"Living in Lily, Arkansas, is sometimes like living in the land that time forgot, " says 17 year old Cullen Witter. The summer before his senior year of high school, his entire world is shaken. His cousin dies of an overdose and his younger brother goes missing. In WHERE THINGS COME BACK, by John Corey Whaley, two tales are tightly woven into a page turning thriller. Cullen's pain in searching for his brother and his grief in watching his parents and aunt struggle through loss is so poignantly written. I found myself connecting to every aspect of his small town life, and I realized that even big things can happen in small places. Woven into the story is the subplot of the Lazarus woodpecker, thought to be extinct, that allegedly reappears in Lily and begs the question "Do things ever come back?". This beautifully written story is the 2012 winner of the William C. Morris Award for a debut book written for teens as well as a Printz Award winner for excellence in YA literature.( Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011)
WONDERSTRUCK, by Brian Selznick, is the unique tale of two deaf children growing up 50 years apart. Rose is a deaf girl growing up in the 1920s. Her story is told solely through beautiful pencil- sketched illustrations. She runs away to NYC to find the star Lillian Mayhew, her birth mother. Lillian is furious when she sees her, so Rose runs away again, this time to the same museum as Ben. Ben's story takes place 50 years later and is told through text only. Ben travels to NYC in search of his father. Eventually, they meet in a bookstore and realize that Rose is Ben’s grandmother. She tells him the story of his father. Their intertwining stories are uniquely told in an overlap of text and pictures.Tween readers are sure to love this book written by the creator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. This book was named as a Schneider Family Award Winner for middle school readers (ages 9-13). (Scholastic Press, 2011)
CLOSE TO FAMOUS, by Joan Bauer, is the delightfully sweet (no pun intended) of Foster McFee. Chased out of town by an Elvis impersonator, Foster and her mother end up in the small town of Culpepper. Foster has big dreams. She is a baker with an enormous talent for making muffins and cupcakes. She dreams of one day having her own cooking show like her idol, Sonny Kroll.There's one small problem. Foster can't read. She listens and memorizes her recipes, but she can't read a cookbook. With the help of an award winning actress living in Culpepper to escape Hollywood, she learns to read. She and her mother begin their new life in this wonderful town full of interesting characters. This feel good story is full of determination and perseverance. It was recently named as a Schneider Award winner for middle school books.(Viking, 2011).
