Overcoming Obstacles

THE RUNNING DREAM, written by Wendelin Van Draanen, is the story of Jessica, a middle school student and track star. Her life’s passion is running. It’s what she does, who she is, and all she knows. She is well on her way to an athletic scholarship. This dream comes to a tragic end, however, when the bus carrying her and her track team crashes and Jessica loses her leg. Now, her motivation for getting up each day is suddenly gone, and she wonders how she can go on.  Jessica has to relearn everything…including how to walk. This story follows Jessica’s journey in the year after her accident when her amputated leg is still in bandages.  She learns to use crutches and walk with a prosthetic leg. Her team raises money to buy her a “running leg” so she can rejoin the team. As Jessica heals, we go through the process of seeing the person instead of the disability. She becomes friends with a girl in her class who has cerebral palsy and learns to see her in a different light. This heart touching  story was recently named as a Schneider Family Book Award winner for teens.(Alfred A. Knopf, 2011).





 

INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN, written by Thanhha Lai, is the story of 10 year-old Kim Ha who is forced to leave Saigon with her mother and older brothers during the peak of the Vietnam War. Her father has been MIA for nine years, and the family continually hopes for his return. Knowing that if they go, there will be no real way for their father to find them again, the family is faced with the heart wrenching decision to leave behind the world they know and love. On a  ship with tight quarters and little food to eat, the family slowly makes their way to the United States. They end up in Alabama in the early-70's, with racial tensions at an all time high. Ha is bullied at school, and her teachers think she is dumb because she hasn’t learned English yet. Throughout all of her obstacles, she remains strong. A semi-autobiographical story, this unforgettable novel is written in free verse poems broken into four main chapters: Saigon, At Sea, Alabama, and From Now On. This novel was recently named as a Newbery Honor Book recipient.( HarperCollins, 2011).

Child's Play

ME...JANE , written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell, is the charming story of Jane Goodall.As a young girl., Jane receives a stuffed toy chimpanzee that she takes everywhere she goes. She explores birds, spiders, squirrels and other plants and animals in her backyard.She makes sketches and takes detailed notes of her findings. She dreams of one day traveling to Africa to study and help the animals there. The story ends with the realization of this dream and an actual photograph of Jane Goodall with a baby chimpanzee.This sweet story is a Caldecott Honor Book winner.(Little, Brown and Company, 2011).
 

 BALLOONS OVER BROADWAY, written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, is a Sibert Award Winner. This is the story of Tony Sarg , the puppeteer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a boy, Tony loves marionettes and puppets. He spends all of his spare money on toys that are curious and interesting.Fascinated by these puppets, he studies them and the mechanics behind how they move. He later moves to London and then New York where he begins performing on Broadway. Macy's commissions him to design their parade in 1928.It is such a hit and becomes a tradition we still enjoy today.(Houghton Mifflin, 2011).

East Meets West

BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE, written and illustrated by Eugene Velchin, is the story of ten year old Sasha Zaichik. Sasha has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six.  Sasha’s father is a Communist and a hero. Sasha writes a letter to Stalin thanking him personally for allowing him to be fortunate enough to live in the Soviet Union. He goes on to say that he has read how hard life is for children in capitalist countries, and he is so thankful to be in the USSR .He looks forward to one day joining the Young Soviet Pioneers. Sasha and his father live in an apartment that they share with 48 other Soviet citizens. One night, officers from the Kremlin storm into their apartment and take Sasha’s father away. We spend that night and the next day with Sasha as he begins to question everything he knows about the Soviet government and the cynicism of the system he once trusted. This book was recently named as a John Newbery Honor Book. (Henry Holt and Company, 2011).

 

THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT a novel in pictures, written by Caroline Preston, is the delightful tale of Frankie Pratt who graduates from high school in 1920. She is given a scrapbook and an old typewriter for graduation.Through an array of vintage postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalog pages, and other assorted memorabilia, we follow Frankie on her journey in search of success and love. She attends Vassar, falls in love, and moves to Greenwich Village where she pursues her career in writing. She later moves to Paris where she meets two exiled Russian princes. A family crisis calls her back to New England where she finds what she has been searching for all along. This whimsical novel recently received the Alex award for being one of the top ten adult books that appeal to teen audiences.(Harper Collins, 2011).

Out of Africa

The Elephant Scientist, by Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson, is the story of American Scientist Caitlin O'Connell's study of African Elephants in the desert of Etosha National Park in Nambia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2011). Camouflaged and holding binoculars to her eyes, Caitlin and her team study African Elephants in their natural habitat.Through her compelling photographs and research, we catch a glimpse of one of nature's largest, most complex, and most intelligent mammals. Along with Caitlin, we discover that elephants can communicate through vibrations in the ground....helping them to sense danger and react accordingly. This fascinating nonfiction piece is one you can't put down! It was recently awarded  as a 2012 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book .

 Never Forgotten, by Patricia C. McKissak with artwork by Leo and Diane Dillon, is a 2012 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book. Set in West Africa, this lyrical story-in-verse is about a young black boy who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Told through his father's grief, Mali raises his child himself when the infant’s mother dies in childbirth. Dinga enlists the Mother Elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Wind to help raise Musafa. One day, Dinga sends Musafa into the brush to collect wood. It is here that he is captured by “men with the blue of the sky in their eyes”.Full-page  paintings in acrylic and watercolor use strong black lines, almost like woodcut engravings, to tell the story visually. The boy, later named Moses, becomes a gifted apprentice blacksmith in Charleston, S.C.,  and is eventually freed by his blacksmith owner. (Schwartz & Wade 2011).