Author: Elvira Woodruff
Ages: 9-12
Rating: 4/5

About: Forrest is the Ravenmaster's son in the Bloody Tower of London. He helps to look after the tower's ravens and the prisoners. But Forrest is a sensitive good hearted boy. So after the last public hanging, when he got sick at the sight of the execution, the other boys make fun of him. Wishing for a chance to show his courage, Forrest can't wait to take care of the Tower's new inmate -a Scottish rebel. That is, until the rebel turns out to be an 11 year old girl.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed reading this story. It was a little slow to start, but did a great job of bringing the reader into the 18th century and giving a glimpse of what life was like.
The dialogue was also stylized after the 18th century way of speaking and gives young readers new vocabulary to try out. Woodruff does a nice job of explaining uncommon words and expressions in such a way that makes it part of the story, rather than an aside. A glossary at the back helps to clarify further.

This was a fairly quick read for me, as I was anxious for the characters and didn't want to put the book down until I finished the story!

Hide & Seek

Author: Katy Grant
Ages: 10+
Rating: 2/5

About:  Chase has started a new hobby: Geocaching. This will be his first geocache search on his own and he's excited, but when he finds the cache it has been tampered with by somebody who appears to need help. With a little patience and some clever thinking Chase discovers two boys who seem to be perpetually camping with their dad. Chase is suspicious and determined to find out what these boys are hiding or what they are hiding from.

Thoughts: This story definitely had some suspense, but so much of the story was drawn out and slow going that it often took away from the main interest of the plot. I liked the descriptions of the wilderness and Chase's appreciation of it all but I found that often these parts were inserted into the story when I was getting anxious about what would happen next. And what would happen next was just more of Chase daydreaming about elk or how his parents might move the family to the city.
 
*Spoiler* It turns out the two boys Chase befriends have been kidnapped by their father, and have been missing for almost two years. Obviously he is stunned and doesn't know what to do. Leading up to this point he's repeatedly thought about how great it would be to be a hero. He want's to save the day and prove he's not a kid anymore. So here is his chance to save these boys and reunite them with their mother. So does he call the police? No. Does he call his parents? No. He does call the missing boys' mother and tells her he has seen them. But then hangs up without giving her any details about where they might be going. And he does have ideas, and he gave the boys a way to signal him. He decides it would be useful to find out for sure where they went before telling anybody else about it. He should have told his parents and or the police as soon as he realized the boys were kidnapped. Then if he didn't want to wait around, I could buy that he went out looking for them and all the same action could have happened.

And I can't believe it. But for the sake of a coming of age story, I'm willing to see past this major oversight. What turned me off the most was at the end.

Chase's parents are all telling him how proud they are of him and how he did the "right thing" and used his common sense, and how he's a hero because he saved a boy's life. ... Wait what? Even after he's found at the gas station after being missing all night, he doesn't reveal what happened. He waited for his dad to pick him up, topped up on breakfast, and had a heart to heart with his dad before he spilled about the boys -meanwhile the littlest one was getting so sick he almost died. 

To glaze over the fact that he should have trusted his parents (at least) who clearly love him, made me crazy. Yes, I can see praising Chase for his kindness to the boys, and for his cleverness in uncovering the mystery around who they were. But he put the boys and himself in danger by not confiding in anybody. In a book for young people, to not emphasize that he should have told somebody/anybody at least before he took off that last time, is irresponsible. Keeping secrets can be dangerous. That is the point I would have liked to see reinforced.

Fatty Legs

by Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordon-Fenton

Age: 9+
Rating: 4/5

Summary:
This is a memoir for children about a girl's experiences at a residential school. Margaret was an 8 year old who wanted to learn to read. Her older sister knew how to read, but always told Margaret not to go to school.  And when the boats came to collect students from Margaret's isolated island, her mother and father tried to hide her away so that she wouldn't have to go to school. But Margaret was stubborn and she begged and convinced her parents it was a good idea to send her to school. But Margaret's classes are not what she expected, and the teachers are even further from it.


Thoughts:
It's a topic that is difficult to approach with kids (it's difficult to talk about with adults for that matter), but the authors did a great job of making the story of residential schools accessible to younger readers. The personal illustrations throughout really add to the interest factor I think, and reinforce that this is a true story. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, about Margaret's return home and the challenges she faces then.

Sammy Keyes

 And the Skeleton Man

Author: Wendelin Van Draanen
Ages: 9+
Rating: 5/5

About:
Sammy is ALMOST too old to go trick-or-treating. She's in grade 8, and might have quit except that it's the only night you're allowed to be out running around like a banshee without parents.  And knocking on the Bush Man's door and scaring yourself silly is all part of it, but not tonight. Tonight somebody robbed the Bush Man, and Sammy can't help but to figure out why.

Thoughts:
Sammy is a great spunky girl. While trying her best to keep her nose out of the Bush Man's business (which will never happen), Sammy also has to deal with a bully at school, major fashion faux-pas (heh heh -that's a pun you'll get if you read the book), and a pretty messed up family situation. That's a lot for a girl to deal with, and yet the story isn't a downer. Sammy doesn't stew in self-pity, she stands up for herself, she's resourceful and very clever.

I chose the first book in this series for my Summer Booklist (Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief), but we don't have it in my library yet. I read this one in the mean time to make sure it would be alright. The first book takes place in September of grade 8, and this one in October/early November.

As an aside:
Despite what we're all taught "Never judge a book by its cover" everyone does. The cover is a clue to the contents. It and the title are what makes it stand out from millions and millions of other books.  The cover of the edition I read is the one at the top. It's an older copy, and the cover art kind of dates it. The interesting thing I think are the re-incarnations of the book cover. Below are three newer covers. I'm pretty disappointed by the cover on the left because I think that it would narrow the potential audience of the book. A boy probably wouldn't pick it up. A tomboy probably wouldn't pick it up. Heck, I'm not sure if Sammy would pick it up.