Finally by Wendy Mass
Did you ever want something so bad, and your parents told you that you had to wait until you were older? And then when you are older, you get what you had wanted all that time and it is not as you imagined? Well if so, you are just like our main character in Wendy Mass’s newest book, Finally. Rory keeps a box under her bed and places in there her wishes. Things that she wants but can’t have until she is 12. On her 12th birthday her parents start to ease up on her and let her have some of those wishes (a cell phone, staying home by herself, going to her first boy girl party, wearing makeup…). With each wish comes a hilarious outcome, one more funny than the other. Rory has to learn the hard way that getting what you want, does not always bring happiness.
Jacquie (J Fiction)
The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon
Ginny does not start out as a pirate. She is a little girl who loves Kindergarten. But school is hard when your eyes play tricks on you. Poor Ginny has trouble with reading and math. A trip to the eye doctor is all it takes to solve the problem and sets Ginny on her way to becoming the… Kindergarten Pirate!
Alia (Picture Book)
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
Keeper is a young girl that lives in a very limited world on the gulf coast of Texas. Keeper believes that her mother is a mermaid and that she swam away when Keeper was three. She lives in the same house with Signe, near their two neighbors and with various animals. As with The Underneath, the author uses the animals to come alive and be a major part of the story. Keeper’s pets keep her safe as she goes in search of her mother and disrupts their lives in the process.
Kristin (J Fiction)
The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
Lydia and Julie just aren’t popular and they can’t figure out why. The two best friends decide that this year (their fifth grade year) they will study all of the popular kids and make some necessary changes so that they can start junior high at the top of the school social order. Read all about their observations and experiments in “The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang”. (You’ll be correct if you assume that not all of their experiments go as planned!) If you’re a Diary of a Wimpy Kid fan, you’ll want to check out this full-color, “notebook” style read!
Meghan (J Fiction)