Blogger Book Club

Find the Seventh...These are the very words that Jim heard all alone in the garden at Minerva Hall.  Can't tell Dad or Sal or anyone, but the fear radiating throughout  his body...who could be watching him? What will Jim do?

Since moving to Minerva Hall, strange and unusual things have been occurring  randomly, without reason to Jim.  in light of his mother's recent death, he cannot bring himself to tell anyone not even family.  They had just moved into Minerva Hall, the tower in fact, so Jim's Dad could work as a Gardner for the estate.  Everywhere Jim goes he hears whispers...Find the Seventh.  The master does not like children, so when summoned to his part of the house, the children are terrified.  He tells them that their space is limited to the Tower rooms...too stay with in the boundaries.

That night while looking out the window, Jim sees another boy, sneaking into the maze. he calls out to him but the boy goes on. And so Jim makes a plan to go out the next night to lie in wait in the maze for the boy to return there.  So Jim sneaks out of the house, into the maze with a map, so as not to get lost, travels into the maze when suddenly he was there...on a small bench sat the boy.  After trying to have a conversation with the boy, who talked in riddles, the boy took off, someone was coming.  Jim decides to call the boy Einstein, and before he can leave the bench a girl, a faint image, sort of see through, says "My name is Harriet, I was born in the year 1814."  Jim looked away and that's when someone grabbed him. 

The world in Cold Cereal is one in which both magical creatures and humans live together.  But, that is not exactly by choice.  Rex’s creation of an evil cereal company (Goodco) that literally puts “A Little Bit of Magic in Every Box” is intriguing.  Readers will immerse themselves in the good versus evil story that includes stolen magical creatures and kids who are used as prototypes to test magical ingredients.  The large breadth of characters are each unique and snarky enough to keep the reader’s attention throughout the drawn out story.  Plots intertwine and mostly resolve at the end of the book including, but not limited to, an actor’s knighthood, a Bigfoot caretaker, a runaway Pooka and a brother and sister’s unique family tests.  It is clear that Cold Cereal is set up for a sequel and fantasy fiction readers who enjoy in depth plots and a large cast of characters will dig in. 

This contemporary fiction is so tasty. Foster doesn't want her reading disability to stand in her way of becoming a television food star.  She is immediately moved out of Memphis because of an abusive situation of her mother by mom's boyfriend.  They leave so quickly that Foster left without her father's belongings. She had saved so many memorable items.  They are so meaningful to her because her father was killed in Iraq.

Foster likes the idea that she got away from the situation in Memphis.  It is Foster who gives support to her mom to become a headliner - not just a backup singer for that abusive friend. She ends up in Culpepper, West Virginia. She still feels as if she has to hide her reading disability.  Just barely passing sixth grade still resonates in her mind. Foster gets help and support from the most unexpected characters.  In the back of the book is a recipe, of course, for awesome cupcakes.  There is also several book discussion questions written out to think about at your leisure.  I liked all the baking metaphors, but I really appreciated how the story all blended together. 

             * 2014 Rebecca Caudill Award Nominee *

I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson is about a girl who was given what she believes to be an unfortunate name Emma Freke a.k.a. Am A Freak.  She is in 6th grade, super tall and has bright red hair.  Not to mention that she is not like other kids. She has 1, only 1, best friend (Penelope) and her mom doesn't seem to care much about being a mom.  Emma feels out of place and lonely in her home town and can't imagine how her life could get any more boring.  Penelope and Emma finally decide that the only reason Emma is so different from her family is that she is adopted. But, when Emma asks her mom if it is true, her whole world begins to change and Emma is not sure if she can handle that.

**I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson is a 2014 Rebecca Caudill Award Nominee.**

Sally M Walker has a story to tell. Truth is stranger than fiction.  She uses primary sources to expose the unbelievable events of the explosion on December 6, 1917 in Halifax Harbour.  A ship was loaded with much needed war supplies.  TNT, benzene, gin cotton and picric acid were all on the same ship.  I couldn't believe what I was reading.  Within twenty-four hours, this compelling story involves explosions, fires, a tsunami and a snow blizzard.  This had been the largest man-made explosion in the history of mankind up to that time.

Sally M. Walker incorporates science, history and humanity naturally.  Sally M. Walker shows how children had to make instant decisions.  Because of the time and day of the explosion, most children were separated from their families.  Sally M. Walker gets the big picture; she doesn't end with the devastation. The details of recovery and kindness I will never forget due to the expertise of Sally M. Walker.

* 2014 Rebecca Caudill Nominee *