Snicker of Magic is an AMAZING Book Fair Find

We just closed out our second Scholastic Book Fair for the year, and as always, I discovered a wonderful surprise on the shelves.  Actually, I can't take credit for it, it was Lauren, a 5th grade super reader and Newbery Club member.  She brought A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd to the counter to purchase because it reminded her of books by another of her favorite authors, Wendy Mass.  I read the back and some reviews on line and decided it was a must read for me too.  I wasn't disappointed!

Felicity Juniper Pickle, her sister Frannie and their mom don't stay in one place too long.  Their mother has the urge to roam.  She paints murals for towns and this allows her to travel a lot.  Felicity doesn't enjoy the life style and longs for a home.  The story begins with them returning to Midnight Gulch, TN, the town where Mom grew up.  It's the home of Aunt Cleo who gives them a place to stay.  That's where the magic of this book begins.

Midnight Gulch used to be magical, people could make themselves disappear, bake secrets into pies and sing down the rain.  Now, though, the magic seems to be missing, or at least not so powerful, there is just a snicker of magic left.  Felicity believes that if she can solve the mystery of what happened to the magic, her mom will want to stay and their traveling days will be over.  With the help of her friend Jonah, they begin investigating the mystery.  Using Jonah's knowledge of the town history and the people who live there and Felicity's power to see and collect words, Natalie Lloyd weaves a wonderful tale.

The characters all wind around each other, just like in any small town, everyone knows everyone else's business and everyone is related to someone in the town.  The story just keeps weaving in and out with twists and surprises in each chapter.  Natalie Lloyd's creative use of language and detail is simply amazing.  I found myself wanting to highlight lines and phrases because of the artistic beauty of the words she put together.  In addition to the words she chooses, Natalie Lloyd's characters form one of the best book casts I've read in a long time.  Her characters came to life for me, and as I read it, I heard their voices in my head, just like when I find a great read aloud picture book.  Natalie Lloyd is an artist who puts her reader right in the middle of Midnight Gulch, TN with the mountains surrounding them.

I'm recommending A Snicker of Magic to all of my 4th and 5th graders and to any teacher who is looking for a great class read aloud, or just a book to enjoy for themselves.  I love this book!

New Gordon Korman is a Book Fair Showoff

We're getting ready to set up our second book fair of the year, we always use Scholastic, and they always include some special price hard cover books. The first year I was in the library the book was Swindle by Gordon Korman. It was one of my very first book reviews at Literate Lives and I followed it up about a year later with a review of Zoobreak and about a year later with a review of Framed. Over the years these reviews have received a lot of attention so I figured why not, I'll review the latest installment in the series, Showoff.

Luthor the guard dog is the featured character in this episode. Griffin is spending six weeks with his friend Ben while Mr. and Mrs. Bing are in Europe trying to sell Mr. Bing's inventions. The one rule in place is "No Plans!" Of course Griffin agrees, but when the kids go to the mall to see a grand champion show dog trouble starts.

Samantha the animal lover takes Luthor the doberman and he uncharacteristically charges the stage and injures the champion pooch. Samantha's family is sued by the owner and Luthor is dropped off at the pound. That doesn't sit well with Griffin so he bails Luthor out and sets his plan, Operation Doggie Rehab, into motion.

Griffin intends to turn Luthor into a grand champion show dog to raise the money to pay the lawsuit to help Samantha get her dog back to keep. As usual parts of the plan work, parts don't and Griffin and Ben get mixed up with some interesting characters, most notably world famous dog trainer Dmitri Trebezhov who has dropped out of the dog game to protest the treatment of the show dogs.

The chapters on Dmitri's training techniques were some of my favorites and had me laughing out loud in spots. I think kids are really going to enjoy them too. This installment of the Swindle series doesn't have quite as much action as the other three, and the team doesn't get totally engaged until close to the end, but it's still fun. Gordon Korman has a way in all of his books of drawing the reader in and keeping them. Whether it's the action, or the characters or the plot twists, he writes books that kids love to read.

I have a feeling that Showoff will be flying off of the book fair shelves.

Another Book Fair Find: Falling In

I took advantage of a snow day today to read another book from the book fair shelves. If we don't get back to school tomorrow, I may not have much of a chance to talk about it with the kids!

Last Wednesday was conference night and the book fair was open. One of my fifth grade students, I'll call her Madeline, called me over and asked if a book called Falling In was an Alice in Wonderland take off. I told her I didn't know and hadn't even seen the book before she pointed it out to me. Two things immediately caught my eye, the cool cover and the fact that the author was Frances O'Roark Dowell who wrote Shooting the Moon and the Phineas Macguire series, both favorites of mine. Madeline and I read the book flap together and were both intrigued, so I took a copy home for a read.

Before reading it I looked around on the internet for some info, but since it's a 2010 copyright, I didn't find much. I read it quickly because just like the nurse's closet pulls Isabelle Bean into a different world, Frances O'Roark Dowell pulled me into the story.

Isabelle knows there is something different about her, but she can't put her finger on it. She has difficulty making friends and when she does, the "cool" girls lure them away so Isabelle is left friendless until she just gives up on making friends. She is a bit of an unusual dresser, preferring trips to the thrift stores to trips to the mall, and she is the daughter of orphans, so she has no living relatives other than her mom, and her dad who left when she was 3.

Isabelle is haunted by a buzzing noise that she swears is coming from the floor of her classroom and is easily distracted. This leads to many trips to the principal's office and it is one of these trips that she attempts to help a classmate in the nurse's office. When she follows a mouse into the closet, Isabelle "falls in."

At the bottom she finds herself in a bit of a fairy tale land where all of the children fear a witch who threatens to eat them. The children of this place travel from camp to camp, avoiding the towns that are "in season" for the witch. When Isabelle meets up with them they immediately think she is the witch, eventually figuring out that doesn't make much sense since she is about their age and the witch has been around for as long as they can remember.

As she begins down the path to the nearest children's camp, Isabelle decides she would rather look for the witch and on the way meets Hen, the oldest child of a family who has been given the job of getting all of her younger brothers and sisters safely into camp. Unfortunately, they have become separated and now Hen has to find them. As the two of them head down the trail together, they are taken in by a kindly woman who is very good at finding healing herbs and roots which she leaves for the villagers depending on their need in exchange for food, and other items she needs. Isabelle senses something special about the woman, Grete and discoveries are made about family, magic and stories that aren't quite true. I don't want to ruin any part of the story here, but it's a good one with lessons about tolerance and misjudging people.

The characters in this book are very well written and Frances O'Roark Dowell blends humor with tender moments and fairy tale qualities in a way the keep the reader going. I'll be recommending this one to all of my fourth and fifth graders. It was a great way to "fall in" to the books of 2010.

The Girl Who Could Fly Discovered at the Bookfair

It's book fair week...two weeks at school and the library is filled with Scholastic book shelves. It never fails that I find something to read that I've never heard of before. The discovered books come with mixed results, but this week I found The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester on the shelf. It looked interesting so I gave it a read and was pleasantly surprised.

Piper McCloud is the only child of a farm couple who are very old fashioned and don't believe in anything that is unusual. Everything has a purpose and everything needs to stick to that purpose. When Piper rolls off of the changing table and doesn't hit the floor, hovering just above it, her parents are shocked and frightened. They do whatever it takes to keep Piper "grounded" including home schooling so she doesn't accidentally fly at school.

As Piper grows older she feels an "itch that she just can't scratch" like something's missing. She begins exploring and leaps of the roof and finds what she's been missing. Once she discovers her special talent, she begins perfecting it in the back field in private, away from her parents, neighbors and small town busy bodies.

When the family attends a church picnic on the Fourth of July, Piper has hopes of making friends, something she has longed for her entire life. However, the busy bodies begin to gossip about the "unusual" child and it ruins any chance she has of making friends. When teams are chosen for a baseball game, Piper is chosen last and sent to the outfield. Having never played baseball before she fails miserably and is kicked off the team by the captain. As she is leaving the field a ball is hit and Piper, determined to show people she can play baseball leaves the ground and flies to make a spectacular catch. Of course the fans and her parents are stunned and they rush her home.

What happens next is a whirlwind of excitement. News media, gossiping neighbors, mean kids, mysterious voices and finally she is taken away to I.N.S.A.N.E. a special school for kids with extraordinary abilities by its director Dr. Hellion...and then the action really begins. Piper meets up with a band of students with special abilities like telekinesis, X-ray vision, super strength, super intelligence just to name a few. It's this part of the story that really keeps the reader in the book. There are a number of plot twists that leave the reader questioning who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Victoria Forester keeps the reader guessing until the end and includes some exciting, edge of your seat adventures with this band of special kids.

I liked the book a lot until the end. While the ending was ok, it seemed a bit quick to me. I have been recommending it to all of my fifth graders and some good fourth grade readers. There are some parts that border on weird, which make the story good, but may be disturbing to some readers.

I love it when I find something unexpected at the book fair!

Other Reviews:
Becky's Book Reviews
Book Nut
Best Book I Have Not Read