The Haunted Library is the beginning chapter book in a new series by Dori Hillestad Butler, author of The Buddy Files. The central character in this series is not a dog, but a ghost named Kaz! Kaz is a young boy ghost who is separated from his family when the house they are haunting is torn down. He finds himself in a library building where he meets, Claire, a human girl who can see ghosts! Together these unlikely friends try to solve the mystery of who is haunting the library, and begin looking for Kaz's missing ghost family. Grade 2-3 In Eddie Red Undercover, Mystery on Museum Mile by Marcia Wells, we meet 6th grader, Edmund, who loves to draw, especially in the art classes at the private school he is attending in Manhattan with his best friend, Jonah. So when his dad loses his job, and his parents tell him he will have to go to the local school instead, Edmund is devastated. But just then he witnesses a crime that gives him a chance to return to his school. The police ask Edmund to describe the culprit he saw to a sketch artist but when they see Edmund's own sketch, they are so impressed they hire him to do undercover work! The police want Edmund to hang around museums pretending to draw the art masterpieces, while actually watching for a gang of art thieves and sketching them. If he succeeds, he may get enough money to pay for his school. Read to find out how Edmund and his friend Jonah, figure out the thieves next heist, even though he is only supposed to be sketching! This book is on the Bluestem list this year. Grade 3-5 The Great Trouble, A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a boy called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson, takes the reader back to the year 1854 in London, England. We meet Eel, a thirteen year old orphan, who has been surviving on the streets doing odd jobs, scavenging what he can from the filthy River Thames, and hiding out from nasty Fisheye Bill Tyler. But when Eel finds steadier and cleaner work, first in a Brewery and then with the famous Dr. Snow, his life begins to change and his story turns into one of scientific inquiry and medicine. It is in that year that the worst outbreak of Cholera hit London, centered right in Eel's Broad Street neighborhood. Although at the time, everyone believed Cholera, or the "Blue Death", came from bad air, Dr. Snow had another theory. Together with Eel, who becomes Dr. Snow's assistant, they begin to prove that the Cholera was passed through bacteria filled water, coming out of the Broad Street pump used by the whole crowded neighborhood. Based in fact, this story teaches us about history and medicine, while engaging the reader with great characters and their adventures. Grade 4-8. On the Rebecca Caudill list this year. The Turn of the Tide by Rosanne Parry tell the story of two cousins living separate lives an ocean apart until a tsunami brings them together. Bridget, always called "Jet" lives in Oregon with her little brother, her father a Columbia River pilot, and her mother, a comic artist. Jet loves the water and secretly plans to follow her father into his dangerous profession guiding the huge container ships through the most dangerous Columbia River gorge strait. Kai, is living in Japan with his parents, scientists who work with nuclear reactors and grandparents, who fish and take care of boats when the tsumani hits their home, Kai is sent to live with his father's brother's family until his home is repaired. In Oregon with Jet's family, Kai is homesick and finds everything foreign to him until Jet and Kai discover a mutual love of sailing. They begin training for the town's end of the summer sailing race but Jet's risks on the water and Kai's fears from the Tsunami trauma, make their friendship and support for each other, both complicated and necessary. Grade 4-6.
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December 2021
My Reading List!
AuthorI am the Library Media Center director at Patton School in Arlington Heights where I help students from kindergarten through 5th grade find terrific independent reading for enjoyment and information, and teach students the skills to use information and technology safely and productively and to connect, communicate and share with others. I have four grown children, a large black dog, (flat coat retriever) and a small striped cat. I am an obessive Chicago Cubs fan and I love to run. Patton LMC Summer Reading Blog |