Wonder by R.J. Palacio (audio)

Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Brilliance Audio)
Audience: Grades 4-6

My Rating: 3.5* of 5

Summary: Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
Comments: Given the buzz surrounding this title, my expectations were high. They were met, though just barely. Palacio smartly varies narrators throughout the book, ensuring that the reader does not tire of Auggie's inevitable self-centeredness. I could have done without the dog plot line, which these days seems an out-dated literary crutch. All told it was an empathetic slice of a different sort of life.
Read-alikes: Out of My Mind by Draper.
Awards: Texas Lone Star list 2013, Texas Bluebonnet list 2013.

Charley's First Night by Amy Hest (Ill. by Helen Oxenbury)

Audience: Preschool & up (and any dog lover!)

My Rating: 5* of 5

Summary: A little boy spending his first night with his new puppy promises to be responsible, but then decides to change the whimpering puppy's sleeping place.
Comments: Sweet, warm and baked to perfection.
 

Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life by Patterson (Audio)

Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life by Patterson (Audio)

Audience: Grades 5-7
My Rating: 1* of 5

Summary: When Rafe enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.
Comments: Middle School, the worst book about it! Patterson seemed intent on grabbing a piece of the Wimpy Kid pie, but forgot a crucial ingredient to its recipe for success: humor. Unlike Greg Heffley, Rafe is neither sympathetic nor entertaining in his escapades. Plot turns are predictable and characters are as 2-D as the illustrations throughout. In the end, I was too indifferent and annoyed to find anything poignant. Probably a great read for middle school boys--but I missed the point entirely.
Read-alikes: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Kinney, You by Benoit

The Fast and the Furriest by Behrens

The Fast and the Furriest by Andy Behrens, 2010.
Audience: 3rd-6th grade
My Rating: 4* of 5
Summary: Meet Kevin Pugh, 12-year-old couch potato. Now meet Cromwell, his part beagle, part potato chip dog. Kevin's looking forward to spending his summer doing as little as possible. Unfortunately, Kevin's father, former Chicago Bears star player/super-sports fanatic, Howie Pugh, feels differently. So does Cromwell, who has suddenly and mysteriously developed a fascination with agility competitions.
Comments: Fast, furry, fun! A quick, delightful read with lots of laughs. Perfect for dog lovers from 6-60 who are sick of dead-dog books.
Read-Alikes: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, No More Dead Dogs

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto (audio)

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper, read by Nick Podehl
Audience: Grades 8 and up
My Rating: 4* of 5
Summary: Seth's girlfriend breaks up with him at Applebee's. But wait, there's more. While Seth's girlfriend is breaking up with him at Applebee's, they see Seth's dad veeeeery cozy a few booths over with a woman who is not Seth's mom. Oh, and this Applebee's double whammy makes Seth late for his job at Belgian Fries in the mall so he gets fired. Sound like the start of a great summer?
Comments: A clever, funny, sometimes sweet boy-logic-applied-to-love book. Seth is just dopey enough to still be likable. Plot threads are all sorted well without being cheesy. Some colorful characters add to the charm.
Read-alikes: Swim the Fly / Beat the Band by Don Calame, both read by Nick Podehl; John Green books.

Swim the Fly / Beat the Band by Calame (Audio)

Swim the Fly / Beat the Band by Don Calame, both read by Nick Podehl.

Audience: Grades 8 and up

My Rating: 4* of 5

Summary: True ode(s) to the adolescent male, in this story about three teenage boys with a single goal: to see a real-live naked girl by the end of summer (Swim). Matt, Coop, and Sean from "Swim the Fly" return to rock their sophomore year. With ribald humor and a few sweet notes, screenwriter-turned-novelist Calame once again hits all the right chords (Beat the Band).

Comments: Hilarious, "American Pie" worthy humor was just the ticket for Friday afternoon traffic! Swim the Fly, with Matt as the narrating voice, has more laughs while Coop's Band is rife with sarcasm and idiotic-teenage-boy-logic. One wonders...will a final book feature Sean?

Read-alikes: Zen and the Art of Faking It by Sonnenblick

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger, 2010.

Audience: Grades 4 through 6

My Rating: 4* of 5

Summary: Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future.

Comments: Fun, relevant Middle-School read that is perfect for Wimpy Kid fans (though it has more boy-girl crush content than the Wimpy books).

Read-alikes: Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Big Nate series

Awards: 2011-2012 Bluebonnet nominee

Big Nate: In a Class By Himself by Peirce

Summary: Supremely confident middle school student Nate Wright manages to make getting detention from every one of his teachers in the same day seem like an achievement.

Comments: Total Diary of a Wimpy Kid rip-off, but funny anyway. Hand it to those waiting on the next Wimpy Kid installment.

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce. 2010.

Audience: Grades 5-8, ages 10-14.

My Rating: 4*s of 5

Summary: Twelve-year-old Liam, who looks like he is thirty and is tired of being treated like he is older than he actually is, decides he is going to pose as the adult chaperone on the first spaceship to take civilians into space, but when he ends up in outer space with a group of kids and no adult supervision, he must think fast to make things right.

Comments: Another Cottrell Boyce winner. This one is so different from Millions that there is no need to compare. A rare juvenile book that is a positive portrait of a dad. Funny, warm, great dialogue, and fantastic views of space.

Awards:

Read-alikes: George's Secret Key to the Universe by Hawking

Boys are Dogs (audio)

Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis. 2008.

Audience: Grades 4th-6th. Ages 8-12.
My Rating: 4*s of 5

Summary: When her mother gets a new boyfriend, sixth-grader Annabelle gets to cope with a new town, a new school, and a new puppy and, while training her puppy, she decides to apply some of the same techniques to tame the unruly boys that are making her middle-school life miserable.

Comments: What can I say, I'm a softy for a cute puppy book! Annabelle is fun to follow as she begins to stand up to the boys who bully her. The mom/new boyfriend subplot is also very well written. As an adult reader, I was at times concerned that she never involved an adult in her problems with boy bullies. But overall it was more satisfying to watch her solve her own (and in turn her friends) conflicts with boys.
Awards: YALSA Amazing Audio list 2010.

Read-alikes: Girls Acting Catty by Margolis

Zen and the Art of Faking It (audio)

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick. 2007.
Audience: Grades 6th-8th. Ages 12+

My Rating: 2.5*s of 5
Summary: When thirteen-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out. His knowledge of Zen Buddhism provides the answer--and the need to quickly become a convincing Zen master.

Comments: One of those palm to forehead books where the protagonist is always missing the obvious. The story fell a bit short for me, mostly because of some awkward language ("Yikes!") and predictable plot devices. Woody is a great character--in fact I found her more interesting than San by a long shot (I mean, 3-Pointer).
Awards: YALSA Amazing Audio list 2010.
Read-alikes:

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter. 2009.

Audience: 2nd - 6th Grade; 5 and up

My Rating: 5*s of 5

Summary: In this striking picture book biography, an old-timer tells us what made Sandy Koufax so amazing. We learn that the beginning of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers was rocky, that he was shy with his teammates, and experienced discrimination as one of the only Jews in the game. Accompanied by sidebars filled with statistics, here’s a book sure to delight budding baseball fans.

Comments: Wow! The fantastic cover (come on, who can resist a hologram of Koufax actually throwing a fastball?) pulled me into this extraordinary biography about a left-handed pitcher I had never heard of and will now never forget. The book reads like a casual and personal narrative told by one of Koufax's teammates, which allows for a perfect marriage of what Koufax did and who he was. The "stat box" style call outs throughout offer amazing info that enhances the experience. Illustrations--wow--couldn't be better. All the elements of this book come together to make something that is way more than a biography--a home run of a book!

Awards: Soon to come, I'm sure!

Read-alikes: Frida; Roberto Clemente; Fair Ball!; Muhammad Ali ; Dizzy (all by Winter); We Are the Ship by Nelson.

The Graveyard Book (audio)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. 2008.
Audience: 5th or 6th Grade and up; 10 and up
My Rating: 3.5*s of 5
Summary: The orphan Bod, short for Nobody, is taken in by the inhabitants of a graveyard as a child of eighteen months and raised lovingly and carefully to the age of eighteen years by the community of ghosts and otherworldly creatures.

Comments: I first picked up this book right after it's release in Sept. of 2008 being a big Gaiman fan and eager to read his newest. About the time I got to the ghoul scene, I lost interest and put it down. Now, since Gaiman himself narrates, I made it through the entire audio book much more easily (though I still found the ghoul scene boring and somewhat pointless). This is not my favorite of his books (I much preferred Anansi Boys) and is often too reminiscent of Coraline. However, it carries Gaiman's usual charming voice; the "Dance the Macabre" chapter is enchantingly well written. The beginning is quite scary, especially in print with the dark illustrations. The setting and characters are certainly original for a younger, coming of age story and I appreciate the overall message of the value of life as well as the cost of living in fear.
Awards: Newbery Medal winner, 2009!
Read-alikes: Coraline

The Schwa Was Here

The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman. 2004/2006 reissue.
Audience: 6-10th Grade; Ages 11-15
My Rating: 4.5*s of 5
Summary: A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone.

Comments: Antsy wins me over again. He is a delightful and fun narrator who Shusterman told me (eeeee!) is based on "his alter ego...a kid who says out loud everything [Neal] wanted to but couldn't." As with Antsy Does Time, death/loss is dealt with in a humourous, but never mocking way. I read the two Antsy stories out of order and they stood alone very nicely.

Awards: Lone Star list 2006, lots of journal lists
Read-alikes: Antsy Does Time by Shusterman and according to the author, eventually Antsy Floats (to feature another gramatical charcter...Tilda)

Two-Minute Drill by Mike Lupica

Two-Minute Drill by Mike Lupica. 2007. (Comeback Kids series, v.2) Audience: 4-6 Grade; Ages 8-10
My Rating: 3*s of 5
Summary: Brainy Scott, a great kicker who otherwise struggles with football, and star quarterback Chris, who has dyslexia, team up to help each other succeed in both football and school.
Comments: The writing is simple and straightforward as you would expect from a sportswriter. The plot and characters are engaging though predictable and somewhat caricatured. A good choice for boys reluctant to read.
Awards: Bluebonnet List 2009-2010
Read-alikes: Hot Hand, Comeback Kids series v.1

Swindle by Korman

Swindle by Gordon Korman. 2008.

My Rating: 3.5 *s out of 5
Audience: Ages 9-12/Grades 3-6

Summary: After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to break into Palomino's heavily guarded store and steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the Smart Pick fruit picker.

Comments: Face paced, predictable, morally ambiguous, entertaining, suspenseful

Awards: 2009-2010 Bluebonnet nominee

Read-alikes: Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce