Fish In a Tree

For anyone who is reading this blog who teaches grade 5 or 6- I would strongly suggest you go out and pick up this book immediately and be prepared to read it to your class!! This book has been on the radar for the last while, and it took a friend wanting to know what I thought of it for me to pick it up. I am so glad I did. In this story, Ally is in grade 6 and is in yet another school because her dad's job in the military requires her family to move a lot. Ally is an expert at avoiding work and getting into trouble. She has no friends because everyone thinks she is weird and the Principal is sick of seeing her in the office. Ally's family doesn't think she is a trouble maker, they can appreciate her other strengths such as drawing and her math ability. But at school, Ally just doesn't fit in. Then, when a new teacher comes to school and starts teaching Ally's class, he recognize some of Ally's strengths and believes that every child can learn, but everyone learns differently. Once one person starts believing in her, Ally discovers that school isn't such a bad place to be after all. This story is incredible for teaching or reinforcing the power of a growth mindset, having grit and the idea that everyone has something to offer. Mr. Daniel's is the type of teacher any of us who teach want to be like. We want to be able to not only recognize strengths, but to pinpoint struggles, and to know what to do to help. There is so much to do with this book, the discussions would be amazing! It reminds me a great deal of Wonder, I think reading the two books out loud would really reinforce the idea of "When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind"

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

I found this book when the Scholastics Book Fair was at our school. To be honest, I am not sure why I picked it up, since it isn't my typical book. But I am glad I did, I can think of a few girls in my class who love scary, spooky books and this one fits the bill perfectly. Bad Girls Don't Die is about a 15 year old girl who is an outcast at school and doesn't feel really welcome at home either. Alexis's parents are distant and her 13 year old sister has changed a lot in the last little while. As Alexis tries to figure out what is going on with her sister, strange things start happening in her house. Weird noises, doors opening and closing, and her sister losing track of time. It takes some convincing but Alexis starts to realize that her sister is a danger to everyone around her. Alexis turns to her once time enemy in order to find not only support, but also to keep everyone safe. At times I found this book a bit hard to follow, but I really enjoyed the story. Alexis is a neat character who tries to push people away, but is a really great person underneath all of her anger. There are two more books in the series, which I may pick up next time I'm at Chapters. You can check out the book trailer here.

Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano

I read this book a few weeks ago and am only just now getting around to blogging about it. I LOVED this book! It is such a neat concept for a book. Nearly Boswell lives in a trailer park just outside Washington, D.C., her mother is an exotic dancer which makes her a target for the people she goes to school with, so she tries to keep mostly to herself. The other thing she keeps to herself is that fact that when she touches someone, she can taste the emotions of that person. All Nearly wants to do is to win the scholarship from her school so she can go to college. Nearly works very hard at school, her only guilty pleasure is reading the personal ads in the weekly newspaper. One day, she reads an ad that seems very curious and when one of her classmates is injured, it seems that the ad predicted the event. Nearly starts finding these ads and more and more of her classmates are injured or murdered and they all have a connection to her. It seems that someone is setting it up to look like she is a mass murderer. This is a fascinating mystery novel with a science and math twist to it. I thought this book was really well written and very exciting to read. It may be a bit of a challenge for Intermediate students to read, and while there is a bit of mature content- I wouldn't hesitate to give this book to any of my grade 7's.

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Knowing I was going in for knee surgery and that I would have a lot of time to read, I ordered several books from Chapters a few weeks ago. Side Effects May Vary is one of those books. One of the blogs I follow had a list of best YA books and this one caught my eye. Side Effects May Vary is about sixteen year old Alice who is diagnosed with leukaemia and is given a very short time to live. Alice decides to use the time she has left to right some wrongs that she feels are necessary. In order to accomplish this, she asks her childhood friend, and the boy she knows is in love with her to help her with her tasks. Harvey is reluctant to go along with Alice, but he is has never been able to say no to her, and he ends up going along with her. Once Alice has set things straight and is prepared to die, she is given the good news that she is in remission and is expected to live. This ends up confusing Alice- she knew how to die, but she had no idea how to live. One of the things I loved about this story was that it was told not only through two voices: Harvey and Alice, but also in two different times. The story flipped between the present and the past and so the reader has to be very aware of not only who is talking, but when it is happening. I really enjoyed the challenge of reading this book. To be honest, I felt very sorry for Harvey and found Alice to be quite cruel at times to the people who loved her. As much as I loved this story, it is too mature for my grade 7's. I might give it to some mature grade 8's, but I would suggest reading it first if you are concerned about the content.

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams

I read about The Haven online, it had been getting lots of talk on Twitter, so I picked it up last week at Chapters. The Haven is a dystopian novel set in 2020. It is the story of Shiloh who lives with other teens at Haven Hospital. In this hospital, the teens every movement is controlled and monitored. What they eat, wear, exercise and when they sleep. They have been taught to listen to the adults and to follow all the rules. They know that as Terminals, they are kept at Haven Hospital in order to stop the Disease from spreading. But there are times when one of the teens must leave because the disease is in them. All the teens live in fear of being taken away. Shiloh knows she is different from the rest because she remembers things that others don't remember, and when she mets Gideon, who also remembers things he forces her to learn the truth about the hospital and why they are kept inside. I read this book in one sitting today, I enjoyed it and was curious as to what was going to happen. But I felt that the ending wrapped up too quickly and I had trouble following what happened. I am assuming there will be a sequel (because don't all dystopian novels come in groups of three?) I am just not sure I will read the next one.

Push by Eve Silver

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows how much I love dystopian novels. They are my favourite YA books to read. However, there is one thing that drives me nuts- the fact many dystopian novels are trilogies. Now that I have read Rush, and just finished Push, I have to wait until June 9th to read Crash Push starts right where Rush ends, so if you haven't read Rush you should do that first. In this story, Miki is still living in the game and trying to find order in a world without order. She is trying to control everything, and thinks she has a system in place for surviving the times she is pulled to fight the Drau. But then the rules change, and Miki is left reeling and trying to figure out how to adjust to the new reality. I can't write much more because the excitement of this story is in figuring out what is going to happen. This book was amazing! If I could, I would have run right out and bought the next book. I can't wait for June now. I have already pre-ordered it. If you are looking for a great dystopian series, this is a great one to read. I think both boys and girls would enjoy these books.

Rush by Eve Silver

A friend of mine gave me this book on March Break and suggested I would enjoy it. She was right! It took me a bit to get into, but once I was hooked I really, really loved it. Rush is about an ordinary girl- Miki who is dealing with the death of her mother and her father's drinking habits. She does her best to control everything about her life. When one day she jumps in front of a fast moving truck to save a little girl, Miki finds her life has spun out of control. Instead of waking up bruised and battered, she finds herself completely healed, but about to enter into a crazy world where it is kill or be killed. Miki is now part of a team that is fighting the Drau, an alien species who are trying to take over the world by destroying everyone on the planet. But things are very confusing. There are times when she is in the ‘game’ and when they have completed their mission, they are sent back to their ‘real life’. Miki is trying to figure out not only how to survive, but also how to help her friends in both of her new worlds. I just loved this story! As soon as I finished it, I had to go and buy the sequel- Push. Look for that review shortly!