Mills, Claudia. Write This Down. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR, Macmillan), 2016. 256 pages. $15.99. 978-0-37430-1644. Affiliate Links:Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository Genre: Realistic, Writing, School Story Cover Appeal: It's eye-catching but I wonder if students would recognize the almost quote. Will need some book-talking Immediately After I know just the 5th graders who will love this. Autumn is obsessed with two things; writing and Cameron Miller. Her writing is not going as well as she would like and her relationship with Cameron is only in her head. Meanwhile her brother Hunter has changed. He's no longer the loving supportive brother she can talk to, instead he makes fun of her writing and her crush! To his band! Which includes Cameron's brother! Write This Down has a lot going for it including, a great friendship, loving parents, and a teacher who cares. Autumn and Kylee support each other even if they don't agree. They look out for each other and have more friends than each other. Autumn is well-rounded and makes mistakes. She also cares about her family - even when Hunter doesn't return the affection. I enjoyed seeing her and Cameron's "relationship" evolve. Her obsession blinds her to some of what's going on around her but she knows she only has herself to blame. Overall This is a good middle grades read. The relationships were plausible, including the loved teacher and the parents doing whatever it takes to get their son back on track. A few writing scenarios seemed contrived and a tiny bit repetitive. The resolution was satisfying and had a little bit of a surprise. Loved the dilemma of who your story belongs to if you include other recognizable people. I give this a 3 out of 4. Will definitely purchase for the LS library. More Book Excerpt Claudia Mills online Author Page | Blog | Twitter
If you're looking for a great middle grades novel that BEGS to be read aloud - look no further than the True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt!
Keep reading below to find out why Grandpa Audie carries a Polaroid Land Camera. You'll wish you carried one too!
Cameras and Birds and Other Surprises
My father loved cameras, and he loved taking photographs. But he never owned a Polaroid Land Camera, at least not one that I can recall. However, our neighbor across the street, Tom Cunningham, owned one. And about the time that my sisters and I ranged in ages from 5 (me) to 3 (my youngest sister B.J.), with Patti (4) in between, Uncle Tom as we called him, walked across the street one night with that big, fat camera and took a group shot of the three of us.
That photo is long gone, but I definitely remember it. Patti was sitting in the middle atop our overstuffed living room chair, and B.J. and I sat on the opposite arms, straddling them like we might straddle a pony. To say that we looked goofy would be an understatement. We were all in our summer nighties, too, which added to the goofy charm. A scruffy trio of sisters, our hair still wet from our nighttime baths, and our faces scrubbed and shiny, looking directly into the camera, looking surprised.
It was a sweet photo, and my father treasured it for many years, long after it was taken.
The thing about a Polaroid was that it was automatic. There, right in front of you was an instant photo. I know that these days, with digital photos, that’s nothing new. But back in the late fifties and early sixties, photographs were anything but instant. The Polaroid was an exception. It didn’t require a darkroom, it didn’t require a two-week wait while you sent the film off to a lab to have it processed and hoped like crazy that at least one photo had merit.
But the Polaroid had requirements nonetheless. I remember watching Uncle Tom. As soon as he took the photo, he popped the melted flashbulb out of the camera where it dropped into the palm of his hand. There he bounced it up and down to keep it from burning his skin. “Don’t touch,” he told us.
Then he pulled the film out of the back of the camera and waved it back and forth in the air. If he had said the word, “abracadabra” it couldn’t have been more magical.
While we watched, he carefully peeled the film apart. Then, he took a lipstick-shaped tube of fixer and rubbed it over the finished photo. Voila! He held it front of us and said again, “Don’t touch.” It wasn’t hot, but it was still sticky from the fixer. A touch would leave a fingerprint that would never go away.
We gathered around. There we were, three small girls smushed together on the chair, only minutes older than we were when he snapped the shot. We were fascinated. But not as much as our father. He loved Mr. Cunningham’s Polaroid Camera. And he loved us, his three daughters. He kept that photo for as long as he lived, and by the time he died, forty years later, it was so faded that you had to know what was on the surface of it to actually see it.
What I know about that long-gone Polaroid photo is that it was important to my dad. And thinking about it, it’s still important to me. It reminds me of my two sisters and me and how many moments we shared together, the three of us taking up space together, happy.
So, when I thought about my character Audie, and his quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, it seemed important to me that he use a Polaroid Land Camera, not necessarily because it was the only camera in town, but because it reminded me of the wonder of catching a moment in time that can’t really be repeated, only treasured.
I suppose every photo is like that, to a certain extent. But there was something magical about that Polaroid process—the melty flashbulb, the film being pulled out of the back of the camera, the lipstick-shaped tube of fixer. Everything had to happen in a certain order for the magic to occur.
When I sit down to write my stories, I think hard about the objects that my characters use and carry and treasure, because I think they say something about the characters themselves. But sometimes, like it was with the Polaroid, I simply hand over to my characters something that I loved too. I loved Tom Cunningham’s Polaroid camera. I loved my dad and sisters. I especially loved the surprise of it all. And that is the very best part of all about writing and reading stories. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you even get a photo, like my character Audie did, of a surprised armadillo. Or a bird that was so beautiful people said, “Lord God,” whenever they saw it fly over their heads.
We might not be able to get the Polaroid back. But maybe we can find the bird. Lord God, I hope so.
What Kathi's Reading
And speaking of surprises, I’m right in the middle of reading Uma Krishnaswami’s new book, The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic. It had me from the very first page. (The Brain Lair will be talking about The Problem With Being Slightly Heroic next week! Make sure you tune in!) More about Kathi Appelt Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award-winning, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the highly acclaimed novel Keeper, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, and many picture books. She is a member of the faculty at Vermont College’s Master of Fine Arts program. She has two grown children and lives in Texas with her husband. For more information, visit her website at http://www.kathiappelt.com/.
Watch these two rascally raccoons in the most adorable book trailer ever:
Be sure to visit Kathi’s other stops on her blog tour!
We've been reading Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac and today we wrap it all up!
Dragon Castle is the story of Prince Rashko, a fifteen year old whose parents are away. Their castle has been invaded and only Rashko, his brother Paulek, and a handful of servants are there to defend it. But the invaders, Baron Temny and Princess Potenshie, are not as they appear. Magic seems to be involved and they are not overtly hostile. What's their plan? Rashko decides to consult his Uncle Josef who tells him to read the story of his great ancestor Pavol. The story stirs Rashko's memories and he knows what he needs to do.
This final part may contain SPOILERS! Proceed with caution. As usual, my thoughts are in blue and Maria's responses are in purple. Please visit Maria's blog at Maria's Melange to read her first takes on the Dragon Castle.
Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac - The End I was at turns intrigued and bored by this ending. I just wanted...more. Maria: I completely agree with this wrap up!
I found I wasn’t as invested in the doings of Rashko/Pavol as the book wound down. I was way more interested in Paulek. Even though he was more of a secondary character, I “knew” him better and cared what happened to him. Rashko’s fate seemed clear from Part 2 and I just waited for Bruchac to put things into words but it wasn’t necessary. His actions were wholly predictable. Maria: Yes! That is exactly it. I kept getting those little glimpses of the other characters, and I found it very frustrating that we didn’t get more of it. Especially with the way the book wraps up, I feel like Bruchac let me down on giving me more about those other characters.
I liked that the two jugglers were princesses who’d been affected by Temny but I wanted more of their story. When did the Dark Lord invade their lands? How did they escape? Had they been following Temny all along and waiting for this moment? Why were they on the tapestry? Was it really necessary that they changed their names? No one seemed to know who they were no matter what names they used. Maria: Yes! I “get” that they are supposed to be part of the story because they are Karoline’s spirit reborn (Okay... maybe that’s what was meant?). But there was so much lost when Bruchac didn’t expand on their tale. Maybe alternating perspectives along the way would have given us more of what we wanted?
So Potenshie had a very different relationship to Temny than daughter. I still don’t understand how their powers increased unless it was being near the pouch. But the pouch and the dragon spelled their defeat, so no, I still don’t understand. Why pose as the daughter? Why did the return so many years after Pavol’s reign? Did I miss an explanation of whatever changed that made them believe this time would be different? Maria: Yeah.... no, you didn’t miss anything (unless I missed it too!) I saw no reason why Potenshie should be his wife versus his daughter. Neither role gets mentioned at the start of the tale, or during any of the Dark Lord scenes. So I thought this addition just was confusing and not really needed.
The dragon had seven heads that each had to be cut off - here I felt Bruchac was using “the rules of magic” to extend this section unnecessarily. If, as he pointed out later, magical abilities of objects decreased after 3 uses, why didn’t Pavol defeat the dragon after 3 tries? It felt like overkill (pun intended). Maria: I love that our slightly snarky humors are blossoming on this one *chuckles* Yes, I agree. Needing seven heads was a bit too much. I would have preferred he stick with 3 as his magic number here, and intensified some of the earlier battles.
Hm. There were just too many things left unexplained. How did the magical objects work? We saw some of it with Pavol but I never understood how either boy knew what to use when. Rashko calling on the winds was pretty cool but how did he know? Sometimes, “it just came to him” or “somehow he knew” is just not enough for me. I would have liked to see more of the parents. If they were able to come home when Rashko called, were they always able to come home? Why didn’t they? Yes, I can put things together because I’ve read enough fantasy to understand how many things work. But, will this fly with the middle grader? I dare say that those who love fantasy would ALSO understand it’s working, even if it’s in a subconscious manner. So, this book would go over just fine, I guess. Overall, a solid read. Not great but not bad either.
Maria: I think it “came to him” because Pavol was within him... but I get that sense without feeling like Bruchac did a good job revealing that bit. I also agree with you about his parents. Maybe they were trying to allow the boys to manage on their own? Maybe they wanted Pavol to be able to “come through” the kids? Even so, that wasn’t explained - or pulled through the text - enough to really be a good explanation. I wanted MORE about the faeries. I was disappointed by that. I was really hoping for more about the “in-betweeners” at the end since it was brought up periodically.
I liked Dragon Castle and would give it a 3 of 5. You can find more books Science Fiction/Fantasy for Middle Grades at the Cybils site. Tweet
Countdown is the first book in a planned trilogy of the sixties. Interspersed throughout the text are newspaper articles, cartoons, song lyrics, biographies, and photos. These artifacts give us an additional layer of story and depth. They are not necessary to the reading of the story but are certainly welcome.
Fifth-grader Franny is on the outs with her best friend, Margie. Her Uncle Otto is starting to lose his mind. Jo Ellen, her older sister, is disappearing longer and longer each day. Franny's life is falling apart and she's not sure why. The constant air raids and news of the missle crisis has everyone on edge. There is one bright spot though, Chris Cavas has moved back to the neighborhood and although she's having a tough time with Margie, maybe Chris can be her new friend.
Franny's is a military family. Her dad is a pilot and her uncle is retired from the military. They live in a neighborhood with other military families. It is their life. When President Kennedy comes on the news talking about the Russians stockpiling weapons, it changes things in many ways for these families. Everyone is on high alert. The stress proves to be too much for Uncle Otto and the family is afraid of what he will do next or what will happen to him.
Countdown has a pervasive air of fear and anticipation, mimicing the country's mood during the sixties. It's about friendship and family and how we define those things. We get information about a less talked about but very important part of our history and how it affected people during that time, those in the military as well as those fighting for their rights here at home.
Countdown is a hard story to classify. It's historical fiction, to be sure, but who is the audience? The story was fantastic but coupled with the in-depth history, it might be overwhelming to students. I'll have to re-read it closer to summer's end and find the right audience. For now, 3 copies.
Sisters Red Jackson Pearce
Little, Brown
June 2010
336 pg (ARC)
My thoughts
Sisters Rosie and Scarlett March are crime-fighters. Not because they've always wanted to be but because they were forced into it. The March sisters are out to save women from the big, bad wolves who would like to prey on them. These wolves look human. They are usually super handsome and rich. They love finding women walking alone so that's one of the ways the sisters try to lure them. The March girls wear red capes and carry hatchets and other weapons. They pretend to be helpless and lost. They will do almost anything to get the men somewhere alone. But that's not how it's always been for the girls and Rosie wishes she could do something different with her life but she owes Scarlett.
I loved the idea that Little Red Riding Hood was still around and kicking the wolves butts. Scarlett felt that since she knew the secret identities her knowledge came with great responsibility. I also liked Silas, the girls' best friend, being a woodcutter. Good play on a classic fairy tale. I had a hard time picturing the girls wearing capes in modern day society though. Funnily enough I could buy them carrying knives easily. I also felt that having Scarlett consumed by the hunt so much that she couldn't love anyone was sad. I wanted her to be a mean, lean fighting machine and have a handsome, strong guy in her life.
Another issue I had with the story was the predictable-ness of it. Halfway through the book I was able to determine what was going to happen. It was not enough to turn me off the book though, I wanted to make sure my predictions came true. There was one part of the story where Rosie had to make an escape that I found implausible. I read a lot of science fiction/fantasy so my disbelief is easily suspended but this was just not something I could see happening.
All in all, the book was likable. I could see a couple of students who would actually enjoy it more than I did so I give it 3 copies.
First off, that cover is really NOT what the book is about. This book is more about friendships and what it means to stand up for yourself and others. There was very little romance. Which is fine.
Charlie moves to a different high school as a way to escape two friends who'd become poison to her. She figured it would be a good way to start over and be herself while distancing herself from the unpleasantness of her past. Charlie's new school does offer new opportunities but she also finds she can't outrun herself; Nidhi, the girl she stood by allowed to be bullied, turns up at the new school and so does a boy she grew up with. Charlie does a good job of moving forward and decides she needs to face herself so she can become a better person. Wiseman doesn't spend a lot of time on boy-girl relationships as much as she does on Charlie's relationship with a variety of people, which was a welcome change and helped the book stand a little above other teen romance novels. Wiseman instead gives us a glimpse into a boy's life. The boys suffer through hazing in order to survive and thrive on the soccer team. Charlie's friend Will is on this team and she makes him promise that if things get out-of-hand he will contact her. Will turns out to have a higher tolerance than Charlie anticipated and she decides to help him anyway.
I stopped short of giving Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials my highest rating due to the way Wiseman described some of the characters in the book.
Descriptions
p20 preppy looking black guy - tall and skinny
p21 brown haired boy with freckles
p28 cutest tannest brown-haired blue eyed guy
p47 perfectly messy brown hair and black rectangular glasses
p47 other was Asian huge and wearing a panther's jacket (named Gwo)
p72 I'm Raj, said a cute black-haired Indian guy
Is it me or does she only point out the race of the nonwhite characters? I think an African-American can have "perfectly messy brown hair" or be "cute, [and] black haired". The descriptions stopped me every time. I didn't have the opportunity to create pictures in my head nor did I get the sense the descriptions moved beyond the stock, stand-in characters. These characters seemed to be there only to add a "multicultural" bit to the book.
So, overall, I give the book three copies. I think the cover will lead students to pick it up even though it gives a false portrayal of content and the book is well worth reading despite it's stereotypical character descriptions.
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Christy Wong of Tyndale House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Best-selling author Sandra Byrd has published nearly three dozen books in the Christian market, including her latest series, French Twist, which includes the Christy Award finalist Let Them Eat Cake (WaterBrook Press, 2007) and its sequel, Bon Appétit (WaterBrook Press, 2008). Many of her acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books target the tween and young adult markets. She has also published a book for new moms entitled Heartbeats. Several of Sandra’s shorter works have appeared in periodicals such as Relevant, Clubhouse, Pockets, Decision, and Guideposts. For the past seven years, she has shared her secrets with the many students she mentors through the Christian Writers Guild. Before turning to full-time writing, Sandra was an acquisitions editor in the ABA market. She lives in the Seattle, Washington, area with her husband and two children.
List Price: $6.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (March 4, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414325975
ISBN-13: 978-1414325972
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
I hung back at the doorway to the cafeteria of my new supercool British school, Wexburg Academy. Most of the lunch tables were already packed, and the room was buzzing with chatter. The populars, whom I'd secretly nicknamed the Aristocats, commanded an entire table right in the center of the room. Their good looks and posh accents made up the sun around which all other tables orbited. The normal kids were in the second circle, arranged by friends or clubs or activities. The drama table was on the outer edge of the room, and so were the geeks, the nerds, and the punk wannabes--way out there like Neptune, but still planets. Most everyone had a group. I didn't.
Okay, so there was one table with lots of room. The leftovers table. It might as well have been the dark side of the moon.
No way.
I skipped lunch--again--and headed to the library. One of the computers was available and I logged on, desperately hoping for an e-mail from Seattle.
There was an e-mail from my grandmother reminding me to floss because British dentists only cleaned adult teeth.
Spam from Teen Vogue.
An invitation to join the Prince Harry fan club--I opened it and gave it a quick scan. I'd consider it more later.
And . . . one from Jen!
I clicked open the e-mail from my best friend at home--well, it had been my home till a couple of months ago--hoping for a lunch full of juicy news served alongside tasty comments about how she missed me and was planning stuff for my next visit home. I craved something that would take me the whole lunch period to read and respond to and remind me that I did have a place somewhere in this universe.
From: Jen
To: Savannah
Hey, Fortune Cookie, so how's it going? Met the Queen yet? LOL. Sorry I haven't written too much. It's been so busy. Samantha took the position you'd been promised on the newspaper staff. She's brand new, but then again you would have been too. It seemed strange without you at first, but I think she'll do okay--maybe even better than okay. And hey, life has changed for everyone, right? Things are crazy busy at school, home, and church. We hang out a lot more now that a bunch of us are driving. Will write again in a few weeks.
Miss you!
Jen
A few weeks! My lungs filled with air, and I let it out slowly, deflating like a balloon with a slow leak. I poised my hands over the keyboard to write a response but just . . . couldn't. What would I say? It had already been weeks since we'd last e-mailed. Most of my friends texted instead of e-mailing anyway, but texting across the Atlantic Ocean cost way too much. And the truth was . . .
I'd moved, and they'd moved on.
I logged off the computer and sat there for a minute, blinking back tears. Jen hadn't meant to forget me. I was simply out of her orbit now.
I pretended to read Sugar magazine online, but mostly I was staring at the clock, passing the time till I could respectably head to my next class.
Five minutes before class I swung my book bag onto my shoulder and headed down the hall. Someone was stapling flyers to the wall. “Hi, Hazelle.”
“Hullo, Savannah.” She breezed by me, stapling another pink flyer farther down the wall. We had math class together--oh yeah, maths, as the Brits called it--first period. I'd tried to make friends with her; I'd even asked her if she'd like to sit together in lunch, but she'd crisply informed me that she sat at the table with the other members of the newspaper staff.
She didn't bother with small talk now either, but went on stapling down the hall. I glanced at one of the flyers, and one sentence caught my eye right away: Looking for one experienced journalist to join the newspaper staff.
I yanked the flyer off the wall and jammed it into my bag. I was experienced. Wasn't I?
A nub of doubt rose inside me--the kind that popped up, unwelcome, anytime I tried to rationalize something that wasn't exactly true or right.
This time I swallowed it back. I thought back to Jen's e-mail that kind of felt like a polite dismissal. I lived in London now.
It was time to take matters into my own hands.
My Thoughts
Asking for Trouble by Sandra Byrd is the first in a new YA Christian fiction series. It could actually be read by 5th/6th graders up. I thought it was interesting how Byrd portrayed Savvy as a normal teenager with temptations she didn't always resist. Asking for Trouble finds the family transported to London and trying desperately to make friends and fit-in. While most of the book centers on Savvy, we get a glimpse into the lives of her family also.
I liked how Savvy tried a variety of clubs and didn't give up even
when things didn't work out. The family also went to a variety of churches trying to find the one they wanted to make their own. Even with all of that and Savvy finding and reading her bible, not everything wrapped up neatly in the end.
Now, I did feel some of the dialogue was a little bit adult like here and there and it would throw me a bit. It was mostly when the nine-year-old, Louanne, was talking though. "So, Sav, do you have an article in today's paper? I noticed you brought a bunch home in your bag." - that just seems more like something an adult would say. I also didn't understand the importance the Au Revoir bag, I get that it's fashionable but, was it necessary to get a "named" bag? Maybe that's something that will come to light later.
For the most part, this was a good read and I give it three copies. I'm going to put it in the library and see what happens!
Josie thinks she may finally get together with Matt Riggs. Josie's mom, Kate, finally found a guy who shares her appreciation of books. Everything seems to be falling in place. Until they run into Josie's biological parents. The ones that don't know Josie is alive. And her mom wants to keep it that way.
For Keeps starts off with Josie in the role of mom although she keeps telling us that her mom usually has her stuff together. Josie is a high school junior who plays a mean game of soccer. It's always been just her and her mom, and they've enjoyed things that way. When Josie and Kate both find boyfriends they start seeing less of each other.
We see Josie as she tries to make decisions without her mom's help and she shows resentment that her mom is tied up with someone else. After all, she's had her to herself for 16 years. Very realistic. In the meantime, Josie is dealing with truths about her "boyfriend" as well as the grandparent she is slowly getting to know, all of this without her mom's guidance or, even, knowledge.
Although I enjoyed For Keeps when I was reading it, it doesn't stick with you afterwards. I had a hard time recalling details once the book was out of my sight. Which is fine. My only pause would be for students who are fans of Perfect and Lush, Natasha Friends first two books. Those books dealt with eating disorders and alcoholism. Those students might be disappointed if they are looking for more of the same. I still give the book 3 copies because it was entertaining and worth the read. FYI, The cover for this one is very different from Natasha Friend's previous efforts and that should have clued me in....
Summary
Jem knows your future. Or rather your lack thereof. She can tell you when you will die. She sees it in your head. She's been hiding from this "gift" her whole life. Keeping her head down. Not wanting to know. But once she sees those numbers there's no turning back. Enter Spider and what she knows about him shakes her to the core.
My Thoughts
Numbers starts out strong. Jem is a spunky, smart-mouthed loner and Spider is a walking, talking, bundle of action. They are opposites in every way: he's black, she's white, he's tall, she's short, he's friendly, she's not...
They form a friendship that, for Spider, quickly turns into something more. They start hanging out during and after school. Even though Jem knows Spider's number, somehow he helps her forget about those things.
Jem and Spider take a day to hang out and Jem notices that everyone in line to ride The London Eye have the same number and it's today. She convinces Spider to run away from the line. Everything explodes and she's forced to tell Spider about her "gift". They decide to go on the run and find a place to start their lives over. Only things don't play out like they'd hoped.
I enjoyed Numbers even though it dragged a bit in the middle. There was a little too much description of the locations for me. I also wish Ward would have spent more time on Jem's conundrum: was she causing death because she saw the numbers or could she prevent death by seeing the numbers?
The ending had a good twist and I look forward to reading the sequel. I give this 3 copies. I think students will enjoy this one and want to read with a friend.
ARC provided by Scholastic, Inc. Cover is the UK version.
Summary Joey Fly attempts to solve the mystery of the missing pencil box with the help of his un-helpful sidekick, Sammy Stingtail.
Format Neil Numberman illustrates this graphic novel in an eye-catching way: monochromatic coloring. This gives the book an old-fashioned feel - fitting in with the story of an old time private eye, very film noir-ish. I loved it. At the end of the book there's a list of 16 things readers can find throughout the book. A very nice touch!
My Thoughts Joey Fly is funny in a Sam Spade-ish way: snappy one-liners and lots of wordplay. The story moves quickly. Joey hires an assistant, gets a client and goes about teaching Sammy all the rules of being a detective. Along the way, we are able to fit the pieces together, just as Joey and Sammy are solving the crime. I thought there was just enough bug humor to be funny but not tiring.
Since the characters are bugs, you can't really get to know them. But Numberman's drawings were able to portray a little sense of each bug. Joey was stern but soft-hearted and you could see that in the shape of his eyes. Sammy's eyes made him look like he would get in trouble as soon as you turned your back on him and he does. Each of the women in the story, Delilah, Gloria, and Flittany, had eyes and body shapes that mimicked their character traits. I thought Numberman did a good job of matching the drawings to the story.
I would give Joey Fly 3 copies. It would work with some of my younger students or for students to read when they visit the elementary school. We use Don't Feed the Bully for our 6th grade anti-bullying program and I think this book would be a good follow-up novel for some of the students because they use a similar humor style. There's also a teacher's guide!
About the Author and Illustrator Aaron Reynolds is a human, not a bug, but he often writes about bugs. He is the author of Chicks and Salsa, Superhero School, Buffalo Wings, and, of course, the Joey Fly, Private Eye graphic novels. Visit him at his website at www.aaron-reynolds.com. Neil Numberman is a termite currently residing in New York City. Joey Fly, Private Eye is his first graphic novel, but he is also the author/illustrator of the picture book Do NOT Build a Frankenstein. Stop by his website at www.neilnumberman.com.
Joey Fly Book Trailer
Fun with Joey and Sammy Joey and Sammy are on Twitter! Click the pictures to follow them!
Mills, Claudia. Write This Down. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR, Macmillan), 2016. 256 pages. $15.99. 978-0-37430-1644.
