The Nest by Kenneth Oppel/illustrated by Jon Klassen

I don't normally read chapter books with pictures (weekly challenge: new formats!), but this weekend I read The Nest and it was...TERRIFYING.


If you have not read it, the basic plot is that the narrator's baby brother is very sick, and these strange wasps start talking to him in his dreams about how they're going to fix the baby, and then an enormous wasp nest appears at the boy's house and it keeps growing bigger and bigger and things keep getting stranger and stranger and then--I don't want to ruin the ending, but the book felt creepy and unsettling in ways I didn't expect, and it was very spooky and otherworldly, and also very good. Jon Klassen's illustrations made it even more ominous.


I would definitely recommend this book, particularly if you're participating in the Massachusetts Children's Book Awards!




-Librarian Kelsey

The Seventh Most Important Thing Shelley Pearsall

In 1963 Arthur Owens father had died and he is still adapting to the change.So when the "junk man'' wears his father's hat its too much for Arthur to handle. He picks up a brick and throws it at the
junk man.So now he is pushing a grocery cart and collecting
the seven most important things for the junk man's project. When
Arthur finds out what the project is he knows he can't let it go to scarp. So he is determined to do everything he can to save the junk mans project.


-Gisela, Grade 6, Cambridge Street Upper School

Stella By Starlight Sharon M. Draper

It's the 1960's in Bumblebee Carolina Stella and her black community were peaceful and happy with their lives. Then one night her and her brother see something terrifying:The Ku Klux Klan burning the cross! Everyone is terrified of what the Klan will do.That's not all prejudice and racism makes their way into Stella's life.In times of need Stella learns to put her fears aside and be brave not just for her but for her whole community.

-Gisela, Grade 6, Cambridge Street Upper School

White Fur Flying

Alice is a great story teller one day people move in across the road a boy gets out from a fancy car."and here comes the prince!" The boy is directed to the house "not a prince, a prisoner." Such a good book!

--Isabella

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I SURVIVED Hurricane Katrina

When a Boy named Barry And his Family hear that Hurricane Katina is coming they set off. Away from Orlando. But something Blocks there way. Barry and his family have been forced to experience the great big hurricane.

 - Isabella

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I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1912

When a boy is visiting his uncle while his parents are in California trying to strike it rich. he is reading aricles about shark attacks he cant belive it until he experiences one.

-Isabella

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tortilla Sun by:Jennifer Cervantes

When a girl named Izzy finds a baseball with the words Because.......Magic she is determined to find the missing words. She already knows 1thing, Her dad wrote the words. But her dad is dead. When her mother sets off to Costa rica and she she is sent to New Mexico with her Nana there she finds her answers.

-Isabella

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Flying the Dragon by Natalie Dias Lorenzi

It's a good book about two cousins who start out hating each other, but when their grandfather dies, they have no choice but to work together. They get to know each other better, and, surprisingly, become best friends.

-Anita

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The Friendship Matchmaker by Randa Abdel-Fattah

It's a middle school story about a competition for Potts County Middle school title Friendship Matchmaker. Lara is challenged by a new student named Emily. They try to find a person who doesn't have a friend, a friend. Along the way, Lara finds out that Rules are meant to be broken. Will she win? or will Emily earn the title of Friendship Matchmaker? - Anita

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One Day and One Amazing Morning On Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin

It's a book about the citizens who live on Orange Street. The past and the future tied together by the orange tree and a few things buried in the lot around it, make this everyday story (though it could hardly be called everyday) into a mystery. - Anita

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The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

Two girls living in Blackbird Tree are best friends, a boy named Finn, a fire, Master, a deception, a crooked bridge, and an old lady living on a grand estate come together in a mystery book of fiction of odd revenge. - Anita

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Dewey the Library Cat: a True Story by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter

Dewey was dropped into the book drop box on the coldest night of that year. Vicki found him and nursed him back to health. Then, Dewey set out to explore his library and change the citizens of Iowa, one-by-one, lap-by-lap. Dewey has no fear of the camera, and he's so darn CUTE! (as seen on cover). The heroic cat died when he was 18 human years old. He was remembered in this book, so I hope it will NEVER go out of print.
-Anita
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The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson

3 familiars set out to defeat the gray-HAREd-witch when their "loyals" are captured. The adventure tests them on friendship and loyalty, and one of them finds out where he truly came from. Heartwarming, devastatingly brilliant, it'll be a shame if it doesn't win the MCBA.
-Anita
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Sprinkles & Secrets by Lisa Schroeder

It's a book that's funny and sad-in different parts. A giant cupcake, and an evil brownie shop make this MCBA book a good read for beginners.
-Anita
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