Wicked Girls: a Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill

Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Based on real people and events that took place during the Salem Witch Trials, this book is told from the point of view of three girls, ranging in age from twelve to seventeen; these are the girls that made the accusations of witchcraft. Told in free verse format, readers learn about the motivations behind the girls' "afflictions"--which led to 19 innocent people being hanged.



This book received starred reviews across the board (Booklist, School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus) but I just didn't like it! Maybe it's because I listened to it? I just didn't like the characters or the way their story was told. My favorite part of the book was the note at the end that described the people upon which the characters were based. Readers who enjoyed this might also enjoy another Salem Witch Trials book Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky.



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The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood

The Hidden Gallery (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #2) by Maryrose Wood

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This story continues the tale of Penelope Lumley and her three charges, the Incorrigibles. The children are still learning how to behave like children--instead of wolves--and the group faces more challenges when they take a trip to London with the Ashtons while the mansion is being repaired.



Strange things keep happening to Miss Lumley and the children: the guidebook they have doesn't seem to be of the normal variety, they encounter a fortune-teller who gives them a cryptic warning, and they notice Mr. Ashton getting twitchy near the time of the full moon. Luckily, Miss Lumley finds a friend in Simon, a young man who helps them find their way when they first arrive in unfamiliar London. Throughout all of this, Miss Lumley can't stop thinking about her parents--where they are and who they are.



I was excited to get this because I really enjoyed the first book (The Mysterious Howling) but I have to say that I was disappointed. This story felt like it lacked the humor/excitement/special something that the first book did. This book ended with many loose ends, so I expect there will be another book in the works.









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Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


When Janie was younger, her parents moved their family from a house in the suburbs to a 'wanna-be farm' outside of town. (It's a 'wanna-be' farm because it's so small, only has goats, and has a small area to grow vegetables.) The fact that their farm is 'wanna-be' doesn't matter to the kids in Janie's classes at school her freshman year--the fact that she lives on any type of farm is definitely weird to them.



Janie has a tough time adjusting to high school life at first; she seems to blend in to the point of invisibility. In fact, the only time the other kids notice her is when she has hay in her hair or goat poo on her shoes. She sits through lunch alone in the library because her friends have a different lunch period...and she pretty much drifts through her day until she reaches the classes she has with a friend.



Janie, however, doesn't give up completely; she and her best friend Sarah join an after school Jam Band (where she learns how to play the bass!), they work on an important interview project with the help of Sarah's awesome older sister, and she actually starts to make some new friends. Freshman year isn't looking as bad anymore...as long as she tries to forget about that popular blog her mother maintains about her family and the 'wanna-be' farm.



I enjoyed this book! I especially enjoyed how Janie has a strong sense of self and can see when a boy isn't as great as she thought he was when she gets to know him a little better--I think that is a great message for young girls. Those that liked this book might also like Itch by Michelle D. Kwasney.



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The Naming by Alison Croggon

The Gift by Alison Croggon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Maerad has lived a lonely life of slavery ever since her family was killed.  This changes when a man quite literally appears out of nowhere in the barn she’s working in and offers to help her escape.  Unsure of who this mysterious man is, but unwilling to let the chance at freedom pass her by, she agrees to sneak off with him.



Maerad learns that Cadvan is the man’s name, and that he is a Bard—he has magical abilities.  Using his abilities, he sees that Maerad has some powers of her own; in fact, he soon believes that she is actually The One from prophesies who is meant to fight the Nameless (a dark power opposed to the Bards and the overall balance of the world).  Together, they head off across the land towards the special schools that teach those like them how to harness their power for the good of the world.



This was an enjoyable story, and readers will be sure to become attached to Maerad, who is very much a normal girl with totally unexpected powers.  This is the first book of the Pellinor series, which continues with The Riddle, The Crow, and The Singing.



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Deadly by Julie Chibbaro

Deadly by Julie Chibbaro

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Prudence lives in a cramped New York City tenement with her mother.  She attends Miss Browning’s School for Girls—and hates it.  Instead of paying attention to lectures on how to properly

run a household, Prudence finds herself daydreaming about people and what makes them healthy or sick, especially since her brother died from injuries from a cart horse and her father is still missing in action from the Spanish-American War.



When she has the chance to work as a secretary for an engineer at the Department of Health and Sanitation, she’s thrilled—and this means that she’ll have to stop attending the School for Girls! 

Because she shows such an interest in the diseases she reads about as she types up her boss’s notes, he changes her job to also include accompanying him on trips to examine disease cases.  When one case turns up a healthy cook who inexplicably makes people sick with the typhoid through her cooking, Prudence faces some of the toughest challenges of her life when her department wants to quarantine this lady—who comes to be known as Typhoid Mary.



I enjoyed this book very much and read it fast!  It’s written in a journal format, which gives the story an added dose of realism to this scary subject.  Those who enjoyed Fever, 1793 (Anderson) might want to give this book a try.





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The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi

The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Centuries in the future, Eva Nine lives in an underground sanctuary with Muthr (her robot mother).  She has never seen another human being and doesn’t even know if humans still exist on the planet they live on, called Orbona.  In fact, Eva has never been to the surface.  She lives a peaceful life (if not a little boring, although they have all the technology one could ask for) until a hunter flushes them out into the open—he wants to capture them so that they can be added to the Queen’s museum as display items.



Never having been to the surface before, Eva must rely entirely on her Omnipod (her talking handheld device that is similar to a computer).  However, her Omnipod is having trouble identifying nearly everything she sees!  Since her underground sanctuary has been destroyed, she can’t return there, and she begins to despair.  Things get a little easier when she meets Rovender Kitt, a lanky creature who is out exploring on his own—he agrees to help her reunite with Muthr.  The whole time Eva is on the surface, she clings to a picture she found in the sanctuary (of a girl, a robot, and a man in a hat) and hopes that she can find some clues as to who they are: she calls this picture her WondLa.



This is a good book that I enjoyed very much.  The pictures are so interesting, plus there’s a website readers can visit (http://www.wondla.com) with interactive maps and more!  Watch for a sequel, as readers are left with a lot of unanswered questions.



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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


11-year-old Delphine has always watched out for her sisters, and she continues to do so during the summer of 1968 when their father decides that they should spend a month across the country with their mother Cecile—whom they barely know. Thinking that they’d spend their time at Disneyland having fun and getting to know Cecile, the girls are disappointed when they quickly learn that she wants nothing to do with them and that they’re visiting only because their father insisted on it.

Cecile doesn’t let them come into the kitchen because that’s where she does her poetry work. She
also doesn’t want them around during the day, so she sends them to the local Black Panthers’ Community Center. At first Delphine doesn’t pay much attention to the activists, but then she finds that the ladies there are actually very nice. She uses some of the strength she learns from them to finally stand up to Cecile.

This is a great book—readers will definitely like the girls: Delphine, who seems older and wiser than her years; Vonetta, the drama queen; and little Fern, who carries her (white) babydoll Miss Patty
Cake around with her everywhere. Those who enjoyed the setting of this book might also enjoy My Life with the Lincolns (Brandeis) or Sources of Light (McMullan).




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I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson

I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


12-year-old Emma doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere—even her name is strange (‘Emma Freke’ sounds just like ‘I’m a freak’). She stands out in her mother’s side of the family because they tend to be short with dark hair, while Emma herself is tall with red hair. She thinks this probably has something to do with her father, whom she’s never met.



When she receives an invitation to a reunion for her father’s side of the family, she’s shocked. Although Emma’s mother tells her that her father will likely not be there, Emma is curious about this group of people she’s never met who make up half of her DNA. She decides to make the reunion trip—alone—to Wisconsin from her home on the east coast. Will she fit in any better than she does with her mother’s side of the family? Will they be nice? Will she regret the decision to attend this reunion for the rest of her life? Emma has tons of worries about whether she made the right choice to go.



This is a cute story about fitting in that I enjoyed very much. Emma is a very likable character with whom young girls will surely be able to identify. Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy The Last Best Days of Summer (Hobbs).





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Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


11-year-old Polly lives on an unusual rhubarb farm where it rains every Monday at 1:00pm. Because Polly doesn’t have any friends (other kids think that she’s weird), her best friend is a chocolate rhubarb plant named Harry who communicates with her by moving its leaves.



The weekly rain is important to the farm because they live in a part of the country that is normally very dry. When the rain suddenly stops coming, everything begins to dry up and die. Polly’s aunt Edith isn’t upset by this because she wants to sell the farm and move away to a big city, but the rest of the family is devastated. Aunt Edith gives her a book of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance and encourages her to think about leaving the farm when she gets older, but how can she—especially after she learns about some of the family secrets hidden in the old tower of their house?



This is an imaginative story that readers will be sure to enjoy. Polly is a likable character who only wants to do what’s best for her beloved family and farm. Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy Savvy and Scumble, both by Ingrid Law.





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Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day by Meg Cabot

Moving Day by Meg Cabot

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


In order to create some sense in her life, 9-year-old Allie Finkle decides to create a list of rules to live by, including such rules as: ‘Don’t stick a spatula down your best friend’s throat’, ‘Never eat anything red’, and ‘You can’t take your rocks with you.’



This list is even more helpful to Allie when she finds out that her family is moving to a huge, old house across town. She doesn’t want to move!...even though a Dairy Queen is right around the corner, she’ll be allowed to get a new pet kitten, the girl next door is her own age and awesome (unlike her current best friend that she doesn’t like very much and who is known to cry over everything), and her new teacher is very nice. Allie thinks this new house is haunted and has no desire to move in there, despite all of the cool things that promise to be a part of that new life. She’s going to do everything in her power to sabotage the sale of her current house using her new book of rules!



This is a great book and I liked Allie right away. She’s funny, honest, and has a good heart. Moving Day is the first book in this series; read more about Allie in The New Girl . Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy the Just Grace series (Harper) or the Clarice Bean novels (Child).





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Flirt Club by Cathleen Daly

Flirt Club by Cathleen Daly

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This story is told entirely by notes and journal entries. Annie and Izzy have been best friends for nearly their whole lives. They keep up with each other throughout their busy school days by writing notes back and forth and leaving them in each other’s locker—and use code names: Annie is “the Bean” and Izzy is “Cisco.” Soon after they begin their eighth-grade school year, they realize that they are hopelessly lacking in the flirting with boys department, so they decide to start a secret club to hone their skills.

As the girls come up with ways to flirt, they practice on boys they like—with surprising results! They soon realize, however, that boys are a lot more complicated than they originally thought…and that balancing friends and boyfriends isn’t as easy as it’s made out to be.

Readers are sure to enjoy the glimpses into the lives of Annie and Izzy, especially because many of their notes to each other are so funny! For example, the Bean writes “Write me back if you can, my little pork chop” and Cisco writes, “Promise me you’ll feed this note to a llama as soon as you read it. PROMISE.” Those who enjoyed this book might also enjoy Only Girls Allowed (Moffitt).

I have to add that I was kind of shocked at what these girls were doing with boys in 8th-grade...Izzy made out "with tongues" and was "felt up" by the guy she liked; she was also at a party (the parents were out of town) where other kids in her class were drinking beer and got drunk (she didn't drink any beer--she just held a cup full of it). These kids are 13 years old!! That wasn't what I was doing at age 13, that's for sure...and I don't think I'm in the minority. Are most 13-year-olds doing this sort of thing these days? I hope not! This whole idea makes me sad. If these girls were in high school, I wouldn't mind so much...but 8th-grade? I just hope young girls don't read this book and think that this sort of stuff is what "normal" 13-year-old kids do.




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Rise of the Darklings by Paul Crilley

Invisible Order, Book One, The: Rise of the Darklings by Paul Crilley




12-year-old Emily has had to take care of her little brother Will ever since their parents mysteriously disappeared. Living in Victorian London, she’s able to earn a little money by selling watercress. This is what she is doing when she suddenly finds herself in a battle between two groups of faeries—up until then, Emily doesn’t even know that she has the Sight. She ends up rescuing a small piskie named Corrigan after the battle…but by doing this, she is drawn further into the faerie world.



Emily soon learns that the faerie world has been planning to take over the human world and is determined to stop them with the help of Will and her friend Jack.



I enjoyed this book, as it has a bit of everything: history, fantasy, adventure, and suspense. The Rise of the Darklings is the first book in the planned trilogy of The Invisible Order. Those who enjoyed this story might also enjoy The Faerie Wars Chronicles (Brennen).



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Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Words In The Dust by Trent Reedy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sweet and caring Zulaikah is the second-oldest girl in her large family. They live in a small village in Afghanistan—a country that places a lot of importance on marriage prospects for their children. For Zulaikah, this reality is hard to take because she has a cleft palate, which makes her less desirable for a match in marriage. After watching her sister get married to an older wealthy man, Zulaikah wonders what her life will become other than helping to raise her younger siblings and doing chores.



Things change completely when two things happen: first, when American soldiers arrive in their village, one of them notices Zulaikah’s mouth and offers her father the chance for her to have free surgery to fix her problem; and second, when she meets a former university professor in her village who offers to teach Zulaikah how to read and write. All of a sudden, her future is looking much brighter—but will her father allow her to follow her dreams?



This is an excellent book. It’s fascinating how different a teen girl’s life in Afghanistan is from a teen girl’s life in the United States—but there are also many similarities, too. Those who enjoyed this book might also like Where the Streets Had a Name (Abdel-Fattah) and Jungle Crossing (Salter).





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The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse

The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I picked this book up after reading Barnhouse's newer book _The Coming of the Dragon_, which I enjoyed very much. This book, however, wasn't as enjoyable for me.

This story revolves around a young girl named Johanna who is a servant to Margery Kemp, the well-known religious woman of the Medieval era. It follows them as they make the pilgrimage to Rome from London with a small group of others. Dame Margery, as Johanna calls her, is very extreme in her demonstrations of her faith as she is prone to wailing and loud sobbing. This makes it nearly impossible for the others to tolerate her, and eventually they refuse to travel any further with her--except they keep Johanna with the group to serve them. When a mean man in the group threatens her, Johanna runs off on her own and must find her own way in the strange new country.

I just couldn't get into this story. I found that I didn't care about Johanna or the others in her group--especially Margery Kemp, who was just obnoxious. I can't put my finger on what exactly I disliked about this book, but I wasn't sad when it was over. I'm glad I read her other book first, otherwise I would never have bothered reading it after having read this one.



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Savvy by Ingrid Law

Savvy by Ingrid Law

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I thought that I should read this book, seeing as it's on the 2010 Rebecca Caudill list and students really seem to like it AND the sequel (_Scumble_) came out not that long ago...so I finally got around to it. And I was disappointed!



The writing (in my opinion) just isn't that good. For example (I listened to this story, so maybe I noticed this more because of hearing it) the author uses more similes and metaphors in the first few pages of the book than one should have in the entire book. I swore to myself that if I heard one more 'something something WAS LIKE something something', the cd was coming out of the player and I would be done with it. Luckily I suppose, the similes and metaphors became more spaced out so I was able to deal with them as they came.



I also found the story to be inconsistent. I often found myself wondering, 'well, if this is like this, then why did this happen then? Wouldn't this happen instead?'



Finally, I just didn't find the characters all that likable. They're fine, but I didn't really get attached to any of them. And, just to be petty, I hated the fact that all the kids in the family are named something weird: the main character is Mibbs, and her brothers are Fish, Rocket, and [something I forget] and her sister is Gypsy. Even the other kids in the story are named Bobby (a girl) and Will Jr. Ugh! All of this just made me dislike the book more.



I'm glad I know more about what the book is about now, but I will not be reading anything else by this author.



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Out of My Mind by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This story is about 10-year-old Melody. She has cerebral palsy and needs help in nearly every area of her life--she isn't even able to speak. She stresses that, just because she can't speak or make her body do what she wants it to do, doesn't mean that she's unintelligent or deaf. In fact, she is very bright.

Melody tells the reader about her life at home and at school--where she's in the special education class and has teachers that usually assume all of the students in that class don't really need to learn. Things change a bit when she starts having inclusion classes, which are a couple of class sessions during her day that she spends with the rest of the kids in her grade with an aide.

Things really change for Melody when she gets a device that she can input words and phrases into (along with music!) that allows her to communicate for the first time in her life.

This is a very touching story; there were just some aspects of it that seemed unbelievable or inconsistent to me...her mom's character, for example. But that wouldn't keep me from recommending this to others. And those that enjoy this book might also enjoy _Anything but Typical_ by Nora Raleigh Baskin.



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Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I picked this book up for a couple of reasons: 1)it's a book about dragons, and 2)I thought it might be good for the 7/8 list. I felt as though it is too old for middle school students--not because of the main story with the dragons, but because of the sub-story with her best friend always talking about sex and how the main character should sleep with her boyfriend.

Kay is a 17-year-old girl living in a world where dragons are a reality. There was a peace pact created many years before separating the dragons and the humans by providing each with their own areas of land that were not to be crossed by the other. This pact has been upheld, more or less, since its creation, until Kay (who lives right by the border) unintentionally crosses the border after she falls into the river after rock climbing.

She probably would have drowned were it not for a dragon later named Artegal; he sees her and rescues her from the fierce river. Although terrified at first, Kay learns that Artegal knows English and is as interested in humans as she is in dragons. They become friends (tentatively, as each of them is breaking the law each time they meet) and figure out from an ancient text that dragons and humans used to be friends hundreds of years ago. Kay wonders if she and Artegal can help let their societies know that it's possible for both sides to be friends.

This book was okay; it was a little slow-going in parts, and the whole 'you must be the last virgin at Silver Ridge High' got to be annoying--although, to be fair, virginity comes into play later. Although it's an okay story, I think it's more suited for older readers.



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Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde

Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book! I've read another book by Velde (_Now You See It..._) and enjoyed that one, so I thought I'd pick this one up when I saw that it was new. I'm glad I did!

Written in short stories, this is a quick read. What Velde does is take the fairytale of _Little Red Riding Hood_ and write it eight different ways. For example, we are told the story from the point of view of the girl, the grandma, and even the cloak itself!

I will definitely recommend this book to others, as it's so funny! The author's note in the beginning is also a must-read.



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Zora and Me by Victoria Bond

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Carrie and Zora are best friends in the small, all-black town of Eatonville, Florida around the beginning

of the 20th century. Zora is considered one of the most creative people in their town, although she’s also known to be a frequent liar. When a young man gets killed trying to wrestle an alligator, Zora’s imagination runs wild with stories of gators—including one about her claiming to see a local elderly man appearing to be half man, half gator.



Her stories grow even wilder when a man is found murdered just outside of their town; Zora, naturally, believes that the gator man did it! All of this is going on while they deal with issues in each of their families; Zora’s father doesn’t want Zora to “act white”, while Carrie’s father left for a temporary job in Orlando a year before and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Together, the girls face what new challenges life seems to be handing them in a world that isn’t as small and safe as they had once thought.



This is an interesting story based on Zora Neal Hurston, the author of well-known books such as Their Eyes Were Watching God, and her childhood best friend Carrie. Included at the end of the book is a short biography of Hurston’s life. Readers who enjoy stories that take place around the turn of the 20th century might also enjoy The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Kelly) and The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had (Levine).





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Summer Birds by Margarita Engle

Summer Birds by Margarita Engle

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Who calls butterflies...birds? This person, evidently.



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