Every Soul a Star
Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: New York, 2008; $15.99 “…the sun will get erased from the sky, the planets will come out to greet us, the birds...
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Book, movie, and media reviews by young critics
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Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass; Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers: New
York, 2008; $15.99
“…the sun will get erased from the sky, the planets will come out to greet us, the birds will stop singing, and a glowing halo of light will flutter like angels’ wings above our heads. Except, of course, if it rains.
Little Audrey, by Ruth White; Farrar, Straus and
Giroux: New York, 2008; $16
I never imagined that people could live in a coal mining camp until I read Little Audrey. Author Ruth White brings this unimaginable existence to life in her latest work. Audrey White is a sickly eleven-year-old girl growing up with her mother, three sisters and father in a Virginia camp during 1948.
The Dragonfly Pool, by Eva Ibbotson; Dutton
Children’s Books: New York, 2008; $17.99
I’m not a big fan of fantasy books. So when I flipped through The Dragonfly Pool and found mentions of dukes, kings, and princes I groaned, thinking this book would be about royalty, kingdoms, and other things irrelevant to my life.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The Year the Swallows Came Early, by Kathryn
Fitzmaurice; HarperCollins: New York, 2009;
$16.99
What happens when someone you love betrays you? Well, in this book, The Year the Swallows Came Early, you can learn that understanding and forgiving someone you love is the key for your own peace of mind.
Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson; Square
Fish: New York, 2008; $6.99
What would you do if your mom moved to Australia? This is just one question Flora Barnes, also known as Floss, has to answer in Jacqueline Wilson’s excellent novel, Candyfloss.
Floss is a girl in her preteens living in England.
After the Train, by Gloria Whelan;
HarperCollins: New York, 2009; $15.99
Picture this: you are thirteen years old and living in Rolfen, West Germany, ten years after WWII has ended. All your history teacher talks about is the war and how big an impact it had on history, along with how horrible it was for the Jewish people.
Road to Tater Hill, by Edith M. Hemingway;
Delacorte Books for Young Readers: New
York, 2009; $16.99
It was a delightful coincidence to find a book in the library that was set where I live! Road to Tater Hill is a heartwarming and fulfilling story of friendship, family, hope, home, and the bumpy road through grief.
Love, Aubrey, by Suzanne LaFleur;
Wendy Lamb Books: New York, 2009;
$15.99
Have you ever read a book that is, in every way, perfect? Have you ever read a book conveying a character so well that you feel as if you know them? That’s how I felt after that first delicious read of Love, Aubrey. Yes, my first time. But not my last.
I live with my mom, dad, and brother.
Escape Under the Forever Sky, by Eve Yohalem;
Chronicle Books: San Francisco, 2009; $16.99
Moving. Awe-inspiring. These are words I would use to describe Eve Yohalem’s first novel, Escape Under the Forever Sky. Lucy Hoffman, the daughter of an American ambassador in Ethiopia (a country in east Africa), is kidnapped. She’s taken to a place far from where she and her mother are staying.
Slept Away, by Julie Kraut; Delacorte Books
for Young Readers: New York, 2009; $8.99.
When I first picked up Slept Away at the bookstore, I expected it to be a fun, entertaining story, and it’s that plus more. In addition to being amusing and lighthearted, this book holds a meaningful message about society, and particularly popularity.
All Laney Parker knows is New York City.