A Boy No More
A Boy No More, by Harry Mazer; Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing: New York, zoo4; $15.95 Harry Mazer's book, A Boy No More, is set during World War II. On December 7, 1941, Adam Pelko,...
Reviews
Book, movie, and media reviews by young critics
View:
A Boy No More, by Harry Mazer; Simon & Schuster Children's
Publishing: New York, zoo4; $15.95
Harry Mazer's book, A Boy No More, is set during World War II. On December 7, 1941, Adam Pelko, a fourteen-year-old boy, and his friends Davi and Martin were in a rowboat when the bombs fell on the USS Arizona on which Adam's father served. This was the legendary Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The Voice That Challenged a Nation, by Russell
Freedman; Clarion Books: New York, 2oo4; $18
Marian Anderson was a great opera singer during the 1930s and 1940s. She was also an African- American. Marian was born on February 27, 1897, in South Philadelphia. She was the oldest of three daughters of John and Anna Anderson.
At age twelve, Marian lost her committed father to death.
Roller Girl, by Victoria Jamieson; Dial Books
for Young Readers: New York, 2015; $20.99
Tougher. Stronger. Fearless. These are the words the protagonist of Roller Girl is driven by as she fights to achieve her goals in this amusing and inspiring graphic novel of friendship and growing up.
Counting Thyme, by Melanie Conklin; G.P. Putnam’s
Sons Books for Young Readers: New York, 2016;
$16.99
When I’m picking out books to read, I usually try to avoid the sad ones. Counting Thyme is definitely ranked amongst the saddest books I’ve ever read, and yet it lies with my favorites. How?
Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs; HarperCollins
Publishers: New York, 2006; $16.99
When his father died years ago trying to cross the Arizona border, fifteen-year-old Victor Flores dropped out of school and started to plant corn to support his mother and five younger siblings. After he gradually came out of the grief of his father’s death, more problems came up for Victor.
One for the Murphys, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt;
Nancy Paulsen Books: New York, 2012; $16.99
Growing up browsing through Salvation Army bins and snoozing in the basement, twelve-year-old Carley Connors is a born-and-bred Vegas girl who’s as tough as nails. Her dad is completely out of the picture, and it’s always been just her and her alcoholic mom.
Blackbird Fly, by Erin Entrada Kelly;
Greenwillow Press: New York, 2015; $16.99
Have you ever longed and hoped for something you never had? Like blue eyes, or soft yellow hair? Those are the things Apple Yengko longs for night and day. To not come from a different country. To not have a mother who does things differently than other mothers. To be the same as everyone else.
Swim That Rock, by John Rocco and Jay Primiano;
Candlewick Press: Somerville, Massachusetts,
2014; $16.99
If you want a book with daring adventures and even pirates (gasp), then Swim That Rock, by John Rocco and Jay Primiano, would be the perfect book for you to cozy up on the couch with. The book zooms in on Jake Cole, whose life is about to change drastically.
Echo, by Pam Muñoz Ryan; Scholastic Press:
New York, 2015; $19.99
Pam Muñoz Ryan’s book, Echo, weaves together three compelling stories, all centering on a single harmonica and its owners around the time of World War II. The book is long, almost 600 pages, but I enjoyed every second of it.
Fish in a Tree, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt;
Nancy Paulsen Books: New York, 2015; $16.99
In Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s new novel, Fish in a Tree, sixth-grader Ally Nickerson has a big secret that she’s afraid to share: she has always struggled with reading and writing.