Book Trailers By Staff

I have a new page on my school library website for book trailers that staff have created. All of the videos are created with Adobe Spark Video.  Check out our trailers!

Book Trailers by Staff

The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

2017-2018 MHL Nominee

Genre:  Realistic

Grade Level: 3^rd – 6th

Reading Level: 4.6 (5 points) 320 pages

Publisher: Greenwillow Books (August 26, 2014)

My Rating: 3 out of 4

Readability: Easy to read but might need to look up background of Oman.

MHL Division: Crossover

Summary: 

When Aref, a third-grader who lives in Oman, refuses to pack his suitcase for his family's move to Michigan, his mother asks for help from his grandfather, who takes Aref around the country to create memories he can carry with him to a new home.

This book was a slow read for me. It was easy to put down and therefore took me awhile to finish. I think my favorite was when the grandfather took his grandson to the camp called The Night With a Thousand Stars. It sounded like a beautiful place. The story is about a boy who is moving to Michigan from Oman and is resistant to the move. The mother asks the grandfather to spend the week before they leave with his grandson.  They go to many places around Oman and pile up good memories as well as spending quality time together. Gradually Aref accepts the fact that he will have to say goodbye for a time from Oman and his grandfather. 

The book is very poetic and quiet. It also is about a country which is relatively unknown to most kids in the United States. So, this is one of those books that lends itself to a bit of googling for background knowledge.  I think the reader's guide is fabulous at the end and this would make a good book club book in a classroom. 

Once in a Blue Moon Lodge by Lorna Landvik

Adult Read

Genre:  Fiction

My Rating: 4 out of 4

Readability: Easy and Fun Read!

I went to  Lorna Landvik's book signing this summer in Park Rapids, Minnesota. It was standing room only and she was so funny and warm that I knew I had to get the book. The public library had a long list of reserves this summer and so I just picked it up on Friday and spent the weekend on the couch instead of the 90 degree heat we were experiencing this fall reading. 

It is about the family from Landvik's book Patty Jane's House of Curl which I read ages ago. (1995 copyright) This book could be a stand alone book, since I can't remember much about the first one.  I think I may need to reread that one though!  The family is a wonderful Minnesota family with lots of quirky characters which experience life with each other and their neighbors and friends. 

Nora is the daughter of Patty Jane and she ends up buying a huge lake lodge somewhere around Brainerd, MN because of a very unusual situation. Her Norwegian husband, triplets, mother and father and significant other as well as her grandparents become residents of the home as well.  This book basically gives you a peek into their lives. A friend of mine told me that she like reading because she was a big snoop and liked to know what was going on in someone's life.  This is a perfect kind of book for that! You never know what small things in life will make a big impact on you and who you meet along the way will be important to you.  Everyone is a character and there are lots of laughs and some tears as well.  A great weekend read!

Fort by Cynthia Defelice

2017-2018 MHL Nominee

Genre:  Realistic

Grade Level: 3^rd – 7th

Reading Level: 4.4 (5 points) 208 pages

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (May 19, 2015)

My Rating: 2 out of 4

Readability: Easy to read and quick.

MHL Division: Crossover

Summary: 

When older boys trespass in the fort where Wyatt and Augie have been enjoying a wonderful summer, they team up with another bullied kid to exact revenge against the older boys, with unexpected consequences.

Two boys spend the summer building a fort, fishing, camping, catching squirrels and fighting the older boys who are bullying them and blaming all their antics on a special needs boy. Wyatt and Augie befriend the boy and come up with a plan to get even with the bullies…. making sure no one is physically hurt in the process.

I abandoned this book the first time I read it because of how one of the boys is obsessed by the Grandmother’s larger chest.  I just didn’t think it was necessary.  As I read the entire book this time, this issue is mentioned a few more times. The boys also like to look at their uncle’s girly calendar.  I imagine the author put these things in the book because she felt it was realistic for an adolescent to wonder and encounter these things. However, it left me with a sour taste. I did love how the boys befriended the boy who had special needs and created a nice friendship. This was a good example.The conclusion in how they get even was funny and satisfying. 

Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder

2017 Copyright MG

Genre:  Fantasy

Grade Level: 3^rd – 7th

Reading Level: 4.3 (9 points) 288 pages

Publisher: Walden Pond Press (May 30, 2017)

My Rating: 4 out of 4

Readability: Easy to read, fascinating!

MHL Division: Crossover

Summary: 

On the island, everything is perfect, but each year, a boat arrives with one new child and takes the oldest child away.

9 children live on an island without any adults. The oldest child is the elder and takes care of the youngest child. When the boat comes, about once a year, the oldest child leaves, and a new child comes. A new elder takes their place. Every other year a boy and then a girl come to the island and there seems to a rhythm in this process. Throughout the year the children live in their own cabins, forage for food, play, read, hunt and live in a wonderful island community. In this story, the eldest girl, Jinny, decides not to get on the boat when it is her turn.  The balance of the island starts to change and trouble begins to brew.

This book has an ending that some have really hated. I didn’t mind that everything is not wrapped up for us. There is a somewhat dream-like mystical state to this book and I found myself wishing I could live on this island too.  You can also start to understand the fable like quality. Perhaps this is an expression of what childhood might be like and the island gives us this wisdom. Read this book….it is fun to imagine this life…and what it really means.

Refugee by Alan Gratz

2017 Copyright MG

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Grade Level: 5^th – 8th

Reading Level: 5^th Grade (800 Lexile) 353 pages

Publisher: Scholastic Press (July 25, 2017)

My Rating: 5 out of 4

Readability: Intense and hard to put down. Maybe a Newbery contender?

MHL Division: Division 2

Summary: 

Tells the story of three different children and their families seeking refuge from the 1930’s, 1994, and 2015.

This book is a must read for adults as well as middle grade readers. It is an intense adventure story that is woven around three children and their families as they seek refuge from a country that no longer can be their home. One story is about Josef and his family in the 1930’s as they take a cruise ship from Germany to Cuba to escape Nazi persecution, only to be turned away. A Cuban family in 1994 takes a homemade raft out to sea hoping to make it to Florida soil to start a better life. A family from war torn Syria flees to Europe only to be detained again and again in their journey. All the stories go back and forth and the chapter’s cliff hangers often reflect the beginning of the next story. It is an amazing presentation of three stories and how they weave together a similar story of a refugee and the hardship and determination they bring. 

Amina's Voice by Hena Khan

2017 Copyright MG

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Grade Level: 3rd – 7th

Reading Level: 5.0 (5 points) 208 pages

Publisher: Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (March 14, 2017)

My Rating: 3 out of 4

Readability: Easy to Read

MHL Division: Division 1 or Crossover

Summary: 
Amina, a Pakistani American Muslim girl, struggles to stay true to her family's culture while dealing with the vandalism of the local Islamic Center and mosque and her best friend Soojin's new friendship with their former nemesis.

I thought this story would be more edgy and for older middle school and high school students but it is not. It is great for elementary through 6^th or 7^th.  It is about an everyday American Muslim girl and of course a bit about how her religion and culture affect her life. Amina loves to sing and plays the piano and even though it is not approved of in a traditional Muslim home, Amina’s parents feel her talent is a gift from God and support her.  When Amina’s uncle comes for a visit from Pakistan, his more traditional values do not approve of his American relatives. However, they find common ground. The vandalism of the local mosque happens at the end of the story and is not necessarily the main plot. The theme is working together with many cultures, religions, and values and being respectful of each other. 

I give it a 3 out of 4 rating because it is a book we need at school. The plot and story were simple and straight forward and not as memorable as other books I have read.