Monday, February 29, 2016

February Book Club

Just three of us this month.  I have been reading like crazy and had four books to share!

The War that Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley


Ada was born with a club foot that her mother believes makes Ada “less than a person” and has physically and emotionally abused her while keeping her locked inside their one-room London apartment her entire life.  When WWII begins children in London are sent to live with families in small villages.  Here Ada has to confront her own fears and insecurities and learn to let others love and care for her and also to learn to accept herself as she is.


Reminded me of  Michelle Magorian’s 1981 Goodnight Mr. Tom.

NEED
by Joelle Charbonneau


What do you need?  What are you willing to do to fulfill that need?  Especially if you get what you need for free? 

Students at Nottawa High School are asked to join a social media site, made exclusively for them, called NEED.  This completely anonymous site allows students to ask for a need to be fulfilled, for free…with a few strings attached.  Like, invite 5 friends to join the site.  What an easy way to get a free brand new cell phone!  But as need requests continue coming in the actions required become more bizarre and questionable.  But if it doesn’t hurt them it’s no big deal, right?  Kaylee, our main character, tries to unravel the mystery of the NEED website, who’s behind it and why.

Goodbye Stranger
by Rebecca Stead


Newbery Award winner, Rebecca Stead, writes a realistic fiction book about middle school student, Bridge, short for Bridget, who survived a horrific accident and was told by a nurse, “You must be here on Earth for a reason!”  She ponders this as she and her friends start 7th grade.  This book is about growing up, loyalty, friendship, and family relationships.  She and her friends have to navigate new terrain when deciding what is and is not appropriate to text. 


This book is told mostly from Bridge’s point of view starting with the beginning of the school year, with short chapter written by her new friend, Sherm, in letter format to his grandpa, and chapters written in 2nd person—that take place on Valentine’s Day.  The book culminates on Valentine’s Day.

The Big Dark
by Rodman Philbrick


Remember the power outages from November’s wind storms?  Now multiple that many times over and you will have the scene of “The Big Dark”.  An extremely powerful solar flare disrupts the Earth’s magnetic field and all power shuts down—electricity, batteries, even magnets.   Cell phones don’t work, generators won’t start, cars don’t run, and airplanes fell from the sky.  The whole modern earth is without any of our modern conveniences.  Oh, and it’s WINTER!  Charlie and his mom and sister live in a small New Hampshire village and face trials beyond just the dark and cold including extreme neighbors and medical issues

Books my fellow children's librarians shared

Captain America: The First Avenger [and other Marvel superheroes] Novelizations
by Alex Irvine

The Nest
by Kenneth Oppeal

Forbidden
by Eve Bunting

Other Books that were mention

Scorpion Rules
by Erin Bow

The Testing Series
by Joelle Charbonneau

Spying on Miss Muller
by Eve Bunting

Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell

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