New Books

Greetings!

Some of you have been asking for new books. I have three to share with you today that we are using for our Sunflower Award. I am partnering with our seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher who is giving advanced reading credit to any and all students who read a minimum of twelve of our Sunflower books. These three are all published in 2016, so they are quite new and most likely your students will not have read them. Although we are saving them for the seventh and eighth graders, you will likely have students in the fifth and sixth grades that will enjoy them, as well.


Kid Owner by Tim Green
Take Ryan, 12-year-old boy who wants to play middle school football, add in a mother who does not want her son to play football. Then add in a father that Ryan never knew who unexpectedly dies and leaves to Ryan the Dallas Cowboys football team. Of course, Ryan is thrilled beyond belief, but owning the Cowboys does not bring him friendship. He now has many more complicated problems to deal with and then to top it off, he must deal with a jealous stepmother and half-brother he knew nothing about. His stepmother wants her son to have the Cowboys and is working the legal system to get this inheritance changed. What will happen to Ryan? Will he remain the ‘kid owner’ or will the football team be taken from him?


A Bandit’s Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket by Deborah Hopkinson
Rocco, an 11-year-old boy, is sold by his parents to a *padrone and brought to the United States from Italy to work in the streets. His family believes the padrone is honorable man and do not realize that Rocco must entertain people in the streets trying to earn money. The padrone takes the money and if Rocco and the other boys do not bring in at least a dollar a day, they are beaten, starved, and punished in other ways. Rocco meets a pickpocket and thinks that he would be better off if he begins to include this new method of earning money. Is Rocco a poor boy sold to a villain or is he a scoundrel who deserves what he gets?
This story by Deborah Hopkinson takes the reader back to nineteenth century New York where we learn what it was like to live back then. Child labor, immigration, animal cruelty are all topics that are addressed in this story.
*a contract labor system that many immigrants used to find employment in the United States.


Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg
Terpsichore loves Laura Ingalls Wilder books and wants to be a pioneer. Her chance comes when the family decide to move from Wisconsin to Alaska to be pioneers. Terpsichore is loving this new adventure and falls in love with Alaska. The only problem is her mother who is homesick for Wisconsin and polite society. Terpsichore hatches a plan to convince her mother that Alaska can be a wonderful, civilized home.
This story is based on Alaska’s real life Palmer Colony.

I will have more in a few weeks. I just need to get them read, first. Thank goodness I have some parents who help read them for me!

Have a great week!

Audrey