Looking for Me by Betsy Rosenthal

A short, poignant account of eleven-year-old Edith, growing up in a Jewish family of twelve children in Baltimore during the 1930's. Told in free verse, the words are succinct, and evoke the feeling of what life was like for this little girl. While this genre is a difficult sell to many students, if they read it with an open heart, it will be impossible for them not to be touched. The first poem really pulled me in;




"I'm just plain Edith.
I'm number four,
and should anyone care,
I'm eleven years old,
with curly black hair.

Squeezed / between / two / brothers,
Daniel and Ray,
lost in a crowd,
will I ever be more
than just plain Edith,
who's number four?

In my overcrowded family
I'm just another face.
I'm just plain Edith
of no special place."

Reed Reads Score: 4.5

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker has been left by her father in Manifest, Kansas under the care of an old friend named Shady, as he works on the railroads in 1936. Abilene finds the town curious, but boring...until she finds a cigar box, filled with mementos and letters. Who is this spy called Rattler? Who are the letters from? What is the significance of these objects? And, why did her father leave her here and what is his relationship with these people? The mystery is what drives this story that is told in two time periods, Abilene's present, and the period of the mystery person's box, World War I.

Honestly, I didn't enjoy the book's start. It was a too sweet, rural America, historical fiction. Then the story grew on me and I realized the simple apple pie I was reading was far more complex than it first appeared. This is a story that you savor slowly; one that gets more interesting as it develops, and brings a huge reward at the end.
Reed Reads Score: 4

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Hugo lives secretly in the walls of the Paris train station. Orphaned, he now maintains the clocks in the station for his uncle who disappeared. More important, Hugo is trying to complete a project of his father's...rebuilding an old mysterious machine found in a museum attic. To get by, Hugo steals food from station cafés, and parts for the machine from a toy store booth in the station. All goes well until he gets caught by the toy store owner.... Here the story begins where Hugo is forced to befriend the toy store owner's grand daughter, help at the toy store, and unravel the mystery of the machine.

This novel is a beautiful, timeless tale told in a unique format. The book, over 500 pages, is at first intimidating, until you open it up. The opening sequence is a series of pictures, that seem like the opening of a silent movie, or a movie storyboard that blends perfectly into the text that follows. The book is about half illustrations that move the story forward. Brian Selznick's words and outstanding illustrations combine to create a classic, yet innovative book. Reed Reads Score: 5