Wow! School!
To
ease separation anxieties, In My
Heart by Molly Bang telegraphs
reassurance and love. A working mother
and her preschooler may not be together
during the day, but no matter what Mom
is doing (“. . . waiting for the
bus . . . reading the paper . . .”), she
tells her child: “You’re in my heart.”
The authentic, informal tone and warmly
colored illustrations emphasize the
richness of the parent’s and child’s
separate lives rather than the
difficulties of being apart. (2–4 years)
Three
books specifically address what
pre-kindergartners can expect on the
first day. In Kindergarten Rocks!
by Katie Davis, Dexter isn’t scared
about starting kindergarten — his
stuffed dog Rufus is the nervous one.
Older sister Jessie understands and
reassures Dexter that he’s going to have
a great time. The humorous art
resembling kids’ crayon drawings is just
right for this comforting story. Anne
Rockwell treads similar ground in Welcome to Kindergarten, when a
young boy
and
his mother tour his new classroom and
find it’s not so big and scary after
all. Rosemary Wells’s collection of
forty-five vignettes follows Emily, a
little rabbit-child, through a whole
year in My Kindergarten. Wells
draws on many iconic images of
kindergarten — first-day jitters,
library visits — as well as traditional
subjects such as numbers, letters, and
patterns. (all 3–5 years)
In
Oh. My. Gods.
by Tera Lynn Childs (Dutton,
2008), Phoebe’s mother returns
from a trip to Greece with an
engagement ring, and whisks her
daughter off to a secret island
in the Aegean Sea. Phoebe
enrolls in an ultra-exclusive
academy where her future
stepfather is headmaster and all
her fellow students are
descendants of Greek gods and
goddesses, complete with
corresponding superpowers. The
familiar high school setting is
populated with cliques like the
Zeus/Hera set (who “make Paris
Hilton look like a Vestal
Virgin”) and the über Goths of
the “Hades harem,” and Phoebe’s
cross-country competition
includes Hermes’ offspring. This
lighthearted, imaginative
recasting of mythology sparkles
with witty dialogue and humorous
antics.
Piper
McCloud also has supernatural
ability, in Victoria Forester’s
The Girl Who Could
Fly (Feiwel &
Friends, 2008). Hidden at home
by her elderly parents, Piper’s
airborne talent frightens the
Lowland County populace. Dr.
Letitia Hellion arrives with an
invitation to attend a
top-secret maximum-security
school where Piper joins
classmates whose powers include
brute strength, telekinesis,
X-ray vision, and hyper-speed.
Dr. Hellion and her mysterious
staff of scientists hide
terrible secrets. Piper and
super-genius Conrad pursue the
truth in a fast-paced, clever
story that explores the ethics
of scientific experimentation.
Bianca
reluctantly enrolls in isolated,
gloomy Evernight Academy when
her parents take teaching jobs
at the eerie boarding school, in
Claudia Gray’s
Evernight (HarperTeen,
2008). Not feeling beautiful or
wealthy enough to fit in, shy
Bianca falls in love with fellow
outsider Lucas. As their
relationship intensifies, each
carries a dark secret; Bianca is
a vampire, like her fellow
Evernight students, and Lucas is
a vampire hunter. Gray builds
the mood through skillful
foreshadowing in this tale of
ill-fated lovers, weaving in
clever scenarios of
thousand-year-old vampires
learning to use iPods and
microwaves so they will fit into
the 21st century.
Frankie also attends a boarding school in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Hyperion, 2008). A legacy student at Alabaster Prep following in the footsteps of her father and older sister, sophomore Frankie wants to be valued for herself. Underestimated by her senior boyfriend Matthew, she discovers that he and his best friend Alpha are co-leaders of The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, a secret all-male society devoted to pulling pranks. Frankie surreptitiously commandeers the Bassets, leading them through increasingly risky and hilarious mischief. Frankie, a refreshingly strong and cerebral heroine, displays a keen sense of self in this story that explores class, tradition, and feminism.
Self-declared
nerd Leon, 17, is stuck with
outcast Melody as his class
project partner, in Brian
Katcher’s Playing
with Matches (Delacorte,
2008). Her face severely burned
in a childhood accident, Melody
is the butt of jokes and snide
remarks. When they discover a
shared love of offbeat humor,
their friendship grows and turns
to romance. Then Leon captures
the attention of popular beauty
Amy, and rationalizes his way to
dumping loyal, intelligent
Melody with not so predictable
results. Full of Leon’s
self-deprecating, ironic humor,
and relationship angst,
Playing with Matches
invites readers to look past the
surface as each character
reveals hidden strengths and
struggles.
Tweens
and middle schoolers will
identify with The
Truth about Truman School
by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert
Whitman, 2008). Zebby, 14, and
her friend Amr set up an
uncensored Web site where
classmates can post their true
thoughts and feelings about
their school. When it turns into
a place to trash a popular
classmate, with vicious
anonymous comments and links to
fabricated sites like “Lilly’s
Lesbian Diary” and “We Hate
Lilly Clarke,” Zebby and Amr
debate their responsibility,
especially when Lilly runs away
from home. Told from alternating
viewpoints of the various eighth
graders involved, this is full
of authentically insecure middle
school voices, lending itself to
consideration of cyberbullying
and freedom of speech.
Dust off your classroom and library shelves and make room for these titles offering a bit of lighthearted fun, romance, teen angst, horror, and/or explorations on some provocative themes.
