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McCarter Elementary Library
Wonderstruck
By Brian Selznick
Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she keeps track of in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.
Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories--Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures--weave back and forth. How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge you, and leave you breathless with wonder.
Delia's summer is getting off to a terrible start. First, an inspector shows up at the house and threatens to condemn it. Then lightning strikes, literally, and Mama ends up in the hospital. To make matters even worse, with no other family to speak of, Delia is forced to move in with her nemesis, Tommy "as-dense-as-a-stump" Parker.
Not one to sit around doing nothing, Delia huddles with her best friend, Mae, and reluctantly recruits Tommy, to help save the house. The three of them resolve to tackle the long list of repairs, one by one. But Delia quickly discovers that it takes more than energy and willingness to handle some problems. When things go from bad to worse, Delia has to take another route, one that starts with admitting she just can't do what needs to be done without a lot more help.
The Summer of Hammers and Angels
By Shannon Wiersbitzky
Sasha Zaichik lives in the USSR with his father in an apartment with 47 other people. He has dreamed of becoming a Young Soviet Pioneer and serving Stalin, whom he worships, all of his short life. He has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six:
The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.
A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.
A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings.
But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has awaited for so long, everything seems to go wrong. He breaks a classmate's glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a statue of Stalin in the school hallway. And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night. This moving story is powerful in its message and heartbreaking in how easily it could be true.
Breaking Stalin's Nose
By Eugene Velchin
Balloons Over Broadway
By Melissa Sweet
Everyone’s a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant new balloons will fill the skies for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Who first invented these “upside-down puppets”? Meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire! In brilliant collage illustrations, the award-winning artist Melissa Sweet tells the story of the puppeteer Tony Sarg, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America—the inspired helium balloons that would become the trademark of Macy’s Parade.
All book descriptions adapted from Amazon.com and Goodreads
Tuesdays at the Castle
By Jessica Day George
True...sort of
By Katherine Hannigan
Tuesdays at Castle Glower are Princess Celie's favorite days. That's because on Tuesdays the castle adds a new room, a turret, or sometimes even an entire wing. No one ever knows what the castle will do next, and no one other than Celie takes the time to map out the new additions. But when King and Queen Glower, Celie's parents, are ambushed and their fate is unknown, it's up to Celie, with her secret knowledge of the castle's never-ending twists and turns, to protect their home and save their kingdom.
True: Delly Pattison likes surpresents (presents that are a surprise). The day the Boyds come to town, Delly's sure a surpresent is on its way. But lately, everything she thinks will be good and fun turns into trouble. She's never needed a surpresent more than now.
True: Brud Kinney wants to play basketball like nothing anybody's ever seen. When the Boyds arrive, though, Brud meets someone who plays like nothing he's ever seen.
True: Ferris Boyd isn't like anyone Delly or Brud have ever met. Ferris is a real mysturiosity (an extremely curious mystery).
True: This novel is a compelling look at the ways friendships and truths are discovered.
It's all true ( . . . sort of).
America is Under Attack
By Don Brown
Close to Famous
By Joan Bauer
The William Allen White Children's Book Award was established in 1952 by Ruth Garver Gagliardo to honor the memory of one of the state's most distinguished citizens. The award is unique in that students choose the winner, not adults. The William Allen White Award was the first statewide readers' choice book award in the United States. Each year, a list of books are chosen by committee and presented to Kansas students at the beginning of the school year. Students all across the state read the books on the list and then vote for their favorite in March. Two winning books are chosen each year: one by students in grades 3-5 and one by students in grades 6-8.
William Allen White Award
When twelve-year-old Foster and her mother land in the tiny town of Culpepper, they don't know what to expect. But folks quickly warm to the woman with the great voice and the girl who can bake like nobody's business. Soon Foster, who dreams of having her own cooking show one day, lands herself a gig baking for the local coffee shop, and gets herself some much-needed help in overcoming her biggest challenge: learning to read. But just as Foster and Mama start to feel at ease, their past catches up to them. Will Foster and her mama find the strength to put their troubles behind them for good?
The events of September 11, 2001 changed the world forever. In this book, Don Brown narrates the events of the day in a way that is understandable for young readers. Straightforward and honest, this account moves chronologically (in order of the time things happened) through the morning, from the plane hijackings to the crashes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania; from the rescue operations at the WTC site to the collapse of the buildings. Vivid watercolor illustrations capture the emotion of the tragedy, making this an important book about an unforgettable day in American history.