Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Cover ImageFrom the Publisher: "Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”  Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town."


Publisher: Random House, 2010, 368 pp.

ANNOUNCING THE WINNER AND HONOR BOOKS

The four honor books:
One Crazy Summer 
Heart of a Samurai
Dark Emperor and other Poems of the Night
Turtle in Paradise

AND THE WINNING TITLE IS:
Moon over Manifest

Monday, January 3, 2011

AND THE WINNER IS....

Today at our Mock Newbery Election, participants from our book group voted for the following:
Winner:  Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Honor books in ranking order:  Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm, Mirror Mirror: a Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer, Candymakers by Wendy Mass, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Stephen Angleberger

Congratulations to the Falmouth Mock Newbery Book Group for your enthusiasm.  You guys were awesome.
A big THANK YOU to our ten readers from the community.  It made the event that much more special.

Cathy Potter, the school librarian was instrumental in making this whole project a success.

Get ready to start reading the 2011 books for the 2012 Mock Newbery Club.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

  From the Publisher: "Every school day feels the same for fourth graders Lucy and Henry and Evie and Russell and May. Then Ms. Mirabel comes to their class—bringing magical words and a whole new way of seeing and understanding."

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2010, 128 pp.

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

From the Publisher: "It was February 1, 1960. They didn't need menus. Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side. Courageously defying the WHITES ONLY edict of the era, four young black men took a stand against the injustice of segregation in America by sitting down at the lunch counter of a Woolworth's department store. Countless others of all races soon joined the cause following Martin Luther King Jr.'s powerful words of peaceful protest. By sitting down together, they stood up for civil rights and created the perfect recipe for integration not only at the Woolworth's counter, but on buses and and in communities throughout the South."

Publisher: Little Brown, 2010, 40 pp.

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhoades

 Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes: Book Cover From the Publisher: "Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. She doesn't have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya's visions show a powerful hurricane--Katrina--fast approaching, it's up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm."

Publisher: Little Brown, 2010, 217 pp.