VVMBookBlog

Don’t you Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Tish has many challenges in her life.  One of these challenges is writing twice a week in a journal for Mrs. Dunphrey.  It is made easier since Mrs. Dunphrey has promised not to read the entries labeled “Don’t read.”  Actually the journal is one of the better things in Tish’s life.  Her mother is rarely home, and her father has left (come back, left…).  She works at Burger Boy with a supervisor who is not real tolerable.  In addition to all of this, she seems to be the only one taking care of her little brother.

Don’t you Dare Read this, Mrs. Dunphrey is a book I’ve seen students reading for years, but I had never read.  After reading this book it is easy to see why students like it and realize its popularity over the years.

Zazoo by Richard Mosher

Zazoo is a unique story about a Vietnamese girl, Zazoo, who is orphaned and lives with her grandfather.  A series of plot lines make this book interesting until the end.  One plot line focuses on Zazoo and her grandfather who is getting older and has a difficult time with simple tasks such as making coffee.  She loves her grandfather and takes care of him.  There is also a bit of intrigue and romance as she meets a boy from Paris along the river where she spends much of her time swimming and riding in her boat (punt).  Another story line involves a pharmacist who helps the boy and Zazoo keep communication and has some history with Zazoo’s grandfather.

I hesitated before writing this post.  Without giving the ending of the story away, I can’t do justice to this book.  Anyone intrigued with the travesties of war, the pleasures of a new romance, or the love that binds family will find interest in this book.

Ashes of Roses by Mary Jan Auch

Margaret Rose and her family make the trip from Ireland to the United States in 1911. This is a life dream for them. As the family enters the United States, they learn that the father (Da) and baby will have to go back to Ireland. The decision is made that Ma will stay with the two girls until the family can be reunited. Da plans on returning to the United States. Through a series of unforseen circumstances, the two girls are left on their own to survive in this new country. Many have said the U.S. streets are “paved with gold.” The truth shows finding work is extremely difficult, and people are unkind.

This book is a historical fiction novel that talks about the horrible working conditions many men, women, and children faced every day trying to survive in a new country. The sisters work at the Triangle Shirtwaist, a real factory from 1911 in New York. As with historical fiction, the story is fictional, but the events of the story are real. Immigrants have come to America for better living and working conditions for over 100 years. This story depicts the struggles one family faced. Many families face struggles every day trying to find a better life in America.

Located in Cleveland, Ohio, Washington Middle School is at the end of a dead end street in a run-down neighborhood.  Mr. Collins is an experienced math teacher, but he’s looking for ways to help his apathetic 7th grade math students care about school and math.  So he challenges them to build a tetrahedron structure 7 levels high that would break the record set by a private school in California.

You probably know that a tetrahedron is a geometric solid with 4 sides, all equilateral triangles. Smaller tetrahedrons can be joined together to make bigger ones, and that’s the challenge Mr. Collins makes to this pretty unmotivated math class.  The participants include James Harris III, Marcel, Rhondell, Sharice, Mr. Collins and others who might come along, and each person tells the story from their perspective.  Each personal narrative also reveals things going on in their lives that affect who they are at school.  And since Marcel’s father owns Willy Q’s Barbecue, the book also includes some recipes for barbecue sauces at various degrees of heat, and other items sold at Willy Q’s.

I enjoyed reading this book–it was a FAST read–and enjoyed celebrating the lows and highs of the project and their lives.

Bella–real name is Isabella–was born the daughter of an angry and unhappy knight named Edward. When Bella’s mother died giving birth to her, Bella was brought to live with a peasant family in a nearby village. She grew up in that loving family, never knowing about her father or his position in their medieval society. She also had one special friend, Prince Julian of Moranmoor, who was also raised by Bella’s peasant family, and who would play an important role later in Bella’s life.

When Edward the knight marries again and brings his new wife and her two young daughters with her, he also demands that Bella comes back to live in his castle. But life for Bella with her new stepmother and two stepsisters (Cinderella?) is not a happy one. Bella makes the best of it and manages to find some happiness here, too, until the day the older stepsister brings news home from the king’s castle that threatens her friend, Prince Julian.

Using the usual fairy tale elements such as a magic ring, glass slippers, beautiful gowns and mighty horses, the author turns this nice little story into an exciting, romantic adventure with a brave young girl stepping to right wrongs and change peoples’ lives. Readers who like the books using variations of the Cinderella story should really like Bella at Midnight!