Walk Two Moons

Recommended grades 4-6.  Salamanca Tree Hiddle has heard the American Indian proverb, "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins," so she, along with her grandma and grandpa, are walking in the moccasins of her mother, who left their family in their home of Bybanks of Kentucky and took a bus to Idaho.  Along the way, Salamanca shares the story of her friend, Phoebe, another girl left behind with no mother.  Walk Two Moons (Scholastic, 1994), is a story of friendship, forgiveness, and above all, family.  Sharon Creech brings to life an incredible cast of unforgettable characters; from Gram & Gramps Hiddle, who married because Gramps treated his beagle well, to Phoebe who frets about cholesterol and lunatics, and of course, Salamanca, who kisses trees to taste blackberries and find her mother's love.  Walk Two Moons is, and will remain, a timeless classic well worth its Newberry Medal and it's permanent place in library collections.  Highly recommended, *****.

Whole Story of Half a Girl

Recommended grades 5-7.  Sonia Nadhamuni is a girl of the 21st century-- half Indian, half Jewish, and completely conflicted.  The Whole Story of Half a Girl (Delacourt Books, 2012) is an excellent updated companion to Judy Bloom's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.  Like Margaret, Sonia inhabits the grey area between her parents' cultures.  When her father loses his job, Sonia must leave the comfort of her progressive private school to face public school.  There she is forced to choose a racial identify-- should she join the perky blond cheerleaders or align herself with the African-American students bussed from other neighborhoods?  Sonia is neither blond nor black, and is frustrated at having to identify as Jewish because her family is not religion.  Sonia faces the question that many young people face today-- with an over abundance of cultures, how can you pick and choose which to identify with?  Author Veera Hiranandani gives Sonia an eloquent and empathetic voice, and addresses sensitive issues with grace.  In addition to race and religion, Sonia reckons with her father's chronic depression, which tears him away from the family.  Overall an excellent, entertaining, intellectually stimulating YA novel that would complement any library collection. Highly recommended, ****.

Bloody Jack

Grades 6-8.  In L.A. Meyer's novel, Bloody Jack (Harcourt, 2004),  Mary "Jacky" Faber transforms herself into Bloody Jack Faber to escape her life in Dickensian London.  Orphaned on "The Dark Day" her parents were killed by "pestilence," young Mary survives on the streets, scrounging just enough to get by.  In search of a better life, Mary disguises herself as a boy and seeks out a job as a ship's boy on a naval vessel on its way to South America after French pirates.  All Mary is looking for is a square meal and a roof over her head, but she winds up with a lot more.  Part Treasure Island, part Twelfth Night, and a dash of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Jacky faces not only pirates and scalawags, but also her first period.  At times Jacky's narrative in 'mockney' is a little cumbersome, and may be challenging for some readers, but at it's best it adds playfulness to the character.  Full of fun and adventure, this book also alludes to very some very adult themes.  Overall, Mary "Jacky" Faber will appeal to both boys and girls, just as she is able to slip between the genders with artful costumes. And if you can't get enough of this saucy, sea-faring lass, she continues her adventures in a series of eight further books (so far!).  Recommended, ***

Chains

Grades 6-8.  Laurie Halse Anderson tells a different sort of coming-of-age story with her novel Chains (Athenium, 2008).

 Anderson follows Isabel, a young slave born with a kind and liberal master in Rhode Island but sold to cruel New York Loyalists at the height of America's War of Independence.  Through Isabel, Anderson explores the ambiguity of "freedom" on both sides of the war; she encounters Patriots who cry for freedom but are not willing to treat slaves as anything other than property, and Loyalists willing to free slaves, but only for the sake of harming the Patriot's cause.  Anderson's historical fiction is meticulously researched, she includes quotes from primary documents thematically as the header of each chapter and has a well cited list of historical questions in her final author's note.  History teachers will appreciate the possibility to use this book as a teaching tool both in content and in method.  Anderson offers a unique slave tale far away from the normal Civil War story and paints a complicated and rich story of American ideology that should raise stimulating questions in advanced readers minds. Highly Recommended, *****