Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms: Magic, Mystery & avery Strange Adventures by Lissa Evans

Stuart Horten is not happy to move back to his father's home town. He had to leave his friends and a cool house to go to a small home with 3 noisy girls next door who like to write bad things about them in their "newspaper." But once he learns about the mysterious disappearance of his great uncle Tony, life gets more interesting. Turns out his dull father was left a clue to solve what really happened to Uncle Tony but didn't bother to do it. So Stuart sets off on the cold trail that leads to places where he will only get in trouble if he goes. On his quest, he doesn't know who he can trust, but he has to do something before they tear down Tony's abandoned house which might have the final clue to lead to the surprising ending. When he realizes that he is being followed, life gets more dangerous with every clue. If he does find the truth, will any of adults believe him? If you love a good mystery that is not easy to know where it is going, this book is for you.  

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Have your parents ever told you that you have a bad attitude, are mean, and say awful things? Then you may understand Meggy. Do you ever feel the world is out to get you? Then you do understand Meggy. Born to a mother who didn't really want her, she is sent to a father who she has never met after the one person who really loved her dies. There her life doesn't get much better. She has to make her own way and not expect much from him, but you will be shocked by how unloving his last behavior is toward her. Even with his attitude, she still doesn't know what to do when she learns of a plot he is involved with that could get him hanged. What she does will bring a surprising ending to those from whom she found kindness in this medieval world. If you don't know what alchemy is, don't look it up before you read this book. Why ruin the same surprise that Meggy had when she learned what her father was really up to.

The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi

Does every stand have to cost you dearly? Susan's life has been turned upside down by the Civil War. She is a daughter of the South and wants to help any way she can. So she gets involved in finding a way to give the South its own balloon even if she has to leave her comfort zone. But the war's effect on her life is not as big as the secrets her family has. Once those secrets are learned, how can she be the same? Choices you make once you find the truth don't always affect only you. One choice will be deadly. If you think your family may be strange, you have not read about this one. Modern soap operas have nothing on some Southern families before the Civil War and once war comes the drama only gets harder on those involved. Which side would you have been on if you were in Susan's shoes? Are you sure of that answer? You have to read to find out that those in history had reasons to do stuff we condemn today.

Lincoln's Flying Spries: Thaddeus Lowe and the Civil War Balloon Corps by Gail Jarrow

Before airplanes and satellites, armies still needed to know what each other were doing or even if they left under the cover of darkness. 150 years ago, balloons were the new high tech and brave (or stupid depending on your definition of those words) men rode high to do the spying. Thaddeus Lowe was the most famous and daring - he wanted to prove that he could take a balloon across the Atlantic Ocean but war broke out, so he volunteered to help the Union cause. How much trouble could a man in a balloon could get into? Being shot out of the air or being captured was a possibility any time you went up, but something else stopped them cold. Was it the technology that was lacking or was it humans' lack of vision?   When did the first aircraft carrier really exist? What were those "Quaker Guns" the balloons helped to find? (FYI - Quakers don't believe in war, so what is with those guns???) When did the first balloon trip happen across the Atlantic? Did those Confederates get their own balloon? How did Custer get involved with all of this? If you want the answers, keep reading this book.  If you have missed pictures in those books you have to read for school, you will enjoy the ones here.  They are really from the era so don't ask me why they are in black and white.

Constable and Toop by Garerh P. Jones

I promised the author if I liked his book I would put it on my book blog. (Yes, I met him in person and have a signed copy for the junior high to prove it.) If you enjoy humorous ghost tales with lots of "interesting" characters, action that jumps between tales that meet with a bang at the end, and lots of surprises between, you will love it also. Sam sees ghosts and can talk to them, but he doesn't want the gift because when you live with your father above his undertaking business you see too many ghosts. When a mysterious man shows up late one night, even Sam's strange life takes a twist. Lapsewood is just a ghost working his afterlife in the Ghost Bureau and it is just as boring as his human life. But when he is assigned to the housing department and sent back to Earth to find a missing outreach worker, his life isn't boring anymore. If he is not careful, he will end up in "the vault", a place whose name alone will scare even a ghost. Throw in teenage Claire who likes her haunted house and a reverend who is setting up a horrible plague for both ghosts and humans with every exorcism he does, not everyone will survive to see the last page.  How do ghost dogs and rogue ghosts fit in? You will have to read to find out. 

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede

I have not let myself read a whole series in almost 20 years, but I had to read the sequel to The Thirteenth Child.  The reason the sequel made this blog is you don't have to read it to understand the story (but you will want to anyway after you read this book). Eff has always had trouble controlling her magic. She has lived in the shadow of her twin brother and liked it that way. But now she has to figure out what she will do with her life as she graduates school. With others starting to believe she could be a powerful magician, she just wants to be left alone. But a trip across the great magical barrier brings her to a land where regular animals can kill you if the magic ones don't get you first.  If you don't understand the rules, you can get killed even if you are on the "safe" side. Her twin, Lan, has never been one who respects the rules and learns that with magic, not doing so will get someone killed quickly. But it will take both of them to help the settlers when a new magical animal shows up and there is evidence it has been in the area before with terrible consequences. If you like history and fantasy, just imagine what our country's history would be like if there was really magic in the world. Beware, you may have to read the last in series The Far West just like I did. I have too many authors to read to keep reading books by authors I have read but this series made me read it. Will it make you?

The Giant and How He Humbugged America by Jim Murphy

How you ever wondered how those who took other people's money by hook or crook did it? How did the crooks get those ideas and how did those who were tricked not know what was up? Is "too good to be true" really a clue or does something in ourselves make us suckers for these type of activities?  To learn how one of the biggest hoaxes in the late 1800s was pulled, we get a host of shady characters that you would not think were that smart, a mix of different kinds of beliefs that clash, and an example of the fact that when money is involved nothing is impossible. Even the famous P.T. Barnum gets involved. Learn how this hoax changed the way scientists and other academics did research and deemed things real.  For those of you who think we have all gotten too smart to fall for this, would you believe a very famous organization who has a television channel got fooled in the last 20 years?  You can even visit a copy of Cardiff Giant in Farmington Hills, MI. Just read the book to find out how.

How to use this blog to find a great book

Four years have passed since I started this and the list of books are getting longer. Please use the headings to the left to help you find the book you will love. Some of the best were put on at the beginning. While this has users all over the world, it is aimed at students in a small junior high that I miss. I started this because I was there only half time and for the last 2 years, not at all. No money is in the budget next year, so I am still working with the younger brothers and sisters, but not my favorite students. I need those students help now. I miss hearing about the books you love and I might. While I pull books to read in the summer from junior high collection, I am missing some that I might need to add for my readers all over the world. Can you let me know any books I am missing, so I can read them next summer (I refuse to take books away  during the school year from my students). You will find my email address on the school's website. I look forward to hearing your suggestions for this book blog. Hopefully, money will be found so I can join you again.

Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes

Some boring summer!! Just when Ben and Rachel think the summer would be boring, they find a secret in the backyard. What they find sends all into an international mystery years in the making. How does a British government clean-up car, the Cold War,  Chernobyl, and a missing uncle help solve a 50 year old mystery? Can they really trust that helpful librarian? (Can you ever trust a helpful librarian??) The biggest question could be how do teens from the 1950s learn to be like teens today when everything you do was not allowed during that time? Will help arrive in time or will Ben and Rachel's new friends not make it to get to the bottom of what really happened to their father? For those of you who love a great mystery wrapped in one of the wildest sci-fi inventions, you will not want to put this down.

The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer

Have you ever wondered if life is out to get you?  Junior high schooler Duncan has that feeling every day. His single mom tries to help, but will life get any better or will it just get stranger? Duncan does have one gift and when the rich kid Carl learns of it, he has a plan - using that gift to win the national Scrabble tournament. Will winning really change Duncan's life? To do that he has to get past 2 other teams that have their own reasons to win. April Blunt needs this win to prove to her family that she really does belong to her sport jock family. Nate Savano just wants to get his father off his back and be allowed to go back to school. Does all of them becoming friends interfere with winning or does it end up keeping them alive when some adult takes the "winning-at-all-costs" idea a little to far? Who knew that Scrabble could be dangerous to your life? Who wins in both life and game? You will never play Scrabble the same way again once you read this.

Crunch by Leslie Conner

What would happen if our country really does run out of gas? How would you get around? What about getting food? Going to work or school? While others worry about these things, Dewey has bigger problems. Even though he is only 14, he told his dad that he would take care of the bike shop his family runs on the side. His parents went up north for their anniversary in his father's semi as he makes a run. The crunch stops their plans and strands them.  Could you as teenager find a way to help everyone who now needs bikes? Dewey does have help but the overwhelming need keeps growing. As the days pass, his older sister and younger twin siblings find what others will do to each other when society starts to come apart. But the worst happens when his dad is attacked far from home. All he wants is to see his parents again, but can that happen when there is no gas left in the United States? When things look the worst, some will rise to help, some will sink to hurt. What would you do? Let's hope you never have to find out, but until you do, enjoy this story about what we hope is not our future.

Blizzard! by Jim Murphy

125 years ago this day, many people in New York city found themselves fighting to stay alive.

Without the modern weather forecasting we have today, no one saw it coming. Even other places in the Northeast were hit even harder.  Hurricane Sandy hit the coast with wind and water, but this blizzard was just as powerful and it lasted 3 days. Who will survive, the young woman trying to make to the city on the trian that use coal stoves to heat the cars, the lawyer who decides to walk the long blocks or the factory workers trying to get home? What about the animals? Horses pulled everything and how can they survive being outside in this storm? Life and death struggles that  we think could not happen today, but please read and learn from their mistakes. Mistakes in a blizzard could cost you. If you like the Weather Channel, you will love this.

Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voight

Sometimes when an author hasn't published a YA book in a while, they are forgotten. Cynthia Voight should not be one of them. Izzy, Willy-Nilly is just one of her books that still relates to today's problems. Do you really know who your friends are? Will they be there when the chips are down or will they walk away? Izzy had it all, great family, popular friends, even on the cheer team. But all it takes to upset her life is trusting the wrong person. Izzy has to put her life back together again and she really needs support. It comes from someone who she thought she didn't even know, but sometimes it takes someone who knows how to be a real friend when you need one. Look around your school and find the people who are overlooked by the in crowd. You may find true friends there. Even with her new friends, can Izzy stand up to the person who took her old life away?

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

Elizabeth's life takes a turn for the better when she helps a homeless woman and her teacher takes notice. He helps her get a job at the most unusual library -New York Circulating Material Repository. (I think I might have gone to library school with a few of the librarians) There is where she starts to find some real friends and gets pulled into solving who is taking some of the most interesting items which are kept in the basement in Grimm Collection.  Who can be trusted and who can't? When Elizabeth leaves her sense of direction as collateral for one of the items from the Grimm Collection so she could borrow it and the item can't be returned as she got it, she has to find the answer to the mystery.   (After you read about a few items in the Grimm Collection, you may be tempted to leave your first born just to get your hands on them.)  Is that a real bird that keeps showing up or is it magic? Is it really a good idea to run out of a library when you are only 6 inches tall? Could some of the patrons be the key? How does her and others interesting magic sense help?  Is her stepmother somehow involved? Can a girl whose life is so similar to Cinderella's really save herself from ending up in a new Grimm Fairy Tale? Please let me know which special collection in the basement you would love to get into. I might get back to you about which one is my favorite.

Blizzard of Glass; The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally Walker

If you look at the date on this post, it was on the 95th anniversary of the largest man-made explosion until the atom bomb was dropped 28 years later! How could something like  this happen? Take humans who knew better than anyone else, add nature's weather and harbor setup, and  maybe bad luck that set this tragic story in motion.  What happened to the sailors, parents, children, and workers that were in the way of the blast wave is not for the faint of heart. Just pick one of the kids on their way to school and see at the end if they lived though the day.  Can a school stand up to an explosion? How about a church? Did the fire kill your kid or did the kid even make it that far in the day? Remember that all the normal emergency help we take for granted today was not around in 1917. Even when help was sent from as far away as Boston, nature decided to take another shot at the survivors. This is not in your school history books, but maybe it should be. War doesn't just kill those on the front lines.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Normally, I don't include books that are picked up without my help, but since the movie was not that great, you might miss a great read. For those of you who thought the movie was great, you got to read the book to see why most of my students didn't. Percy doesn't fit in at school or home. His step dad is awful and his mom has sent him to boarding schools, but loves him enough to keep him safe any way she can. He doesn't understand until events send him to Camp Half-Blood, where he learns who his real dad really is and why this fact has been a problem his whole life. This news is only a start of  the adventures that will either kill him or worst end civilization. I have to admit, I missed at least one mythical monster coming. Will you? If you love Greek Myths or a fast paced adventure, you will not be able to put this down. I wonder if deep down Percy would want to trade places with a regular, normal middle schooler (as if there are any of those). Would you really want to trade places with him? Read this book before you answer that question.

Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer

I know many of you have meat the MEAN Girls at your school, but wait until you met the ones in Salem. Was it the environment that made them that way? Or did some adults with an ax to grind use the girls to get even with those who had done them wrong? Even not being in Salem was not a way to be safe once this soap opera started. 20 people died, but many more died quicker than they would if the girls would have not started this. Were there any real witches there at all? If you enjoy a little horror for your Halloween or any time, just read this short little book. I just hope the History Channel doesn't make this true story into a show. Other shows you might have seen are tame compared to the ones you will imagine once you read this.

The Chocoale War by Robert Cormier

Did you know there is a Banned Book Week each year? To celebrate the 30th year, I wanted to let you in on one of my favorites. Jerry is starting high school with the attitude of "Do I dare disturb the universe?" He just wants to find his way after his mom's death.  Problems start when he is targeted as a new recruit for Vigils, the "gang" that tries to run this all boy school. When the assistant head master tells its leader Archie to get all of the fundraiser chocolate sold, Jerry gets his task for initiation to be in the Vigils-- don't sell any chocolate! What starts as a way to make a freshman look bad leads to a rebellion and could end Jerry's life. What Jerry's friend has to do should never, never, never (do you hear me) never be done to any of your teachers!  You will send your teacher over the edge. My teenage brother pushed this book into my stomach after finishing it 3 weeks early. My mom was shocked as was I.  But he was right with this book; it makes you want to see if Jerry can disturb the universe and live. For more information about Banned Book Week: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek

Bird by Rita Murphy

Can a house be evil or just the person who desires it above all? If Miranda doesn't find the right answer, she might never escape. Or does she really want to escape the only real home she has ever had. Everyone in the small town stays away and when she does go to town, she hears the whispers of a curse that destroyed all who lived there. She also wonders why her real family never came to find her whereabouts when she was young and just blew to the house. Yes, blew in and that is why she is forced to wear those heavy shoes by the widow Wysteria Barrows, the owner of Bourne Manor. Can she really fly away just like the kites she found hidden in a secret room? Why must all the doors be locked every night? Is the widow trying to lock Miranda in or is she trying to keep something awful locked out? If you can follow the many twists and turns, you will learn the answers hidden just under the surface? How many clues did you miss?

Three years come Saturday.

For the last the last 3 years I have been working on this book blog so students can find the book they search for - the one that they just have to tell their friends about. It is not to the largest book blog, because those are hard to use. Since I am still not back at the junior high library where I worked for 9 years, I hope my students will keep using this to find books they want. I took out the reward labels except the Newbery because it is only us adults that care about those. I hope that the labels on the side help the users find the type of books they want to read. While others try to grow students book choices, I am just happy to find books that they want to read. That is the only type of book that are read by today's students because they have so much else to do.