Sierra Shepherd is a model seventh grader at her middle school. As a member of the Leadership Club and an exclusive choir group, Sierra prides herself on her accomplishments. She makes good grades and follows the rules. The biggest rule is zero tolerance for bringing any kind of weapon to school, and Sierra would never dream of violating that one! So when she realizes that she grabbed her mother’s lunch by mistake one day and it has a paring knife in it, she does the right thing and turns it in immediately. She doesn’t expect to be put on in-school suspension while awaiting a hearing to see if she will be expelled.

The zero tolerance rule turns Sierra’s world upside down, and she begins to rethink what it means to have a one-size-fits-all policy. Meeting other kids she normally wouldn’t in the detention room allows Sierra to broaden her thoughts on “acceptable” behavior. If she thinks rules are a good idea, then shouldn’t she abide by them? Even when there are “extenuating circumstances”? The answers to these questions in Zero Tolerance are satisfying and not necessarily predictable.

Author Claudia Mills has written a compelling story. Schools often face these issues, and it’s interesting to see what such a crisis feels like from a student’s perspective. Readers could fall on either side of the issue and still find something to think about in this well-written book. Though the publisher recommends it for readers ages 8 to 12, a few instances of mature language make the writing most appropriate for the upper end of that age range. Anachronistic mentions of Game Boys and answering machines are a bit confusing, but the importance of this story is timeless.

With two older sisters and three younger brothers, Sunday is often lost in the middle. She is so tired of being overlooked and forgotten, in fact, that she is determined to do something to make herself stand out. When her father moves the family to the small town of Alma to help rebuild the local library, Sunday decides this is her chance. Somehow, some way, she will make her mark while she is there.

Sunday comes up with several ideas—planning a grand opening for the library, getting the local hermit to come out—but the best idea is to discover who wrote the manuscript for a book she finds in the basement of the library. Maybe it’s a famous author! Everyone in the world would know Sunday as the girl who discovered the lost treasure. After making friends with a local boy named Jude, she enlists his help in her quest for fame.

In A Summer of Sundays, author Lindsay Eland’s portrayal of a girl in her tweens trying to find her place in the world is spot on. Her new best friend, Jude, is an only child, helping Sunday to see that the alternative to a big family is not necessarily better. Readers will figure out who the mystery author is before Sunday does, but watching her solve the puzzle is half the fun. In the end, however, she has to decide between fame and friendship, between standing out and fitting in. She’s grown up a lot while in Alma and knows who she is and what is important to her—all of which will help her make the right choice.

Author Rosanne Parry’s first teaching job was on the Quinault Indian reservation in Taholah, Washington. Her fifth grade students at Taholah Elementary asked her why there had never been a book about them. Their questions launched Parry on a career as a writer of award-winning novels for young readers, including Heart of a Shepherd. Now, with Written in Stone, a heartfelt, meticulously researched portrait of a community in transition, Parry has provided an answer for her students, in a story dedicated to the children who inspired and welcomed her into their lives.

In 1923, Pearl is a 13-year-old girl who dreams of hunting whales like her renowned father, Victor Carver, who, she thinks proudly, is “the best whaler of the Makah, probably the best Indian whaler on the whole Pacific coast.” But Pearl’s hopes of accompanying her father are shattered when he is killed on the last whale hunt.

Pearl, who lost her mother and baby sister in the flu epidemic of 1918, must now search for her own path and find a way to carry forward and celebrate the traditions, stories and values of her family and community in a rapidly changing world.

In May 1999, the Makah successfully completed their first traditional whale hunt since the 1920s. Pearl’s story is told as a flashback on this occasion, as she remembers that last whale hunt and her own journey through her life.

In the author’s notes that provide historical context for young readers, Parry writes, “Pearl is a tribute to Native grandparents everywhere who work to keep cultural memory alive.” And it also seems clear that Written in Stone is a tribute to Parry’s fifth grade students, who shared their stories and culture with her.

Because the 11-year-old stuttering narrator of Vince Vawter’s debut novel, Paperboy, finds it too difficult to speak, he tells his story by pounding away at the keys of his father’s forgotten typewriter. Taking is so difficult, in fact, that the paperboy doesn’t even reveal his name until the story’s conclusion.

In the summer of 1959 in Memphis, the local baseball champ and budding writer takes over the neighborhood paper route while his best friend Rat (a nickname that’s easier to say than Art) goes on vacation. The substitute paperboy quickly takes an interest in the lonely, beautiful, redheaded Mrs. Worthington, who also has a penchant for afternoon whiskey, and wise Mr. Spiro, who understands both the boy’s speech impediment and his insatiable curiosity.

Although quiet with little action, this achingly beautiful, autobiographical story involves intense emotions as it shows that children can—and do—handle heavy issues. Perhaps the most painful subject for the boy is watching the racial injustice endured by his stern but loving African-American housekeeper, Mam. The story intensifies when a local vagabond raids the paperboy’s possessions and Mam must rectify the situation.

The end of summer and the paper route bring disappointment both for the boy and for readers, who grow to love the narrator as he finds his voice in a world that values constant, hurried speech. An author’s note adds information on stuttering and suggests resources for further reading.

Three cheers, or perhaps applause is more appropriate, for this fine addition to Southern storytelling that will appeal to children and adults alike.

RELATED CONTENT
Read our interview with Vince Vawter for Paperboy.

With the abundance of sibling rivalry books available, the Annie and Simon books by British author Catharine O’Neill offer a refreshing reminder that there are positive sibling relationships. Annie and Simon (2008) was inspired by the author’s daughter and her much older half-brothers. Now Annie and her “big, big brother” Simon return in Annie and Simon: The Sneeze and Other Stories with more of their gentle, episodic interactions.

In “Living Things,” the pair enjoys a summer day at a lake, with Annie drawing a crayfish, a dragonfly and other living things and Simon providing interesting facts about each one. Other stories involve plenty of fun with the family dog, the unexpected pleasure of watching a squirrel hide autumn horse chestnuts, and an innocuous sneeze from Simon that elicits full-blown TLC from Annie (including a neck blanket, a partially-used hankie and a stash of gummy bears). Loosely drawn, watercolor illustrations by the author emphasize Annie’s zest for life and Simon’s endearing and seemingly endless patience (as well as his long, spindly legs).

This nearly idyllic sister and brother aren’t completely harmonious, however. Quick glimpses of annoyance are shown with a subtle scowl from Annie or an eye roll from Simon. But quick is the key word here, for a moment later the pair is back to their light, and occasionally humorous, banter.

Beginning readers will delight in the charming yet exuberant way Annie learns about the world and plays with her older sibling. And parents won’t be able to resist a big brother who enjoys his little sister enough to give her an occasional kiss on the top of the head.

Cassie’s life has always revolved around water. On the day she was born, her town was drowned under thousands of gallons of water, turning Old Lower Grange into a giant, man-made lake. Because she has breathing problems, her mother and her doctor insist that she swim six laps a day, all summer long, in the town pool. In Below, the lyrical new middle grade novel by Australian writer Meg McKinlay, 12-year-old Cassie feels more and more drawn to the old town beneath the water and begins to realize that the lake might be hiding more than it seems.

New Lower Grange, the town that was built to replace Old Lower Grange, is full of people with secrets. Cassie’s friend Liam wears long shorts to hide the scars running down his legs. Liam’s father wanders the town, eternally constrained by the weight of a tragedy he was thought to have caused. Cassie’s father makes pottery to sell to tourists, but also specializes in ceramic “portraits,” generally made without the subjects’ knowledge or permission. The mayor of the town, Howard Finkle, the man who pulled the lever to drown Old Lower Grange, is obsessively protective of the created lake. And Cassie herself hides a secret—she has stopped swimming in the town pool and instead does her six laps a day in the restricted area of the lake above Old Lower Grange.

Below weaves the lives and stories of all these residents together, creating a narrative that is compelling, suspenseful and unique. Combining aspects of a mystery and a coming-of-age story, Below offers readers an opportunity to look beneath the surface and discover what lies below. And as the secrets of the town begin to be revealed, no amount of water can cover up what happens next!

Julian Twerski is not a bad guy. Really. That whole incident with Danley Dimple? That was a fluke. He didn’t mean for the kid to get hurt. It’s not worth going over again.

Yet, as part of his punishment, Julian has to write about it for his English teacher. From the start, he has trouble explaining the “Danley Dimple thing” and feels the need first to describe his life, his friendships—who he is. So begins Mark Goldblatt’s Twerp, an exploration of life as a 12-year-old in New York City in 1969, in the closing days of sixth grade.

We learn about the dangers of playing Cyrano for your best friend, finding out you might not be the fastest kid at P.S. 23 and making your own fireworks (with disastrous results). In fact, Julian will tell you just about anything you want to know—except for the one thing he’s supposed to be writing about. By the time he actually gets around to explaining what happened with Danley Dimple, we understand Julian, and we sympathize.

So drawn are we into Julian’s world, it’s sometimes hard to remember that an adult wrote this book. A wonderfully touching story that’s hard to put down, Twerp will appeal to readers of all ages.

In 1932, the same year Lizzie Hawkins turns 12, the Great Depression has hunkered down in Bittersweet, Alabama. No longer able to provide for his family or cover the mounting mortgage payments, Lizzie’s father disappeared and has yet to return, while her mother has become depressed, withdrawn and even mute. In Laura Golden’s tender debut novel, inspired by her grandparents’ experiences during the same time period, it’s up to Lizzie to run the family home, take care of her mother and avoid suspicion—or end up in an orphanage.

Golden shows the blessings of community and the burdens of gossip in a small town as the girl manages at first to keep her family secrets private. The ruse becomes difficult when best friend Ben, who also recently lost his father, makes Lizzie see that she’s not the only one facing tragedy. And jealous Erin, a bully reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Nellie Oleson, has her heart set on ruining Lizzie. Ever determined, Lizzie learns not only to accept life’s lemons, but also make lemonade with them—something her father espoused but never practiced.

From her desire to catch the local legendary one-eyed catfish to her love of Goo Goo Clusters, Lizzie’s stubborn yet resourceful spirit shines through in Golden’s splendid Southern storytelling. Perhaps guided by her mother’s favorite proverbs, which also serve as chapter headings, the girl comes up with an ingenious plan that may keep what’s left of her family together and help her fellow down-and-out townsfolk in the process. Readers will adore Lizzie’s tale, which certainly lives up to her town’s name.

When we last saw them, sisters Delphine, Vonetta and Fern were leaving Oakland after spending the summer with their mother. Now, in Rita Williams-Garcia’s P.S. Be Eleven, the sequel to the Newbery Honor-winning One Crazy Summer, we catch up with the Gaither sisters as they return to Brooklyn in 1968 and are reunited with Pa and Big Ma.

It doesn’t take long for the life lessons the sisters learned from their mother and the Black Panthers to clash mightily with the views of their grandmother, who wants to avoid creating a “grand Negro spectacle.” The oldest girl, Delphine, must find a way to live as her mother would want, while still respecting Pa and Big Ma, and keeping Vonetta and Fern out of trouble.

This balancing act becomes difficult very quickly. Soon after they arrive home, the sisters learn that their father is getting married. Vonetta and Fern love Miss Marva Hendricks right away, but Delphine wants to keep her distance. Adding to their struggle is Uncle Darnell, who returns home from the Vietnam War and lives with Pa, Big Ma and the girls as he fights his own internal battles. During all this, the girls stay in contact with their mother through letters—Delphine pouring out her heart, and her mother always ending her letters with a reminder to “Be Eleven.”

P.S. Be Eleven is a worthy successor to the unforgettable One Crazy Summer. The writing is just as powerful, and the story includes a convincing snapshot of the era, encompassing everything from the Civil Rights movement and Richard Nixon’s presidency to the beginnings of The Jackson 5. The story allows the girls to grow—learning new things, testing their ideals and discovering their true relationships with their mother and father, grandmother and many others. Williams-Garcia’s story offers a magnificent window into everyday life during the late 1960s and should not be missed.

Charlie Joe Jackson has a reputation as a guy who doesn’t like to read—and he’s proud of it. In his first book, Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading, we watched as he put more effort into avoiding the task than he would have if he had just read the assigned book. It looked like he might have learned his lesson from that escapade, but in his second outing, Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit, he found new ways to get out of doing work—and into trouble. As a result of that misadventure, Charlie Joe now has to spend a large part of his summer vacation at Camp Rituhbukkee (“Read-a-Bookie”).

While he dreads the many scheduled classes and quiet reading times at the camp, he has a plan to help the “nerds” become cool like him. Charlie Joe is sure he can help them loosen up, not take themselves or their studies too seriously, and enjoy the summer. What he doesn’t anticipate happening is how much he will change himself. After reading a whole book—that he enjoyed!—he figures it was a fluke and not a sign that he is any different. As his friend Katie observes, however, Charlie Joe is fascinated by smart people and most of his friends back home are smart kids, so maybe he is more like them? Charlie Joe is repelled by the idea, but by the end of the book he has to admit that it might be true. Just a little.

Author Tommy Greenwald has written another winner with this third installment of the Charlie Joe Jackson series. Greenwald’s writing style is funny and smart, just like his main character. Almost every kid in school can relate to being a reluctant student at times, but also to reveling in cool academic discoveries. The kids at my library can’t wait for this book to hit the shelves.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a pre-K through 8^th grade Catholic school in Nashville.

Princess Imogene Eustacia Wellington only has two weeks to finish reading The Art of Being a Princess and prepare for her 13th birthday. According to the etiquette book, princesses are supposed to be kind and helpful. So despite never having kissed a boy before, Imogene agrees to kiss a prince who has been turned into a frog. Vivian Vande Velde turns this fairy tale on its heels—er, webbed feet—for the frog changes backs into Harry, the kingdom’s local rapscallion who was turned into a frog by a witch. This unusual transfer spell causes Imogene to take Harry’s place as a frog.

When the unsympathetic witch cannot undue her own spell, Imogene must take charge of her destiny. In an attempt to enlist the help of country peasant Luella and her new actor beau, the frog princess ends up kidnapped and traveling with an acting troupe. With chapter headings like “A Princess Must Be Assertive and Persuasive, Though Never Pushy” taken from her etiquette book, Imogene puts her own spin on how a real princess—or any female, for that matter—should behave. Even as a frog, her spunkiness croaks through as she manages to outwit the troupe’s unscrupulous ringleader and steer Luella toward her own independence.

Imogene’s unexpected journey also gives her a new appreciation for all walks—or hops—of life outside the castle. Adding a light touch to this reptilian coming-of-age tale are clever quips and observations. But is Imogene fated to spend her remaining years as a frog? This is a fairy tale after all, and a handsome prince, a kiss and a happy ending are all in order. Frogged will leap into readers’ hands as they try to discover who does the kissing and who (or what) is the next victim of the frog curse.

Admit it: Everyone thinks their name or nickname is embarrassing at some point in their life. Yes, even you! (For four years, my nickname was Kevy-Wevy, so I know of which I speak.) However, even the worst name pales in comparison to the hero of our story. In Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, written by first-time author Liesl Shurtliff, Rump’s mother dies before she is able to tell him his entire name—all she can get out is “Rump.” And in a village where names have power and meaning, being stuck with this name does not give Rump much hope for the rest of his life.

In Rump’s village (aptly name The Village, located on The Mountain), gold is everything. Every day, almost all of the residents of The Village head toward the mines to dig, mine, pan and discover as much gold as they can. In return for their gold, they receive their rations from The Miller, who then gives the gold to King Bartholomew Archibald Reginald Fife (or King Barf, as Rump likes to call him). Rump is not very good at finding gold, so he and his grandmother seldom have enough to eat. However, Rump thinks his luck has changed when he discovers a spinning wheel that allows him to spin straw into gold. And his luck doest change, but not in the way he had hoped.

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin is the latest addition to the growing trend of fairy tale retelling. What sets this story apart is its creativity and characters. Never relying on convention, Shurtliff takes the traditional fairy tale and turns it on its head, interspersing humor with tenderness, action with insight. Rump shows the other side of Rumpelstiltskin, one of the most vilified characters in fairy tales, and reminds readers that in a good story, very little is as it seems.

Like many kids, Robbie Darko wants to be famous. But as he tells readers in the first lines of this fictional memoir, it’s hard to make an 11-year-old’s life sound exciting. We soon learn, however, that Robbie is oblivious to how interesting his life really is.

In Andrea Beaty’s funny new middle grade novel, Dorko the Magnificent, Robbie Darko, dubbed “Dorko” by the class bully, sets out to perform the greatest magic trick his town has ever seen at the upcoming school talent show. Much to his parents’ and teachers’ chagrin (and his classmates’ delight), Robbie uses every possible opportunity to practice his craft. This includes an assigned how-to speech, which already banned the use of: saws, fire, peanut butter and socks (don’t ask!), and his mom’s birthday party. But the arrival of Grandma Melvyn threatens to make Robbie’s grand plan disappear into thin air.

Until she moves into his room, Grandma Melvyn has just been that ill-tempered, smelly, distant elderly relative with the “Wicked Wobble Eye” who isn’t even anyone’s actual grandmother. She also has the extremely annoying habit of calling everyone “Trixie.” Little does Robbie know what tricks Grandma Melvyn, literally, has up her sleeves. When the classic tablecloth trick he performs in front of his whole family goes hilariously wrong, Robbie is stunned when Grandma Melvyn explodes with laughter and congratulates him on a job well done. She even calls him by his given name.

And then, the big reveal. Grandma Melvyn starts teaching Robbie incredible magician’s secrets. Pretty soon he can shuffle cards better than a professional blackjack dealer and his sleights-of-hand fool even the most perceptive audience. Joined by his best friend, Cat, who is impervious to Grandma Melvyn’s prickly personality, the three of them spend weeks working on a disappearing act that is sure to have the whole town talking for years to come. And, Robbie tells readers, it will also have movie producers banging down his door to buy his life story.

Robbie's first-person narration brings this hilariously entertaining story to life. Young readers will easily relate to his family struggles—just as they laugh with him at his numerous pratfalls. As in her debut novel, Secrets of the Cicada Summer, Beaty carefully weaves in just enough gravitas to make Dorko the Magnificent well worth a read.