The Many Hats of a School Librarian

At first I was annoyed because I don’t really love more animal books for every state choice selection. And then I fell in love with the goat because anything that helps us through tough emotions is worth the patience. My dad had goats when I was young, too. I remember my mom getting so mad when one was on top of her car. Enjoy this lighter read with heart. 

Telephone of the Tree by Alison McGhee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Beautifully written to describe a grief journey in the voice of an 11 year old.   Great to recommend for students who are in a place to explore these feelings because they haven't felt them yet or because they have.  Know your reader before recommending.  Has a lot of reaction in language with simple text so possibly  good for a lower level reader in a higher grade. However, must have deeper or developing comprehension and inference skills.  View all my reviews

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu My rating: 3 of 5 stars I will change my review when I really read it. soon... View all my reviews

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart My rating: 4 of 5 stars We read this with my first 6th grade book club. It was really fun. It's about a group of kids who are super smart and find themselves on a weird journey. View all my reviews

Son by Lois Lowry My rating: 0 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this series and am so glad that I finished reading them. There are a couple of questions that I still have unanswered that I would like to know, but most everything is wrapped up by the end of this 4th book. I am excited to recommend this to students. View all my reviews

Messenger by Lois Lowry My rating: 5 of 5 stars The 3rd book in the Giver Quartet does not disappoint. The story of Matty, Seer, and Kira is captivating. Lowry's words paint such a haunting image of the Forest. If they ever make this into a movie, there is no way the film can be better than the mind. The focus on greed and the cost kept me tuned into the emotions of the entire story. View all my reviews

The Giver by Lois Lowry My rating: 4 of 5 stars I didn't love this when I read it the first time many years ago. The questions may have been too complex for me at the time. I re-read it last week and it had a much bigger appeal to me with the recent dystopian novels I have been reading. It's nice to know that there is a sequel - or series of companion books - so instead of an open questions, we can find out how the author intended it to end. View all my reviews

Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel by K.A. Holt My rating: 3 of 5 stars At the beginning, this book seemed totally crazy to me. A trip to Mars? Moving there? What? Really? But then, as I kept reading, this new future environment began to be totally believable to me. I then could really care about the characters and enjoy the action in the story. View all my reviews

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea My rating: 4 of 5 stars This would be a great read-aloud in any of my intermediate classrooms. There are so many lessons to be learned from Mr. Terupt! The obvious ones are to be nice, forgive, and be there for your friends. Maybe a less obvious one is because I am a teacher. The thing that struck me was that in the few instances where Mr. Terupt gave lessons, redirected behavior, or spoke to his students, it didn't seem that important. However, the reaction of the students after the accident, made me really stop and think about how much I influence my students by the little things. Even though our students test us, I know they care about us just as much as we care about them. View all my reviews

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper My rating: 4 of 5 stars Wow! This one was so great! I don't know how the MN students are going to choose for the Maud Hart Lovelace award this year! It was so interesting to get a glimpse inside the thoughts of someone who can't speak like I can. This was written a few years ago, so myspace was the web presence of choice and for the first few chapters, I was thinking about how iPads are probably now being used for communication much less expensively than before. I was so happy to follow along with Melody's journey in 5th grade. View all my reviews

Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted My rating: 4 of 5 stars This one kept me turning the pages quickly! I love anything having to do with spies and the CIA so I was so excited when I read the description for this one. It was kind of cool to see what it must be like to be a kid with so many powerful skills, and it made me thankful for my boring life in MN. View all my reviews

Quarterback Season by Fred Bowen My rating: 3 of 5 stars If you like sports books, this is a good one. it it written in journal format and has lots of technical descriptions of football. It helped me understand a bit more of the game, but I would have liked it better if it was about dance :) View all my reviews

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen My rating: 5 of 5 stars I loved this! I had to keep Kleenex near by the entire time, not because it was sad, but because it was so inspiring! I have run in races before, so it was easy for me to identify with some of the settings and how she feels about running sometimes. I definitely recommend it! View all my reviews

Reached by Ally Condie My rating: 5 of 5 stars I liked the first book, Matched enough to keep reading. The 2nd book, Crossed, I though "blah, blah, blah, love, love, love, Ky, Cassia, blah, blah. This book, Reached, was amazing. I had trouble putting it down, and when I did the story stayed in my head until I started reading again. So glad I read through Crossed to get to this one! View all my reviews

Matched by Ally Condie My rating: 4 of 5 stars It sucked me in!! I had to download the next one immediately. It's nice to have another dystopian trilogy without as much violence so I can recommend it to my 5th and 6th graders. View all my reviews

Heroes of the Surf by Elisa Carbone My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was enthralled! I couldn't wait to see what happened to Anthony, Pedro, and the other people on board the Pliny ship. The drawings were exquisite and the fact that it is based on a true story in the 1800's made me even more interested. I would love to recommend this book to picture book readers since the story is suspenseful, and there are longer paragraphs on each page. Historical fiction for second third and fourth graders. View all my reviews

Abe Lincoln's Dream by Lane Smith My rating: 3 of 5 stars I liked this book, but it was really vague. It seems like it would be good to read around President's day to spark an interest about Abe Lincoln, but it doesn't really give enough history to be read without more information with kids in 3rd or 4th grade. The illustrations are fantastic. It can also be used with older kids as a jump to compare what our country was like then and now and talk about some of the social issues that we still face. View all my reviews

Look... Look Again! by John O'Brien My rating: 3 of 5 stars At first, I thought it was a weird book, but then I "got it." It would be fun for kids to read that like or are learning about play on words and figurative language. It's a book that has a title for each page and 4 cartoons describing the title more literally than the figurative way the phrase is usually meant. I recommend for 4th grade and up, the little kids won't get it. View all my reviews

The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a great book about sticking with something long enough to get good at it. It also helps to give background knowledge about some martial arts. I like that it is just another story based on the 3 little pigs. However, I question whether it's a good idea to talk about fighting at school. Is it different when we are talking about marital arts, or is it just fighting? View all my reviews

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass My rating: 3 of 5 stars I listened to this books by checking out the digital audiobook and downloading it to my mp3 player. I listened to it while we took a long road trip. At first, I was kind of bored. Was I really going to sit this whole time and just listen to a story about a girl and her birthday party? Well, I kept listening and then the twist happened and I wanted to keep listening. I didn't even notice how boring the drive through the cornfields of Iowa was because I was busy visualizing the girl's party... over and over again. I even wanted to keep listening once we got to our destination. View all my reviews