The Mozart Question, by Michael Morpurgo

Title:  The Mozart Question
Author:  Michael Morpurgo
Publisher:  Candlewick
Year:  2008
Pages:  80
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes: The Holocaust, Music
Age Range:  3rd Grade and Up

Summary:  from Goodreads
Like any young boy, Paolo becomes obsessed with what he can’t have — in his case, a violin. Hidden away in his parents’ room, it beckons the boy to release the music inside it. The music leads Paolo to a family secret, a story of World War II that changed the course of his parents’ lives. But once the truth is told, the family is reunited in a way no one had thought possible. 

Review:  
This slim little book-something between a novella and a picture book-is beautifully written.  The story is very moving, and evoked strong emotion in me when I read it.  I related to Paolo pretty strongly.  As a musician myself, I know what it is like to have music inside of you and want to get it out into the world.  And his relationship with his violin teacher resonated with me as well.  When I was a child there were a couple of older people who taught me various skills, and wisdom.  Neither one was related to me, but I remember how valued and comfortable I felt with them.  

Writing about the Holocaust for children is a task that more than a few authors have taken on over the years, with varying degrees of success.  I remember reading When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit as a child, and  being so sad and heartbroken and scared at how Jews and other minorities were treated in the concentration camps.   I also remember watching documentaries and made-for-tv movies about the Holocaust with my parents, and being oddly fascinated with the ways that the Nazi's came up with to torture and murder people.  I especially remember a movie called "Playing for Time", with Vanessa Redgrave, which was actually a very similar story to the story in this book.  What is slightly different about The Mozart Question is that it is told with a certain distance, since the children first see Paolo as an old man.  And Paolo was not the victim of the Nazi's, at least not directly; it was his parents who had witnessed the horrors of the camps.  Morpurgo does an excellent job walking the line between realistic descriptions and "scary" when he talks about the camps.  It is clear that many people died, but there are few specific details that could frighten a younger reader.

If you are teaching about the Holocaust, chances are pretty good that you have older students.  The reading level on this is a little low for middle schoolers learning about WWII for the first time.  But, if you are doing a literature unit based on the Holocaust, and you are doing guided reading, then this book would be good to use with those lower readers who may not be able to read Number the Stars or The Devil's Arithmetic or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or The Book Thief.  If you are an upper elementary teacher, then this book would be a great addition to your classroom library-as long as you were willing and able to answer the questions that may come up when some 9 or 10 year old gets their hands on their first look at one of the most terrible chapters in world history. 

Teacher Resources:
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust Reading Guide
London Philharmonic Orchestra Teacher Resources

All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing Hahn

Title:  All the Lovely Bad Ones
Author:  Mary Downing Hahn
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Year:  2008
Pages:  192
Genre:  Ghost Story, Fantasy
Themes:  Redemption
Age Range:  4th-7th Grade


Summary:  from Goodreads

Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick—so when they learn that their grandmother’s sleepy Vermont inn has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little "haunting" of their own. Scaring the guests proves to be great fun, and before long, the inn is filled with tourists and ghost hunters eager for a glimpse of the supernatural.But Travis and Corey soon find out that they aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Restless, spiteful spirits swarm the inn, while a dark and terrifying presence stalks the halls and the old oak grove on the inn’s grounds. To lay the ghosts to rest, Travis and Corey must first discover the dark history of Fox Hill and the horrors visited on its inhabitants years earlier.

Review:
Mary Downing Hahn knows how to write a ghost story.  This book is a good, old-fashioned scare-fest, at least for the middle grade set.   It's got everything-cold spots, lights that turn on and off by themselves, mysterious flying objects, all taking place in an old house in Vermont.  The fact that Travis and Corey also learn a valuable lesson about the way they treat people is icing.  And make no mistake-this story is scary.  Too scary for immature readers who are still figuring out the difference between reality and fantasy.  If a child still believes in Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, then this book is not for them.  But for slightly older readers who like to be scared, this book is a good choice.

Obi, Gerbil On the Loose, by Michael Delaney

Title:  Obi, Gerbil on the Loose
Author:  Michael Delaney
Publisher:  Dutton Juvenile
Year:  2008
Pages:  197
Genre:  Animal Fantasy
Themes:  Pets, Self-Confidence, Adventure
Age Range:  3rd-5th Grade


Summary:  from Goodreads

Obi the Gerbil is home alone! Obi's owner is on vacation, and the neighbor feeding the pets has forgotten all about the gerbil tucked away in her cage. Obi loves her cozy home, but without food and water she must escape to survive. So, taking on the courage of her namesake (Star Wars Jedi knight Obi-Wan), she breaks out and meets her fellow pets?cats up to no good, a maniacal tarantula, an insecure snake, a grumpy mouse, and a crotchety dog. Obi finds danger, but also makes new friends as she embarks on her great adventure

Review:
Obi the Gerbil is a very inspiring character for younger readers.  Even though she is afraid of almost everything in the wake of her being left behind, she overcomes her fear and is able to survive despite being left with no food and water.  Sounds like an awful lot of upper elementary students, as they begin to make the transition from being completely dependent on their parents to being more independent.  Obi's adventures are funny, and there is a lot of action, from cat chases to exploring the attic to traversing secret tunnels.  This would be a good book to use to talk about perspective and point-of-view.  Students could use Obi's example to imagine themselves as small as a mouse, and write a narrative from that perspective.  It is also a pretty good text to use for teaching voice in writing.  Obi may only be a gerbil, but she has a very strong personality that comes across beautifully in Delaney's writing.  My inner nerd also appreciated that she was named for a jedi, but maybe that's just me!  A great addition to a classroom library.

Dying to Meet You: 43 Old Cemetery Road #1

Title:  Dying to Meet You:  43 Old Cemetery Road #1

Author:  Kate Klise
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Year:  2009
Pages:  155
Genre:  Fantasy, Ghost Story
Themes:  Family, Friendship
Age Range:  2nd-4th Grade


Summary:  from Goodreads

The best-selling author Ignatius B. Grumply moves into the Victorian mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road, hoping to find some peace and quiet so that he can crack a wicked case of writer's block. 
But 43 Old Cemetery Road is already occupied--by an eleven-year-old boy named Seymour, his cat, Shadow, and an irritable ghost named Olive. 
And they have no intention of sharing!

Review:
As ghost stories go, this one is not exactly going to make anyone check under their bed or in their closet before turning off the lights at night.  Olive is really a very nice ghost, in a sort of Mary Poppins/Nanny McPhee sort of way.  She is proper and smart and caring of Seymour in a serious, no-nonsense sort of way.  There is nothing here that could actually scare a younger reader-but unfortunately I'm not sure there's much here to attract them, either.

The problem as I see it is two-fold.  First, the story unfolds very quickly, with very little exposition about the characters or the motivations for their actions.  Each character felt flat to me-the grumpy writer, the abandoned boy, and the irritated ghost-and when they changed it happened in a snap, with very little actual development.  The other problem, which I see as more troublesome, is that while the book is obviously supposed to appeal to younger readers, the plays-on words and wink-wink-nudge-nudge moments that make it funny are not things that younger readers will necessarily get.  Anyone who has spent time with 5-10 year olds knows that their idea of humor is fairly unsophisticated.  Think of the incessant knock-knock jokes and silly riddles they love.  All of the characters names are puns, which younger readers might appreciate-if they were puns that they understood.  I'm not sure that E. Gadds or Anita Sale will be immediately recognizable to the age range I think this book is designed for.

However, there is one thing that makes this book worth having around a classroom, and that is the narrative structure.  This is an epistolary novel, meaning that it is told through a series of letters between the various characters, as well as drawings doe by "Seymour" and newspaper articles from a fictitious newspaper.  Epistolary novels seem to have been more popular lately in the adult publishing world, and any exposure to different narrative structures can only help students be better readers and writers.  Were I to use this in the classroom, I might actually use it as a mentor text for writing rather than for reading.  I think that it would make a good fall activity-read the story as a read aloud (it's not terribly well suited for that, but a person could make it work), share it on the document camera, whatever; then have the students write their own ghost stories as letters between themselves and a ghost.  This also would allow you as the adult to explain some of the puns and references that the kids may not understand.  I suppose that a proficient reader who has a mature sense of humor could fully enjoy this book independently, but I really do see it having more value used as a mentor text.

Kenny & the Dragon, by Tony DiTerlizzi

Title:  Kenny & the Dragon
Author:  Tony DiTerlizzi
Publisher:  Simon and Schuster Books for Young readers
Year:  2008
Pages:  160
Genre:  Animal Fantasy
Themes:  Friendship, Acceptance, Non-Violence
Age Range:  3rd through 5th Grade


Summary:  from Goodreads

What do you do when your new best buddy has been designated a scourge by the community and marked for imminent extermination? Just ask Kenny Rabbit. When the simple folks in the sleepy little village of Roundbrook catch wind that there's a dragon running loose in the countryside, they get the wrong idea and the stage is set for a fight to the death. So it's up to Kenny to give his neighbors front-row seats to one of the best-known battles in history -- the legendary showdown between St. George and the dragon -- without losing a friend in the fray.

Review:
In a media landscape for children that seems to subsist mostly on CGI and splashy graphics, this slim novel is a welcome throw back to old fashioned children's stories.  Kenny and his new friend the Dragon are charming-a word I feel like I've been throwing around a lot lately with the kids books I've been reading.  But considering some of the post-modern, ironic, or just downright gross titles for kids out there these days (Walter the Farting Dog, anyone?), I find it refreshing to get some sweet, non-scatological stories!  

Kenny is a very good rabbit, if a little misunderstood by his farmer parents, who don't understand why he always has his nose in a book.  Imagine his delight when he finds an actual dragon in his backyard-a dragon who is just as enamored with books and stories as Kenny himself.  Their friendship is a not very subtle example of how people from vastly different backgrounds can find understanding through shared interests.  That instant connection is what makes it so horrifying to Kenny that everyone in the village wants to come and kill the mean, nasty, killer dragon.  After all, they don't even know him!  And what did the dragon ever do to them, anyway!?!  Again, a not very subtle message about the consequences of stereotypes, but perfect for younger readers.  And then there is the violence aspect.  When faced with a real angry mob, Kenny and his family uses their wits to give the villagers just what they wanted, without anyone getting hurt.  I appreciate any story that shows how brains are better than brawn!  I think that this would be a great novel to use in a fantasy unit, and there is ripe fodder for discussion.

The other thing that this book has going for it, other than the above mentioned themes, is the excellent writing.  This book is full of rich vocabulary and unusual ways of saying things.  Because, of course, the dragon is quite old, and has a rather antiquated way of speaking that is engaging, and might cause a younger reader to really have to use those context clues we all try so hard to teach. All in all a solid classroom choice,  either for guided reading or as an independent read for a proficient reader.

Roxie and the Hooligans, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Title:  Roxie and the Hooligans
Author:  Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Publisher:  Aladdin
Year:  2006
Genre:  Realistic(ish) Fiction
Themes:  Adventure
Age Range:  3nd-5th Grade


Summary: (from Goodreads)

Do not panic.Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them has taught Roxie Warbler how to handle all sorts of situations. If Roxie's ever lost in the desert, or buried in an avalanche, or caught in a dust storm, she knows just what to do. But Lord Thistlebottom has no advice to help Roxie deal with Helvetia's Hooligans, the meanest band of bullies in school.
Then Roxie finds herself stranded on a deserted island with not only the Hooligans but also a pair of crooks on the lam, and her survival skills may just save the day -- and turn the Hooligans into surprising allies.

Review:

Roxie is a charming little girl, and if I was stranded on a desert island I would definitely want her with me. She is the kind of character I think kids can relate to.   She is afraid of lots of things-most importantly, she is afraid of the bullies at her school who make fun of her "sugar-bowl handle" ears.  She avoids them as much as possible-until the day they find themselves stranded on an island with two bank robbers.  Suddenly, the bullies who had seemed to threatening show themselves to be real people, with their own fears.  And none of them is as well-prepared as Roxie to manage the many challenges they encounter trying to stay away from the robbers and get rescued.  

Naylor's writing is old-fashioned and fun, a throw-back to adventure stories from the past.  But I think that 21st century kids will find it to be quirky and engaging.  Roxie's resourcefulness is pretty unique, but the message is something we all need to hear now and again.  We may not be able to fight our way out of the swamp, or dig out of an avalanche, but we can do "this"-this one thing that has to be done right now, even if we are scared.  Roxie is a great example of how being brave has nothing to do with a lack of fear, but with facing your fears.

The book is pretty short, and the story is fast-paced.  There is not a ton of exposition of any of the characters, or the setting, or really much of anything, but it doesn't really need it.  I think this would make a good book for use with guided reading groups if you are doing a unit on adventure stories, or overcoming fears.  It would also be a good book to choose if you want an author study-Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has written about a gajillion books, including several series, and it might be interesting to compare how her various protagonists are portrayed.

Teacher Resources:

In2Books Guide

State of Louisiana Teacher's Guide

Kids' Wings Reading Guide

Smiles to Go, by Jerry Spinelli

Title:  Smiles to Go
Author:  Jerry Spinelli
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year:  2009
Pages:  272
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Friendship, First Love, Family
Age Range:  4th-7th Grade


Summary:
Will Tuppence likes things orderly, planned out, and unchanging.  The high school freshman and future astronomer has lived most of his life with one comforting fact at its foundation-protons never die.  And because protons can never be destroyed, then regardless of what happens to him as his body changes and eventually dies, some part of him will continue to exist.  But then the unthinkable happens-on Sept. 26 at 10:15 AM he learns that scientists have finally recorded the tell-tale flash that signals the death of a proton.  Suddenly, everything that he thought he knew about the physical world is called into question.  And just as suddenly, his relationship with his best friends Mi-Su and BT, as well as his relationship with his little sister Tabby, begin to change as well.  Does Mi-Su like him like him?  Did he really catch her kissing BT?  Will BT ever make something of himself?  Will his little sister ever leave him alone?  As events spin out of Will's control, he is forced to come to terms with the fact that worrying about the eventual death of his protons is less important than worrying about his loved ones in the here and now.

Review:
Spinelli's books are always spot on when it comes to creating authentic adolescent characters, and Will Tuppence is no exception.  He's also pretty good at writing characters who are clueless about what is really important in life, and Will is certainly that.  Will's character reveals the contradiction that lies at the heart of most transitions, and especially the one from child to teen to adult; we want things to stay the same at the same time that we desperately want change.  Will was happy with his world just the way it was-except for his annoying little sister, of course.  He loved his friends, he enjoyed their Saturday night Monopoly routine, he frankly enjoyed feeling superior to his friend BT, who seemed like a soul doomed to wander lost with no real purpose in life.  But inevitably things started to change-he started having feelings for Mi-Su, and then started having jealousy towards BT when he caught the kissing under the stars.  He felt even more jealousy when BT skateboarded down Dead Man's Hill, the only person ever to do so.  And it seemed like no matter what he said or did, his little sister became more determined to torment him day and night.

When Tabby is seriously injured in an attempt to re-create BT's amazing ride down Dead Man's Hill, Will is forced to confront his own ideas about what it important.  To be perfectly honest, it forces him to stop thinking only of himself.  He spends most of the novel being pretty self-centered, thinking about everything that happens only as it relates to him.  It also forces him to accept the people he loves for who they are, instead of trying to force them into the mold he wants to make for them.

I am not in love with this book the way I was with Stargirl, but it is another solid performance from Spinelli, and would make a good addition to any classroom library.