Small as an Elephant...student review

Book Review: Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Jacobson

by msbabookbuzz

Jack and his mom go on a camping trip at Acadia National Park in Maine. When Jack wakes up...his mom is gone! He stays at the camp ground for a few days, then leaves to go back home because school has started. Along the way he plans to see his favorite of animals, the elephant. In Maine? Yes, he knows right where to find one...but will he make it? And where is his mom?

His journey is an adventurous, heart warming story. With sad parts and happy parts, it's one of my favorite books. I recommend it for the 2012 MSBA list (and to everyone else in the world).

I loved it! I loved seeing how Jack took care of himself and tried to keep everyone from finding out about his mom. I think it is geared for 4th, 5th and 6th graders, but I would recommend it to everyone.

by Maggie B., 5th Grade

Wonderstruck!

On the 2012/2013 Reading List:

Playing with the form he created in his trailblazing debut novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey. Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories...Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures...weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge you, and leave you breathless with wonder. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful...with over 460 pages of original artwork... Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary.

Lost Trail : Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness

On the 2012/2013 Reading List:

Donn Fendler's harrowing story of being lost in the Maine wilderness when he was just twelve, was made famous by the perennial best-seller, Lost on a Mountain in Maine. In Lost Trail, more than 70 years after the event, Donn tells the story of survival and rescue from his own perspective. Lost Trail is a masterfully illustrated graphic novel that tells the story of a twelve year old boyscout from a New York City suburb who climbs Maine's mile-high Mt. Katahdin and in a sudden storm is separated from his friends and family. What follows is a nine-day adventure, in which Donn, lost and alone in the Maine wilderness with bugs, bears, and only a few berries to eat, struggles for survival.

2012/2013 MSBA Reading List

2012-2013 Reading List (all books are 2011 copyright)

Aronson, Sarah. - Beyond Lucky

Barrow, Randi G. - Saving Zasha.

Bragg, Georgia - How They Croaked : The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous

Davies, Stephen - Outlaw : a Novel

Denenberg, Barry - Titanic Sinks!

Duble, Kathleen Benner - Phantoms in the Snow

Ellis, Deborah - No Ordinary Day

Fendler, Donn with Lynne Plourde - Lost Trail : Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness

Fleming, Candace - Amelia Lost : The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Frost, Helen - Hidden

Gantos, Jack - Dead End in Norvelt

Greenwald, Tom - Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading

Gutman, Dan - Mission Unstoppable (The Genius Files)

Hannigan, Katherine - True (..sort of)

Hartley, A. J. (Andrew James) - Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact

Hilmo, Tess - With a Name Like Love

Jacobson, Jennifer Richard - Small as an Elephant

Jeffrey, Mark - Max Quick : The Pocket and the Pendant

Kang, Hildi - Chengli and the Silk Road Caravan

Kessler, Liz - A Year Without Autumn

Kozlowsky, M. P. - Juniper Berry

Larson, Kirby - The Friendship Doll

Lewis, Gill - Wild Wings

Luper, Eric - Jeremy Bender vs. the Cupcake Cadets

Magoon, Kekla - Camo Girl

McMann, Lisa - The Unwanteds

Nelson, Kadir - Heart and Soul : The Story of America and African Americans

Neri, Greg - Ghetto Cowboy : A Novel

O'Dell, Kathleen - The Aviary

Oliver, Lauren - Liesl & Po

Oppel, Kenneth - This Dark Endeavor : The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein

Santat, Dan - Sidekicks

Schmatz, Pat - Bluefish

Schmidt, Gary D. - Okay For Now

Selznick, Brian - Wonderstruck : Novel in Words and Pictures

Shang, Wendy Wan Long - The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

Stanley, Diane - The Silver Bowl

Thomson, Sarah L. - Mercy : The Last New England Vampire

Van Draanen, Wendelin - The Running Dream

Weissman, Elissa Brent - Nerd Camp

MSBA 2012 Winner!

The winner is... Smile by Raina Telgemeier - 746
Second: Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper - 379 votes
Third: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan - 365 votes

Voting This Week!

I'll be in the Mount View Elementray Library today and tomorrow to help Mrs. Harrington collect the MSBA votes from the 5th grades! I don't know about you, but I'm very excited!

After Ever After

I can not wait to read this book, having so enjoyed Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie ! Below is a review of After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick, from the MSBA Book Buzz blog http://msbabookbuzz.wordpress.com/

With his cancer having been in remission for five years, Jeffrey enters the eighth grade assuming it’ll be like any other year for him and his best friend Tad, also a cancer survivor. Though his older brother, Stephen, who has always been his hero is off traveling around Africa, everything else seems like it’ll be more of the same: dealing with learning difficulties caused by his cancer treatment, hanging out with the bitingly sarcastic Tad and training for a bike ride he does to benefit cancer research every year.

Enter Lindsey, a new girl from California, who arrives at Jeff’s school and proceeds to begin turning his world upside down. Then add an impossible new testing requirement that Jeff has to pass to make it to high school and Tad’s sudden determination to walk across the stage at graduation (he’s been in a wheelchair for several years) and you’ve got all the makings of one crazy year for Jeff.

A lot is packed into this sequel to 2005′s Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. Luckily, the author has created a sympathetic, thoughtful, realistic narrator and has filled this work of contemporary fiction with plenty of authentic dialogue. No doubt, there is real sadness here, the kind that leaves you thinking about the story long after it’s ended, but it’s balanced with humor and silliness that creates a life-like picture of the turbulence many people affected by a serious illness experience. -Brooke, McArthur Teen Librarian