Author Website: Related Books: Destiny Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice The F-It List by Julie Halpern Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy Like – Try – Why: If you like Destiny Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice, try Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell. Both books deal with “fate” and whether we are allowed to make our own choices in life. Both books highlight unexpected connections. If you like The F-It List by Halpern, try Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell. Both books concern “bucket lists”, unexpected death or illness, and what it really means to live your life. If you like Side Effects May Vary by Murphy, try Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell. Both books concern “bucket lists”, hope, and what really living means.
Booktalk: In China in the early 1900s, any girl born in the Year of the Fire Horse is considered incredibly unlucky. She will possess all the Fire Horse characteristics that make her dangerous and unwanted to her family: temperamental, stubborn, selfish, and far too strong. Jade Moon is a Fire Horse girl, and she hopes that an unexpected journey to the United States will give her the chance to escape her unlucky fate. However, to help her escape an unfair detainment at Angel Island Immigration Station, Jade will have to call upon all her Fire Horse traits to take on a new identity and a new destiny. Reviews: Booklist (starred) Jan. 1, 2013 Horn Book Fall 2013 Kirkus Reviews Nov. 15, 2012 Library Media Connection Aug./Sept. 2013 Publishers Weekly Nov. 26, 2012 School Library Journal Jan. 1, 2013 Awards or Honors: Parents’ Choice Gold Award Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction 2012-13 Author Website: Related Books: Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain by Russell Freedman The Dragon’s Child: A Story of Angel Island by Laurence Yep Like – Try – Why: Like – Witness by Hesse? Try – The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman Why – Both novels show girls who are brave in the face of racism in the 1920s. Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design by Chip Kidd Citation:
professor, newly returned from the battlefield at The Tower, have anything to do with the missing students? Find out for yourself in this exciting new series! Reviews: Kirkus Review May 1st, 2013 School Library Journal Awards or Honors: BFYA: Best Fiction for YA (nominated) Audie Award: Fantasy Category (nominated) New York Times Book Review: Notable Children’s Books of the Year (2013) Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year (2013) Author Website: Related Books: Wizard Rising by Toby Neighbors Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling Like – Try – Why: If you like the Potter series by J.K. Rowling, try The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. Both books are set in a magical world and involve boys who are struggling with their place in the world. If you like Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines, try The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. Both books involve secret organizations, magic powers, and mysteries to be solved. If you like Wizard Rising by Toby Neighbors, try The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. Both involve newly discovered magical powers, malevolent wizards, and a boy who must find a way to protect those he cares about.
as good luck charms. Terrified and alone, Habo is forced to flee for his life and seeks refuge in Dar es Salaam where an elderly blind artisan named Kweli takes pity on him. It is with Kweli’s guidance that Habo's journey evolves and he learns to take control of his own fate. Reviews: School Library Journal July 2013 Kirkus Review April 15th, 2013 Awards or Honors: Winner of the 2014 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Award A Top 10 Book according to Kirkus, Wall Street Journal, and YALSA Author Website: Related Books: The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay Wonder by R.J. Palacio Firegirl by Tony Abbott Like – Try – Why: If you like Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams, try Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan. Both books are set in Africa and involve young teenage boys who face prejudice and poverty and must run for their lives seeking a distant promise of a safe haven. If you like Wonder by R.J. Palacio, try Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan. Both of these books are supported by young male protagonists born with appearances that are different than their peers and the kindness and acceptance that they both eventually experience. If you like by Raina Teglemeier, try Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan. Both books ultimately deal with the long and painful journey of self acceptance. ¨The President has been Shot!¨ The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson Citation: Swanson, L. ¨The President has been Shot!¨ The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. New York: Scholastic, 2013. 270p. (Grade 6+). Annotation:
On November 22, 1963, time stood still as United States President John F. Kennedy was brutally murdered by an assassin as he traveled through Dallas, Texas in an open motorcade. Booktalk: Hearts stopped as Walter Cronkite made this television announcement: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official: President Kennedy died at one p.m., central standard time, two o’clock eastern standard time- some thirty-eight minutes ago.” On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy took a trip to Dallas where history was forever changed when Lee Harvey Oswald attempted and succeeded in assassinating our nation’s president. Without warning, Oswald fired three shots from a nearby building as the president rode by in an open limousine. He injured Texas Governor Connally and mortally wounded the president. The car, followed by Secret Service agents, raced to a nearby hospital, but it was too late to save our thirty-fifth president. The death of the president was caught on film, initiating a search for the killer and his eventual public demise as millions watched live. Reviews: School Library Journal- September 2013 Kirkus Reviews- September 2013 VOYA Publishers Weekly- September 2013 Booklist Awards or Honors: YALSA-ALA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award Finalist 2014 Camellia Alabama Children’s Choice Book Award Nominee for 6-8 Nonfiction 2014 Related Books: Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson Manhunt: The 12-Day for Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Swanson Like-Try-Why: If you like Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson, try “The President has been Shot” by James Swanson. Both books are riveting real-life hunts searching for the men who assassinated United States Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. If you like Imprisoned by Martin Sandler, try “The President has been Shot” by James Swanson. Both books contain loads of photographs and first-person accounts of real historical events in American history.
If you like The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb, try “The President has been Shot” by James Swanson. Both books follow historical men who committed unspeakable crimes in history and the search to bring them to justice. How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle Citation: Tingle, Tim. How I Became a Ghost. Oklahoma City: RoadRunner Press, 2013. 141 p. (Gr 7+). Annotation: In recalling his journey of becoming a ghost on the Trail of Tears, a ten-year-old Choctaw boy called Isaac tells, not only his story, but also that of a shape-shifting panther, a kidnapped teenage girl, her five-year old ghost sister, and dozens of others who suffered and perished under the harsh cruelties of forced resettlement. Booktalk: How do you become a ghost? Do you know beforehand? Or is it something you instantly become? Here Isaac, a ten-year-old Choctaw boy, knows he will become a ghost long before his time. Beginning in his Mississippi home, Isaac begins to have premonitions of the deaths of people around him. As his family packs up their home and joins thousands of others west on the Trail of Tears, he begins to see the ghosts of those deceased. They guide him throughout his journey and help him make wise decisions for his family. Isaac’s family joins another as he befriends their six-year-old Nita. Soon, however, he sees a premonition of her death and realizes that her time, as well as his, is near. Shortly after her death, he meets Joseph, the grandson of two deceased elders in his village. Joseph confides in Isaac and tells him he is a shape-shifter. Together, they plan to rescue Nita’s sister who has been kidnapped by soldiers and forced into servitude. Their plan is dangerous and one that might cause Isaac to truly become a ghost. Will he risk his life for a girl he doesn’t even know? Will he and his family survive the brutal Trail of Tears? And finally, how does Isaac become a ghost? Reviews: Horn Book 01/01/2014 Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2013 School Library Journal 11/1/2013 Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Literature 12/01/2013