VVMBookBlog

First of all, a big “Thank you!” to Ms. Moeller for posting all the books she has been reading this summer. Some teachers heard author Sharon Draper speak at a conference back in May. She said reading and language arts teachers should spend their summer reading the books their students are reading–and read 200 of them! 200 books! Didn’t think I could manage that, but Ms. Moeller and a few teachers are going to help out. Do you think we can post 200 books on this blog this summer??

And if you read any of these books, or have something to say, be sure to post your comments and tell us what you think!

So, Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer. I REALLY like Joan Bauer as an author. This book is a sequel to Rules of the Road where Jenna gets her dream job working for Mrs. Gladstone selling shoes and being Mrs. Gladstone’s chauffeur and helper. In this book Mrs. Gladstone hires 16-year-old Tanner Cobb to learn the shoe business from Jenna, but only after he was caught shoplifting items from their shoe store. Is Mrs. Gladstone’s inspiration enough to change the direction of his life? Jenna also gets deeper into the often cutthroat business of selling shoes and dealing with Mrs. Gladstone’s slimy son Elden, who is trying to take Gladstone Shoes down a bad road, both ethically and financially. Go, Jenna!

Other books I like by Joan Bauer:

• Hope Was Here (Maud Hart Lovelace a year ago)
• Stand Tall – This one’s about a boy–nicknamed Tree!
• Rules of the Road

As one of the Maud Hart Lovelace books for this coming year, Gregor the Overlander really got my attention. It’s a fantasy and if you’ve heard me do booktalks, you know fantasy is not my favorite book genre. But…I really liked Gregor…and Boots! Gregor is 11 and, because his dad just disappeared over 2 1/2 years ago, his mom works fulltime so he is given the responsibility of watching his 2-year-old sister, Boots, for the summer. That means no camp and not much summer fun for Gregor, but he really likes Boots so he’s okay. Then one day in the laundry room in their New York City apartment…

Gregor’s doing laundry and notices Boots has crawled into–and fallen down–an air vent! Naturally he goes after her and they both end up sailing down, down, down and ending up in the Underland with giant talking cockroaches, bats and spiders, humans with violet eyes, and vicious rats. Are they prisoners? How can Gregor get Boots and himself back home again to their mom? What do they have to do before the Underlanders will help them get home? And are there more surprises in the story?

The ending just about screams “Sequel” and sure enough, we now have the Underground Chronicles and here they are:

• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane
• Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
• Gregor and the Marks of Secret

What will little Boots do next??