her. After all, she is “Caddy the Brave” and can calm anyone in any situation and everyone seems to be going through a chaotic time!

Don’t judge this book by its cover, it is definitely unappealing to any upper elementary school student, and the story is so well written with complex, real characters that it will easily sit on a shelf just because of the look of the book. Caddy’s story is so real on so many levels. She doesn’t worry about having fancy clothes or accessories (she can’t afford them), and she values her friendships and her family relationships more than anything else. The book is about a girl who is poor monetarily but rich in everything else, and it is important to have books like this in today’s society, when so many books for tween girls harp on the “right” clothes and bullying other children.

Being Friends With Boys

Book: Being Friends With Boys

Author: Terra Elan McVoy

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 368

Grade Level: 8th and up

Rating: 4 Stars

As the title suggests, this book is about a teenage girl, Charlotte, who has a lot more guy friends than she does girls. It does not really bother her, especially since she has two step-sisters at home and Charlotte prefers the least amount of drama in her life as possible. She keeps herself busy by being the manager of her best friend’s band but suddenly there are new members of the band (all boys of course) and one man out of the band which causes more boy drama than Charlotte could even imagine!

It is so rare to find a book for young adults that has no foul language or talk about sex or sexually active teenagers and this book proves you can have an extremely fast-paced, fun, drama filled novel without any of those elements. The characters are so well developed and you truly feel like you have joined this group of friends and you are sitting on the couch watching the band practice. This book is a great read for any girl who has experienced the drama that can come from being “just friends” with boys.

BOY + BOT

Book: Boy + Bot

Author: Ame Dyckman

Illustrator: Dan Yaccarino

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Pages: 26

Grade Level: Preschool and up
Rating: 5 Stars

Boy + Bot is the story of a friendship between a little boy and a robot. When the robot accidentally gets shut off, the boy thinks the robot is sick and tries to make him better. When the boy is sleeping, the robot thinks the boy is broken and tries to “fix” him. This is an adorable book about camaraderie for the techno-savvy children of the 21^st century.

This is such an excellent picture book for children of all ages! The message of true friendship is always important, but the way the boy and the robot try to make each other better is absolutely adorable! The boy uses techniques that a toddler will recognize as a way they are taken care of when they are sick (being fed applesauce, being read a story and being tucked into bed), while the robot’s methods for helping the boy will appeal to any child with battery operated toys (reading the boy an instruction manual, bringing him a spare battery, etc). The vibrant pictures truly bring the text to life and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who values friendship.